The Game Audio Power List

Crafting Ghost of Tsushima’s Tremendous Sound

Go behind the gloriously grounded sound of Ghost of Tsushima – with Audio Director Rev. Dr. Bradley D Meyer and Senior Sound Designer Josh Lord:
 

How The Last of Us Part II’s incredible sound was made:

The Naughty Dog sound team gives you the full story behind the sound for The Last of Us Part II here:
 
 

The Secrets to Creating Jurassic World Evolution’s Excellent Game Audio:

Interested in what goes into creating outstanding sound for games? This interview on the sound for Jurassic World Evolution is a must-read:

Jesper Kyd on Composing the Viking-themed Score for ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’

BAFTA-award winning composer Jesper Kyd takes you behind the score for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla:
 

Creating the Soaring Sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020:

Find out how the stunningly-realistic sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was made in this huge interview:

Designing Half-Life: Alyx’s Superb VR Sound:

How the Valve sound team expanded the sound of the beloved Half-Life 2D-game into the VR realm:

Making the magical sound of ‘Ori and The Will of the Wisps’

Get the story behind the beautiful sound of ‘Ori and The Will of the Wisps’:
 

Shaping the satisfying sound of ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’

How Respawn Entertainment’s sound team designed their first Star Wars game — Jedi: Fallen Order:

Behind the glorious sound of ‘God of War’:

In this exclusive, in-depth A Sound Effect interview, Mike Niederquell and the sound team at Playstation takes you behind the scenes on the stunning sound for the game.
 
 
 
 

Read – or hear – how Hitman 3’s hard-hitting sound was made:

Hitman 3 is a hit with both players and reviewers, and here’s the story on how its excellent sound was made – now available as both a written Q&A and an audio interview:
 
 
 

Game Audio (Super) Deep-Dive: Behind The Outer Worlds’ Otherworldly Sound:

Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds was released a short while ago and fans are loving it. The sound team, led by Audio Director/Composer Justin E. Bell, played a huge role in bringing this dystopian space adventure to life.
 

Creating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Award-Winning Sound – huge sound team interview:

The Game Awards just named Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as having the Best Audio Design. In this in-depth A Sound Effect interview, the team members talk about their approach to designing an immersive and realistic sound experience:

Creating the charming sound design – and glorious honks – for ‘Untitled Goose Game’:

Em Halberstadt takes you behind the scenes on the sound for ‘Untitled Goose Game’:

Behind the beautiful sound of Monument Valley 2 – with Todd Baker

This is how Todd Baker created the stunning, lush sound of Monument Valley 2:

Designing the delightfully vintage sound of ‘Cuphead’ – with Samuel Justice

Samuel Justice takes you behind the scenes on the sound for this striking indie game:

Making the sound of ‘Minecraft Dungeons’ with Mojang’s audio team:

How Mojang’s audio team took the sound of Minecraft into a new direction:

10 Essential Tips for Game Audio Freelancers

Here are BAFTA Award-winning sound designer Rebecca Parnell’s 10 essential tips for game audio freelancers:

3 Principles of Sound Design for Games – by Rob Bridgett

At the brink of a powerful new console generation, here’s a reminder not to lose sight of the fundamentals of sound design:

37 tips for great game audio success – from the community:

Get lots of insights from the community on how to create great game audio:
 

4 Effective Ways to Break into Game Audio:

Adam Croft shares 4 fundamental things you can do to make that game audio dream a reality:
 

A Short Guide to Freelance Rates – and what to charge for your work:

Struggling with setting rates as a freelancer? Here’s a guide to help you get the numbers right:
 
 

An Introduction to Game Audio Scripting in Unity (Part 1 & 2)

Game audio scripting offers lots of exciting opportunities – this guide helps you get the hang of it:
 
 

Building the Dream Work Environment at A Shell in the Pit

In this interview, Gord McGladdery shares with us how he maintains an innovative work environment and a resilient business model:

Creating audio for games – with Martin Stig Andersen:

Acclaimed sound designer & composer Martin Stig Andersen shares some of his techniques, approaches – and favorite gear – in this new video:
 

Defining Your Creative Goals with Audio Storyboards:

Game sound designer Bryan Higa shares inspiring insights on how to use audio storyboards in your creative process:
 
 
 
 

Game Audio: Making it with a small team, a short timeframe and minimal resources:

Horus Station takes place in an abandoned space craft – and its atmospheric sound was created by a small team in a very short timeframe and with minimal resources. Here are the key insights and lessons learned by Can Uzer and the team:

Game Audio Glossary: Game Development Roles – and how they relate to your game audio work:

Find out how different game development roles relate to your game audio work:
 
 
 

Game Audio Guide: How to write a (game-changing) audio design document today:

Some years ago, veteran sound designer and game audio director Zachary Quarles wrote an excellent guide on how to do an audio design document – and this is his followup to that guide:
 

Gear is not the ticket to entry in the game audio community

How to build a lean, effective game audio setup that gets you off the ground – without breaking the bank:
 
 

Guide: Essential books about sound – for film, games and audio post production

An overview of excellent books on sound for film, games, recording and audio post:
 
 

How to get your game audio pipeline right – workflows, organization and the tools you need

Getting your game audio pipeline right is essential for a smooth-running development process – here’s how to do it:

How to prepare for – and power through – a layoff in the game audio industry, with Brian Schmidt:

Game audio veteran and GameSoundCon creator Brian Schmidt on how to bounce back from a game audio layoff:

How to Quickly Get Started With Game Audio in Unreal Engine — an essential primer by Dave Raybould

Learn how to quickly get up and running with audio in Unreal Engine:

REAPER for Game Audio – Getting Started & Rendering

Learn how to make the most of REAPER for game audio:
 
 
 

Reaper for Game Audio – Part III: Project Scopes & Subprojects

Find out why project management can be one of the most powerful and unique features that Reaper has to offer:

The road ahead for game audio

Game audio guru Damian Kastbauer reflects on the road ahead for the audio community, and the challenges and opportunities it offers:

Transmodality in game sound design: How we use sound to fill in the sensory blanks:

Ashton Mills explores how game audio can help convey information from a broad range of senses – for a much richer gaming experience:

Unreal Engine’s built-in game audio capabilities demonstrated using blueprints

Tzvi Sherman demonstrates the many game audio possibilities you get with Unreal Engine’s blueprints:
 

What Wwise can do for your game audio

Tzvi Sherman demonstrates many of Wwise’s powerful tools for implementing your sounds into a game engine:
 
 

Why sound is crucial in stealth games

Greg Lester just released a great video on the importance of carefully-crafted sound design in stealth games:
 
 

How to create horror sound effects that are truly scary (and gory!)

Find out how to create your own horror sounds, brutal gore sound effects, scary ambiences and ghoulish monster vocalizations in this exclusive guide:

How to create impressive fire and ice magic sound effects

Learn about tools, techniques – and surprising props – for creating magic sounds in this in-depth video tutorial:
 
 

How to Design Fierce Creature Vocals

Chase Steele returns with an excellent new tutorial on creature vocalizations (and he throws in 26 free sound effects for you too as a bonus!):
 

How To Design Futuristic Vehicle Sound Effects

Sound Spark’s Chase Steele shares his approaches and ideas for designing futuristic vehicle sound effects:
 
 

How To Design Stellar Spaceship Sound Effects – an Essential Sci-Fi Sound Design Guide:

Find out how to create fantastic spaceship sound effects in this special, in-depth guide – complete with examples, free sounds to design from and much more:

How To Design Superb Sci-Fi UI Sound Effects:

Discover the key to excellent Sci-Fi UI sounds in this guide by Ruslan Nesteruk – with additional insights from veteran sound designers Mark Camperell, Jason Cushing and Ivo Ivanov:
 
 

How To Design Supreme Sci-Fi Weapon Sound Effects:

How do you design awe-inspiring sci-fi weapon sound effects? This in-depth sound design guide will show you how:
 
 
 
 

Rule of Thirds: A Sound Design Approach by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares his approach to making the creative process easier:
 
 
 
 
 

Sound Advice: The Key to Outstanding Animation Sound Design

Experienced animation sound designer Jeff Shiffman shares his tips, tricks and insights for outstanding animation sound design:
 

Ten Second Technique: Tips to Improve Your Sound Design by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares the 10-second technique he uses to improve his sound design skills:
 
 

The Essential Guide To Recording Weapon Sound Effects – With Watson Wu

Few people on this planet have more experience with weapon sound effects recording than Watson Wu, and in this exclusive guide he shares how you do it right:

The Essential Primer to Recording Car Sound Effects

Max Lachmann and the team at Pole Position Production have spent a decade perfecting their car recording methods. This is how they do it today: