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Graded Unit Plan

Portfolio Proposal 

My overall goal of this assignment is to develop a portfolio which highlights the skills within my chosen role as a sound designer. To achieve this, I will showcase projects which I’ve completed and explain how they relate to my chosen role. The first artefact I will showcase will be a post-production piece, syncing sound to my chosen animation clip, which will demonstrate skills I’ve learned throughout this portfolio such as manipulating and warping audio files. My second artefact will be a fully mastered music track, which will be recorded, mixed, and mastered within Pro Tools. For my third and last Artefact, this will be an original composition daw track, produced within Ableton, Highlighting my Creative skills as a musician, and technical skills. The portfolio will we split in 3 Parts. The Planning Stage, Development stage, and Evaluation Stage.

Role Description - Sound Designer

A sound designer by nature is someone who creates and manipulates sound for all kinds of visual/Interactive media and will often work with film/music producers to assist in the creation of the project. There are all kinds of projects sound designers can work for, for example it can be film, cartoons, video games, etc. Usually, the most common task for a sound designer to pursue is foley, which is recording and manipulating sound to create an authentic sound which assists in creating a realistic and authentic sound for the visual media. This can be sounds such as the ambience of the background, footsteps, talking, small movements. They would also use existing samples and sound libraries if they fit well with the visual media, and often they would utilise plugins to manipulate and individualise the existing sample. Another role a sound designer is tasked with is to create their own sounds using synthesisers and plugins. This can be used creatively to create a unique sound for items/things that which doesn’t have a direct connection to an existing sound. For example, monsters in horror movies, magic, etc.

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The foundation of being a skilled sound designer is to having proficiency in with Multiple Daws (Digital Audio Work Stations), and Middleware, as this allows the sound designer to broaden their projects, giving them the ability to work with multiple types of media, such as film, apps, and video games. Understanding equipment such as microphones, audio plugins, outboards are essential, as well as understanding acoustics whilst recording, as almost all types of media require some level of foley and understanding how to get a high-quality recording by simply understanding room acoustics help tremendously. Being creative in this field is necessary to become a skilled sound designer, as the role often requires creating unique sounds and understanding how sound interacts with the environment. A simple but very necessary skill to acquire for this role is the understanding of different formats and file types, as creating a high-quality mix of the project and exporting to an MP4 will result in a lower quality mix.

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A sound designer’s job can be tedious and could take weeks to complete a single project. This is why they must be able to be well organized, and patient as this will keep allow them to be more efficient with their work. Another trait that would be required for the role is to be artistic and creative, being able to come up with ideas and executing effectively to see if it works plays a massive role in being a professional sound designer.

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An entry Level sound designer can expect to earn on average a salary of £18,000. The average salary for more than 5 years’ experience in the industry is on average £23,000. And an experienced salary can be between £25,000 and £50,000. There are cases where this can be higher however is usually only for the most successful sound designers in the industry.

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Sound designers are mostly freelance, so to get started as a sound designer you must be able to get clients. To get started as a sound designer the most effective way is to have an extensive audio portfolio of your own work. This will allow you to showcase your skills to any potential clients. To get the foot in the door the most efficient way is to start with smaller projects, which will allow you increase your reputation within the industry, and increase your social network, which will potentially increase the chances of landing bigger projects down the line. Another way is to potentially land an entry level position or internship within the industry. This gives you the opportunity to work with industry professionals and increase your reputation in the industry, increasing your portfolio, and potentially landing bigger projects.

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Charles Maynes is a Film/Videogame Sound designer, and a musician. He has been in the forefront of the industry with major Hollywood films, and record selling videogames, He won 2 Academy Award Sound Editing Awards. His earliest work which is credited in IDMB is a movie called ‘Return of the Killer Tomatoes!’ which debuted in 1988. Since then, he’s worked in over 200 projects. He is mostly known for his work in the 2002 Spider-Man, Letters from IWO Jima, Twister, and the TV series SEAL Team.

