We're looking at it from a game audio perspective, but the vast majority of advice in this series will apply to anyone working in audio:
By Jennifer Walden and Asbjoern Andersen
In this first installment, we talk to Damian Kastbauer — a Software Product Manager at Audiokinetic who is currently working to grow Wwise audio authoring with help from the interactive audio community. He spent years as a technical sound designer bridging the gap between content creators and game engines, striving towards a realization of dynamic sound.
He is the co-founder of the Game Audio Podcast and author of a two-volume collection of articles titled “Tales of a Technical Sound Designer”
Here, Kastbauer shares his experience of and advice for surviving a layoff:
Change is Good
You hear it all the time, coupled with the realization that change is also: difficult, stressful, transformative, and ultimately a good thing. When a layoff comes around (as it has for me twice over the last 5 years since making the jump from freelance to in-house), it’s been equal parts frightening and exhilarating. Many of us have felt that “fear of the unknown” and been sent spiraling out-of-control towards dark places where employment and happiness don’t exist.
Meanwhile, the excitement of what challenges await are often enough to send the mind reeling in a million directions all at once towards a choose-your-own-adventure of possibilities that may exist in the real world. How one passes through this maelstrom of mega-meta-heaviness is a personal journey. Here are a few things that have helped me in my time.
Slow Down Time
Every moment counts, but you won’t get through a layoff by counting the moments. Whatever you can do to slow the feeling of time passing will be to your benefit. This doesn’t have to mean idleness and deliberation but you should recognize the opportunity to re-frame the flow of time now that you’ve been forcibly removed from the normalcy of the working-week. Watch the foliage sway for longer than you’d usually feel comfortable; take a prolific walk; build a routine around savoring the moments between being productive at job hunting.
You should recognize the opportunity to re-frame the flow of time now that you’ve been forcibly removed from the normalcy of the working-week
The first layoff I experienced found me rewiring my guitar effects pedalboard. The second afforded some time to give the upstairs bathroom a long-overdue glow-up. These focus-opportunities operate on two levels — they provide a space to work through the thoughts in your head in-between accomplishing a task and, if you’re lucky, the successful completion of said task will help reinforce your feelings of ability and competency.
When you look back at your time in between jobs, there should be some space where you allowed yourself to embrace the change quietly and contemplatively while also feeding a feeling of tiny victories and accomplishments.
Get Outside Your Head
Flooded with ideas, concerns, opportunities, potentials, and fear you might find yourself reaching a saturation point. There is only so much that a one-sided conversation inside your own head can advance these things during the process of finding a new way of life. Find people who can allow for your internal process to unfold in whatever way you’re able to express it.
There is only so much that a one-sided conversation inside your own head can advance these things during the process of finding a new way of life
These conversations might dead-end on a moment’s notice once spoken out-loud or more often be lent a valuable perspective from someone outside of the situation. Within the art of conversation there lies a delicate dance between output and input; make sure you’re spending as much time actively listening as you are translating the words rattling around in your head to speech. Find the right moments to jump off the deep end into these discussions and leave space in between for processing.
Regardless of what you take away from these conversations, be sure to honor the process by bringing your honesty into the equation and valuing the contributions of those you involve both personally and professionally.
Recognize Your Value
It’s difficult not to take a layoff personally. The feeling of rejection and being unneeded by an employer can strike a blow at a person’s vitality. While a business arrives at a layoff for a myriad of reasons, they are not often personally directed — which is to say that their decision to lay people off is not usually a reflection of the persons affected. Find a way to acknowledge and move through the feelings that accompany the change and recognize the contribution you bring to the industry. Take time to catalog your successes and use them as a jumping-off point in the direction of your next endeavor.
While a business arrives at a layoff for a myriad of reasons, they are not often personally directed — which is to say that their decision to lay people off is not usually a reflection of the persons affected
These accomplishments might just lead the way towards the next fulfilling opportunity, or at least help the healing process as you move forward.
A layoff doesn’t change the good work that you’ve done or the path that you’re on professionally; it is a moment of destabilization in a long-running career that stretches out before you.
