How to make a Demo Reel in Sound Design
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create a Professional Sound Design Demo Reel
When learning how to make a demo reel in sound design, it's essential to follow a structured process. This article offers a step-by-step guide tailored to sound designers at all levels, but especially useful for those just starting out. While there are many great sound design demo reel examples out there, this guide focuses on teaching you the best practices for creating a reel from scratch.
From choosing the right video clips to mastering the audio mix, the goal is to create a demo reel that showcases your unique sound design techniques and helps you stand out in the competitive field of sound design for games and other industries.
A why and how-to for aspiring Junior Sound Designers
What is a sound design demo reel, and why does it matter? What do I do if I have never done game or film sound design professionally? How long should a demo reel be for sound design? What should I include in my demo reel? Should a sound design demo reel have music? This article will shed some light on these questions that so many aspiring sound designers have asked over the years.
Simply put, a sound design demo reel is a video or set of videos that demonstrates your sound design skills, and is your strongest chance to impress a potential employer. The reality is that a sound design c.v. (or resumé) without a demo reel will stay at the bottom of the pile. But what if you have never done sound design professionally or otherwise? Not to worry! Read on and you will learn how to create a sound design demo reel without having any prior professional experience.
How long will it take to make my demo reel?
Give yourself a goal of about a month to complete this project.
What videos should I use for a sound design demo reel?
To begin, you will need to source some video content. Find a segment of a game capture, or part of a movie, or trailer for a game, that inspires and resonates with you. The goal here is to have a video clip or clips that you will completely redo the sound design for, so make sure you are inspired by the videos! For a demo reel, it is completely legal to use a segment from a well-known game or trailer or movie, as long as you visibly acknowledge the source.
In total, your demo reel for sound design should be about 90 seconds in length. A good approach is to choose videos clips that showcase different moods, styles, and paces. For example, a 30 second clip of a cartoony game, another 30 second clip of an exciting action trailer, and another of a stealthy scenario in a video game or movie. In this way you can show your skills in various aesthetics, and also appeal to a wider range of job openings.
I have chosen my videos. Now what?
Once you have selected the video or videos, you next want to bring them into your DAW or (Digital Audio Workstation) of choice, and then remove or mute the audio from the clips. If you do not yet have a DAW, we recommend that you download a trial of Reaper, as the trial lasts as long as you want and is fully functional.
Also, you will be able to put that on your c.v. in your software knowledge section. If you have chosen to go with multiple video clips, make sure to have a separate DAW project for each, otherwise things will get too messy. Before bringing in sounds to your project, make sure to come up with a naming convention that works for you in intuitively organizing your audio tracks. Use folders for organization, and color code your tracks.
You want to make sure to have a structure that you can easily follow and track. Equally importantly, make sure that your routing structure, effects and/or auxiliary sends through to the master channel is configured in a way that you are comfortable with. If you are a beginner at using DAWs, keep your routing chains very simple so you can go back to your session and get into the design aspect quickly and without confusion.
If you are more advanced in your knowledge of DAWs and signal chain routing, feel free to show your chops! Provide a few screenshots on your website to demonstrate your knowledge of routing. Since you will likely be sharing your video via internet, a stereo mix is totally acceptable. There is no need to do a surround mix for your demo reel for a junior sound design position.
Another beneficial aspect to all of this, this that will surely be a part of your growth as a sound designer, is that while you make your demo reel, you will likely come across the fact that every software has its quirks and limitations. Kind of all the time. Game engines, as great as they are, always promise to give game developers costly headaches, it is part of the job. That said, be sure to back up your work, and save your project often.
Where do I find sounds for my demo reel?
Sourcing the sounds for your project is going to be the next step. This is of course the pinnacle of good sound design - the source audio material. With a quick search you can easily find a lot of free sounds on the internet, but make sure they are as high quality as possible, without distortion, with very clean and detailed sound captures.
Often, sound library digital stores have a free sampler available which can be used for free and are of professional quality, "Often, sound library digital stores have a free sampler available which can be used for free and are of professional quality, as we do with our free sound pack .
