5 sound design-focused YouTube channels worth following

AKASH THAKKAR

Akash Thakkar is an award winning composer/sound designer/public speaker who specializes in video game sound. He has an amazing backlog of short, focused sound tutorials that are a lot of fun to watch. Not only does he do great sound design but he also gives great career advice so you should also subscribe to his newsletter!

Notable videos:
Video Game Sound Design – 4 Essential Techniques
Making Horror Ambiences
Free Sound Design Tools

ROBERT DUDZIC

Robert Dudzic is a sound designer for Hollywood movie trailers (Infinity War!) as well as music libraries such as DAMAGE which he co-produced alongside Heavyocity and Native Instruments. Among his other videos, his “How I Use What I Use” series is a hands on, detailed look at how Robert records and manipulates his sounds. It looks like he’s just getting started bringing great educational content so let him know you want more!

Notable videos:
Creating organic drones
How I Use What I Use 4 – Horror trailer sound design
How I Use What I Use 5 – My creative process

INDEPTH SOUND DESIGN

Indepth Sound Design deconstructs film/TV sound (from the actual stems!) so that you can examine the intricate layers that go into quality sound design. There are also commentary layers so you can hear the various sound designers and re-recording mixers go into detail about how the different sounds and mixes were created. If you’re familiar with the Indepth Instagram page then you’ll be happy to know the YouTube videos are much higher quality and also feature 4K UHD picture.

Notable videos:
The Dark Knight Rises – “The Bat” aircraft sound design deconstruction
Terminator 2 – T-800 vs T-1000 sound design deconstruction
The Bourne Identity – Car chase sound design deconstruction
The Social Network – Trent Reznor vs. Elvis Costello music and sound design
 

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Screams & Shouts 2 - Humans

$45

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Cracks

$55

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Asylum

$79 $49

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Rock Slides

$35

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Latest releases:  

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  Whooshes Tiny Transitions 2 Play Track 320-670 sounds included From: $29.20 From: $21.90

  “Tiny Transitions 2” is the successor to the very popular Tiny Transitions sound effects library.

  If you already knew the first library you know what to expect: even more, even better and more versatile to bring instant sonic support for all kinds of small animations, motion graphics, pass-bys, menues, projectiles and more.

  Re-load your ammo belt with not-so-intrusive production elements that come in very handy for any Sound Designer, All-In-One Film Editor or Web-, App- and Game-Developers.

  All the small motion elements that you need in your everyday work for games, apps, commercial, films or general motion designs.

  You get 350 ready to use designed sounds+ a composite selection of 320 cleaned and edited source soundsthat were used to design the Tiny Transitions. These sounds are mostly different props that are scraping or sliding on different surfaces and also some vocalized whoosh attempts.

  If you don't need the extra source sounds you can grab the “Designed Sounds only” pack.

  All source sounds were recorded with Sonosax SX-R4+ with a Sennheiser MKH8050+MKH30 M/S rig, a Sound Devices MixPre-6 with a MK8060+ATE208 M/S rig and a Sony PCM-D100. All sounds come with embedded Metadata.

  Metadata embedded by “The Audioville – India”

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  Cars Subaru Crosstrek SUV Play Track 90+ sounds included, 35 mins total $99

  This sound effects library delivers the sounds of a 2017 Subaru Crosstrek SUV. Metadata is included, with over 35 minutes of recording time split into 90 ready to use wave files. There are onboard, external, and foley sounds, all in high quality 24 bit resolution, 96khz sample rate. This is the right library when you need stock sounds of a common Subaru vehicle.

  Onboard multi-track recordings are in 4 separate mono wave files. Drag & drop or import each of the files into your audio editing software, then align them for creative mixing. There are also stereo mix versions of the OnBoard recordings. The External recordings are in stereo wave files. The combined recorded driving time is more than 35 minutes long.

  Onboard Settings:
  Channel 1 = Engine, Channel 2 = Airintake, Channel 3 = Cab, Channel 4 = Exhaust

  External Settings:
  Stereo in Left and Right Channels

  Add to cart
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  Foley Old Drawers Play Track 151 sounds included $14.99

  Old Drawers is a collection of 151 carefully recorded and mastered drawer sound effects.
  Opens, Closes, Slides, Rolls, Creaks, Wrestles and more!

  All audio files have been recorded at superb 192KHZ 24BIT. Multiple mic positions to capture all the little details such as rollers, creaky wood etc

  Comprehensive Soundminer's metadata. Over 20 different, old, traditional, wooden drawers.

  LOCATION: Spain, Costa Blanca. Traditional Spanish hacienda before renovation.
  RECORDED WITH: Sound Devices MixPre 6 + Sennheiser MKH 8060
  EDITED AND MASTERED WITH: Pro Tools, iZotope RX (mildly).

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  Water & Oceans Liquidation Play Track 180 sounds included $35 $29

  Liquidation is a liquid texture library covering everything from water to slime to fizzes and bubbles. Source material in this library includes wet slimy pasta, giant water balloons, large containers being submerged underwater, leather fizzing in a chemical bath, pool water splashes and more. Plus it was all recorded at 192kHz/24bit so you can really stretch and thrash these sounds – and the vast majority of the sound files are in stereo. Whether you're designing an underwater adventure or an alien autopsy, this library is full of complimentary textures to layer together.

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  Motorcycles Piaggio Zip 49cc Play Track 146+ sounds included, 30x4 mins total $80 $60

  Get the sounds of an old Piaggio Zip 49cc, a 2 stroke scooter from 1999. Its peculiar sound makes it an inestimable tool for film and games, whether it is a karting game, a sandbox or a drama movie.

  The library contains 72 onboard, 36 external and 38 foley recordings. Onboard recordings consist of 3 channels (two exhaust and one engine). A mix of these 3 channels has been included. Each single channel is included as well, so it can be layered as you please and make a different mix of the onboard recordings. External files include a stereo setup and a following shotgun.

  The riding recordings, where many different actions are happening, contain descriptive markers to highlight interesting events in an otherwise featureless waveform. These markers can be read in programs such as Izotope RX, Reaper and Soundminer. The markers are also included as .txt files in a separate folder.

  All files come in 96 kHz/24 bit with embedded metadata.

  

  Gear used: Zoom F8, DPA 4066, Sanken Cos11, Sennheiser 416, Sony D100.
  

  Sounds included

  False starts, startups, shutdowns, idles, revving, accelerations, decelerations, constant RPM at different speeds, passbys at different speeds and distances, approaches, driving away, kick starts, kickstands, horn, switching on and of with and without keys, light switch, opening and closing storage compartment.

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SYNTHHACKER

If you want to be a well rounded sound designer then you’ve gotta know your way around a synthesizer. Synths can give you ominous textures and 808 kick drums that can help your gunfire sounds pack a wallop. SynthHacker makes hyper focused synth design tutorials that cover a wide variety of styles. So watch that Justice style nu disco pad tutorial and then go make some serene sci-fi drones.

Notable videos:
How to make deep organic pad sounds
How to make Strangers Things style synths
How to make a Blade Runner synth lead

MARSHALL MCGEE

Marshall McGee is a sound designer at Avalanche Games that also makes videos about sound design for games, film, and TV (mostly games). His videos discuss how some iconic video games sounds are made as well as going into his own personal sound design experiments. Many of his posts have a video essay style feel and are extremely well edited and easy to watch.

Notable videos:
The sound design secrets of Horizon Zero Dawn
Making a powerful punch sound from scratch
The sounds of Uncharted