Dream the Big Dream
Unshackled from the day-to-day, let your mind wander in the direction of pure bliss. Entertain the what-if scenarios you may have set aside while gainfully employed. Breathe life into the dreams that have been waiting in the wings for a chance to fly and imagine the possibilities. Build bridges to those desirable futures in whatever way you’re able; talk about potentials with colleagues and find clarity towards paths that might motivate your pursuit of these dreams. A layoff is a moment to employ the concept of radical acceptance; embrace the circumstances, look at your immediate surroundings, quickly come to terms with the current state of affairs, and be ready to meet the road as it rises to meet your feet.
Sometimes knowing the “what” can help shed light on the “how” when it comes to lining up the next thing. The more clarity you have on the question of where you want to end up, the easier it can be to chart a path to it.
Popular on A Sound Effect right now - article continues below:
Latest releases:
-
Weapon Mech & Reload Sounds is a sfx library recorded for police / military related film or video games. Recorded at 24/96,(real guns and soft/air guns) with 3 microphones (omni, cardioid and shotgun), you can use one sound or mix the 3 layers together for more impact!
Key Features:
Library ships in 96kHz, 24bit
408 files, more than 800 sounds
Effective workflow: well-grounded Soundminer Metadata
-
Lethal Blow is a collection of high quality fight sound effect. It features 925 sound effects; 600 source recording and 325 designed sound effects. It comes loaded with all sorts of sounds – from simple punches to multi-layerd crunchy blows and and meaty hits.
All source sounds ware recorded with top tier microphones; Sennheiser MKH8040 and MKH8060 at 192kHz/24Bit with a Sound Devices recorder.Collection consists of two main categories:
DESIGNED 96/24 (325 SFX)
Bone Breaks – Crunchy breaks, snaps and tears.
Grabs, throws and blacks.
Bright Punches – Punches with meaty bottom and pronounces “beef slap” transients.
Crunch Punches – Punches layered with bone breaks and cracks .
Dark punches – Punches with more of a deep, organic, thump-y sound.
Rips and tears – Fatality-like, gory tears.
Simple Punches – Organic sounding, deep punches that consist of only few layers (compared to other punches).
Punches “Xtra” – Punches without Arm movement/scuffle/whoosh – just a hit that you can layer with your own woos/scuffle
Skull crashes – Gory, slimy skull crashes and splits
Swooshes, whooshes snd scuffles.SOURCE CONSTRUCTION-KIT 192/24 (600 SFX)
Scuffles, arm movements and whooshes – Cotton, denim and nylon.
Snaps – Leak snaps
Flesh drops – Dropped oranges
Cotton transients – Cotton hoodie hit with a soft drum mallet
Real chest punches – Closed fist
Meaty punches – Beefy, organic punches (punching beef steaks).
Lettuce punches and smacks – Deep, wet lettuce punches plus exaggerated transient sounds.
Real chest smacks – Open fist
Meat movement – gory, slimy, beef movements.
Meat Slaps – Beef steaks dropped on a tile floor with pronounced transients
Small crack – cracking eggshells
Bell pepper rips – Tearing, ripping apart Bell peppers for crunchy snaps and cracks
Whooshes and swooshes – Airy whooshes
Fabric Movement – random, cotton cloth whooshes and multiple swishes.325 designed sound effects will get you started right away and save a lot of time when cutting fight scenes.
600 high quality source recordings will allow you to design all kinds of punches, bone brakes and gore sound effects from scratch, exactly to your taste.All sound effects are highly tweakable. You can fine-tune them to your liking; pitch them up/down to remove/add weight whilst retaining details and clarity.
Download includes:
96-192KHZ 24BIT version (925 SFX/562MB)
44.1KHZ 16BIT version for Unreal Engine (925 SFX/264MB)
192KHZ 24BIT BONUS source recordings (58 SFX/30MB)
RECORDED WITH: Sound Devices MixPre 6 + Sennheiser MKH8040 + Sennheiser MKH8060
EDITED AND MASTERED WITH: RX, Pro Tools, Brufri, DMGAudio, Sonnox, Fabfilter30 %OFFEnds 1576709999 -
The “Electro-Mechanics ToolKit 2” Sound Effects Library features a wide range of versatile electro-mechanic motors, engines, tools and toys.
