Game Audio Power List

Welcome to our Ultimate Game Audio page: The A Sound Effect blog is home to a huge number of game audio posts, and we're now making it easier to find the very best ones - so whether you're looking for game audio resources, interviews, guides, tips, sounds, books, jobs, community pages, or more that has to do with sound for games, this extensive list has you covered.

It's taken (quite!) a while to compile, but we hope it'll help you in your game audio journey - and we're continuously updating the list, so keep checking back for more. Happy exploring, and be sure to share with your friends and collagues, so more people can benefit from these resources!


 


 

Game audio stories and resources:

 

Newest game audio stories:

Here are the latest game audio-related posts from the A Sound Effect blog:

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See more new game audio posts

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Shortcut:

You’ll always be able to find the Game Audio Power List at asoundeffect.com/gameaudio



Essential Game Audio Interviews:

 

We’ve published a huge number of game audio interviews on the A Sound Effect blog over the years
– here are some of our favorite ones:
 


Crafting Ghost of Tsushima’s Tremendous Sound

Go behind the gloriously grounded sound of Ghost of Tsushima – with Audio Director Rev. Dr. Bradley D Meyer and Senior Sound Designer Josh Lord:
 

Read the story here



How The Last of Us Part II’s incredible sound was made:

The Naughty Dog sound team gives you the full story behind the sound for The Last of Us Part II here:
 
 

Read the story here



The Secrets to Creating Jurassic World Evolution’s Excellent Game Audio:

Interested in what goes into creating outstanding sound for games? This interview on the sound for Jurassic World Evolution is a must-read:

Read the story here



Jesper Kyd on Composing the Viking-themed Score for ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’

BAFTA-award winning composer Jesper Kyd takes you behind the score for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla:
 

Read the story here





Creating the Soaring Sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020:

Find out how the stunningly-realistic sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was made in this huge interview:

Read the story here



Designing Half-Life: Alyx’s Superb VR Sound:

How the Valve sound team expanded the sound of the beloved Half-Life 2D-game into the VR realm:

Read the story here



Making the magical sound of ‘Ori and The Will of the Wisps’

Get the story behind the beautiful sound of ‘Ori and The Will of the Wisps’:
 

Read the story here



Shaping the satisfying sound of ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’

How Respawn Entertainment’s sound team designed their first Star Wars game — Jedi: Fallen Order:

Read the story here





Behind the glorious sound of ‘God of War’:

In this exclusive, in-depth A Sound Effect interview, Mike Niederquell and the sound team at Playstation takes you behind the scenes on the stunning sound for the game.
 
 
 
 

Read the story here



Read – or hear – how Hitman 3’s hard-hitting sound was made:

Hitman 3 is a hit with both players and reviewers, and here’s the story on how its excellent sound was made – now available as both a written Q&A and an audio interview:
 
 
 

Read the story here



Game Audio (Super) Deep-Dive: Behind The Outer Worlds’ Otherworldly Sound:

Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds was released a short while ago and fans are loving it. The sound team, led by Audio Director/Composer Justin E. Bell, played a huge role in bringing this dystopian space adventure to life.
 

Read the story here



Creating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Award-Winning Sound – huge sound team interview:

The Game Awards just named Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as having the Best Audio Design. In this in-depth A Sound Effect interview, the team members talk about their approach to designing an immersive and realistic sound experience:

Read the story here





Creating the charming sound design – and glorious honks – for ‘Untitled Goose Game’:

Em Halberstadt takes you behind the scenes on the sound for ‘Untitled Goose Game’:

Read the story here



Behind the beautiful sound of Monument Valley 2 – with Todd Baker

This is how Todd Baker created the stunning, lush sound of Monument Valley 2:

Read the story here



Designing the delightfully vintage sound of ‘Cuphead’ – with Samuel Justice

Samuel Justice takes you behind the scenes on the sound for this striking indie game:

Read the story here



Making the sound of ‘Minecraft Dungeons’ with Mojang’s audio team:

How Mojang’s audio team took the sound of Minecraft into a new direction:

Read the story here



 

Find more game audio posts here

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Game Audio Resources:

 

The A Sound Effect blog features a number of game audio guides, covering everything from the technical aspects of game audio and implementation, to tools, techniques and audio business insights – here’s a hand-picked selection:


10 Essential Tips for Game Audio Freelancers

Here are BAFTA Award-winning sound designer Rebecca Parnell’s 10 essential tips for game audio freelancers:

Read the story here



3 Principles of Sound Design for Games – by Rob Bridgett

At the brink of a powerful new console generation, here’s a reminder not to lose sight of the fundamentals of sound design:

Read the story here



37 tips for great game audio success – from the community:

Get lots of insights from the community on how to create great game audio:
 

Read the story here



4 Effective Ways to Break into Game Audio:

Adam Croft shares 4 fundamental things you can do to make that game audio dream a reality:
 

Read the story here





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

Struggling with setting rates as a freelancer? Here’s a guide to help you get the numbers right:
 
 

Read the story here



An Introduction to Game Audio Scripting in Unity (Part 1 & 2)

Game audio scripting offers lots of exciting opportunities – this guide helps you get the hang of it:
 
 

Read the story here



Building the Dream Work Environment at A Shell in the Pit

In this interview, Gord McGladdery shares with us how he maintains an innovative work environment and a resilient business model:

Read the story here



Creating audio for games – with Martin Stig Andersen:

Acclaimed sound designer & composer Martin Stig Andersen shares some of his techniques, approaches – and favorite gear – in this new video:
 

Read the story here





Defining Your Creative Goals with Audio Storyboards:

Game sound designer Bryan Higa shares inspiring insights on how to use audio storyboards in your creative process:
 
 
 
 

Read the story here



Game Audio: Making it with a small team, a short timeframe and minimal resources:

Horus Station takes place in an abandoned space craft – and its atmospheric sound was created by a small team in a very short timeframe and with minimal resources. Here are the key insights and lessons learned by Can Uzer and the team:

Read the story here



Game Audio Glossary: Game Development Roles – and how they relate to your game audio work:

Find out how different game development roles relate to your game audio work:
 
 
 

Read the story here



Game Audio Guide: How to write a (game-changing) audio design document today:

Some years ago, veteran sound designer and game audio director Zachary Quarles wrote an excellent guide on how to do an audio design document – and this is his followup to that guide:
 

Read the story here





Gear is not the ticket to entry in the game audio community

How to build a lean, effective game audio setup that gets you off the ground – without breaking the bank:
 
 

Read the story here



Guide: Essential books about sound – for film, games and audio post production

An overview of excellent books on sound for film, games, recording and audio post:
 
 

Read the story here



How to get your game audio pipeline right – workflows, organization and the tools you need

Getting your game audio pipeline right is essential for a smooth-running development process – here’s how to do it:

Read the story here



How to prepare for – and power through – a layoff in the game audio industry, with Brian Schmidt:

Game audio veteran and GameSoundCon creator Brian Schmidt on how to bounce back from a game audio layoff:

Read the story here






REAPER for Game Audio – Getting Started & Rendering

Learn how to make the most of REAPER for game audio:
 
 
 

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Reaper for Game Audio – Part III: Project Scopes & Subprojects

Find out why project management can be one of the most powerful and unique features that Reaper has to offer:

Read the story here



The road ahead for game audio

Game audio guru Damian Kastbauer reflects on the road ahead for the audio community, and the challenges and opportunities it offers:

Read the story here





Transmodality in game sound design: How we use sound to fill in the sensory blanks:

Ashton Mills explores how game audio can help convey information from a broad range of senses – for a much richer gaming experience:

Read the story here



Unreal Engine’s built-in game audio capabilities demonstrated using blueprints

Tzvi Sherman demonstrates the many game audio possibilities you get with Unreal Engine’s blueprints:
 

Read the story here



What Wwise can do for your game audio

Tzvi Sherman demonstrates many of Wwise’s powerful tools for implementing your sounds into a game engine:
 
 

Read the story here



Why sound is crucial in stealth games

Greg Lester just released a great video on the importance of carefully-crafted sound design in stealth games:
 
 

Read the story here



 

Find more game audio posts here

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Please share these resources:

If you’re finding these resources useful, please share a link to this page with your network so more people can benefit from them – thanks in advance!


