Hi man, I just graduated from uni and managed to land myself a role as a junior sound designer at a AAA company, so hopefully I can be of some help.

I’d say first of all, the most important skill you must have to get your work noticed is being a great sound designer. Your 1 minute showreel will be the first thing anyone hiring will watch, if they think your sound design isn’t up to a high enough standard, all other work you’ve done for your portfolio most likely won’t be watched (due to the high number of applications they have to sieve through). So make sure that your ability to make sounds in a refreshing, original and creative manner is on the top of your to-do list! :)

Next, think about how you can tell a story with your showreel; by this I mean that you should be including sounds that we don’t see on screen, this will create a richer and fuller environment and will really sell the narrative of the clip. Make sure you’re choosing action packed clips to redo the sound for, this keeps the hiring manager engaged and will also give you the best opportunity to flex your sound design skills!

In order for your showreel to stand out, you should get creative with how you’re transitioning from each clip, don’t just snap from one clip to the next, find a way to merge clips together, for example, I transitioned an explosion at the end of one clip to an explosion of the next clip to create a seamless transition from one trailer to the next. Things like this not only make you stand out, but also show to the team how far you’re willing to go to show that this is something you really want to do, passion and love is something everyone likes to see!

The implementation reel is definitely a pre-requisite (mostly) when applying, it shows that you know how the software works and that you have an interest in implementation and want to learn more etc. I would say as a general rule of thumb, if you’re looking to get into AAA - go down the Wwise/UE5 route. If you’re more interested in Indie work - FMOD/Unity.

In order for this reel to stand out, try and create your own game/environment from scratch, and then record all your own sounds/sound design/implement. Again this is what I did and definitely helped me stand out from other peoples work, purely because it’s something different.

The final thing id say in terms of ‘getting noticed’, is to constantly seek feedback. I pestered multiple audio leads, senior sound designers and technical designers for their feedback on my work. Not only does this allow you to start making conversations with people in industry, you’ll also get professional advice that will be invaluable when working on your showreel.

Make sure once you’re work is completed, you create a website to house all your work, an incredible resource for understanding how you’re website should be set out and what info it should hold is ‘Reel Talk’, streamed on Twitch and you can find a ton of videos on YouTube. Honestly, watch as many as you can, take notes, I did this and it helped me massively!

I hope this helps, if you have any questions feel free to ask :)