Designing Creature Vocals Part 1

May 31, 2023 - Randy Thom

Part 1 In my opinion, designing believable and organic-sounding vocalizations is the most difficult kind of sound design. Over many decades I’ve received lots of audition tapes from you...

Squish Is the Epiphany I Finally Had

April 28, 2023 - Randy Thom

Have you ever observed a stream of water flowing where there were no ripples, no splashing, and no bubbles? Did you notice that there was also no sound, or nearly no sound? Here’s my theo...

Mono versus Stereo versus Multi-Channel Sound

March 31, 2023 - Randy Thom

In a field as vast as audio and audio for media, it’s dangerous to generalize about what is good and bad, what is more useful and less useful. A great sound strategy for a theatrically re...

The Sound Design Power of Single Events Composed of Multiple Closely

February 01, 2025 - Randy Thom

As sound designers, we’re in the business of seducing the ears of our audience. Human ears tend to be attracted to sounds that change over time. The least interesting sound in most cases ...

The Ear, Not the Gear

January 24, 2023 - Randy Thom

It’s sad so many people think that the main thing you need to do to master an art is to master the tools. Learning how to speak, or to sing, is not mainly about getting good at moving you...

Mining Accidental Gold in Sound Effects Libraries

January 10, 2023 - Randy Thom

I got my start in the film biz as a sound effects Recordist. By some miracle, Walter Murch answered the phone when I called American Zoetrope in 1978 and asked to speak with him. After a...