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terrybritton wrote:It would appear, in Arturia's case - on the Matrix Brute page anyway- that the term "sound designer" is the current buzzword for preset designer.

That's pretty much the same conclusion I've come to, but I've seen the term crop up in other non-cinematic contexts, and it's always the same names. Perhaps I'm reading too much marketing lit. Seems like a nice gig.

cuttime wrote:

terrybritton wrote:It would appear, in Arturia's case - on the Matrix Brute page anyway- that the term "sound designer" is the current buzzword for preset designer.

That's pretty much the same conclusion I've come to, but I've seen the term crop up in other non-cinematic contexts, and it's always the same names. Perhaps I'm reading too much marketing lit. Seems like a nice gig.

Any gig that let's you play like that is a great gig, IMO.

Yeah, what should be referred to as "Patch" or "Preset" design, or even sound-library programming, is what has been termed by some marketing hype as sound design, IMHO.

David P, John "SkipPy" Lehmkul and Hans-Jorg Scheffler et al are sound-library programmers, and I have the utmost respect for them.

Yo, dude!

monkey man wrote:Yeah, what should be referred to as "Patch" or "Preset" design, or even sound-library programming, is what has been termed by some marketing hype as sound design, IMHO.

David P, John "SkipPy" Lehmkul and Hans-Jorg Scheffler et al are sound-library programmers, and I have the utmost respect for them.

Indeed!

Hey Mike. Hope you're well, bud.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Yo, dude!

Yo Magilla! You big, fat, hairy son of a... gun, you.

Whew! You're not talking about me! I agree that "Sound Designer" could mean a few different things, but there's no other word to describe the job that I do. I'm not doing folly or sound effects for any sort of dramatic medium, but even so, I would be surprised if game audio designers would refer to themselves as "folly" (though they're essentially the same thing). So, yeah, I call myself a Sound Designer.

Preset creators should refer to themselves as sound programmers or patch designers. If you're managing miking for stage or studio, you're an engineer. To me, sound design is any non-musical composition with recorded and/or synthesized audio for a function. Folly and Sound Effects are one type of sound design. But engineering and programming are different, though may be involved.

For another perspective: My studio partner for 20 years is a Broadway Sound Designer. Mostly musicals. He won the first Tony offered for Sound Design. He designs the sound system including FOH, speaker location and sub systems for actors and musicians, usually under the stage, for each theater. He sometimes creates SFX and MIDI trigger events and their systems. He also sets all the audio mixes and then hires someone to run the whole system. His job is quite extensive and there's a huge live component to it. I agree the term has expanded in meaning the last 20 years. His job description includes almost all of it.


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Gravity Jim wrote:

cuttime wrote:

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Sound design in theater and film are critical to the success of a production. N
I guess you’re talking about pop music? Don’t listen much so can’t relate.

No, I'm not talking about pop music or theater. I'm talking about abstract stuff like this.

Well, if it would be so easy for you to reproduce, I suggest you move to Hollywood, USA and take the industry by storm.

Ah, I'm just busting your chops. A sound designer does exactly what his or her title suggests: they create original SFX for use in film and TV. They may start with one or several organic sounds, and/or one or several synthesized sounds (SD guys are total synth wizards).

For example, producing a series of radio spots, I was asked to create the sound of Godzilla breathing fire. I took the sound of a fire breaking through a door and finding fresh oxygen, a Japanese bullet train speeding by, and a lion's roar I ran backwards. After mixing these three sounds with some judicious EQ, I ran the resulting stereo track through a synth for some filtering action, add a long trail of a simple "crackling fire" SFX and... violá! A sound that "reads" as Godzilla roasting a building.

Imagine doing that hundreds and hundreds of times for single film or video game. Light sabers don't really make that "booowaughooooooo" sound when you switch them on. A sound designer made that sound from scratch.

I gotta agree with GRavityJim here. If it’s so easy, get started and make a ton of money.

There are some amazing “sound designers” / “preset designers” out there. There are also BS artists who are just latching on to a popular label. Same as any profession or genre of music. Your post lumps them all together, implies that it’s all BS, and you could do it if only you deigned to give it the time.

Sorry if I seem harsh, but there are so many who toss bombs indiscriminately from the sidelines these days. It’s become a real sore point with me.

I saw the OP’s reference to Richard Devine.

I know Richard Devine as a fellow programmer.
I think he is an absolute genius.

Richard Devine is all about “micro” sound
design...the tiny spaces between events.
If you’ve worked with granular synthesis (not
a realm for the faint of heart), you’d know
what that means. To the inexperienced, it
sounds like the musical equivalent of “my kid
could paint that”. On closer and very immersive
inspection, you’ll discover that Richard’s
work has perfect order, beauty, logic, and
inspiration. It is very well-thought out, but to
the casual listener it sounds like “bleeps and
bloops”. I can assure you, it goes way beyond
that. But you have to have patience and listen
to it, instead of just “hearing” it.

Richard has done lots of sound design for
movies and commercials.

I once asked him how he did the “Scraped
Frame Drum” sound for Absynth 2. He replied,
“dude that was easy. It’s just waveshaped noise”.
To this day I still marvel at that one preset.
It sounds like someone rhythmically scraping
a large calfskin drumhead..and yet, as he
explained, it really is waveshaped and
enveloped noise, not a sampled recording.
It’s effin’ brilliant.

All synth programmers are sound designers.
And all sound designers are synth programmers.
And they are engineers and mixers too..these
days, you have to wear all the hats.

David Polich wrote: And all sound designers are synth programmers.

Actually, no. I've done sound design for decades and while I can and have programmed sounds on synth from scratch, much of my designs for theater, modern dance, film and an array of projects has been done with manipulating extant sounds and samples. I would agree that the better designs are, in fact, highly manipulated/resampled in a sampler or synth, but again, a sound designer does not necessarily a synth programmer make.

Thanks for your input, David. I meant no disrespect to anyone involved.

James Steele wrote:the sound of a laser firing was made for the first Star Wars film

I visited a friend who had a place in the country. He had a stock pond that was frozen over. Somebody tossed a horse apple into the air and when it hit the ice, it made a cool sound that I thought would be great for a science fiction movie. I didn't have a recorder with me back then, or I would have recorded it and Gone Hollywood.

In an unrelated event that day, one of the guys brought a cheap, lightweight .44 magnum pistol. One of the ladies present fired it, and the recoil sent the pistol into her forehead, cutting a gash in it.

Memories.

Getting a little close to politics, IMO. I don't see the relevance of the gun story.

Jim wrote: In an unrelated event that day, one of the guys brought a cheap, lightweight .44 magnum pistol. One of the ladies present fired it, and the recoil sent the pistol into her forehead, cutting a gash in it.

And this is why I don't hang around this forum much any more.