Working In Sound, In 2024: How To Find Jobs, Learn New Skills, Bounce Back From Layoffs, Network And More

Posted February 28, 2024 by Asbjoern Andersen in A Sound Effect

I'm really sorry to hear that times are tough for many in the audio community right now - and I'd love to help where I can. To do so, I've gathered a number of resources to help you find audio work, expand your sonic skillset, get back on your feet after a layoff, make the most of any downtime & more, below.

And if you want some good news, Adriane and I continue to see lots of new audio jobs pop up, week after week, even in this current climate.

I'll be expanding the lists as I come across new resources that could come in handy - and if you have any tips, ideas or insights to share, let us know in the comments section. Hope it helps, and please share it in your network if you someone who could benefit from it too!

By Asbjoern Andersen

Please share:

Where to find audio jobs:

• The Audio Jobs LinkedIn group: This is where we share audio jobs as soon as we spot them, so if you want new opportunities whenever they appear on our radar, join this group. If you’re an employer looking for audio talents, be sure to share your openings here too. Join the LinkedIn group here
• The Audio Jobs Facebook group: This is the largest audio jobs group on Facebook – so whether you’re someone looking for work, or an employer looking to hire audio pros, you’re more than welcome to join this group. Join the Facebook group here

Get the popular Audio Jobs Newsletter
– subscribe to our curated audio jobs newsletter, typically featuring 20 new openings every single week:

Coping with a layoff – and how to bounce back:

• 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

• Mental Health and Layoffs in Games • International Mental Health Charities (shared by Mags Donaldson)

Networking:

Online audio community site Airwiggles.com is an exclusive partner of A Sound Effect and has recently grown to more than 3000+ members from all around the world. I really recommend joining Airwiggles; to network, hang out, learn from and collaborate with others in the audio community – it’s completely free.

• Join more than 3000+ members of the audio community on Airwiggles.com here
• Find interesting new events and opportunties to meet up with others, on the Audio Events List

Highlighted audio conferences:

AirCon 2024 • GameSoundCon 2024 • GDC 2024

Expanding your skillset:

The Sound Success Series:
Want to learn new sound skills or pivot to other types of audio work? We created the Sound Success Series to help you to grow – or kickstart – your audio business, learn new areas of audio-related work, and give you multiple revenue streams to insulate you from the ups and downs of the audio industry:

• 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 Theater Sound Design, Podcast Sound Design, and Podcast Production

• How to succeed in Sound Editing, Sound for Advertising, and Production Sound

The Composer Success Series:
If you’re looking to succeed a composer, we’ve done a number of interviews with some of the world’s most talented composers in games, film and beyond to help you. Get their insights and advice in the Composer Success Series below:

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Film – ft. Pinar Toprak, Nainita Desai, & Jonathan Snipes

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for TV – ft. Charlie Clouser, Sherri Chung, & Cindy O’Connor

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for TV – ft Ronit Kirchman, Zach Robinson, and Alec Puro

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Theatre – ft. Elyssa Samsel, Kate Anderson, & Daniel Kluger

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for TV, VR, and Theme Parks – with Ariel Marx, Matthew Carl Earl, and Christopher Thomas

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Games – with Inon Zur

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Games – with Jason Graves

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Games – with Winifred Phillips

• The Composer Success Series: Composing for Games – with Peter McConnell

Getting hired and making a living in sound:

Adriane and I have been doing weekly audio jobs highlights for the past 8 years or so, and while I know times are very tough for a lot of people right now, I’m somewhat encouraged by the fact that we continue to find lots of new audio openings every week – even in the current conditions. So how do you land those jobs? These guides can hopefully help you:

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

• How to get hired in game audio – thoughts and insights from your potential employer’s perspective

• 4 Effective Ways to Break into Game Audio

• How To Actually Live as an Audio Freelancer – by Melissa Pons

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

• 7 Sound Alternatives to Working For Free

More resources:

If you’re between jobs and want to make the most of any downtime – or just want to learn more about your craft – I’ve gathered a number of resources for you below:

Explore the Power Lists – essential audio resources and insights:

• The Sound Design Power List • The Game Audio Power List • The Film Sound Power List

• Get great sound stories: The Sound Story Network is an exclusive network of hand-picked sound-related blogs, and they’re sharing some excellent stories. Stay updated on the latest Sound Stories in the Sound Stories Facebook group here, or follow Sound Stories on X here.

• Hear great audio-related podcasts: The Audio Podcast Alliance features a hand-picked selection of the world’s best podcasts about sound. Hear the latest episodes from the members here

• Read great books about sound: There are a huge number of sound-related books out there, and Swiss sound designer and recordist Julien Matthey has compiled a great overview of some of the real gems. Lots of sound community members have weighed in with recommendations too, so there are lots of excellent reads to be found in this guide to essential books about sound here.

