How to Build a Strong Game Audio Portfolio – an insightful guide by Paul Boechler:

Game Sound Designer Paul Boechler has worked on top game titles like FIFA 16 through FIFA 22, Need for Speed (2015), and skate., and award-winning virtual reality film Biidaban: First Light.

Here, he shares tips and advice on creating effective game audio reels that can help job seekers put their best foot forward.

The Game Audio Portfolio Guide – an introduction

I know from personal experience – in my own audio career and from my time teaching audio – that a hurdle people often encounter pretty quickly in their careers is not knowing if their work or demo reel is decent enough to get them a job. They might be applying for roles or looking for work without much success and unsure if there’s a quality issue, content issue, or something else that’s holding them back.

Luckily, I think the game audio industry is a pretty welcoming place and there’s no shortage of resources to help you get a portfolio review from a trusted source (Reel Talk, Game Audio Learning, and plenty of various online communities). I think there’s much to be gained from presenting your work in front of others.

I try to provide reviews as often as I can, but the demand is quite high. So I put these words together to help folks with some general feedback when I unfortunately don’t have the capacity for a 1:1 review. In doing so, I ended up making a guide that’s received some positive feedback and I wanted to share this with others.

My hope is that by putting together some common observations and advice into a single document, others can help themselves to any knowledge they might find useful and see if this helps unlock a new understanding about how they might be able to progress their audio careers forward.

Everything written here is my own thoughts and opinions, and based on my own observations and experiences. These notes are not a direct representation of the hiring process for any companies I work for, or have worked for in the past.

Who Are You?

I am making certain assumptions about you (the reader), your experience, and your current level of knowledge. If you have not already done so (or are unaware), please check out the incredible resources available at Game Audio Learning. There are a lot of fantastic resources there and it can serve as a great starting point for anyone looking to break into game audio.

You should already have an understanding of audio principles; recording, editing, and mixing best practices, as well as some experience with game audio tools (engines, middleware, etc.). You should have a portfolio already created, and I’m assuming that you’re not finding success when applying for jobs and are looking for some input or validation that there are no glaring issues with your demo reel. Or, you’re just looking for suggestions on how to improve it overall.
If that sounds like you, then carry on.

I would still encourage you to make use of any friends, colleagues, online communities, and industry connections you may have for a direct portfolio review if possible. I would hope that these people will provide you with more contextually appropriate and nuanced feedback. Consider this guide as simply another resource when trying to improve the quality of your portfolio, not as a substitute for direct feedback.

Honest Stuff

Despite my best intentions to provide neutral and unbiased feedback, there will always be some amount of personal taste and biases that will have influence.

So please take everything here as merely an additional perspective to help you along your own career path and not as sacred steps that must be followed in order to achieve success. Others (including yourself) may disagree with some of this advice, and that’s honestly a good thing. Different perspectives in a creative context should be welcome. So, if anything below feels counter to your own thoughts or preferences, I’d encourage you to consider both. Try to understand where I’m coming from with any advice, but always do what you think is best for yourself.

Also, please keep in mind any recommendations are likely to change over time with different trends, experiences, and preferences. Just because something was recommended once, doesn’t mean it will always be true forever.

Freelance and Other Audio Work

If you’re struggling to find work as a salaried game audio sound designer, I hope you’re considering other audio fields during this hunt.

We can talk about demo reels all day, but I see a lot of people making it especially hard for themselves because they’re trying to progress their career only by applying for game audio jobs as they appear.

While a full-time, in-house position in game audio may be your end goal, it may not be a linear path to get there. Most other game audio people I know have come from many years of working in adjacent audio fields. And often, they become better audio professionals and more well-rounded individuals for that experience.

…freelance sound design and editing work is a fantastic choice. Some of the best audio people I know have worked their entire lives as freelancers.

In addition to this, it’s worth mentioning that freelance sound design and editing work is a fantastic choice. Some of the best audio people I know have worked their entire lives as freelancers. It seems somewhere over the past several years that in-house roles became held in higher regard than freelance work, but that’s simply not the case.

While the realities of salaried work may align with your long-term goals more, others prefer the freedom that comes with freelance work. One is not better or worse than the other.