Essential Sound Design Guides:

 

As a bonus, here’s a hand-picked selection of some of the very best guides and resources for sound design
and sound recording from the A Sound Effect blog:


How to create horror sound effects that are truly scary (and gory!)

Find out how to create your own horror sounds, brutal gore sound effects, scary ambiences and ghoulish monster vocalizations in this exclusive guide:

Read the story here



How to create impressive fire and ice magic sound effects

Learn about tools, techniques – and surprising props – for creating magic sounds in this in-depth video tutorial:
 
 

Read the story here



How to Design Fierce Creature Vocals

Chase Steele returns with an excellent new tutorial on creature vocalizations (and he throws in 26 free sound effects for you too as a bonus!):
 

Read the story here



How To Design Futuristic Vehicle Sound Effects

Sound Spark’s Chase Steele shares his approaches and ideas for designing futuristic vehicle sound effects:
 
 

Read the story here





How To Design Stellar Spaceship Sound Effects – an Essential Sci-Fi Sound Design Guide:

Find out how to create fantastic spaceship sound effects in this special, in-depth guide – complete with examples, free sounds to design from and much more:

Read the story here



How To Design Superb Sci-Fi UI Sound Effects:

Discover the key to excellent Sci-Fi UI sounds in this guide by Ruslan Nesteruk – with additional insights from veteran sound designers Mark Camperell, Jason Cushing and Ivo Ivanov:
 
 

Read the story here



How To Design Supreme Sci-Fi Weapon Sound Effects:

How do you design awe-inspiring sci-fi weapon sound effects? This in-depth sound design guide will show you how:
 
 
 
 

Read the story here



Rule of Thirds: A Sound Design Approach by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares his approach to making the creative process easier:
 
 
 
 
 

Read the story here





Sound Advice: The Key to Outstanding Animation Sound Design

Experienced animation sound designer Jeff Shiffman shares his tips, tricks and insights for outstanding animation sound design:
 

Read the story here



Ten Second Technique: Tips to Improve Your Sound Design by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares the 10-second technique he uses to improve his sound design skills:
 
 

Read the story here



The Essential Guide To Recording Weapon Sound Effects – With Watson Wu

Few people on this planet have more experience with weapon sound effects recording than Watson Wu, and in this exclusive guide he shares how you do it right:

Read the story here



The Essential Primer to Recording Car Sound Effects

Max Lachmann and the team at Pole Position Production have spent a decade perfecting their car recording methods. This is how they do it today:
 
 

Read the story here



 

Find more sound design guides here


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Want a bonus sound effects gift?

Do you run a blog, website or similar resource about game audio? If you share a link to the Game Audio Power List – https://asoundeffect.com/gameaudio – there, be sure to give us a heads up about it here to receive a special SFX gift from us, as a way of saying thanks!



 

Game sound effects:

 

New & popular game sound effects libraries:

 

If you need game sound effects, here’s an overview of some of the most popular releases from the independent sound community:

 

Most popular game sound effects in the last 30 days:


 
Newest game sound effects libraries:


 
Overall most popular sound effects libraries in the last 30 days:



 

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Need specific sound effects? Try a search below:

 

If you’re looking for something in particular, try this custom sound effects search box:



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More game audio resources:

 

AUDIO JOBS

– find audio jobs around the world:


Soundlister is home to 1000s of Audio Jobs, with a large number of them being game audio jobs. We continue to share a number of new game audio opportunities each week, and we’ve also added a new search tool to help you explore past opportunities + a way to see all posts tagged with a specific job title – effectively allowing you to browse by title.
 

Visit the Audio Jobs page on Soundlister Get the Audio Jobs Newsletter Join the Audio Jobs Group on Facebook Search for audio jobs

 

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those audio jobs? The url audiojobs.org will always take you straight to the latest audio job posts on Soundlister



 

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AUDIO PODCASTS

– find great podcasts about sound

The newly-formed Audio Podcast Alliance features a carefully-chosen selection of the absolute best podcasts about sound out there, with many of them focusing on game audio. Discover the cream of the crop of what the community has to offer when it comes to audio-related podcasts below:

Click below to jump straight to your chosen podcast (and hear their newest episode):

