Sound Design Career Question
So I'm currently working as a theatrical sound designer, and I'm wondering if anyone from Riot has any advice for someone who wants to jump from designing sound for the stage to designing sound for a game?
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Hey twizid460!
I myself did some theater sound design before getting into game audio. There is no clear cut direction, and no one way is better than another - but your creativity, sound design craft and passion will guide you where you need to go.
I can share some of my story and hopefully it will help point you in the right direction. After I graduated from university with a degree in music and independent study in sound design I moved to Minneapolis, MN to fulfill my internship requirement to finish my degree. After my internship was over I started freelancing - taking whatever work I could get - commercials, indie films, etc etc. After someone told me that Minneapolis had the highest number of theaters per capita of anywhere in the US I started approaching theaters looking for work.
I did this for several years and I worked on some craaaaaazy plays. Weird stuff man! lol. But this entire time I was really looking for that "job job" - a place I could go to everyday and get a guaranteed paycheck doing something I loved. And what I really loved was creating audio experiences for immersive and dynamic experiences. I had been a gamer all my life and up until this point I never thought - "hey i could probably do games!" - I incorrectly assumed that you needed years and years of schooling and special training before a game company would even consider me. My piles of school loans told me that that wasn't a real option (even though I looked into Vancouver Film School.) I looked at Sound Design positions for a ton of game companies - and almost all of them required at least 2-3 years experience in the gaming industry or having shipped one major title (and this was just for an associate position.)
So I went and ignored these requirements and applied anyway! Something I don't know if I'd recommend now - but it sure helps you become desensitized to rejection letters - there will be lots of those so don't ever get discouraged! My rejection letter to acceptance letter ratio throughout my career is probably like 50:1! Especially when you're starting out with zero game audio experience. But one day, a game company (Volition) wrote back and gave me a sound design test. A few months later I had my first job in the game industry and I was working on Saints Row: The Third and I had never worked on a game before in my life.
It is 100% possible to get a game audio job with zero experience. Everyone starts somewhere. Some things you will need:
-A killer demo.
Most progressive game companies will overlook actual game audio experience if you blow them away with your skills (entry level positions). Its difficult to put a reel together with theater stuff (or at least it was for me.) I would recommend taking video game trailers or clips of actual gameplay and replacing the audio with all your stuff. Make your own reel - get feedback on it - make it better - get feedback on it again - and keep making it better until you're ready to show game companies what you can do. I was explicitly told that I was given a sound design test at Volition due to the content of my demo reel.
-Passion and Work Ethic
You need to bleed with passion. You need to tell yourself that amazing things will happen to you if you continue to work hard and do everything you can to improve your skills. It might take awhile - but I firmly believe in this and continue to tell this to myself today. Work hard - never give up and breeze past times of frustration and self doubt. You are what you think!
-Get familiar with the tools.
Alot of game companies use audio middleware software (Wwise, FMOD, Unreal, Unity). Look these guys up - read the manuals - watch tutorials - get familiar with them because if you get a job in the game industry you will most likely be using these on day one.
-Go to GDC
Every year tons of people make amazing connections by meeting people at GDC. GDC is where I first met members of the Riot audio team. I didn't start working for them until a year after - but they remembered me and our interactions the day we met.
I hope this helps! If you ever have questions please feel free to respond to this thread. Have a great day!
EDIT: Actually just realized that alot of game audio studios have internship positions. That would be an incredible place to start too.