Agent skill

Audio Design

by ukanwat in ukanwat/overtime

Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedGame Development

Install Audio Design

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ukanwat/overtime --skill audio-design -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ukanwat/overtime audio-design --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ukanwat/overtime.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/audio-design .claude/skills/audio-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
audio-design
GitHub stars
387
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
562 words
Files
2 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
21
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization.

  • Works in 4 steps: Bus routing and dB gain → Ducking via sidechain (music dips under… → SFX variation (kill the "machine gun"… → …
  • The user mentions audio mixing
  • SKILL.md covers When to use, Core workflow, Patterns and Pitfalls, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Audio Design is an agent skill from ukanwat/overtime. Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization. Engine-neutral. Use when the user mentions audio mixing, audio buses, adaptive/dynamic music, ducking, SFX variation, music layers, or syncing gameplay to the beat.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.8k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including reference files (for example `references/adaptive-music.md`). Compatibility notes: Engine-agnostic concepts. Pairs with godot-audio (AudioServer/buses), Unity AudioMixer, Wwise/FMOD; snippets in GDScript-like pseudocode.

It sits in Game Development, covering Game assets and audio. The repository describes itself as: Give a coding agent a brief, not a chat, and it works on its own across sessions. Includes an example run: an open-world city built in a real game engine with no human help. In… The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • The user mentions audio mixing
  • Adaptive/dynamic music
  • Syncing gameplay to the beat

Example prompts

  • “/audio-design”

Requirements

  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Engine-agnostic concepts. Pairs with godot-audio (AudioServer/buses), Unity AudioMixer, Wwise/FMOD; snippets in GDScript-like pseudocode.

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Bus routing and dB gain
  2. Ducking via sidechain (music dips under voice)
  3. SFX variation (kill the "machine gun" repeat)
  4. Beat-synced events (quantize to the music grid)

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit eac84e0. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are gdscript).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Engine-agnostic concepts. Pairs with godot-audio (AudioServer/buses), Unity AudioMixer, Wwise/FMOD; snippets in GDScript-like pseudocode.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Audio Design loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 93 tokens; SKILL.md has 562 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~93
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.8k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~2.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ukanwat/overtime at commit eac84e0, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© ukanwat). 562 words, ~1,760 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/audio-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
audio-design
description
Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization. Engine-neutral. Use when the user mentions audio mixing, audio buses, adaptive/dynamic music, ducking, SFX variation, music layers, or syncing gameplay to the beat.
compatibility
Engine-agnostic concepts. Pairs with godot-audio (AudioServer/buses), Unity AudioMixer, Wwise/FMOD; snippets in GDScript-like pseudocode.
license
Apache-2.0
metadata.engine
none
metadata.category
disciplines
metadata.difficulty
intermediate

Audio design

Game audio is a mixing graph plus a music system. Route every sound through a small set of buses so you can balance and process groups; make music react to play through layering and re-sequencing rather than looping one track. This skill teaches the portable practice; bind it to godot-audio, Unity's AudioMixer, or middleware (FMOD/Wwise) for concrete APIs.

When to use

  • Use to design a bus/mixer layout, set group volumes, and apply effects (reverb, compression, EQ) to groups of sounds.
  • Use to duck music/ambience under dialogue or impacts (sidechain).
  • Use to build adaptive music that responds to combat/exploration intensity.
  • Use to add SFX variation (pitch/sample randomization) and sync events to a beat.

When not to use: for the engine's concrete audio nodes/streams, use godot-audio or the engine's audio skill. Loading/streaming and asset import are engine concerns. For UI sliders that drive bus volume, see the engine UI skill.

Core workflow

  1. Lay out buses, not per-sound volume. A typical tree: Master ← {Music, SFX, Ambience, UI, Voice}. Everything plays into a bus; the player's settings sliders map to bus volumes. Never set hundreds of clip volumes by hand.
  2. Work in decibels, not linear. Perceived loudness is logarithmic. Volume controls and automation should operate in dB; convert only at the edges.
  3. Leave headroom. Mix so the Master peaks below 0 dBFS (aim for a target loudness, e.g. around -14 to -16 LUFS for many games) to avoid clipping.
  4. Duck competing sources with a sidechain compressor (or volume automation): when voice/important SFX plays, the music bus dips, then recovers.
  5. Make music adaptive via vertical layering (stems faded in/out) and/or horizontal re-sequencing (swap segments at musical boundaries). See the reference.
  6. Vary repeated SFX with small random pitch/volume offsets and sample pools so footsteps and hits don't sound robotic.
  7. Verify on real output. Listen on headphones and speakers; check that the mix balances, ducking is audible but not pumping, and music transitions land on the beat — never assume from the editor meters alone.