All waiting to be cut up, layered, edited and mangled with FX to become spaceship engines, robot movements, sci fi doors, weapon mechanics.
This library is not meant to be a comprehensive tools library but rather a composite toolkit to bring futuristic electro-mechanic machines, devices, weapons, vehicles, … sonically to life.
All cleaned and edited for direct use in your upcoming projects.All sounds have embedded BWF Metadata.
Categories: Air Compressor • Angle Grinder • Band Saw • Belt Sander • Bowling Alley Machinery • Buffing Machine • Turning Lathe • Buzz Saw • Chop Saw • Doors & Shutters • Electric Drill • Electric Screwdriver • Electric Wood Plane • Evacuator • Film Projector • Fine Blanking Tool • Fretsaw • Grinding Lathe • Hand Blender & Mixer • Hoist Industrial • Industrial Vacuum Cleaner • Jigsaw • Mechanic Toys • Metal Saw • Milling Machine • Stationary Drill • Strimmer • Toy Helicopter
20 %OFFEnds 1576623599 -
Looking for sounds of a remote controlled car? Here you go: This sound effects library features 170 sound effects of the Reely Core RC Car. You get several on-board and external driving sounds, pass-bys, close-up steering mechanics and idling mixtures, and of course some crashes. All sounds are edited and cleaned for direct use in your upcoming sound design projects. All sounds contain detailed BWF Metadata.
20 %OFFEnds 1576623599 -
A library containing a number of objects being picked up, put down and moved around on a number of surfaces including wood, glass and metal.
15 %OFFEnds 1576623599
Always be Preparing
Every conversation resonates. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is always a value to sharing your experience with other people. If you recognize the value of your contribution to conversations in the community, or within your personal relationships, you begin to build a support system that can help unlock some of the suggestions expressed throughout this article.
If you were at Game Developers Conference this year, there’s a high likelihood that I shared my process with you during a time when the unknown loomed like a cloud over my San Francisco experience
During my last layoff, I called on family, old friends, new friends, colleagues, and strangers to help me understand my career aspirations and job intentions. If you were at Game Developers Conference this year, there’s a high likelihood that I shared my process with you during a time when the unknown loomed like a cloud over my San Francisco experience. I valued being able to share my experience, and folks shared theirs’ in exchange, working towards a better understanding of how to align my dreams with the reality of a paycheck (which isn’t to say that any of these conversations resulted in a paycheck, necessarily). Sometimes timing doesn’t align with a person’s ability to help in a measurable way. Engaging with folks in these kinds of discussions should come with no expectations. It’s sometimes difficult to see the wheels turning behind-the-scenes and it’s important to value every discussion and bring your best self.
Recognize that your professional (and personal) journey with people doesn’t just happen between jobs; it’s a skill that needs to be cultivated throughout your career (and life) towards a better understanding of the world.
• Damian Kastbauer’s blog
• The Game Audio podcast
• Tales of a Technical Sound Designer, Volume 01 & Volume 02
• Game Audio: 4 Golden Rules For Technical Sound Design
Damian Kastbauer has also done a number of excellent guides on how to make the most of GDC over the years – here’s an overview:
• The Bohemian Guide to Game Audio GDC 2019
• The SUPPLEMENTAL Guide to Game Audio GDC 2018
• The Definitive Guide to Game Audio at GDC 2018
• The Grand Guide to Game Audio at GDC 2017
• The Ultimate Guide To Game Audio at GDC 2016
• Are you at GDC ’15? Here are the Game Audio Top Picks from Damian Kastbauer, Jack Menhorn & Frank Bry
Start Right Away
It’s my hope that in years past I’ve been able to help support others on their quest for job security — whether this is by being a good listener, providing honest opinions and encouragement, or by putting folks directly in touch with others who might help them on their personal journey. Building a support system for a future destabilization starts by providing that support to others when they’re in need. Ideally, this support is easier to give during times when the stability of your own situation is well established, but even in the midst of upheaval, there are opportunities to be the quiet in another person’s storm and give them a lift towards their future.
