Sound Ideas Blog

Sound Ideas Blog

This is the perfect space for sound ideas.

We are delighted to introduce Randy Thom, a prolific and well-respected Director of Sound Design, Supervising Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer as the guest blogger for Sound Ideas. Randy is one of the best in the field with Oscar, Emmy and Grammy nominations to his credit; as well as receiving C.A.S. Career Achievement and MPSE Career Achievement awards.

You can learn more about Randy here.

The Art of the Film Mix

September 30, 2026

A film mix is not an audio engineering problem. It's a dramatic one. The consoles, the plugins, the immersive formats… all of it is in service of a question that gets asked hundreds of times over the course of a mix: what should the audience be paying attention to right now?

The Art of the Film Mix

September 30, 2026 - Randy Thom

A film mix is not an audio engineering problem. It's a dramatic one. The consoles, the plugins, the immersive formats… all of it is in service of a question that gets asked hundreds of times over t...

September 09, 2026 - Sound Ideas

From the roar of a lion to the calls of exotic birds, the natural world is filled with sounds that can instantly bring a scene to life. Our new Animal Kingdom Sound Effects Library puts an incredib...

August 31, 2026 - Sound Ideas

When a production needs a specific sound, there are two main options: record it yourself or find an existing recording in a sound effects library. Both approaches have advantages, and professional ...

Building-Up Instead of Blocking-In

August 31, 2026 - Randy Thom

Sound is apprehended in time, serially, and the ear builds its sense of a world from particulars accreting moment to moment. Sound is built from particulars: specific songs, specific news bulletins...

August 26, 2026 - Sound Ideas

Great sound has the power to transport an audience anywhere. With three new additions to our Dolby Atmos and Ambisonic collection, sound designers can now explore environments ranging from the dese...

August 12, 2026 - Sound Ideas

In Episode 371 of the Tonebenders Podcast, recent Emmy nominees Danielle McBride and Tyler Whitham join the conversation to explore their work as supervising sound editors on the sci-fi comedy Murd...

July 31, 2026 - Randy Thom

In post-production, all sound, in fact every sound, functions partly as music functions. It makes us feel certain ways. It’s almost always a good idea to take some artistic license to hit the emoti...

July 30, 2026 - Sound Ideas

It's a question many creators ask before publishing a project: Are sound effects copyrighted? The short answer is yes, most sound effects are protected by copyright. Just because a sound is availab...

July 27, 2026 - Sound Ideas

In Episode 366 of the Tonebenders Podcast, host Timothy Muirhead reunites three of the industry's most respected field recordists, John Fasal, Charlie Campagna, and Eric Potter, for the second half...

July 15, 2026 - Sound Ideas

Every great production starts with great sound. That's why we're excited to introduce General HD 7, the latest installment in Sound Ideas' flagship high-definition sound effects series. Packed with...

Painkillers Instead of Diagnosis

June 30, 2026 - Randy Thom

Temp music tracks have been defended as a “necessary evil” in film editing. A shortcut to convey emotional tone and pacing before a composer enters. But temp music an be a crutch that conceals stor...

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