It’s worth mentioning then, as we talk about these presentation materials, that a demo reel or portfolio that is curated for applying to game studios may be different from a portfolio you should use to sell your services to clients when looking for freelance audio work. But here, we are just speaking about a demo reel/portfolio used to apply for game audio jobs, not freelance clients.

Just to reiterate, if you are finding it difficult to progress your audio career through this more traditional path of applying for job postings as they appear, consider that you may need to make your own opportunities in order to achieve your end goals, and freelancing work can be a great way forward.

There Is No Perfect Game Audio Reel

The intention of a game audio reel is to demonstrate to an employer that you have the necessary skills and experience to do the job that they are looking for.

But even though jobs will often have similar titles (ex. “Sound Designer”), the actual work they entail is often as varied as the games themselves.

One company may be looking for a sound designer with field recording experience, another for a sound designer to do technical work in-engine, and another company wants a sound designer with a creative flair in a particular style. The list of variations could go on forever.

Because of this, it’s important to understand that there is no perfect demo reel that will magically make you an appealing candidate for all companies, across all role variations. This also means it’s impossible to provide a specific set of rules by which to judge all game audio reels. Different employers are going to evaluate you for different things, and they’re all valid and correct for doing so.

You’re likely making one demo reel to apply to an infinite number of job configurations. That’s tough.

But to a new game audio person, that can seem (understandably) confusing and contradicting. You’re likely making one demo reel to apply to an infinite number of job configurations. That’s tough.

You could create a new reel for every role, but that’s not practical and I wouldn’t advise it. Doing so would also assume you already have relevant experience and material ready to showcase. In addition, the time editing a bespoke demo reel might be outweighed by the benefits of applying early for a new role when it first opens.

So to provide you with any tangible and actionable feedback, I have to be more generic and focus on high-level suggestions. If I didn’t do this, the answer for everything would be “Well, it depends…” and I wouldn’t actually be providing any helpful information.

As a result, consider these words a very high-level guideline, meant to provide a broad sense of direction, to help try and cut through a wall of subjective nuance, and simply give you some tangible steps to improve your reel.

A Reel Is Not Everything

Remember that a solid reel is only one piece of what will get you hired in the game audio industry. Ultimately, you’ll need some combination of these things to improve your chances of finding work (there’s probably more too):

• Portfolio – A way to demonstrate your relevant audio skills for a particular role – this is what we’re talking about here.

• Engagement – Fellow game audio people know that you exist

• Personality – You are someone that people want to work with

• Luck – Timing, location, industry trends, etc.

There’s a whole lot more I could ramble about on this topic. So to keep it short, there’s nothing wrong with striving for higher quality with the actual audio content within your portfolio. However, at a certain point, there will be diminishing returns. Ensure you’re not ignoring other factors (that you can control) that are leading to what makes you a potential candidate.

If you’re obsessing over which distortion plug-in produces better results for a small background element in your mix, but you have never actually met with anyone in your local game audio/game dev community, then it might be time to consider focusing elsewhere for a bit.

The Short Version

Here are the top things I end up commenting about on most people’s reels:

• Demonstrate more range (technically, creatively, and sonically)

• Technically – Demonstrate the use of different game audio tools (FMOD, Wwise, Unreal, Unity, etc.) The tools you use are not super important (unless a job posting is specifically looking for experience with one over another), but it’s important to show more than just linear redesigns when applying for game audio roles.

• Creatively – Demonstrate range with different genres/styles but also subject matter. If you want to make weapon sounds for sci-fi FPS titles, that’s great! But demonstrating other areas will show that you are also a suitable candidate for other areas, on other projects. Include vehicles, creatures, UI, foley, ambience/environmental sounds, etc. All of these things will help demonstrate more range and give you a better shot at appealing to whatever someone is hiring for.

• Sonically – The actual audio mix is compelling and has good dynamic range. Your loudest moments are loud, your quietest moments are quiet, but the mix feels cohesive and balanced throughout. This is particularly challenging when switching between significantly different clips on different titles, but it shows both mixing skills and an awareness of how your portfolio will be viewed and received.

•Include more actual game audio work (in-engine, non-linear playback)

• Alluded to above with ‘technical range,’ but we often use linear redesigns for portfolios because it used to be near impossible for the average person to have access to a game engine for the purposes of demonstrating their audio skills…that has changed! You can just make games for your entire portfolio, heck your entire portfolio could literally be a game. (Don’t get distracted by this idea; focus on audio). Linear redesigns still have a place in any demo reel as they show what you’re capable of with no technical limitations. But if you’re applying for game audio roles without demonstrating any game audio-specific skills, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

• Work on your overall presentation (editing, clip placement, etc.)