• Polygon: What it’s like to be laid off from your video game studio
• Lifehacker: What To Do Before and After Being Laid Off
• Facebook Group: Survival Skills for Creatives (remember to answer the questions when requesting to join)
Nothing about these suggestions suggests that any of this is easy; as they say, nothing worth doing ever is. In the long campaign of any career, the successes are measured by a single step in the right direction arriving eventually at one’s goal. Taking the time to understand where you’re headed when life gives you an opportunity to slow down, check-in with yourself, and read the signs will make the journey more pleasant and hopefully land you on-target. The people you involve along the way, how you engage, and how you honor and respect their perspectives can make all the difference.
If you’ve got any input on how to cope with layoffs in game audio (or audio in general), please share your thoughts in the comments below:
Succeed in sound:
• How to Set (and Get) the Right Price for Your Audio Work
• 10 Essential Tips for Game Audio Freelancers
• How to be a successful sound designer – with Scott Gershin
• 5 Useful Tips for Upcoming Sound Designers and Sound Editors
• Sound Opinions: How to get game audio pricing right
• Building a successful audio post studio – with Kate Finan and Jeff Shiffman
• Rebuilding your studio: Goals, tips and lessons learned
• Creating audio for games – with Martin Stig Andersen
• A life in sound: How to foster creativity and protect yourself from burning out – with Chance Thomas
• Tips and thoughts on running your own audio post production house – with William McGuigan
• 7 Sound Alternatives to Working For Free
• Audio Outsourcing Success: Essential Tips, Thoughts and Working Practices from Adele Cutting
• How to succeed in UI/UX Sound Design, ADR Recording, & Audio Programming
• How to succeed in sound design for Film, Documentaries, and Trailers
• How to succeed in sound design for Games, Animation, and Television
• How to succeed in Field Recording, Foley, and Teaching Sound
• How to succeed in Audio Branding, Music Editing, and sound for VR
• How to succeed in Sound Editing, Sound for Advertising, and Production Sound
• The ‘Quit Aspiring’ book – by Adam Croft
• 4 Effective Ways to Break into Game Audio
• Tips for Creating a Perfect Resume for Audio Industry Jobs
• Yet Another Game Audio Hiring Article – by Ariel Gross
• 5 Tips for Getting a Job in the Audio Industry
• Applying for a job in game audio – by Matthew Florianz
• Freelance Game Audio: Getting Started and finding work – by Ashton Morris
• How to get started (and make it) in game audio – 10+ fundamental questions answered by Akash Thakkar
• Courses: How to network and get paid for your work in the game industry – by Akash Thakkar
• How to Craft a Perfect Cover Letter for Audio Industry Jobs
• Get the weekly Audio Jobs newsletter
• Join the Audio Jobs Facebook group
• Upload your demos to Soundcloud
• Upload your demos to ReelCrafter
• Find interesting audio events around the world
• Find other audio pros around the world
• How to prepare for – and power through – a layoff in the game audio industry, with Brian Schmidt:
• How to Survive a Game Audio Layoff – insights from Damian Kastbauer
• What it’s like to be laid off from your video game studio
• What To Do Before and After Being Laid Off
• Facebook Group: Survival Skills for Creatives
• How To Learn Game Audio Online – A talk with Game Audio Educator Leonard Paul
• Read the 100s of sound stories and guides on the A Sound Effect blog (search for stories here)
• Browse Industry Data: Game Music and Sound Design Salary Survey Results
• Browse 100+ Sound Design Guides
• Get tips and ideas for making your own sound effects
• Discover 1000s of sound libraries from the independent sound community
• Take online courses in Wwise, FMOD Studio, Unity, Pure Data & Unreal at the School of Video Game Audio
• Sound effects survey results: Here are 90+ ideas for new SFX libraries
• How to create an indie sound bundle
• The quick-start guide to adding sound FX library metadata
Please share this:
-
Animals & Creatures Amazon Jungle Play Track 49 sounds included, 357 mins totalFrom: $95From: $66.50Amazon Jungle is a collection of unique ambiences recorded in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The library was recorded during the rainy season when birds are vocal and humidity is at its highest. These recordings feature species such as the Screaming Piha, Toucans, Howler Monkeys, Trogons, Tinamous, Owls, very vocal Bamboo Rats and a multitude of insects and frogs.