• Get the latest audio industry news: Want to know what’s going on in the audio industry? Post Production Freelancer Christa Giammattei’s excellent, bite-size AUDIO INDUSTRY NEWS episodes get you up to speed every week on Instagram – and we’re excited to let you know that A Sound Effect is the official sponsor! Follow her on Instagram here.

Hope all of this comes in handy for you! Did we miss any resources? If so, please leave a comment below:

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:

A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

Animal Sound Effects Collections African Wildlife 363+ sounds included, 154 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$189

African Wildlife is an utterly unique collection of pristine wildlife and nature sounds, recorded in the wilderness of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia over a period of 4 months, 2015. It comes in four categories, covering Mammals, Birds, Ambience and Insects recordings.

It features animals such as elephant, baboon, jackal, lion, rhino, buffalo, hippo, impala, zebra, bat and hyena, as well as insects and 45 species of birds. 50 minutes of ambience recordings are also included.

The diversity of African wildlife sounds is widely reflected in this library, with the material including but not limited to screaming, barking, growling, roaring, breathing, grunting, feeding, hooting, warbling, screeching, farting, guffawing, whooping, gurgling, rutting, yapping, snorting, tweeting, trumpeting, chattering and squeaking.

Extensive metadata including detailed information on location, species, habitat, behaviour and usage is included, formatted for Soundminer. Metadata sheets in .xls and .csv formats are also provided.

Recording equipment: Sennheiser MKH8040-ST (ORTF) / Sony D100 / Telinga MK2 / Sound Devices USBPre2 / Tascam DR-680

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Foley Sound Effects Natural Human Footsteps Play Track 226 sounds included $10
Natural Human Footsteps is a sound library that contains footsteps sequences recorded and edited in an interior foley studio.

No individual files per step, the files collect all iterations per each kind of performance, shoe and floor material. So you could choose how exactly slice and combine them as needed. It is also quite convenient for extracting extra sounds as shoe frictions, little moves and hits, very useful for animation transitions, starting and stopping moves…

There are 12 different floor materials, and up to 12 footstep performance/acting types for both boots and sneakers. Water material has no shoes, just bare feet, but it goes with different depths.

Natural sound, no saturation, hard EQ, compression, multiple layers or any effects applied at all, just some noise reduction (when needed) and level normalization by LUFS-S in different levels, by floor materials and footstep type. So you can start from a relative natural loudness level and apply whatever processing you feel right for your purpose.
All sounds recorded with a microphone Sennheiser MKH 416 and all files provided have 96kHz/24Bits resolution.
- 12 Floor materials: Carpet, Concrete, Dirt, Grass, Gravel, Puddle, Rock, Sand, Stones, Tiles, Water, Deep Water.
- Up to 12 step performances: Idle, Looking Around, Walk Very Slow, Walk Slow, Walk Normal, Walk Fast, Run, Walk Stairs, Run Stairs, Stop Walk, Stop Run, Jump & Land.
- Up to 2 shoe types: Sneakers, Boots (Bare feet for water).
- 226 audio files, containing a sequence of several executions of footsteps.
- UCS compliant file naming.
- High resolution audio 96-kHz/24-Bit.
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Fire Sound Effects Designed Fire Play Track 255 sounds included, 34 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$25

Designed Fire features 255 cinematic fire sound effects, ambiences, swooshes, whooshes, fly-bys, drones, textures, glitches and more, that range from heavily designed to basic elements. It explores the further sonic realms of a powerful element.

Designed Fire highlights:

255 24bit / 96kHz WAV files / Meta-tagged (Soundminer)
89 Swooshes / Wooshes
75 Short elements
29 Impacts
28 Winds
34 Textures

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Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:

City Life Sound Effects USA Hotel Play Track 32 sounds included, 20 mins total $20

We recorded various aspects from a New York Hotel this includes
 
Room Ambience
StairWell Ambience
Impulse Responses from the Stairwell
StairWell Emergency door open and close
Elevator/Lift moving
Elevator/Lift Button
Hotel Bathroom Fan
American Light Switches on/off
Hotel Toilet Flush

USA Hotel will give you enough audio to give your project the authentic sound of an American Hotel boosting your project to the next level. USA Hotel has been edited to allow a drop in ready and Royalty Free sample pack. These Samples can be used in a variety of projects from Sound Designing/Compositions for TV, Film, Documentaries and Video Games. UCS Compliant and Metadata is attached to the samples

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences Mountain Air: Ambiances & Winds Play Track 87 sounds included, 294 mins total $59.99

192KHZ 24BIT • 20.37GB • 87 FILES • 294 MIN • UCS

Introducing Mountain Air: Ambiances & Winds, the largest and most ambitious sound effects library from PMSFX to date. This collection features 87 high-quality recordings, totaling almost 5 hours of immersive soundscapes. Captured exclusively in the breathtaking Kuči Mountains, located on the border of Montenegro and Albania, these recordings were made at altitudes ranging from 1,400 to 1,700 meters, offering a pristine and untouched auditory experience.