• Flow, pacing, order, etc. – Are you starting with your strongest material? Do your clips flow well together and support one another?

• High level balancing – ‘Clip A’ might sound good, and ‘Clip B’ might sound good, but do they sound good together?

• Presentation – Are you trying to craft a reel that does a good job of selling you? Or is it purely functional, with fades to black between each clip and dips to silence? You likely don’t need to go overboard here, but appropriate title cards, placement, and some attention to overall details do not go unnoticed.

The Long Version

So after reviewing a lot of demo reels, I found myself noticing similarities and putting portfolios into different “groups.” I intended to try and quantify how I evaluated roles a bit more, so it wasn’t just perceived to be random and based on what side of the bed I woke up on.

When reviewing demo reels, I also wanted to make my feedback more consistent so I could do a better job of identifying and calling out when things are working well. It’s easy to just point at negatives, but I think calling out high points is just as valuable.

By writing down some main review points, I tried to distill this into a list that could be referenced when reviewing your own reel, and that’s what follows.

Below are different categories to check your reel against to help you self-evaluate, and some recommendations on strategies you can try to help fix common issues.

I’ll touch on this later, but please don’t take away from this, “I have to have a Level 5 reel to get hired.” That is not true. You can get hired with a “Level 2” reel and have a great audio career. I simply did this to group common feedback and where I think someone might be at with their current abilities.

…you may have fantastic presentation and editing, but some weaker audio moments. So consider your reel only as good as your weakest element and start there.

This way, they can take feedback in smaller chunks and focus on groups of similar fixes together.

Obviously, by creating any kind of ordering, people are naturally going to want to be at a higher level. Instead, try and challenge what some of your weaker areas may be, as this is likely where you could use some focus.

To make this a bit more challenging as well, your work is most likely to span multiple tiers. For example, you may have fantastic presentation and editing, but some weaker audio moments. So consider your reel only as good as your weakest element and start there.

Remember that is NOT an “industry standard.” This is just simply some rough guidelines that I put together to help others understand an approach on how to evaluate the differences between a weaker audio reel and a stand-out one. I made this, this only exists here, so please don’t think you’ll be evaluated on this scale when applying for a role in the future.

All that said, let’s get into it…

Level 1

Based on my assumptions about you, you should already know what a demo reel is.
At a bare minimum, it should be a file that plays, it should contain sounds that you created, and the sounds support the images on the screen. Those sounds should represent the best of your abilities, at that moment in time. The reel should be evenly balanced/mixed and clearly distinguish your audio/creative contributions from those of any other collaborators. Do not try to hide, disguise, or mislead (directly or indirectly) your contributions or work on any projects.

I have had people submit “faked” reels before, it’s not a good look.

If it’s a redesign, clearly state it’s a redesign. If it’s a game jam project, say it’s a game jam! And if you worked on a shipped title, make that known!

So this first level is just simply having a functional reel to present to others. Even the creation of a portfolio is an achievement itself; a lot of people don’t get this far.

However, if the final export doesn’t work or has technical errors, the audio being presented is irrelevant. It’s incredibly hard to move forward with an application past this point if their reel doesn’t function. A prospective employer will almost certainly not follow up and tell you this either; it’s not their job to correct your reel nor is it their job to get drawn into troubleshooting with you. You’ve got one shot at having a functional reel, make sure it works.

• Does the video and/or website function?

• Is the audio in the appropriate channel format? (i.e., is your stereo mix actually in stereo?)

• There should be no audible clicks, pops, distortions, or other unintentional audio errors present from bad edits, automation snaps, plug-in tails printing, etc.

• Are there appropriate credits listed?

Recommendation:

Quality check your portfolio! This doesn’t just mean quickly skipping through your export either.

Listen. Like, actually listen to it and ensure it sounds the same as it did in your DAW/video editor.

Once uploaded, check it again. Ensure that the hosting platform is not downgrading the audio quality unexpectedly. If you’re uploading to YouTube or Vimeo this is likely less of a concern, but some embedded website video players can downgrade your audio fidelity.