30 %OFFEnds 1576537199 -
Footstep & Foley Sounds contains 511 high quality professionally recorded footstep sounds. Surfaces included: concrete, dirt, grass, gravel, metal, mud, water, wood, ice and snow. Plus 141 Foley sounds covering a variety of character movement sounds. A perfect addition to add realism to your footstep sounds.
This pack also includes a variety of 160 bonus sounds effects from our full library Pro Sound Collection. ALL sounds from Footstep & Foley Sounds are included in Pro Sound Collection so if you need more sounds be sure to check it out before purchase.
-
In films and documentaries there are often images of people in spaces speaking to other people, who are listening attentively.
The recordings of the person doing the talking are pristine from the set. The recordings of the rest of the room don’t exist. Room tones of empty spaces don’t possess movement and life that your soundtracks require for these situations.
Quiet Spaces is a collection of recordings of people gathered in rooms of various sizes and not talking
Libraries are a natural place to capture these environments, and so a high quality stealth kit made from a pair of Sanken CUB 01s discreetly placed from a backpack onto empty tables in various libraries. We also got access to a university campus right at the end of finals week where we recorded out in the open with a pair of MKH50s in ORTF. We captured an entire class taking a test, as well as various other lightly and sparsely populated spaces in and around campus.
Locations captured include:
• 5 different public libraries
• multiple perspectives per library
• 6 locations on the UNT campus
• 1 class quietly taking a written test
The end result is a beautiful set of recordings of quiet spaces that are still filled with texture and movement.
Available in two versions:
Full version:
• 24 bit, 96 kHz stereo wav files
• soundminer and bwav metadata tags
• photography
• 4.8 Gigabytes of sound
• 139 minutes of sound
Lite version:
• 16 bit, 44.1 kHz stereo wav files
• soundminer and bwav metadata tags
• photography
• 1.48 Gigabytes of sound
• 139 minutes of sound
-
Weapon Mech & Reload Sounds is a sfx library recorded for police / military related film or video games. Recorded at 24/96,(real guns and soft/air guns) with 3 microphones (omni, cardioid and shotgun), you can use one sound or mix the 3 layers together for more impact!
Key Features:
Library ships in 96kHz, 24bit
408 files, more than 800 sounds
Effective workflow: well-grounded Soundminer Metadata
-
Lethal Blow is a collection of high quality fight sound effect. It features 925 sound effects; 600 source recording and 325 designed sound effects. It comes loaded with all sorts of sounds – from simple punches to multi-layerd crunchy blows and and meaty hits.
All source sounds ware recorded with top tier microphones; Sennheiser MKH8040 and MKH8060 at 192kHz/24Bit with a Sound Devices recorder.Collection consists of two main categories:
DESIGNED 96/24 (325 SFX)
Bone Breaks – Crunchy breaks, snaps and tears.
Grabs, throws and blacks.
Bright Punches – Punches with meaty bottom and pronounces “beef slap” transients.
Crunch Punches – Punches layered with bone breaks and cracks .
Dark punches – Punches with more of a deep, organic, thump-y sound.
Rips and tears – Fatality-like, gory tears.
Simple Punches – Organic sounding, deep punches that consist of only few layers (compared to other punches).
Punches “Xtra” – Punches without Arm movement/scuffle/whoosh – just a hit that you can layer with your own woos/scuffle
Skull crashes – Gory, slimy skull crashes and splits
Swooshes, whooshes snd scuffles.SOURCE CONSTRUCTION-KIT 192/24 (600 SFX)
Scuffles, arm movements and whooshes – Cotton, denim and nylon.
Snaps – Leak snaps
Flesh drops – Dropped oranges
Cotton transients – Cotton hoodie hit with a soft drum mallet
Real chest punches – Closed fist
Meaty punches – Beefy, organic punches (punching beef steaks).
Lettuce punches and smacks – Deep, wet lettuce punches plus exaggerated transient sounds.
Real chest smacks – Open fist
Meat movement – gory, slimy, beef movements.
