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I am looking for a GOOD place to start learning creating cool sounds for games. I was so glad to find StackExchange had a sound design forum! I'd prefer an online course, but please let me know which fields are important. I would also like to learn about composing scores for games (not to be a professional composer, but just to get to know it a little more.)

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  • It is worthwhile to note that music composition is off topic here, but we may be able to help with the sound design side.
    – AJ Henderson
    Nov 24, 2014 at 15:50

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Are you looking for a degree in this field? Or just online resources to learn yourself?

Here is a course you can look into: https://www.digipen.edu/academics/degree-programs/bamsd/

I am part of the audio programming degree here. Its absolutely amazing and if you are into music and video games this is where you would want to go.

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  • Thanks! BA sounds a little deep for me, I was thinking about something I can learn online in my spare time
    – Ted
    Nov 28, 2014 at 20:08
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Nothing beats experimentation! Grab a demo of Fruity Loops (FL Studio) and play with the synthesizer plugins. You'll be making cool sounds in no time.

Fruity Loops makes it very easy for someone who doesn't know a great deal about music or audio to create sounds, tracks, and mixes.

Don't expect professional sounding results right away, but usually if you can hack out something close to what you want, some other audio nerds would gladly help you polish and perfect it! ;)

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I really recommend finding sounds that you like and recreating them. As stated before, nothing beats experimentation. However, focused experimentation is really important. This is how I first learned - I was designing synth samples for a DAW and had to recreate sounds used in a number of songs. Not only did I get a better grip on synthesis/design but I also got to know which tools to use when. This is really important. Knowing which soft synth to use, knowing when to use samples etc is a huge time saver.

I even look up youtube videos on "how to make....sound". The more you do this, the more mastery you will have and the closer you'll be to making your own sounds.

I work primarily as a composer and do sound design gigs when I get them. Try and make as many contacts as possible with composers and get to know their workflow. It's a good way to get work as well as understand the process.

As for courses, I really believe in DIY and putting in the work yourself. People are happy to share what they've learned when you just ask, you can't do it all alone. The Berklee online courses are okay and can be quite valuable if you really put the time into them.

https://online.berklee.edu/

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I've known about a cool playlist of sound design "mini-tutorials" on YouTube specifically for Zebra2.

It covers things like:

  • Usage of ADSR Envelopes
  • Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM)
  • Frequency Modulation (FM)
  • Filter Cutoff/Resonance
  • and more!

If you would like to flesh out your sound design skills, it might be a good idea to watch them and see if you can learn any general tricks that you should be able to apply to other synthesizers. :)

Zebra2 Mini-Tutorials by uheplugins

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