So if you’re reading this and you have a portfolio…is it in stereo? Are you sure? Have you actually run a stereoscope on the host platform output (not just your exported file)?

If you don’t have 100% confidence in the technical quality of assets you’re sharing with a prospective employer, how can they seriously consider you for a role where your assets may need to go to millions of players?

I think most people would be shocked at the number of portfolios I review that are in mono, or have mono components (when they’re clearly not supposed to be).

Level 2

You show an ability to identify good sounds, as well as proficiency with selecting, designing, and editing those sounds to picture.

• Are you demonstrating good sound design and sound selection?

• Are the sounds appropriately in sync with the visuals?

• Is there sound support for all on-screen action? (no major actions/sounds missing – unless intentional)

• Are there any broad mix concerns? (overall too bright, too dark, too compressed, etc.)

This is the bulk of the actual work of an audio person. So I’m just jumping into possible actions to tackle each of these areas.

The answer for a lot of these things without contextual feedback is going to be: check suitable references.

Recommendation:

• How can you know if you’re demonstrating good sound design or sound selection?

When it comes to designing sounds, a common note here is that I think a lot of people need to “keep going.” They’ve maybe got a sound that’s fine, but it’s not great yet. So keep going. Try adding more layers, and/or try adding additional processing chains. This is cautious advice because there is not a direct relationship between the number of plugins/tracks and the quality of the sound (almost the opposite). If you take this advice too far, you might end up filling up the entire mix with a single sound.

But I often find with newer audio folks that they’ve selected or designed decent sounds across a clip, but then don’t understand why it doesn’t sound “great.” Keep going. Where can you add more detail? What could be made “bigger”? Keep adding sounds, keep working on it.

Then, once you’ve made something you’re happy with, strip away as many layers as you can while trying to preserve a sound that you’re happy with. This way you will help to reduce unnecessary noise and bring back some headroom. You may find that the sounds that you’re happiest with are not at all the ones you started with either.

…strip away as many layers as you can while trying to preserve a sound that you’re happy with.

In addition to this, check your work against professional reference material. Don’t hyper-analyze individual sounds (e.g., your footstep sound vs. their footstep sound) as this will always be apples-to-oranges. Instead, look for broader similarities or differences; is your reel metering roughly as loud? Do your peaks/transients hit roughly the same? Is your reel bass heavy or thinner than professional material? Break the overall qualities of reference material down into smaller components and see how they compare against your work.

A trusted ear is helpful here, but checking a lot of references can end up serving a similar purpose and balance out, to start giving you some perspective (which is what you’re looking for from another person anyway).

If there is a significant difference between your reel and professional quality reference, determine if it’s just one of your clips or across the entirety of your work.

It may seem that if all of your clips are impacted this is worse, but generally, this is an easier fix.
 

• Do all your clips sound uniquely different when checked against reference material? (Is one of your clips thin/brittle, while the other is dark/muddy?)

Work on your mixing. Try to standardize your mix process a bit and check references as you go, not just at the end. You’re likely being steered in different directions by the content you’re working on. Bright sounds lead to a darker mix. Dark ambience leads to a brighter mix. That’s not a hard rule, but it’s likely something to that effect which is leading your mixing in different directions. Do some more work, check reference early, and check it often.
 

• Do all your clips feel the same against reference material? (Are all of your clips too dark? Too bright? But all the same?)

Determine if this is your monitoring environment, or your personal taste/preference.

Check your mix in a different room and/or on different equipment; does it sound wildly different from what you intended in this new environment?

If so, this could be your monitoring gear or environment. For example, if your room or speakers are boosting 100Hz, you may be inadvertently attenuating it while you mix. So when you check elsewhere, it could sound thin due to a lack of 100Hz that your equipment/room was making up for.

A rabbit hole of gear or acoustics talk could happen here, but please don’t use this as an excuse to spend a lot of money on gear (sometimes new gear could even be the cause of this). In extreme cases, less than $100 in DIY room treatment or a more balanced pair of headphones will do the trick. Sometimes just becoming aware of the issue is all it takes. So try a rebalance with this in mind and see if it holds up to reference better.
 

• Did your mix not sound that different in another space, or on different speakers/headphones? But it still sounds quite different from reference material?

