Sound Design
If music is emotion, sound is primarily information.
Yet, even a split-second sound effect can instantly shift our state.
Our brains are wired in a way that makes us physically unable to ignore sounds. A sharp signal will automatically put you on alert, while the familiar sound of receiving money in a banking app will instantly lift your spirits.
Moreover, in audiovisual content, sounds don’t just complement the picture. They play a much more profound role — they make us truly believe in what is happening on the screen.
Our Sound in Action
We Craft
Sound design for video games
Sound design for video and motion graphics
UX sound design for apps and interfaces
An important note on UX sounds: they work best as part of a cohesive audio ecosystem for your product. That is why on the Audio Branding page you can find out much more about this specific service.
From Idea to Sound
Over the past few years, we have developed a clear and effective collaboration scheme. Thanks to it, the creative process is fast, engaging, and most importantly — predictable. All so that together we can craft a sound that your audience will truly love.
Below, we outline the pipeline for working on game sound design. If you are interested in the process of creating UX sounds for apps, we detailed this approach on the Audio Branding page.
1. Introduction and Formalities
Everything starts with a virtual meeting. We learn the main info about your game, discuss our shared vision of the process, and define a preliminary list of audio assets. If necessary, we sign an NDA right before the start.
After that, we agree on the project scope, payment schedule, sign the contract, and receive the advance payment. We talk more about legal matters in our FAQ section.
2. Pre-production
The most important and often the longest stage of the project. Over our years of work, we’ve learned that without proper preparation, no magic will happen (but there will be lots of revisions and wasted time).
We start with a brief: studying the game, its audience, and competitors in detail. Simultaneously, we research the audio codes of the genre to understand how sound design can help you differentiate. We also discuss engine implementation nuances in advance.
Having gathered the data, we shape the audio concept and put together mood boards. Then comes the Listening Party — probably the most fun part of the collaboration for our clients. There, we listen to references together, set creative boundaries, and approve the audio direction.
3. Production
Finally, we move on to creating the audio. Since we often develop both sound design and music, we start with the main theme (or audio DNA). This allows us to build a cohesive, harmonious system rather than just a set of disconnected assets. You can learn more about this on the Music Composing page.
The asset creation process itself is iterative:
- We make the first 3–5 sound effects and send them to you, having previously shared our effective feedback methodology. 😊
- We approve them or make pinpoint tweaks.
- We create the next pack of assets and repeat the cycle until the work is fully completed.
4. Polishing and Acceptance
After all approvals, we send you the final files. You implement them into the game and give us access to the build. We check if everything sounds and works correctly in the game. It’s also very useful at this stage to conduct playtests to evaluate player reactions.
If needed, we provide a list of adjustments or tweak the assets ourselves.
When everything is perfectly set up and sounds great, we sign the acceptance certificate, and you send the final part of the payment.
5. Support
Creating Together 🫰
Vladimir Duchenchuk, CEO/Game Producer
Turbo Rocket Games
We had less than a month before the release, and we were not sure that the guys would want to take on the project, given the tough deadline and the amount of work. But on the contrary, they were ready and the project was taken into work. Having picked up the music references, short background tracks were developed in the game, which is aimed at maximizing the sense of wildlife around.
Eugeny Plokhoj, Product Owner, Product Design
Capable Bits
For VP Production we set an extraordinary task — to convey the mood of each chapter of our history with the help of music. Now, while playing Look Right, many people note the atmosphere of the application and the level of involvement in the storyline. And that was achieved solely with the expense of music, which varies from chapter to chapter.
Anatoly Rogalskiy, ex-CMO
monobank
While developing notification sounds for monobank, the guys had the idea to record the cats’ purring so that the sounds were natural enough. In the process of preparation, the guys recorded themselves to test some ideas, in the end, we liked it so much that now 2 million users of monobank listen to the purring sounds of VP Production employees. 😀
Vitaly Stetsyuk, CDO, Co-Founder
Carpe Diem Solutions
I never cease to wonder how fascinating the projects are when working with the VP Production team. If you want to plunge into a variety of sounds and harmony, do not hesitate; it is exactly what you need for your project.
Svyatoslav Kostuk, Game Producer
Tower Games
Vlad is a master of his craft. His work was performed at a very high level and at the same time in a very acceptable term. Vlad has managed to catch the atmosphere of our game very clearly and to create a suitable sound design, which has not only fit perfectly into the gameplay but also emphasized the style of Fate Hunters.
Margaret Dmitrieva, ex-Game Designer
QuartSoft
Vlad, on behalf of the whole team I want to thank you for your cool work! We were very pleased to cooperate with a person who is interested in each stage of the project from start to finish. Everything was cool from communication to the final result! We wish you the nicest customers and look forward to further cooperation.
Crafting Costs
Sound assets
- Sound effect (SFX) | $40
- Stinger (short musical phrase) | $60
- Ambient (complex ambient sound) | $80
The price of all sound assets includes:
- 5 rounds of free edits;
- exclusive intellectual property rights;
- assistance in implementation and testing.
The minimum order amount is $400.
We experimented a lot with music pricing formats, gathered feedback from our partners and clients, and eventually came up with packages that combine music composing and sound design:
Sound for indie game trailer | $900 | 2 weeks
- music + SFX;
- voice-over is quoted separately.
Sound for big folks' game trailer | $2000 | 2 weeks
- music + SFX;
- voice-over is quoted separately.
Midsize indie game | $7500 | 3 months
- 3 tracks + stems;
- 50 SFX;
- 6 jingles (stingers);
- 3 ambients;
- in-depth briefing;
- niche, competitors, and target audience analysis;
- technical task creation;
- audio concept development;
- audio DNA development (+ testing, if possible);
- five rounds of free edits per asset;
- intellectual property rights with resale restrictions;
- implementation supervising;
- music distribution on streaming platforms.
Game prototype | $2200 | 1 month
- 1 track (2 min) + stems;
- 10 SFX;
- 2 jingles (stingers);
- 1 ambient;
- in-depth briefing;
- technical task creation;
- audio concept development;
- audio assets creation.
Game prototype + trailer (indie team) | $3000
What you see is what you get. The perfect combo for pitching to publishers. 🤝
Sound for video and motion graphics | $1500/min | 2 weeks
- music + SFX;
- voice-over is quoted separately.
Didn't find a perfect match among the packages? Drop us a line and we’ll gladly craft a custom audio formula for your project and help you estimate the budget. 🙌
We help your product become an integral part of your audience's life. We help your product become an integral part of your audience's life.
From the very first sound.