Ben Burt has an extensive portfolio of impressive work. He is most known for his sound design within the industry with titles such as WALL·E, and Star Wars etc. And he’s won 2 Oscars. He’s most known for is work within the Star Wars franchise, and is credited for the creation of Chewbacca’s voice, the iconic Lightsaber hum, R2-D2’s voice, Yoda’s voice and many more. His other notable works include Indiana jones, star trek, E.T and many more.

Christopher Boyes is a sound designer with another extensive portfolio of work. He’s mostly known for his work on projects such as Avatar, 2005 King Kong, Pirates of the Caribbean, and iron man. His earliest credited work is on a film called the Unbearable Lightness of Being, released in 1988. Since then, he’s worked on a number of Hollywood hits such as Toys, The little mermaid, Mission Impossible, Iron Man 2, and many more.

Artefacts 

Artefact 1 - 
Sound For Multimedia - Majora's Mask 

For my 1st artefact, I will use my Sound for multimedia project as one of the artefacts within my graded unit. This will show all my skills relevant to my role as a sound designer. One of the main skills this will showcase is my ability to efficiently utilise the relevant software’s (Ableton live) and manipulate audio files to create the highest quality sound for my chosen visual media. This project also shows my understanding of music theory, as well as my creative skills. as I recomposed the soundtrack in my own style. This also shows my ability to use Midi as well as recording aspects, as many of the channels were created using synthesisers, stock/external plugins to create my desired sounds. In one of my other assessments, Recording and mixing, we were required to set up microphones and record in the highest quality possible. This allowed me to progress through my multimedia project as I wanted to ensure that I recorded Foley, to capture a sense of realism in the visual media to the highest quality. Throughout my assessment I ensured that I kept multiple copies of my recording, one on a thumb drive which I took to college, one on my home computer and others with multiple versions on the cloud (OneDrive). This ensures that if one gets corrupted, I wouldn’t lose the project and also allows me to go back to previous files if anything goes wrong within the current version. This helped with all my Artefacts as It allowed me to keep them all organized

Artefact 2 - Recording & Mixing - Fontaines DC - Starburster

For my 2nd Artefact, I will be using My Recording Project ‘Starburster’ From the Recording and Mixing unit. This artefact will show all the skills I have learned which are also relevant to my chosen role as a sound designer. This artefact shows my ability to effectively collaborate with my peers, as we have separated duties to each other to maximise our efficiency within the recording studio. This will also show my proficiency in utilizing industry standard equipment such as Microphones, mixing desk, Outboards, Digital Audio software’s (Protools, Ableton) etc, as we have used the equipment to our highest standards to achieve the highest quality. This will also showcase skills that I’ve learned from this module, I.e. to correctly use microphones, such as placement, and polar patterns due to recording different instruments and vocals, as we have used a mix of stereo/mono for some of the recording, as

well as different polar patterns such as omnidirectional, and cardioid. This will also highlight skills I have learned from modules, such as DAW/Synthesis, as we Used an Analog synth for our recording project, Recorded in Ableton, and exported into Protools. This artefact will also show my ability to plan, with a recording plan created, and work efficiently with a deadline. Throughout this module, I kept a number of copies of the project, one in college and one on my thumb drive, my peers also kept a backup which allowed us to safeguard the project file in case any issues arise.

Artefact 3 - Synthesis & Sampling - Electronic Assesment Song

For my 3rd artefact, I will be using my project from my synthesis and sampling module. This will highlight my understanding of music theory, as well as my creative skills. And will also highlight my ability to use Industry standard equipment and software. In this assessment we had to follow guidelines such as a minimum use of 2 Midi tracks with my own synthesisers, 2 audio tracks, a sampler with our own recording, and the use of automation. This artefact will also highlight skills which I have learned throughout this project. Such as the use of different types of synthesis such as Analog, Wavetable, Collision etc. Use of automation and modulation on multiple parameters in different channels, recording midi using a midi keyboard, Quantising midi notes to grid, grouping channels for volume control and plugins, using sampler creatively to create unique sounds, setting levels in each channel to a professional standard and using compression, The use of EQ to remove unwanted frequences. In this artefact, this will also display skills which I have learned from other modules. Such as Sound for Multimedia. ensuring that I have multiple backups of the project, one on my thumb drive, which allows me to work with this project at home, and one at college.

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