This means that your tastes/style/preference might not be aligned with the “professional norm” is. Fear not, you are not cursed forever. This likely just means you need a palette cleanser. I find this most common in folks who grew up hyper-focused on certain styles of music. It’s likely just shifted your baseline, but it’s totally curable – just expose yourself to more popular media and actively listen to it. Don’t just let it wash over you, and take it in as a consumer. Try to understand what decisions are being made with the mix or with the types of sounds used and try to notice similarities between different titles.

Starting your day with reference and checking more regularly while working will also help.
 

• Are the sounds appropriately in sync with visuals?

This typically manifests as a “gut” feeling. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s usually not right.

For some clips, you can close your eyes and listen to whether or not an action or pacing sounds natural. Sometimes this can be a clip selection issue though too. If you have a clip or section of a video game that contains an unnatural action, your resulting sounds will likely feel unnatural. When in doubt, nudge offending sounds earlier or later and see if that starts feeling better or worse. Sometimes a few milliseconds either way makes all the difference. Sometimes going a bit out of sync with visuals makes them feel so much better. If you’re really unsure, try practicing on just a video of someone walking with their feet clearly in view. That way you’re likely to build up some more experience and feeling for what works in more complex scenarios.
 

• Coverage for all on-screen action?

Pretty simple, if we see a dog barking on screen, we should hear the sound of a dog barking.

Now, does that dog’s audio need to come through loud in the mix if there are more important elements? No, probably not. But ensuring that you’ve got coverage for all actions on-screen shows your ability to identify opportunities for sound and make it happen. When new characters, actions, or locations appear on screen, establish them with audio to draw attention, then pull them back to an appropriate level to direct attention where it’s needed. This way you can demonstrate coverage for elements while still maintaining a balanced mix, helping to create and control interest.

Level 3

You’re showing an awareness of how to support not just what’s on screen, but also what’s off-screen and what we are trying to make the viewer feel. Much stronger focus on game audio and an overall improvement in sound design and mixing skills.

• Are you demonstrating a clear interest in game audio work? (Not just in the subject matter/IP choices for your clips)

• Are you showing experience/proficiency in game engines or middleware tools?

• Are you including coverage for off-screen sounds when appropriate?

• What can you tell us about the environment/space that we’re not seeing? How can you use that to help what’s on screen?

• Are you setting the appropriate mood/tone with sound effects?

• Are you demonstrating an awareness of “sonic storytelling” (both micro and macro levels)

• Micro – Individual sounds can tell a very short story (e.g., a weapon fire can have a “story” arc of power up, firing, and cooldown as opposed to just a “bang”)

• Macro – A clip as a whole can convey a progression or transformation (e.g., fighting sounds becoming more “gore-y” as a character is hit repeatedly…sorry I couldn’t think of a better example off the top of my head)

Again, I think most people would be shocked by the number of portfolios we get where people haven’t included anything related to video games and generally just show kind of a passing interest in game audio entirely. So at this stage, there should be no doubt that this person wants to work in games, and is aware of what that job is likely to entail. Getting a game engine up and running with a build can require a higher-end computer, but even middleware examples or other non-linear implementations in tools like Max MSP can still demonstrate skills that translate to actual game audio work.

I’m also hoping for sound design that starts to go beyond the screen. Off-screen sounds aren’t an afterthought and can contribute to a clip to reinforce emotion. Individual sounds can have their own story arc (or not) to be used for creative effect.

Recommendation:

• Are you demonstrating a clear interest in game audio work?

Include captures of some kind of interactive media in your portfolio. If I see a glimpse of an engine or some middleware I can get a peek of some tools you might know. This can start to answer a lot of questions right away or help me to start thinking of good questions to ask you in an interview.
 

• Are you demonstrating use of mood, interesting storytelling, and supporting offscreen elements?

For redesign clips, be more selective here and choose subjects that can play to your strengths, and give you opportunities for more creative sound design and “sonic storytelling.” You should be trying to “flex” with your sound design at this point. Don’t just pick basic clips; I want you to show off! And your clip selection is an easy way for you to control how you do that.

In addition to this, a stand-out reel should establish the mood and is not just a collection of diegetic sounds; look for any opportunity to reinforce this.

If you’re struggling with how to push emotion or mood beyond just what you see on screen, here are a few tips to try.

