Practice is important in any field of study. This article will explore few short practice methods that you may find useful.
This is not to say you should only do short practices. You will want to mix it up. Working on longer projects can help you put together a better reel and shows dedication. Hopefully, this article can give you a few ideas to start practicing more efficiently.
Practice Less with a Short Sound Re-Design
Do you find it difficult to finish your projects?
Pick a short piece of footage or gameplay, set a timer for between 10 – 60 minutes, and start designing.
Finishing Something
It’s easy to start a project and then never finish it. By using short practice sessions, you can guarantee that you will have something finished by the end.
Work with different styles of work
Shorter sessions mean you can bounce around and try out different styles. You can quickly find out what you excel at and where you need to improve.
Meet Deadlines
You can improve your workflow speed as you need to think about using an efficient workaround, such as creating templates and presets.
Record One New Sound Everyday
This method will help you develop your recording skills and get you started in building your own sound library.
Building Library
Imagine you record 1 thing each day at around 10 variations for that sound. You would have around 30 files at the end of the month with around 300 variations.
Improve Recordings
During these sessions, you can play with your recorder settings, change microphones, play with the microphone placement, test the sound in different rooms, or practice the way you are manipulating the objects.
Finding Inspiration
Recording new objects can give you inspiration. Maybe your fridge sounds like a drone, or a lawnmower sounds like a sci-fi motorbike. Gain inspiration and ideas through your recordings. If you think something sounds cool, maybe write it down in a notebook.
Designing Sounds with a Single Plugin
For this, you will focus on a single plugin only. Try playing with the position of the knob’s and adjusting the dry and wet settings accordingly. Make sure you also experiment by automating the parameters for unique effects.
Improving ear
You will learn what each knob does. This can be useful on plugins that you have never used before.
Learn techniques
You should learn some useful techniques from this method of learning, and you may gain some ideas on how to use the plugin on future projects.
Build new presets
Presets are important for speeding up your workflow and developing your own style.
Conclusion
These practices are not meant to be an exhaustive list of things to do each day. Pick one per day or alternate between them for at least a few days per week. Taking breaks is a good thing, so if you want to take Saturday off, then do it. Do what you can and improve a little every week.
(If you are interested in receiving some free sound effects you can put your information in the box below to receive a free sound library. You can also browse more free libraries we release by following the link here: https://audiosmithylibraries.gumroad.com/)
