What is Sound Design?

An Introductory Guide for Content, Game, and Video Creators

Hello, we are the VARCO Sound team, developing AI for sound creation.

The most common feedback we received while creating our service was this:

"The sound is coming out, but I can't tell if it's good or bad."

We heard this especially from planners, developers, and indie developers. No matter how fast the tools become, if there is no language to judge the results, you won't know which direction to take for the next attempt.
That's why we created this series.
This is a five-part guide for those who are feeling lost in front of sound while creating games or videos alone, rather than for those who want to make sound design their profession.

Sound Design Only Needs Appropriate Sounds

The beginning of sound design is finding 'appropriate sounds'.

It's like drawing a good sketch just by transferring the visible objects and colors. There is no need to use flashy effects or techniques from the start. Expressing the visible situation in sound without exaggeration is the first step to excellent sound design.

When a wooden door closes on the screen, a dull sound of real wood hitting is heard, and when a character walks while wearing clothes, the rustling sound is heard at the exact timing. Just that allows players to easily understand the world on the screen. Before adding extravagant spatial effects or exaggerated effects, it is most important to convey the inherent texture and weight of the object without distortion.

This honest process, faithful to the essence, is the most solid and excellent starting point for sound design.

What Sounds Should Be Included When Creating Game Sounds?

The sounds heard in a scene are usually layered in multiple layers. If we break down a forest battle scene, it looks like this:

• Ambience: The sound of wind in the forest, distant bird sounds, and the sound of trees swaying
• Foley: The player's footsteps, the sound of armor moving, the monster's footsteps, and the sound of the monster moving
• SFX: Skill activation sounds, sounds of various skills and effects
• UI Sound: Damage indication sounds, quest completion sounds, and system notification sounds

Basically, these four are layered to create a scene. This process of stacking multiple sounds is called Layering. It is the most basic yet important concept in sound design, appearing throughout the series.

This concept is also incorporated into our service design. The reason VARCO Sound provides generated results as separate tracks rather than a single file is that actual sound work is done in layers, and if the results come out as a lump, there is no way to adjust them later. We will discuss this in detail in Part 4.

How is Sound Created?

1. Planning: Determine what sounds are needed and what sounds to include.
2. Source Acquisition: Record directly, find in libraries, synthesize with a synthesizer, or create with generative AI.
3. Placement: Layer multiple sounds on tracks.
4. Processing: Refine with effects like EQ and Reverb and balance with other sounds.

What has changed significantly in recent years is step 2. In the past, obtaining the desired sound was a big task. You would search through libraries, go out to record if you couldn't find it, and if that didn't work, you would create it with a synthesizer. Now, if you write "the sound of water droplets falling in a dark cave," candidates appear in seconds.

The rest—planning, placement, and processing—are all human tasks. Deciding what is needed, judging whether the results are good, and determining how to use them are all up to people. The time spent acquiring sources has simply shifted to time spent judging. This series addresses the language of that judgment.

What Should You Prepare First?

You don't need expensive equipment.

• Computer and Headphones: Start with what you have. Ordinary wired headphones are better for judgment than gaming headsets that exaggerate sound.
• DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): Software for editing sound. You only need to choose one from the list below.
• Environment to Create Sounds: VARCO Sound can be used in the browser without installation. You will receive free credits upon signing up, so check the concepts one by one with your ears while reading the series.

Free DAWs to Start With

Options to start without spending money.

DAW	Platform	Features
GarageBand	macOS · iOS	Pre-installed on Mac. The lowest entry barrier.
Cakewalk Sonar	Windows	No track limit even in the free tier. The most powerful among free Windows options.
Waveform Free	Win · Mac · Linux	Unlimited tracks and no plugin restrictions.
Pro Tools Intro	Win · Mac	Free tier of the industry-standard Pro Tools. Limited to 8 tracks.
Audacity	Win · Mac · Linux	Strictly an audio editor. Useful for cutting and refining files.
LMMS	Win · Mac · Linux	Open-source. Specialized in beat making and sequencing.
Ardour	Win · Mac · Linux	Open-source. High flexibility but requires setup.

Some free options come with conditions. Reaper has a paid personal license after a 60-day trial, but it is relatively inexpensive. Ableton Live Lite and Cubase LE often come bundled with audio interfaces or MIDI controllers, so check if you plan to buy equipment.

Paid DAWs Commonly Used in the Field

Just for your reference. You don't need to purchase them now.

DAW	Commonly Used Fields
Reaper	Game and video sound, large sessions. Excellent performance for the price.
Pro Tools	Industry standard for film and broadcast post-production.
Nuendo	Specialized in game and film sound. A version of Cubase with added post-production features.
Ableton Live	Electronic music, sound design, live performance.
Logic Pro	macOS only. Good configuration for the price, widely used for personal projects.
Cubase	Composition and MIDI editing. Has a strong user base in Korea.
FL Studio	Beat making for hip-hop and EDM.
Studio One	Intuitive workflow. Recently, the user base has been growing rapidly.

If your goal is game or video sound, Reaper or Nuendo are the most commonly used in the field. However, it doesn't matter which DAW you choose at first. The concepts covered in this series are all common, and even if you switch to another DAW later, the tasks remain the same, with only the screen layout differing.

The most important preparation is not the equipment but the listening ear. Starting today, focus on the sound while playing games. Analyzing why impact sounds feel refreshing and how the atmosphere changes when entering a boss room is the best training habit.

Series Roadmap

• Part 2: The Principles of Sound · Frequency, amplitude, waveform. You will be able to describe sound in words.
• Part 3: Basics of Synthesizers · The principles of synthesis that create sound from nothing.
• Part 4: Introduction to Audio Effects · How to refine with EQ, Compressor, Reverb, and Delay.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q. Is sound design different from composition?
Yes, it is. Composition is the act of creating music with melody and harmony, while sound design involves designing sound itself, regardless of whether it is music. In games, BGM is composition, while sound effects and ambient sounds fall under sound design.

Q. Can I learn this without a music major?
Yes, you can. The focus is on the physical properties of sound and how to use tools rather than sheet music, so non-majors can easily enter the field. Many game developers also handle sound.

Q. If I use AI tools, do I not need to know this?
On the contrary, the faster the tools produce results, the more the ability to judge what to choose becomes a bottleneck. This is also the reason we are writing this series.

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Create While You Read

By creating "the sound of wind in the forest" and "the sound of water droplets in a cave" on VARCO Sound, you can feel how ambience defines space. You can start in the browser without installation.

→ Start with VARCO Sound