I can be a living example of someone who earned his (entry-level) place in the industry by being persistent despite having a bit amateur portfolio (no real demo-reel, but a bunch of random audio reworks and composer contest entries). Might not work for everyone, but I simply tracked down companies I dreamt of working for, ideally from my country so that location is not essentially a problem, and 2-3x a year I've sent them a heartfelt email showing a will to work even as an intern for free (for some time, of course). Of course majority of them either ignored it or sent a polite answer informing about no open roles ("better luck next time kiddo") or moving forward with another candidate. But after more than a year of struggling, one company agreed to hire me as a help for some spell sfx for their upcoming game rework. They were satisfied enough by my sounds and will to work for them afterhours, to maintain this relationship for almost a year, before offering me a full-time junior position just recently. The only thing I can say is - never stop pursuing something You wanna do. I've finally ditched corporate job and it is so worth it, even if this is just temporary state and I might not be lucky enough to make a long-term living off it, it is an experience worth...experiencing. 😅 But now I also see how intimidating audio-related areas can be for someone without previous experienced outside random youtube tutorials, and how self-reliant this business is with every hour spent on procrastinating turning against me. Self-discipline and dedicacy is sometimes harder than actually making cool sounds.

@xcryosonx

11 ай бұрын

Congrats on getting your first role. :) Reverse of your situation, I did actually move abroad for an opportunity. I would say I wouldnt rule that out if you're really dedicated to being able to do this as some places will only hire for an in-person role, of course evaluate whether or not that makes sense for you.

@minmaxaudio

11 ай бұрын

THIS

@szihu

11 ай бұрын

@@xcryosonx My congrats as well! I was applying to Ubisoft and Supermassive Games once, so I said to myself "fk it, if they invite me over, I'm moving out either to France or UK", but well, that didn't work out back then and I'm happily doing home-office for my current studio, which is in another city anyway. 😅 I surely don't rule out changing place in the future, because new environment, especially new country, might be good for mental health too (but I die inside a bit every time I think about moving all my musical gear and other useless trinkets 🫠)

@Imaginary___

3 ай бұрын

I needed this today, thank you for sharing and congratulations!!

Hair care routine and styling tutorial when?

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Haha! We'll do a trade. You do a tutorial on "how to get a perfect late night jazz radio host voice" and I'll do one on my 500 hair products.

@757SoundLab

2 ай бұрын

OMG I was like weird but true comment, then realized it’s two bad ass sound folks!

You don't necessarily need to have an expert level of Necromancy skill. Most companies will be fine with proficiency with Spare the Dying and Summon Undead. It's been many a year since a Game Audio professional has been expected to cast True Resurrection on their own. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do your best to learn the skills but don't let the fact that you don't know them now stop you from applying!

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Haha! As a lifelong DnD player, you get the award for best comment on my channel ever.

@pumodi

11 ай бұрын

@@AkashThakkarAudio this is the highest praise I have yet to receive 🤩

I'm starting an online course in Wwise in just over a week to get my tech demo reel in top shape, and I needed to see this. I know I have huge potential for this industry, but it really does feel very aimless at times, and I'm pretty anxious for the future. Glad to see a video from a pro that addresses how mentally taxing it can be to get your first sound design job - makes me feel less lonely

how to get an entry level game audio job in 2023: ... you don't lol. EDiit: its 2024 mfkers lets get it

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Hahaha it's HARD, especially going the standard route of applying to jobs and hoping it all works out. It becomes a lot easier (not easy by any means, but easier) when we network and work on plenty of projects to grow our skills early on in our career. I do wish it was more accessible and not so nebulous!

@OldManStudiosLTD

11 ай бұрын

facts

This video came out just in time. Thanks again for all your videos Akash! ...I love you

Great video! I certainly spent a few years being overwhelmed by the endless job postings. However, I just recently found a local game jam group and did my first jam with them and have attended a few networking events! This video was definitely great inspiration to keep at it with jams and local events!

Your Reaper series was top notch to make my workflow easier. Thank you for these resources!