I’ve found the “12 Basic Principles of Animation” actually apply quite well to audio. This could manifest itself in envelope shapes, automation curves, editing placement, or the envelopes of sounds you select. I’m not saying these directly are something we look for, but things beyond a typical editorial-style edit tend to help you stand out.

This second idea is more relevant for linear redesigns, but I recommend it to people (or do it myself) when I’m just feeling stumped about how to make something “better” or get away from just adding sounds for what I see on-screen.

Once you’ve completed an initial audio pass and you’ve got sound coverage across your entire clip, things should be sounding fine. Then, find an “instrument.” It could be your voice, a prop, whatever. We’re just looking for something you can “play,” ideally with a variety of envelopes.

…now you’ve got a sound that isn’t diegetic and that can be processed further to support the underlying emotion of the clip…

Mute all of the audio you’ve added to your clip, and just “play” the clip with your selected instrument and try to reinforce the main beats and overall emotion behind the clip. Where is there anticipation? Where does there need to be a big impact? Where do we need space?

If your instrument of choice can be played musically, avoid notes. The goal is not to compose or add anything that might be perceived as music. The goal is just to have a sound-generating device that we can use to create dynamic sounds with interesting envelopes in a way that supports the emotion we want our clip to have.

Take a few passes at that, and just have some FUN. If you’re feeling self-conscious, apply liberal amounts of effects so you’re “playing” the effects.

Once you feel you’ve explored this idea a bit you can take this in two main directions.

Use that audio that was created (likely with heavy editing and additional effects) in key moments to reinforce the areas you felt required support. So now you’ve got a sound that isn’t diegetic and that can be processed further to support the underlying emotion of the clip, yet has an organic character that supports the emotion and pacing you wanted to infuse into the clip. This can add a new character that you might’ve otherwise not captured from just selecting/designing and placing sounds.

The alternative is you can mute the sounds you just recorded entirely, but take what you learned from your performances and try to design new layers to support those. Bonus points if you pick sounds for this that don’t match anything we see in the scene at all, but are strictly there to reinforce the emotion you want to evoke.

There are a thousand other ways to go about this, and maybe you’ve already got this skill or have other ways of achieving it. But going through this exercise can sometimes unlock this new level of creative sound design for people. If you can demonstrate this in your portfolio (tastefully), it really helps your work stand out above other work and gives it a personal touch at the same time.

Level 4

You’re showing an awareness of how a person will view this particular video, and you’re catering your audio (and video edits) to the viewer, helping yourself stand out. I’m also likely hearing your own character or flavor of sound design come through at this point.

• Are you demonstrating a balanced “macro” level mix across the reel as a whole?

• Are there opportunities to include other video editing/cross-fading techniques that improve the experience and flow?

• Are you leveraging the narrow audience and using that knowledge to your advantage?

• Can the audio quality stand on its own next to professional audio without issue?

This is where you can start getting a bit clever by understanding the limited audience of your reel, and the way they’re likely to be experiencing it. This can help both things that you choose to do, and not do.

Obviously, anyone could stumble across your reel, but you’re crafting it only for fellow game audio people who (I hope) are listening on high-quality, full-frequency systems. You rarely get this kind of narrow audience, so use it to your advantage!

Chances are the person reviewing your reel is just getting off a Zoom call, or already has a DAW active in the background, or a build up-and-running on a dev kit. Needless to say, they likely have a complex audio setup, and they were probably just doing something else.

Give them a second to get settled!

Chances are that when they go to hit play, they might realize their output needs to be changed, or that they were muted, or their volume was cranked. Whatever.

So yes, we want impressive, strong, and captivating sounds early on to grab people’s attention. But if you’ve got a big ol’ explosion right off the top of your reel, you’re going to startle someone eventually. I guarantee it.

Is this their fault? Yes. But sometimes, it’s not and people just start their reels with really loud or abrasive sounds.

Regardless, it’s still an energy and experience that you wouldn’t want to happen when someone is listening to your reel for the first time, so try to avoid it altogether.

Recommendation:

• Understanding your audience and using video editing techniques:

Title cards are a great way to show your contact information off the top of a reel, and remind someone whose work they are listening to. But when there are no interesting visuals, people tend to either keep these silent, or they add some animation which they then design the sounds to. This is totally acceptable.

If you’re designing sounds, try to include sounds with a softer envelope (both in volume and frequency). This will help the viewer know their audio playback is working and so your title card serves as both function (information sharing and equipment checking) while also establishing the creative mood for your opening clip (the sounds you actually choose to use here).