Meat Slaps – Beef steaks dropped on a tile floor with pronounced transients
Small crack – cracking eggshells
Bell pepper rips – Tearing, ripping apart Bell peppers for crunchy snaps and cracks
Whooshes and swooshes – Airy whooshes
Fabric Movement – random, cotton cloth whooshes and multiple swishes.325 designed sound effects will get you started right away and save a lot of time when cutting fight scenes.
600 high quality source recordings will allow you to design all kinds of punches, bone brakes and gore sound effects from scratch, exactly to your taste.All sound effects are highly tweakable. You can fine-tune them to your liking; pitch them up/down to remove/add weight whilst retaining details and clarity.
Download includes:
96-192KHZ 24BIT version (925 SFX/562MB)
44.1KHZ 16BIT version for Unreal Engine (925 SFX/264MB)
192KHZ 24BIT BONUS source recordings (58 SFX/30MB)
RECORDED WITH: Sound Devices MixPre 6 + Sennheiser MKH8040 + Sennheiser MKH8060
EDITED AND MASTERED WITH: RX, Pro Tools, Brufri, DMGAudio, Sonnox, Fabfilter30 %OFFEnds 1576709999 -
The “Electro-Mechanics ToolKit 2” Sound Effects Library features a wide range of versatile electro-mechanic motors, engines, tools and toys.
All waiting to be cut up, layered, edited and mangled with FX to become spaceship engines, robot movements, sci fi doors, weapon mechanics.
This library is not meant to be a comprehensive tools library but rather a composite toolkit to bring futuristic electro-mechanic machines, devices, weapons, vehicles, … sonically to life.
All cleaned and edited for direct use in your upcoming projects.All sounds have embedded BWF Metadata.
Categories: Air Compressor • Angle Grinder • Band Saw • Belt Sander • Bowling Alley Machinery • Buffing Machine • Turning Lathe • Buzz Saw • Chop Saw • Doors & Shutters • Electric Drill • Electric Screwdriver • Electric Wood Plane • Evacuator • Film Projector • Fine Blanking Tool • Fretsaw • Grinding Lathe • Hand Blender & Mixer • Hoist Industrial • Industrial Vacuum Cleaner • Jigsaw • Mechanic Toys • Metal Saw • Milling Machine • Stationary Drill • Strimmer • Toy Helicopter
20 %OFFEnds 1576623599 -
Looking for sounds of a remote controlled car? Here you go: This sound effects library features 170 sound effects of the Reely Core RC Car. You get several on-board and external driving sounds, pass-bys, close-up steering mechanics and idling mixtures, and of course some crashes. All sounds are edited and cleaned for direct use in your upcoming sound design projects. All sounds contain detailed BWF Metadata.
20 %OFFEnds 1576623599 -
A library containing a number of objects being picked up, put down and moved around on a number of surfaces including wood, glass and metal.
15 %OFFEnds 1576623599
+ free sounds with every issue:
Thank you for sharing this Damian, that was a refreshing outlook on a difficult situation that many of us can relate to. If anyone reading this has never gone through it then especially take this guidance to heart.
Thanks again, Damian.
There are two kinds of people, and I don’t like to finish this sentence. Nonetheless, you, Damian, are distinguished by your willingness to offer a heart as well as an ear, and even sometimes a hand, and this lovely article is an illustration of that.
My favorite bit:
True and happy news that the layoffs aren’t often personal. Time the Great Healer shows that over and over, and we can waste energy on bitter and ungrateful thoughts. We’re actually very likely in an excellent position, with Life taking care of us in ways we can’t possibly understand. But something inside fights the recognition of that; some lurking idea as kooky as it is that we “ought to have kept that job.” And probably every job we’ve ever had. And car. And significant other. And pet. And guitar. And t-shirt. And think of what a mess our houses would be _then!_
“Acceptance of insecurity is Wisdom.” –Alan Watts
“May they be healthy, happy, joyous, and free” –a nice little prayer to free you from any lingering anger at “Those People!”
Thanks, Sir.
-George (having a little moment of asking myself if I am actually telling the truth when I click in the “I’m not a robot” box…) :D
Thanks y’all! I’m glad it landed well!
Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto