Guides
Practical notes on choosing, editing, layering, and mixing sound effects for games. Workflows, listening checks, and starting points you can adapt to your own project.
Trim sound effects without clicks: an editing checklist
workflow·5 min read·editing, one-shots, fadesA clean sound effect needs a deliberate start, a usable decay, and an export that behaves like the edit you approved. This checklist helps you trim one-shots without adding clicks or removing their impact.
Read →Mono or stereo sound effects? Choose for the job
workflow·5 min read·mono, stereo, spatial-audioChoose mono or stereo by deciding where a sound should live. A moving object, a menu confirmation, and a background ambience have different jobs. Check placement, mono compatibility, and memory before committing to a format.
Read →Weapon hits in three parts: the stack that makes a swing feel like it landed
technique·8 min read·combat, weapons, impactI worked on a small action game where the lead complaint from the first internal playtest was "swords don't feel like they connect." The animation had impact frames. The hit reaction on the enemy was correct. The SFX played at the right mo…
Read →Looping ambience without seams: the four-second handoff
technique·7 min read·ambience, looping, mixingThe first ambient loop I ever shipped in a game was a 30-second forest bed for a wandering RPG. It was a good recording. The team loved it in isolation. Two weeks after launch, a community member uploaded a 4-hour playthrough video, and in…
Read →Stop stacking footsteps like a cake: a four-layer approach that actually sounds like walking
technique·7 min read·footsteps, layering, mixingThe first time I shipped a stealth game, the build lead opened a bug ticket two days before release: "footsteps sound like a sound effect library." Which they were. We had 14 surface types, each with 8 randomized samples, all properly pitc…
Read →Why your UI sounds feel exhausting after ten minutes (and three things to try)
technique·7 min read·ui, ux-audio, mixingTwo months into the alpha of a turn-based strategy game I worked on, a tester filed a comment that took us a while to act on: "the menu sounds are nice but they make me want to mute the game after a while." We'd shipped a clean, crisp UI p…
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