🎙️ How to Be a Terrible Sound Designer
(Lessons from Charlie Munger)
One of my all-time heroes is Charlie Munger.
Aside from being one of the world’s greatest investors, Charlie was an analytical beast—famous for preaching the powerful mental model: “Invert, always invert.”
What that means is when Munger studied a company or a problem, he often flipped the question. It comes from the idea that thinking backwards can be more powerful than thinking forwards. It’s about solving problems by flipping them upside down.
Instead of asking, “How can this company be profitable?” he’d ask, “What would make this company fail completely?”
The power of inverting a question often reveals insights hiding in plain sight.
So in the spirit of Charlie Munger, I thought: why not do the same thing with sound design?
Instead of asking, “How do I become a great sound designer?”
I asked: “If I wanted to be the worst sound designer—the crappiest sound effects editor alive—what would I have to do?”
With that, I present:
How to Be a Terrible Sound Designer
(Study it closely… so you can do the opposite. 😉)
🔊 1. Always Make It Louder
Subtlety is for cowards. When in doubt, crank it up! If the audience isn’t wincing, you’re not working hard enough.
🗂️ 2. Use All the Sounds. All the Time.
If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Layer everything. Who needs intention when you’ve got quantity?
🎬 3. Never Talk to the Director
Collaboration is overrated. This is your art. If the story doesn’t match your sound, that’s their problem.
⏱️ 4. Just Use the AAF FX
Temp love is real love. Why fight it? Who needs original design when the AAF “already works”?
🧏 5. Treat Dialogue Like it’s in The Way
The actors had their shot—now it’s your turn. Don’t work around the dialogue—just bulldoze through it. Let those whooshes soar, baby.
🧠 6. Your Sounds Are All That Matter
Design your sounds like they’re the star of the movie. Don’t check against dialogue. Don’t mix against music. Who needs context? If it doesn’t work in the mix, that’s the mixer’s problem.
🎛️ 7. EQ Everything the Same
One preset to rule them all. If it worked once, it’ll work forever. Context is a conspiracy.
💾 8. Precision Is for Amateurs
Real pros eyeball it. Sync is a vibe, not a science. If that door slam lands vaguely in the same zip code as the picture, you nailed it.
👊 9. Reuse the Same Punch for Every Hit
Bar fight? Sci-fi brawl? 1800s duel? Doesn’t matter. That one janky punch from 2009 still slaps. Who needs variety when you’ve got muscle memory and low standards?
🤐 10. Never Ask for Feedback
You’re already a genius. Don’t let other people’s thoughts pollute your perfectly unchallenged ideas.
🎬. So there you go!
The ultimate guide to screwing up your chances at a great career. Hopefully some nuggests of wisdom revealed themselves. Read it over once in a while but always do the oppostie and you'll be on your way, my friend. Hope you had as much fun reading that as I did writing it. Good luck!
It’s a great mental exercise to try in all aspects of your life.
Sometimes the fastest way forward is to understand what’s holding you back and often the best way to find out is to invert your questions.