If you have a friend with a sound library, you can borrow it for your demo project as the sounds will not be used for commercial reasons. If you have your own quality sound recorder, have fun and make your own recordings! If you go this route, make sure to include that info on your demo reel somewhere as that will very much impress any potential employer.
Also, you will definitely learn a thing or two about capturing audio which is an art in and of itself, and it brings the project to a personal level which in and of itself is totally worth it. Trust us on this one, recording and capturing sounds is what we do, and the reason we do it is because it is a hell of a lot of fun and we want other sound designers to have the highest quality sound effects libraries available to them.
I have my videos and sound sources ready, now what?
It is now time to set to work in designing the audio for the videos, from scratch, with your own unique flavour. It must be stressed here that this is not an exercise in trying to replicate the original audio! Here you want to showcase your own sonic identity, and create the audio journey from your own perspective.
From the start, you need to have an idea about the mood you want to portray. In that regard, a good idea is to start with the ambiences to get the space feeling immersive. Create ambiences that are fitting, non-repetitive, and detailed. You will find that your sound design should fall into place in a more natural way after the ambiences are established.
Then of course you’ll get into creating the audio for the more dynamic objects in which you will need to pay attention to panning, appropriate mix levels, how the sound should fit in the world, and above all, again, the quality of the sounds you choose.
The use of appropriate reverbs is very important to convey the spaces. Make sure to pay attention to things like the materials on the walls if in interior spaces for example. Your work will be heard by seasoned ears, so rest assured your effort will not be lost. Details matter! This is the really fun part of this project, so enjoy creating your soundscape!
Should I include music in my sound design demo reel?
For a demo reel it is often not necessary to have any music at all. Some people might suggest that you do not use any music at all. However, it can be a way of helping with the mood you want to portray.
Do not blanket your sound design if you choose to put music, but put it more in the background. Again, you can choose any music you like as it is not for commercial use. Pro tip - if you choose to put music on your clips or clips, do all of your sound design and ambience work before putting music to it. My demo reel is sounding good to me, what next?
My demo reel is sounding good to me, what next?
Two or more sets of ears are better than one, always. Once you have done a good pass and you are becoming proud of your demo reel, have someone that will be honest with you watch the video and give constructive criticism about your sound design.
This is something that people are generally very happy to do. I routinely ask other sound designers for opinions about my sound work, even 22 years into my sound design career.
It used to sting a bit when someone said “nah this part of the sound is not sparkly enough” or whatever, but now it gives me pleasure to hear from their perspective so I can make better choices. Sometimes of course the comments are not exactly right in my opinion, and that’s fine too. Art is subjective after all!
Something you can optionally do is to include some notes on the making of your demo reel. A brief note about what you recorded, any voice work you did, what your influences were and so on can be great, but keep it succinct and to the point.
My sound design demo reel is ready and sounds amazing! Now what?
You will need to decide on how you will make your sound design demo reel easily accessible for a future prospective employer. Gone are the days when a DVD is sent along with a c.v.! By far the best option is to have a link to a simple website that you host your videos on.
There are plenty of easy and free options for creating your own website with straightforward instructions on how to embed video and so on. On your website, you should of course also post an “about me” section and post your c.v. there.
Employers like an all-in-one place to learn more about what you can offer as a potential employee. It does not need to be fancy, but of course a simple and well laid out site is something to aim for. Your demo reel should be easy to find, easy to press play, and that’s pretty much it. What is going to be listened to is how you have interpreted and recreated the sound.
When you are satisfied with your work, pat yourself on the back!
This is a landmark moment that you will always remember. This project you have undertaken is a very real step towards becoming a sound designer. A professional sound design job often requires the sound designer to do what you just did!
We hope that you have found this article useful. If you have any specific questions or feedback we would love to hear from you. We wish you the best of luck!
-Paul
I'm co-founder of SilverPlatter Audio. We provide sound effects packs for sound designers, film editors and music producers.
