Best Sound Design Studios in Austin (2026)

Introduction

Austin has eight audio post and sound design studios we could confirm as working in the city in 2026, covering film and series mixing, ADR, voice-over, sound design for commercials, and podcast and audiobook production.

The city is better known for music recording, and many of its famous rooms, Arlyn Studios in the old Austin Opera House among them, work on records rather than picture. Audio post grew up around a different scene: Richard Linklater's productions, Robert Rodriguez's films, the Austin Film Society and a steady flow of documentaries premiering at SXSW each March. Several of the studios below trace their credits to those films, and a few now record ADR for Los Angeles shows such as The Boys over Source Connect. Commercial sound for Texas brands such as Dell and Whole Foods runs through the same small group of rooms, alongside the full post houses that also handle editorial and colour.

Every studio here has an Austin facility shown on its own site in 2026. We could verify eight, short of the twelve we aimed for, and chose not to pad the list. It runs in no fixed order, since the right studio depends on the format, the budget and whether you need a mix stage, a voice booth or a full post team.

The best sound design studios in Austin

1. Soundcrafter

Independent · Marathon Boulevard · soundcrafter.com

Soundcrafter is an audio post facility and a group of affiliated specialists who handle recording, sound design, editing and mixing for features, series, games, podcasts, audiobooks and theme parks. Its crew page lists twelve people, including supervising sound editors, re-recording mixers and Foley artists, and its project lists run back to 1993. The facility on Marathon Boulevard also houses Chez Boom Audio.

The credits lean on Austin's film community. Soundcrafter's site lists Richard Linklater's Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics), Hit Man and Apollo 10½ (Netflix), PBS's Now Hear This, and 2026 work on the documentary To Be Seen and the narrative feature Ten in Texas. Smaller projects often work directly with a crew member, who edits from home and uses the facility for the final mix, which keeps costs down for independent films.

2. Chez Boom Audio

Independent, HUB-certified · Marathon Boulevard · chezboomaudio.com

Chez Boom Audio is an ADR, voice-over and audio post studio run by Shayna Brown, operating inside the Soundcrafter facility. It has worked on ADR for more than 20 years and is SAG-AFTRA approved, with Source Connect and Zoom for remote sessions. Beyond ADR it handles dialogue clean-up, sound editing, mixing and voice-over for commercials.

The studio says it has recorded for more than 200 TV shows and films, including Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead, Yellowstone and Alien: Earth. Recent credits on its site include ADR for The Boys and voice-over for The Toxic Avenger (Unrated), both in 2025. It suits productions that need an actor in Austin recorded to a Los Angeles stage.

3. ATX Audio Post

Independent · East Austin · atxaudiopost.com

ATX Audio Post is a recording and post studio in the 501 Studios building on East 5th Street. It records voice-over, ADR and audiobooks, offers foreign-language dubbing, and handles dialogue editing, Foley, sound design, custom scoring and stereo or surround mixing. The Voice Over Resource Guide lists two recording rooms, with Source Connect for remote talent.

Clients named on its site include 20th Television, Focus Features, Warner Bros, National Geographic, NBC, TNT, Discovery and Ubisoft, along with brands such as Coca-Cola, Dell and Whole Foods. The studio is not SAG-AFTRA approved, so union voice sessions may need to be booked elsewhere.

4. Ponysound

Independent, HUB/MBE-certified · East Austin · ponysound.com

Ponysound has worked in audio post in Austin for more than 26 years, from a studio on East 3rd Street. It runs three audio rooms and is led by Corey Roberts and David Bewley. Services cover voice-over recording, ADR, sound design, stereo and surround mixing, and casting.

Its work spans TV, film, radio, podcasts, audiobooks and voice-over for games, with Source Connect for remote sessions. The site publishes its rates and technical specs, which helps producers price a radio or podcast job before calling.

5. Optical Audio

Founder-led · North Loop · optical-audio.com

Optical Audio is the studio of Eric Friend, a re-recording mixer, sound designer and composer with about 30 years of experience. He worked for Richard Linklater and Mike Judge before founding Friendo Sound in 2009, which later became Optical Audio. The studio on East 53rd Street mixes in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo, and records voice-over, ADR and Foley.

The site lists work for HBO, Netflix, A24, Neon, Magnolia Pictures, PBS and Adult Swim, with projects shown at Sundance, Cannes, Venice, TIFF and SXSW. It also offers sound restoration, original music and broadcast compliance checks, and says indie rates are available.

6. TBD Post

Independent, partner-owned · East Austin · tbdpost.com

TBD Post is a full-service post house run by managing partners Ted Griffis and Brandon Thomas from a purpose-built 6,000-square-foot facility in Austin. Its sound department handles design, mixing, VO and ADR, and deliverables, with Dolby Atmos mixing and Source Connect Pro X. The Apple TV+ documentary Fathom won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Sound.

