How To Become A Sound Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sound designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Sound Designers are in charge of getting all sound effects needed for production, whether recorded or live. This person also needs to set up the sound playback equipment and ensure that the board operator has received sufficient training.

If you're thinking of starting a career in this field, you need to be very imaginative since a production's sound design is an artistic component. To design sound effects rather than simply re-record them, you need to first study the script and meet with the Director to discuss the best sound attributes for the show. After this, you can start putting together the cue list.

As someone aspiring to be a sound designer, you must be an outstanding problem-solver. Not just this, you should be able to think quickly and clearly when anything goes wrong. Irrespective of educational background, what is essential for sound designers is a broad understanding of audio editing, microphone selection and placement, electrical engineering, and acoustics. You'll earn up to $52,966 yearly as a sound designer.

ScoreSound DesignerUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $71,949

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.39%

Asian 5.10%

Black or African American 8.20%

Hispanic or Latino 16.52%

Unknown 6.48%

White 63.30%

Gender

female 14.00%

male 86.00%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

0.5

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sound designer

Explore sound designer education requirements

Most common sound designer degrees

Bachelor's

69.4 %

Associate

14.4 %

Master's

9.0 %

Start to develop specific sound designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Audio Assets	23.54%
Pro Tools	10.49%
Wwise	6.18%
Video Games	5.35%
PC	4.18%

Complete relevant sound designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sound designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sound designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sound designer resumes.

Research sound designer duties and responsibilities

Manage PowerPoint and mixing music at the same time.
Record live performances to multitrack DAW.
Implement audio using FMOD, Maya and proprietary tools.
Edit and master pre-record shows and audio clips and prepare for play on air.

Prepare your sound designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sound designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sound designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sound designer resume templates

Build a professional sound designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sound designer resume.