Practical plugin tip.
Decapitator is still my fav saturator. Rarely use it full blast. This is my default setup to start from. I use this all the time to thicken things up. More as a compressor than distortion. I'll tweak at 100% mix and then dial back to 50/50 usually.
22. record as much stuff as you can! it doesn't matter what gear you have. a recording you have is more useful than the theoretical recording you're waiting on getting gear to record. even your phone recordings can be useful! don't get hung up on gear. as well, the more you use what you've got, the better you'll get with it. you can learn the ins and outs of your gear to get the most out of it. ignore all the things saying you have to have X, Y and Z. just get started with what you have.
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.
20. a specific practical tip. for recording squishy sounds, jello AND pudding mixed together sounds better to me than either one alone or layered together. find ways to mix up the textures of things you're recording and don't be afraid of getting messy.
19. don't forget about varispeed when doing pitchshifting. still an incredibly powerful tool. and how lots of old sfx would have been made so can be very good for getting you into an era.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
mattesque