Pro tip here: If you make this initial sound very obviously stereo with some drastic movement between the speakers, it doubles as a channel checker. Meaning, you’d be able to identify if your reel is about to play in mono before it even gets started.

This initial sound could also be achieved with a j-cut, where the audio from your first clip is playing underneath the title card even though we haven’t seen the visuals from that clip yet. That may or may not be appropriate in certain situations though.

However you choose to do this, this is just one example of little techniques and presentation elements that can help ensure your reel is viewed in the best possible conditions.

There is a more common trend lately where some folks are using a type of match cut to transition us from one clip to another, and the audio elements transition seamlessly in between. These can be effective to show an awareness of other editing techniques, and, again, show that you understand how this will be perceived and are trying to create a sort of narrative through your portfolio elements.

Just make sure you don’t get too caught up in these kinds of details if you have other areas that need work.
 

• Balance the “macro” mix

Your demo reel might be composed of content you created weeks, months, or even years apart. As a result, they might not sit well together. Clip 1 might sound good, Clip 2 might sound good. Together they may create a weird balance and they’re potentially really far apart from one another content-wise.

An example might be that one clip has a forest ambience demonstration, which leads into another clip which is a weapon redesign. If the ambience is louder than the weapons, it’s going to make the weapons feel smaller and weaker than the broad spectrum noise we just heard. Both might sound totally fine, but you need to consider a high level balancing pass between clips to ensure that there are still dynamics at this high level and we transition between clips as you intend. Just keep in mind when you’re assembling your final reel, just because you printed a video at a particular level, doesn’t mean it needs to stay at that level. Obviously, standards during mixing will help, but sometimes these puzzle pieces may just need a bit of extra help to fit well together.

Strongest clips to the front to guarantee that they will be viewed.

Avoid jump scares or loud jarring sounds right off the top of your reel; give your viewer a chance to get settled.

Review film editing techniques and see how you can try and craft a narrative or more designed flow throughout your portfolio. Make it fun to watch.

Level 5

Top-tier candidate with exceptional audio and technical skills who is doing something or demonstrating this in a unique way that hasn’t been seen before.

• Stands out

• Showcases unique skills or experiences (other education or previous lines of work)

• Demonstrates something new that I haven’t seen (or rarely seen) in a reel before

• Creates a memorable experience

• Clearly demonstrates their strengths.

• Ability to deliver multiple styles, using multiple tools, and achieve industry-standard results.

• Don’t get distracted here!

Inspiration:

The main takeaway here should be that this portfolio clearly demonstrates someone’s strengths likely with a personal flair, as well as their ability to deliver multiple styles, using multiple tools, and achieve industry standard results. If you can do that you just simply will be an appealing candidate in many situations and that will increase your chances of finding work.

It’s worth mentioning a debate between showcasing yourself as being a “generalist” or a “specialist.” This whole guide is speaking in general terms so I can’t condone people to specialize without more contextual information.

I have seen this pendulum swing back and forth a few times, so I don’t think it’s worth spending too much time trying to predict what people will be looking for in a candidate along this spectrum.

What I will say, though, is that I have only ever seen one person who started from scratch trying to get into game audio and said, “I want to work on X type of sounds” and then hyper focused on “X” subject matter. And then got hired on “X” type AAA project.

So don’t worry if you’re not an expert at something starting out. We all have particular strengths.

But I have seen many people that were decent, well-rounded audio professionals get put into a position where they were required to specialize, and then they became specialists. So don’t worry if you’re not an expert at something starting out. We all have particular strengths. Your job here is just to show them off and maybe that strength is being a generalist. At the end of the day, I feel a diverse and broad portfolio, covering a range of subjects, strongly improves your appeal to a higher number of employers and, as a result, improves your chances of finding work.

It’s entirely possible this exercise of creating a broader portfolio may help you find some of your own strengths, too.

You can also change your mind on this subject in the future, too. This isn’t a fork in the road where you can never go back.

There’s a reason why this section is called “inspiration” and not “recommendation.” You really might not require it. However, I didn’t want to leave this section blank as though it were some unattainable goal. It’s tough to quantify stand-out portfolios and almost certainly it’s going to be different for each person choosing how they can best showcase their skills. Remember to not get too distracted here. If you’re not careful, you can end up spending a ton of time doing something completely unrelated to audio, so please only consider this when you have the utmost confidence in your work and you really want to try something new.

