Sound designer: pros and cons, the specifics of the profession

Sound designers work in any field where there is a video that is accompanied by music. A fairly popular profession requires certain professional skills. You can get a diploma of higher education and start a career. The profession of sound designer, like any other, has its advantages and disadvantages.

The sound designer is engaged in creative and responsible work. A specialist should be able to invent sounds, manage them. Important and the ability to recognize audio elements. The sound designer creates melodies for certain tasks and goals, this is especially important if you want to cause certain emotions in people who will watch the video.

It is known that audio accompaniment greatly affects mood, can attract or repel attention. Sound design technologies are developed and improved. It is worth noting that an important part of the work is the creation of elements. The sound designer must imitate the sound of a non-existent object so that the audience does not doubt its reality.

A professional can immerse the viewer in a certain atmosphere and evoke the desired gamut of feelings. When mixing sounds, the most important thing stands out against the general background. For example, the sound of brakes is superimposed on the sound of the city. The sound designer must be able to choose the most basic of the total mass.

Sound designers are in demand in the modern world. The profession is quite popular and has these advantages:

• the market is developing rapidly, the profession is quite promising;
• the profession is creative and allows you to develop, show potential;
• high profit payment;
• You can work not on schedule, but in such a way as to meet deadlines.

A young and promising specialty is not ideal. Disadvantages of the profession:

• specialization is narrow, it can be realized only in a specific area;
• there are no clear parameters by which you can evaluate the quality of the final product, the sound range can be perceived differently by the sound designer and his management;
• requires a large amount of innate talent;
• a fairly free schedule is not suitable for people who do not know how to organize their activities and are weak.

A specific and unusual profession requires a fairly large number of special skills. A specialist should not only love sounds and be able to perceive them.

1. Good ear for music. It may be imperfect, but quite developed. A specialist should be able to distinguish notes. It is important to hear the sound and understand its source. Without this, it will not be possible to create high-quality background noise of the city, for example.
2. You should understand how different instruments sound and be able to distinguish them. This is important for creating audio elements. A great advantage will be the ability to play any musical instrument.
3. Understanding the physics of sound. This is necessary in order to be able to simulate the sound in certain conditions. For example, a falling spoon will make a different noise in a small room or in an empty factory.
4. Know the features of sound perception by the human ear. Such skills are necessary for the ability to simulate a certain atmosphere or to create a special mood for the listener.
5. Ability to use audio editors. The most common are Nuendo, Cubase, Adobe Auditi.
6. Using equipment to record sound.
7. To be able to find non-standard ways to solve various problems.
8. Perseverance is of great importance in this area. You need to do a lot of routine work.
9. Attentiveness to detail, organization and the ability to properly allocate time. Usually, specialists do not have a work schedule, but there are deadlines for the completion of the finished project.

Many professionals claim that the education system in this specialty is very outdated. Yet There are higher education institutions and private schools where sound designers are taught. The discipline first appeared about 16 years ago, it was taught as part of the direction. This proves that the profession itself is quite young, but progressive.

The specialty appeared in Moscow universities already in 2008. You can unlearn in various metropolitan universities. It is worth noting that for the full work of higher education is not enough. The approach is outdated, more advanced technologies are now used. It turns out that specialists with diplomas simply can not cope with modern tasks.

Private schools and specialized courses come to the rescue. It will be beneficial to work as an intern in the field of post-production. There you can gain valuable experience and find out the opinion of specialists about their abilities. It is worth noting that without innate musical skills in this profession, success cannot be achieved even after many years of practice.That is why the specialty is so complex and highly paid. Where can I work:

• film studios;
• Theaters
• game creation;
• media companies and post-production studios.

In Russia, specialists earn from 40,000 to 160,000 rubles depending on the field of activity, skills and experience. Under certain conditions, you can earn about 200,000 rubles. Typically, such a salary is received by film workers. Quite popular is the remote activity.