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! I'm really glad it was helpful!!

I've been following your videos since I decided to pursue game audio and sound design and (after a couple years), i'm finally starting to get some minor jobs that I hope will snowball into more work. I'm naturally quite introverted but, mostly due to your advice, will be sucking it up and going to my first local game dev meetup in my city next month. Thanks a lot for all your videos and content, they certainly helped me :)

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

LOVE to hear that! Well done! I'm an extreme introvert (no one believes me, but it's true!) so you can definitely do it. Good job on moving forward despite maybe not wanting to be around people all the time.

Wonderful vid, thanks Akash

Thank you for showing us the reality of game audio jobs This would be my favorite job tbh! Making music and sfx for great games to come in future couldn't more than a dream! Woah! All of my favorite indie games have your sound 🤯💖

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

It's definitely possible! It takes a load of work, and a lot of self-motivation, but it can definitely be done.

yoooo it's Akash!!! I love your stuff dude

Dude your doggo is awesome. I'm going to go pet my pup now. Great video!

Great advice thank you!

You're a real G Akash. Don't stop making videos about Game Audio - Reaper series made my transition from Ableton much smoother (but it's still overwhelming at times). Any possibilities for some content about Unreal Engine? Like practical stuff and some blueprint logic not to become scared away by the sheer amount of windows/options that require to spend days in manual/forums? Also, any ETA on Your FMOD course? I'm crunching through the one You've linked in recent newsletter (the one from Pluralsight) and it's overwhelmingly informative, but I wondered how much could it be expanded upon now in 2023, since a few years of updates have passed, and based on how many games with great audio got released in the last decade, there surely is a ton of creative examples to showcase FMOD-wise (pun intended) as for how to extensively use given tools/modules to build certain audio systems/mechanics other than ambience/footsteps and such, since it's been covered. Best regards man!

I am a 29 year old musician , I’ve had an experience of working in the Bollywood film industry for almost 11 years. After excessively exhausting the patience of being a freelancer. I’ve decided to be an audio programmer but I’ve never had the opportunities to pursue bachelors and now I want to. But unfortunately I’m not one of the ‘eligible’ students. How do I go about this?

thank you akkash

Great video. Sound advice for...er..sound people who work...in sound.

Thankfully I'm slowly developing into the Necromancy skillset with the release of Diablo 4! 😁

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Hahaha same!

I know I have so much potential in this field since I’ve been sound designing and making music for around 10 years now. I’m going to start learning Wwise this week and I can’t help but feel extremely intimidated. It’s my dream job but it just seems so far out of reach for some reason. I’m gonna grind my ass off and not stop so I can hopefully land one of these jobs.

@AkashThakkarAudio

4 ай бұрын

Learn the skill AND remember to talk to people! Your network will be far more important than the raw skills.

You're the best Akash! I wish I could meet you in real life😂

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Haha! You're very kind! If you're ever at a game dev conference, I'm sure we'll meet!

@dalirakhimkulov4957

11 ай бұрын

​@@AkashThakkarAudio I hope I will someday) Do you visit only game dev conferences in America or somewhere else?

Hey, I had an issue with signing up for the wait list. When I clicked on the button to join, it sends me to the waitlist for the next course on the list (step-by-step sound design, which I went ahead and joined anyway.) but I'd like to be able to sign up for this one as well.

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Oh! Thanks for the heads up. I added you to the other wait list on my end, but I'll fix that up!

So what's the deal with that substantial digital red clock in the middle? Came for the content, and ended up analysing desk setup to see what another cool thing Akash is trying out 🍫

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

Haha! Glad you asked. So, I have ADHD, and a very common symptom of it is what's known as "time blindness", meaning that it's extremely difficult to have a sense of time passing. This makes it very difficult to know when to leave for events, how long you have before your next meeting, etc. Basically, an ADHD brain think in terms of time as "now" or "not now" with no in-between. So, as a result, I have huge clocks EVERYWHERE in my place, as well as visual timers in every room that I use constantly. I time everything from work sprints, to showers, commutes, and literally anything else you could think of. Often, I'm not trying to beat the clock or do things particularly quickly, but instead I need *something* to show me time passing. If I don't, I could literally be 4 hours late for my own wedding and not notice. And that's why I have the giant red clock (and a bunch more of them littered everywhere in my place).

