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21. take some time to appreciate how awesome this thing we do is. there's lots of hard work, struggle and boring tasks but overall making sounds for games is a really really fun job. take some time to live in that joy.

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18. make some time at the end of a design to let it and your ears rest. have a break and come back to it. you could be surprised how things sit after you've gotten away from a sound/song for a bit. time and context can both change how we think something works

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17. Your voice is one of the most powerful sound design tools at your disposal. It takes practice to get good with it, like any instrument/tool.

Whole games have been done with just mouth sounds. Even with a crappy mic you can do tons with your voice so get recording!

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16. if you can afford it, a controller with knobs can be lots of fun and inspirational. might take a little to get mapped up right but getting to use your hands on multiple knobs can be more creative than penciling one thing at a time.

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15. when you're "finished" designing a sound, take a step back and see if all your layers or plugins are actually doing something. check what you can simplify. sometimes things just add mud and reduce clarity. eliminate what isn't doing anything in the end product.

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14. I don't "master" my sfx for games but I do like to use the same master bus plugin chain across all the sfx I'm making to help impart a certain vibe to things. doing lots of small subtle things across the whole game can help glue things together.

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13. on a new project and needing UI/HUD sounds, I like to make 1 folder to pull from to help unify things. make a bunch of recordings, library pulls, all into one spot. that becomes my source for everything. helps create a common palette for all those related sounds.

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12. when you need random recording inspiration, a dollar story can be a treasure trove of objects. lots of odd little things and at a price that's not problematic to break in the process. thrift stores can also be great. and hardware stores.

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11. super practical. to make a file loop. take your file in your daw. split it in the middle. move the back half to be the front half. cross fade in your new middle (will need to play with to get smooth. now your top and tail are from the exact same crossing points.

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10. be aware of where/who you get advice from. do they have a background that makes sense? why are they giving out advice? are they selling/promoting something? we've all got biases and it's smart to try and figure those out when taking advice

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9. buying a new plugin? have a look at what you've already got. does it actually do something new? speed you up? do something different? or just shiny and new? very often, what you've got does more than you're doing with it. be sure to check in on your current stuff.

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8. don't get stressed about gear. "doing" is important part. record with what ever you can get your hands on. use stock plugins! expensive mic/recorders/software are great and can make things easier but you can, and will, make amazing things with "low end" gear.

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7. your game audio should be either Informing The Player or Building The World. if it doesn't do one or even better both of those things, rethink why it's there. revise till it does or get rid of it. getting rid of the audio clutter can really help your game.

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6. always be serving the game. we can do really cool audio tricks but they can be a waste of time/resources if they aren't making the game better. save them for where they really make the game better. cool tricks do have a place. just make sure they're in the right one.

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5. whenever possible, leave yourself room to fail. some of your greatest work will come from trying crazy ideas that might not work. plan in time for experiments that are new and untried. don't just stick with what you know works. growth will come from the failures.

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4. “Kill Yur Babies” when a sound/song doesn't work, get rid of it, rework it, revise, change, do what it needs to make it work. we all make garbage sometimes. not everything works. that's how it goes. be open to the feedback that something isn't working. and change it.

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3. Related to previous tip, Get your work into the game as quickly and soon as you can. Don't spend time perfecting something out of context. Even something half finished can tell you a lot once it's in the game.