Two mixers are on the current roster. Brad Engleking's credits include Robert Rodriguez's Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel, Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, Netflix's Blue Miracle and the Frontline documentary A Thousand Cuts. Kyle Scribner mixes commercials and music videos, with spots for MoneyGram and Academy Sports + Outdoors and a video for Mitski.

7. Stuck On On

Independent · Austin · stuckonon.com

Stuck On On is an Emmy-nominated Austin post house founded in 2007 that pairs audio post with colour and finishing. It offers sound design, mixing and deliverables for documentaries, features, series and commercials, and works by appointment.

Clients include Netflix, Warner Bros, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, PBS and CNN, and brands such as Dell, H-E-B, GMC and Samsung. Recent projects on its site include Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers, Zurawski v Texas, Hope for the Guadalupe, God Save Texas and the animated series Krapopolis. It suits documentary teams who want the mix and the grade finished in one building.

8. Charlie Uniform Tango

Independent, Dallas-headquartered · Central Austin (Marathon Boulevard) · charlieuniformtango.com

Charlie Uniform Tango is a production and post company headquartered in Dallas, with a studio on Marathon Boulevard in Austin. Its audio team covers sound design, original music and composition, and mixing, either as part of a full production or booked on its own.

The company has run for around three decades and lists clients including Amazon, McDonald's, Dr Pepper, Coca-Cola, Ford, Samsung and Lexus, with more than 20 Super Bowl commercials. Its site does not name the audio staff or say which city they work from, so ask whether your mix will run in Austin or Dallas.

What to look for in an Austin sound design studio

Start with the kind of room you need. A feature or streaming series needs a calibrated mix stage, often with Dolby Atmos, and a team that knows the platform's delivery specs. A commercial needs fast turnaround on many versions and lengths. A podcast or audiobook mainly needs a quiet booth, a good engineer and clean editing. Austin's studios tend to specialise, so match the studio to the job rather than the reel.

Check union status and remote setup if you are recording actors. Chez Boom Audio is SAG-AFTRA approved, while ATX Audio Post says it is not. Most studios here run Source Connect, which lets a director in Los Angeles or New York listen live while an actor records in Austin.

Ask who will do the work. Several Austin studios operate as collectives, with freelance editors and mixers attached to a shared facility, and a few credits on a studio site may belong to people who have since moved on. Name the supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer in the quote, and plan around SXSW, when documentary and feature mixes for March premieres compete for the same few stages.

Finally, agree how sessions and stems will move. Sound teams receive picture locks, OMFs or AAFs, production audio and music, and they send back mixes, stems and M&E tracks for every version. A clear shared folder and a single review link for each round save time when picture changes arrive late.

How Fabric helps sound design teams

Fabric gives sound editors, mixers and producers one workspace for session files, stems, picture references and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. An audio post job collects a lot of material from several people, and keeping it together cuts down on the time spent asking which version is current. There is more on that problem in your audio sessions are scattered.

Large session folders, stems and reference picture sit in Fabric's cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space and open without a full download. Shared team folders always show the latest versions, and the built-in viewer plays files without other software. For a folder structure that holds up across projects, see how to organise audio project files.

Audio and video transcription turns uploaded WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4 and MOV files into searchable text with clickable timestamps. With search, an editor can find a line of dialogue, an ADR note or a director's comment by meaning, across documents and recordings at once.

For client review, any file or folder can be published as a web page with password protection, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a mix. Clients can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Timestamped comments on audio and video are coming soon to annotations.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best sound design studio in Austin?

It depends on the project. For feature and series mixing, Soundcrafter, Optical Audio, TBD Post and Stuck On On have the deepest film credits. For ADR and voice-over, Chez Boom Audio, ATX Audio Post and Ponysound are set up for remote sessions with Source Connect.

Can I record ADR in Austin for a show mixing in Los Angeles?

Yes. Chez Boom Audio, ATX Audio Post, Ponysound, Optical Audio and TBD Post all offer Source Connect or similar remote links, so a director and mixer elsewhere can follow the session live. Chez Boom's recent credits include ADR for The Boys.

Do Austin studios mix in Dolby Atmos?

Some do. Optical Audio lists Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixing, and TBD Post lists Dolby Atmos mixing among its sound services. Ask for the room's speaker layout and whether it is certified for your delivery spec.

Should I use a sound studio or a full post house?

A specialist studio suits projects where sound is the main job, such as a feature mix, an ADR session or a podcast series. A post house such as TBD Post or Stuck On On suits projects that also need editorial, colour and finishing, since picture and sound changes stay in one building. For colourists in the city, see our list of the best colour grading studios in Austin.

Are there game audio studios in Austin?

Austin has a large game industry and many freelance game audio designers and composers, but we could not confirm a game audio studio taking external clients with recent dated work in 2026. Ponysound and ATX Audio Post both record voice-over for games.

Related lists

Sound design in other cities: New York · Los Angeles · London · Chicago · Atlanta

More in Austin: Creative agencies · Post-production · Colour grading · Editing · Video production · Animation

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for music creators · Best cloud storage for music production · Fabric for creative teams