@soundrav

11 ай бұрын

​@@AkashThakkarAudio Super interesting! And here I was thinking it was another anti-procrastination trick 🙃Thanks for explaining!

There is an option, that there are no more jobs in the industry for new-coming composers, who can't make sound design also. Like there are too many aspiring composers for too little paid projects, and there are about 4 working sound designers for 1 working composer. What do you think about that, is it true, like should we all double as a sound designers? Is it a good idea to enter composer career through sound design? I'm asking cause I feel you have same desire also

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

There's nothing wrong with doing both at the early stages of your career (in fact, you might have to as early projects won't be able to hire two separate people), but as you grow in skill and advance in the industry, sticking with one is a better idea. You'll also make more money the better you get at one core skill as opposed to being just okay at two skills. I personally prefer doing just sound design and never want to compose again, and ditching composition has helped my career immensely. Nowadays, I just hire composers to work with instead of doing any music myself. The thing to consider is that, if you want to be a composer, there are basically no jobs posted ever. You pretty much have to go out, meet people, grow your skills, share your work, and start on smaller projects. Going at a composition career in a traditional way of submitting resumes, searching for jobs, etc. is a losing battle. There are LOTS of jobs for composers, but they only go out to people who game developers know, like, and trust. If we hide in our studios all the time, then no one will hire us.

@PavelSemin

11 ай бұрын

@@AkashThakkarAudio Sure, thanks! Following your advice I participated my first GameJam last week and it was great. But our local community is really aggressive toward new composers, like "industry don't need you, there are too much of musicians going there, you all should be SD at least if you want to get into". I like SD as an idea, and I tried to make some simple FX, but I put much more time in composing chops. What do you think is like bare minimum in SD skills that I should add to my arsenal to get first small project?

@rickyalan1227

9 ай бұрын

​@@PavelSemin"deep work" - analyze every aspect of every sound you like and try to replicate it. There's no replacement for lots of practice and passion my friend. Best regards

My dream is to be a sound engineer at gaming company.

Do you need a degree to become a game audio? Or just the skills and portfolio?

@AkashThakkarAudio

5 ай бұрын

Definitely don't need a degree! It helps on a resume, but if you meet people in the world of game development, you'll be able to skip those sorts of requirements. It's not easy, but very doable!

Ok, this is great. But what about us sound designers who came from TV, Post etc… I have been doing linear work for 20+ years. I’d love to do work for games but it seems like it’s mostly coding and using Unreal engine 5 or Unity or this other thing?! Technically where can I start learning, HELP!! I went to audio school around 2002 and I feel like it may as well have been 1942…lol

@AkashThakkarAudio

4 ай бұрын

There's pretty much no need to code if you're in game audio! Knowing a bit helps, but it's a huge myth that it's necessary. Coders don't want us touching their code. Just learn FMOD and Wwise, and learn the basics of Unreal Engine and Unity. For bonus points, learn the basics of Unreal Blueprints.

@andrewcarson5567

4 ай бұрын

@@AkashThakkarAudio thx for responding! I began the free lessons on Wwise, pretty dope. Are their free lessons out there for Fmod and unity and unreal? Thx!!!!

Everybody is composers! hahahaahahha

How do people even get jobs.... and Yes Job postings in every field are like that 0:18 I always get replies like , Im not graduated from a Audio school, Art school or some prestigiuos university

@AkashThakkarAudio

11 ай бұрын

That's very common, unfortunately. The way around the requirements is to talk to people in the industry. The more people who know who you are and trust you, the more likely they are to skip over the requirements like a degree, amazing reel, years of experience, etc. The link in the description has free courses to help with that!

Thank you very much for your video. I am a beginner here, but I looking forward to get one :)