Categorizing the Sounds

Building the environment and artificial environment can be alot. Which is why it's important to break it up into different categories. So, for this next example I will explain how each sound is labeled in its own category in order to bypass confusion when developing the entire project. But first, here is another clip from my show Fall Out (EPS 2, Part 1: Even the Monsters Aren't Alone). I recommend reading the synopsis of the scene below before listening.

In this scene we are now in entirely different atmosphere. General Red (Another B character) is in HQ back at the city's base, discussing with his subordinates about the missing squadrons, and the Top-Secret cargo that had been successfully brought back to base. The only personnel to had make it back from the mission was Tom's driver, John (B character) who had delivered the cargo back to HQ alone. General Red is going on about how the "project" is still continuing on course and that the Killard egg is being prepped in the lab (The top-secret cargo is a stolen egg from the monster's nest). Just as things begin to run smoothly the entire cemented building takes an enormous hit. The entire room in HQ violently shakes then stops. Several more intervals of hits shake the room causing a power surge. After several moments the backup generator kicks in, and the rooms power comes back online. After searching through the computers data base, surveillance identifies the source causing the seismic activity. To the General's Suprise he stares at what looks like a gargantuan mutated monster, attempting to bash down the city's protective walls. Quickly realizing that the egg they stole belonged to the monster and must have followed the cargo driver (John) back to the city. (The monster is called a "Killard".) 

(Again, my illustrator is James Stead)

Categorize your sounds and scenes

Sometimes you're going to have a ton of sounds that will in all make up a scene. This can easily make your work more frustrating and then suddenly the puzzle pieces are scattered everywhere. Not to worry there's a simple solution, categorize. Create a separate soundtrack to each category of sound. For instance, if one layer of sounds comprises of explosions, make sure u keep all your explosions on the designated track. Another category might comprise of gun fire, so place all your variations of shots fired here. Now this approach can prove to be very neat and convenient, but if your scene has a lot more going on, you're going to need to create duplicate sound tacks for a singular category. This is because one sound might need to be going on almost immediately if not at the same time as another sound. This also applies to separate categories of sounds, but always keep your common sound tracks close together to avoid confusion so if you go back and have to edit a specific sound, you know what category to find it in. (Overall, this just makes your life easier as a sound designer.)

Another method to utilize your time when looking for the right sound, is to create a file on your desktop. Within that file create several separate files keeping each one labeled. One file label it ambience, another file labeled footsteps, and another labeled city noises. And to organize even one step further for example with the file labeled city noises, make another file inside of it categorizing the specific noises that constitute the different aspects of city noises. These methods will prove to make your job in creating sound structure less hectic and more manageable.