Sound Design

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part of Audio Production · tier 2 · Audio · 64 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired for cinematic brand films, product films, trailers, and interactive or experiential work where sonic texture carries the emotion — impact moments, product sounds, world-building ambience, and sonic polish that makes footage feel premium.

The craft of creating and placing non-musical audio: foley, sound effects, ambient beds, risers, hits, and processed sonic texture built and synchronized to picture. Rich audio layers and effects used to enhance mood, often in cinematic or experiential content. The designed (not captured, not composed) layer of the soundtrack.

Tag it when…

Tag when the audio track audibly contains crafted non-musical elements synchronized to picture — foley, whooshes, risers, impact hits, designed ambience, processed or exaggerated product/action sounds — beyond incidental location audio. Deliberate sound-to-picture sync on cuts, reveals, or motion is the checkable signal.

Never tag it when…

Never tag when the soundtrack is only music (that goes to Music Composition or Music Production), only spoken narration (Voiceover), or only raw captured location sound with no evident design. Never tag merely because the piece is polished — the designed non-musical layer must be audible. The balancing of existing elements is Audio Mixing & Mastering, not this leaf.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• audio production music composition — Composition writes MUSIC (melody, harmony, score); Sound Design builds NON-MUSICAL audio (SFX, foley, ambience). A hybrid score-plus-design soundtrack tags both only when each is separately evidenced.
• audio production audio mixing mastering — Sound Design CREATES the sonic elements; Mixing & Mastering BALANCES and finishes elements that already exist.
• audio visual elements voiceover narration — Spoken narration is Voiceover; designed non-verbal sound is this leaf. A narrated film with designed SFX legitimately carries both.
• disc sound design — This is the specific leaf; the L1 discipline tag is the fallback only when audio craft is evident but its type is uncertain (CM1).

At what size it applies

§3 acid test: asset tag when a buyer would say the whole piece IS a sound-design showcase — designed sound runs through and carries it end-to-end. Moment tag when the designed beat is one you'd clip and reference — a transition riser, a sonic logo reveal, one designed impact — inside otherwise plain audio.

Pieces that settle the definition

• WINNING ISN’T FOR EVERYONE | WINNER | CINDY NGAMBA — Cinematic sports film whose designed impact sounds and ambience carry the drama (verified linked 2026-07-21)
• WINNING ISN'T FOR EVERYONE | CHARLES-ANTOINE KOUAKOU | NIKE — Same Nike series — crafted sonic texture synchronized to athletic action (verified linked 2026-07-21)
• 1,000 Grands Prix In The Making | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team — Engine and race sound built into a designed, layered soundtrack (verified linked 2026-07-21)

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.