AMPS PodcastCAS In ConversationField & FoleyImmersive Audio PodcastLA Post Production Sound DesignLevel with Emily ReeseLocation Sound PodcastSound BusinessSoundbytes PodcastSoundGirls PodcastSoundtrack ShowSoundworks CollectionThe A Sound Effect PodcastThe Dolby Institute PodcastThe Game Audio JourneyThe Sound Architect PodcastTonebendersTwenty Thousand Hertz

Visit the full Audio Podcast Alliance page

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those podcasts about sound? The url audiopodcast.org will always take you straight to the podcast overview


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AUDIO PROFESSIONALS

– find talented audio professionals from around the world for your projects:

If you’re looking to grow your audio team, Soundlister offers an overview of 1000s of audio professionals from all over the world – with a dedicated overview of audio pros specializing in game audio (whether it’s audio directors, composers, field recordists, foley artists, sound editors, sound designers, re-recording mixers or voice actors):
 

Find audio professionals who specialize in game audio

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those audio pros? The url audiopros.org will always take you straight to the 1000s of audio pros on Soundlister


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GAME AUDIO BOOKS

– find great books about sound for games:

There are a number of great books on game audio, and we’ve gathered a few examples for you below:

100 Unusual, Novel and Surprising Ways to be a Better Sound Designer in Video Games – by Rob Bridgett (get the book here)

Aaron Marks’ complete guide to game audio – (get the book here)

Leading with Sound – by Rob Bridgett (get the book here)

New Realities in Audio: A Practical Guide for VR, AR, MR and 360 Video – by Stephan Schütze (get the book here)

Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design – by Jean-Luc Sinclair (recommended by Dave Raybould – get the book here)

Pro Tools 10 for Game Audio – by Greg deBeer (recommended by Ruben Antonio Infante – get the book here)

Tales of a Technical Sound Designer – by Damian Kastbauer (get the book here)

The Game Audio Strategy Guide– by Gina Zdanowicz & Spencer Bambrick (get the book here)


More books about sound:

If you’re looking for more books on sound for games, film and television, check out Julien Matthey’s excellent list, enhanced with ongoing suggestions from other members of the worldwide audio community:

Find many more books about sound here

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those books about sound? The url booksaboutsound.org will always take you straight to the book overview


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GAME AUDIO GROUPS

– find game audio community groups around the world


Want to meet up with friends and colleagues in the game audio community? Game audio groups often arrange local audio community meetups, talks, trips and other social events – and the Worldwide GameAudio page maintains an excellent list of community groups around the world:

 

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those game audio groups? The url gameaudiogroups.com will always take you straight to the game audio group overview


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Please share these resources:

If you’re finding these resources useful, please share a link to this page with your network so more people can benefit from them – thanks in advance!

 

GAME AUDIO ON SOCIAL MEDIA

– find groups and conversations on game audio:

LinkedIn and Facebook:

Game AudioGame Sound DesignGame Sound Design GroupSound designers groupVideo Game – Composers & Sound Designers

Twitter hashtags:

#GameAudio#GameMusic#GameAudioDev

Discord:

The Game Audio Channel on the The Audio Community Discord Server


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SHOWCASE YOUR AUDIO WORK

– showcase your skills and be discovered by those who need them, completely free:


As an audio professional, Soundlister lets you showcase your skills and be discovered by those who need them. It offers an easy way to present your showreel, highlight your favorite projects and let visitors know where to find you on social media:
 
Set up your free profile on Soundlister here


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THE AUDIO EVENTS CALENDAR

– find audio-related events around the world – and online:

Looking to find audio-related events such as audio industry conferences, community meetups, special events, Q&As, online courses and more? Check out the Audio Events Calendar, where we’ve shared more than 800+ events since its launch.
 

Browse the Audio Events Calendar

Bonus: Want an easy-to-remember shortcut to those audio events? The url audioevents.org will always take you straight to the Audio Events Calendar


 

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BONUS: Expand your skillset with the free Sound Success Guide:

Want to branch out beyond game audio? Learning new sound skills can open up opportunities for additional revenue – and with the (entirely free) 60+ page Sound Success Guide, you get insights from 20 industry experts on how to get started and succeed in 18 different types of audio jobs:


Sound Success Guide



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