Each soundscape is meticulously tagged with UCS-compliant metadata, ensuring you can locate the perfect sound in seconds.

To reach these remote locations, hours of rugged off-road trails were navigated, accessible only with a capable 4WD vehicle. These challenging terrains and isolated spots provided the ideal environment to capture the raw, unspoiled essence of mountain soundscapes.

The library includes a diverse array of recordings:

Still Air: Quiet, serene atmospheres.

Gentle Breezes to Gale-Force Winds: Dynamic wind recordings that range from subtle rustles to powerful gusts.

Natural Soundscapes: Crickets, birds, and other wildlife echoing across forests, mountain valleys, and meadows.

Mountain Villages: Very distant hints of human presence, including faint dog barks and cow moos from small mountain settlements (Serbian/Croatian: Katun)

This 20.37GB library was recorded between spring and fall, as the trails in Kuči Mountains become nearly inaccessible during winter, even with the best 4WD setups. The result is a one-of-a-kind collection that captures the essence of high-altitude wilderness.

Why Choose Mountain Air: Ambiances & Winds?

Massive Content: Almost 5 hours of audio and 20.37GB of authentic, high-quality sound effects.

Pristine Locations: Recorded in some of the most remote and untouched mountain ranges in Europe.

Wide Variety: Perfectly captures the diversity of mountain atmospheres—from tranquil stillness to powerful winds.

Optimized Workflow: UCS-compliant metadata ensures seamless integration into any project.

Field-Tested Quality: Expertly recorded and edited.

For more details check the SFX LIST

EDITED AND MASTERED WITH: Pro Tools
RECORDED WITH: Sennheiser MKH8040, Rycote CA-08, Audio Technica BP4025, DPA 4060 and 4062, ZOOM F3

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Animal Sound Effects The Animal Symphony – Flight of the Bees Play Track 224 sounds included, 12 mins total $13

The Animal Symphony – Flight of the Bees was made possible by the collaboration of “Mieles Sandrita“, who opened their doors to us and provided exceptional care throughout the recording process.

This sound library offers 55 high-quality audio tracks, each with multiple variations meticulously captured to ensure unmatched sound quality. The recordings are organized with consistent nomenclature, making it easy to combine or swap takes depending on the needs of your project.

Recording bees in motion posed a unique challenge, as they kept flying around the microphones, and tracking them accurately was virtually impossible due to the number of bees present. Still, we managed to capture complete swarm environments, including tracks with predetermined durations and continuous loops. Some takes can be combined, as on occasion a bee remained within the capture radius of all microphones simultaneously.

Most of the fluttering sounds are available individually so you can create your scene according to your preferences. Additionally, the sounds are not pre-panned, allowing for complete flexibility in adjusting them to your mix.

The recording was done with high-end equipment, such as the Sennheiser MKH 8050 microphone, the Sanken CO-100K and a Zoom H6 recorder to capture stereo sound. Thanks to ultrasonic capture, by lowering the pitch of the recordings, a depth and frequency richness is maintained ideal for creative uses, such as the creation of spaceships, jet engines or any sound design.

The tracks were recorded at 24-bit and 192 kHz / 96 kHz, guaranteeing professional quality in every detail.

Finally, all recordings have been carefully edited to remove external noises, such as birds, wind, people or footsteps, ensuring a clean experience ready for use in any professional production.

Ideal applications:
– Video games: Add realism and depth to the natural environments of your games.
– Cinema and Documentaries: Enrichment of the audiovisual product with authentic sounds.
– Educational Applications: Use these sounds in educational projects to teach about wildlife and animal behavior.
– Multimedia Projects: Ideal for any project that seeks to enrich the user’s listening experience.

Technical details:
– Total audios: 55 (224 Individually)
– Format: 192kHz – 96kHz/24bit
– Equipment used: Zoom F6 recorder with Sennheiser MKH 8050 microphone and EM258 capsule microphone, as well as a Zoom H6 recorder for stereo.
– Duration: 12m

19 %

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Car Sound Effects Volkswagen Golf 2012 compact car Play Track 259 sounds included, 51 mins total $65

All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1, FEL Clippy XLR EM272, Sonorous Objects SO.3 and JrF CSeries Pro+ microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.

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Ambisonic Sound Effects Forest Atmos Play Track 130 sounds included, 517 mins total From: $129

FOREST ATMOS is an immersive sound library recorded in 7.0.2 cinematic format with our exclusive array: the Atmos Tree.

Experience the sounds of nature in this new immersive adventure with 8+ hours of recorded material distributed across 130 files.

Sound designers Mélia Roger and Grégoire Chauvot have explored the forests of France over the course of 3 years in order to record the diversity of their soundscapes : the dawn chorus during springtime, the trill of insects in the heat of the summer, the quietness of an autumn night or the subtle crackling of frozen trees in winter…

The library is perfectly suited for DOLBY Atmos mixes. It also contains extensive metadata and is UCS compliant.

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