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Is it just me or is the title "Sound Design" entirely ill-formed?

Speaking from 17 years of experience in audio production and engineering, background in band producing, advertisement and acoustics and vibration analysis, "Sound Design" does come out very, very narrow, "designing sound" applies to a very specific niche of synthesized sound, which is far from illustrative of the scope of this site so far. "Sound Design" implies "from the ground up" - you design the sound, therefore it applies only to synthesized sound, and doesn't apply to capturing and modifying sound and the associated workflow and toolchain, which seems the bulk of this site is all about.

Keeping in mind the topis addressed here, I'd say "digital audio" or "PC audio" or "sound engineering" is far more apt naming, I'd personally opt for the latter.

Are we married to "Sound Design beta"?

  • Hi there. Can you suggest a name for this site, keeping in mind the topic scope? Request for Ideas: Site Name – Marc W May 15 '16 at 20:03
  • @MarcW - thanks for pointing that out, I added an answer there. – dtech May 16 '16 at 9:59
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    Before merging with Stack Exchange this used to be site called Social Sound Design with focus on everything film / game / etc. sound design related. After the merge things have changed a lot - majority of sfx sound design people left the place and this has become another "anything audio related"-site where people ask how to make dubstep... – sauli Jun 17 '16 at 6:51
  • I'm of the opinion that the merge wasn't the best of ideas, too. I miss the old SSD days; the site had a lot more activity from top names in the industry, which it greatly lacks these days. The merge has diluted the Sound Design discussion (which is what I came here for) with random other 'sound' questions. – Skarik Sep 10 '16 at 13:46
  • @Skarik - the format of sxe is q&a, not discussion board. You are still free to ask your questions, provide your answers and chat to discuss stuff with other users. The site has not lost any functionality, and has gained scope and more audience. – dtech Sep 10 '16 at 14:26
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This is an artifact of an (arguably ill conceived) merger of "Social Sound Design" and the Audio Production side of "Audio/Video Production". We've been working on trying to replace the name, as Marc W pointed out. It really isn't remotely accurate currently.

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    Though I wasn't here when that merge happened - I still cannot help but think it was a bad move. I'd love to see this site more focussed on audio production for both 'records' & 'movies', rather than its intended, yet ultimately failed focus of 'foley/adr'. Video Production swamps any audio questions in amongst video codec & Premiere questions, which frankly, to a sound engineer are just so much noise ;) – Tetsujin Aug 21 '16 at 8:57
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I actually think Sound Design is a good name for a this exchange since question vary from Audio Engineering/Sound Reinforcement down to home studio music production and a smattering of posts about actually synthesizing sounds.

In working live sound, the lighting guys' official title is usually 'Lighting Designer'. I think that's a much better general title than 'Audio Engineer' for someone who may not have any actual "engineering" academic background. Sound Designer seems appropriate for all levels of experience.

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    I have to disagree with that... Sound Design is a specific area, and apparently it suited the site before the merge. But, everything changes for good or bad. The deed is done and we have to make the best of what we've got. And being stuck with the same name hinders the current community from moving on and growing in it's own right I think. – Marc W Aug 7 '16 at 4:59

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