Some examples of portfolio pieces that have always stuck with me:

• Someone showcased a field recording session for a full weapon recording session they did in their demo reel along with the final sounds in-game. They linked to longer videos elsewhere on their site, but knowing someone went through the process of doing a large-scale weapon recording, and that they had that experience/skills with weapons is going to help you stand out with certain companies. (This person now works at “one of those companies.”)

• Another portfolio piece was in the form of audio puzzle game that you had to actually record the audio from the website (or download it) and use various audio tools to decipher clues (ie. pitch shifting, spectral editing, etc.) This wasn’t the entire demo reel, but it was a component of their online materials. And it was just fun and really memorable. It became a great talking point among audio nerds.

• The last example I’ll share is someone made a short point-and-click RPG game with a full speech system, that was them basically going through a job interview and they used it as an opportunity to highlight some of their career highlights. It was like playing Undertale but of their resume. It had a good sense of humor, worked well, and was just super impressive.

There are portfolios that I’ve reviewed that haven’t done any gimmicks or anything “clever” and have just absolutely floored me with the quality of the audio. I think we’d all prefer that this is how our reel stands out, but this is going to be a very subjective thing. Just know that even the concept of a demo reel is a very loose “thing” that we’ve created as an industry over the past several years. It is very fluid and whichever way you demonstrate your skills can be effective, so have some fun and create work you find inspiring. Then, share this with others. Ultimately, that will help get you noticed.

If you’re doing anything really wild, please keep in mind that someone may still just want a short, professional example of your work…

All that said, I feel the need to temper this with a few words of caution. These will not always “land” with every employer and be well received. You’re taking a risk when you go over the top like this, so please consider your audience. If you’re doing anything really wild, please keep in mind that someone may still just want a short, professional example of your work and not have the time to play the 100-hour campaign of your cover letter. So I recommend keeping the over-the-top and experimental ideas for social media (to maybe help you work on engagement), or elsewhere on your website for those that are interested. Keeping your main portfolio piece a short and digestible demo reel will ensure you’re not putting any potential employers off.

A similar word of caution about redesigning a clip of a game from a company that you’re applying to. Sometimes this shows that you’re interested in their projects, but they might also not be impressed and now have more doubts about your ability to do the job they’re looking for. Other times, they might actually be hiring for a new undisclosed IP and you could be leaning too hard into an existing project they’re not actually hiring for.

If you’re incredibly passionate about a particular company, consider what skills you have that could make you a unique hire for a role and try to lean into that, rather than a specific IP itself. The exception here is if they are specifically asking for knowledge of lore, player base, or other specific skills. Then if you have that knowledge, by all means, use it.

When in doubt, keep it short, keep it memorable, and only do this stuff after you’re confident about everything else.
 

Summary

I hope you’ve found this approach for reviewing audio portfolios – or any of the information here – helpful.

It’s worth repeating, the real challenge with oversimplifying portfolios into neat little categories is that no one is ever just in one category. Your reel (and your work as an audio professional) likely is in multiple stages of development at the same time. We all have areas we’re really strong in, and areas we could improve in. This will also change over time, just to make it more challenging.

Again, please avoid taking away from this: “I need a Level 5 portfolio to get a job!” That is not true and that was not the intention. The goal was to group certain common aspects of portfolio feedback, to help folks assess where they might start looking to improve. Breaking the problem of “how do I make a better demo reel” into more manageable components.

So instead of “I need a Level 5 reel,” try to identify what the weaker areas of your portfolio might be. Then see what group that exists in, and try out some of the recommendations to see what resonates with you, and if you notice an improvement. Along the same lines, try to avoid “jumping” levels. “Paul said I have to do something to stand out, so now I’ve got to do that…”

You could end up wasting so much time here and not get ahead if you’re not careful. So don’t just chase these arbitrary groupings that I made; you can make a good living as a game audio professional with a mid-tier reel. The goal is always just to demonstrate that you have the skills for the job.

Try your best to do inspired, honest, and quality audio work. That will always come through in any portfolio, regardless of your presentation.

A big thanks to Paul Boechler for sharing advice and tips for creating an effective game audio reel!

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