Patterns

Show full SKILL.md (225 more words)Show less
1. Bus routing and dB gain
gdscript
# Route sounds to named buses; control GROUPS, not individual clips.
sfx_player.bus = "SFX"
music_player.bus = "Music"

# Map a 0..1 settings slider to decibels (linear_to_db), the perceptual unit.
func set_bus_volume(bus_name: String, slider01: float) -> void:
    var idx := AudioServer.get_bus_index(bus_name)
    var db := linear_to_db(clamp(slider01, 0.0001, 1.0))   # 0 -> silence, 1 -> 0 dB
    AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(idx, db)
# RIGHT: slider -> dB via linear_to_db. WRONG: assigning slider01 straight as dB
# (a "0.5" would be only +0.5 dB — almost no change — and 0 would be 0 dB, full).
2. Ducking via sidechain (music dips under voice)
gdscript
# A compressor on the MUSIC bus, keyed by the VOICE bus, lowers music while
# dialogue plays, then releases. This is "sidechain ducking".
# Setup (engine-specific): add a compressor effect to the Music bus and set its
# sidechain to the Voice bus. Then tune:
#   threshold: level on Voice that triggers ducking (e.g. -30 dB)
#   ratio:     how hard to duck (e.g. 8:1 for a clear dip)
#   attack:    fast (~10 ms) so music gets out of the way promptly
#   release:   slow (~300-500 ms) so it recovers smoothly, not pumping
# No-middleware alternative: tween the Music bus volume down on voice start and
# back up on voice end.
func duck_music(active: bool) -> void:
    var target_db := -12.0 if active else 0.0
    create_tween().tween_method(
        func(v): set_bus_volume_db("Music", v), current_music_db, target_db, 0.25)
3. SFX variation (kill the "machine gun" repeat)
gdscript
# Randomize pitch slightly and pick from a sample pool so repeats feel organic.
func play_varied(samples: Array, bus := "SFX") -> void:
    var p := AudioStreamPlayer.new()
    p.stream = samples[randi() % samples.size()]   # rotate through several takes
    p.bus = bus
    p.pitch_scale = randf_range(0.94, 1.06)         # +/- ~6% pitch wobble
    add_child(p); p.play()
    p.finished.connect(p.queue_free)                # clean up one-shots
4. Beat-synced events (quantize to the music grid)
gdscript
# Schedule gameplay/visuals on musical time, not frame time, so they land on beat.
const BPM := 120.0
var seconds_per_beat := 60.0 / BPM

func current_beat(playback_position_sec: float) -> int:
    return int(playback_position_sec / seconds_per_beat)

# Quantize an action to the NEXT beat boundary instead of firing immediately.
func time_until_next_beat(pos: float) -> float:
    return seconds_per_beat - fmod(pos, seconds_per_beat)
# Drive timing from the audio playback clock, which is steadier than frame delta.

Pitfalls

  • Treating slider values as dB. Volume is logarithmic; map 0..1 through linear_to_db (and back with db_to_linear). A linear slider on raw amplitude feels like it does nothing until the very bottom.
  • Per-clip volume instead of buses makes a global balance pass impossible and bloats save/settings. Mix on buses.
  • Clipping the master. Summed sounds exceed 0 dBFS and distort. Leave headroom; put a limiter on Master as a safety net, not as the mixer.
  • Pumping ducking: too-fast release or too-high ratio makes music audibly breathe. Lengthen release; lower ratio.
  • Looping a single music track for the whole game feels flat. Use layers or segments that respond to state (see the reference).
  • Beat sync off frame time. delta drifts; read the audio playback position for musical timing, and account for output latency.
  • Unbounded one-shot players: spawning AudioStreamPlayers without freeing them leaks. Free on finished, or use a small pool.

References

  • references/adaptive-music.md — vertical layering vs horizontal re-sequencing, transition timing (bars/quantize), stingers, intensity mapping, and crossfades.
  • godot-audio — buses, AudioStreamPlayer, effects, and sync-to-beat in Godot.
  • input-systems — trigger audio from input actions.
  • physics-tuning — collision events that drive impact SFX.
  • platformer, roguelike — genres whose feel leans on audio feedback.

© ukanwat, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in .claude/skills/audio-design of ukanwat/overtime.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/adaptive-music.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit eac84e0

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in ukanwat/overtime, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

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Questions about Audio Design

What does Audio Design do?

Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization. Audio Design is an agent skill from ukanwat/overtime. Implement game audio practice — bus/mixer architecture and gain in decibels, ducking (sidechain), adaptive/dynamic music via layering and re-sequencing, SFX variation, and beat synchronization.

When should I use Audio Design?

Audio Design fits situations like: the user mentions audio mixing; adaptive/dynamic music; syncing gameplay to the beat.

How do I install Audio Design in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ukanwat/overtime --skill audio-design -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/audio-design in ukanwat/overtime) into .claude/skills/audio-design in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Audio Design in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ukanwat/overtime --skill audio-design -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/audio-design in ukanwat/overtime) into .agents/skills/audio-design in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Audio Design in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ukanwat/overtime --skill audio-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/audio-design, .gemini/skills/audio-design, .github/skills/audio-design and .opencode/skills/audio-design in your project.

What does Audio Design need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Audio Design is instructions for the agent only. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Engine-agnostic concepts. Pairs with godot-audio (AudioServer/buses), Unity AudioMixer, Wwise/FMOD; snippets in GDScript-like pseudocode..

Does Audio Design access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Audio Design safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Audio Design use?

Audio Design is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Audio Design use?

About 1.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Audio Design?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Audio Design: Game Asset Generator (htdt/godogen, 7.1k stars), Threejs 3D Generator (valkor-ai/loom, 1.2k stars), Asset Pipeline (rehan-remade/universal-modder, 5.8k stars) and 2D Sprite Generator (0x0funky/agent-sprite-forge, 4.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Audio Design?

ukanwat (a GitHub user) maintains it in ukanwat/overtime, which has 387 GitHub stars. The repository holds 21 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: ukanwat/overtime on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.