Tal Avital is a music producer and sound designer whose work spans commercial campaigns, original scoring, and record production. With credits including major brand campaigns and Super Bowl ads for Base44 and Artlist, her sound has helped shape some of the most widely seen advertising in the world.
Alongside collaborations with brands like Wix and Pantone, Tal continues to push creative boundaries in audio, building a reputation for bold, cinematic sound design across commercial and music projects. For International Women’s Day, we were lucky to speak with Tal about her journey into sound, her creative process, and her experience as a woman working in the industry.

‍How did you first find your way into sound design? Was there a moment when you realised this was the path for you?

After finishing my music degree I built my career as a music producer. One day a close friend called me about a project that needed original music and sound design, and she thought I was the right person for it. My instinct was to say no. I had zero sound design experience, the timing was terrible, and I felt that familiar fear of not being good enough,and stepping into unknown territory. Even after six years in the field I still dealt with that constantly. And I’ve had that same conversation with so many women who feel exactly the same thing, no matter how experienced they are. But something in me told me to say yes. That yes turned out to be one of the most important yeses of my career. The project went so well the company started working with me regularly, which opened doors to so many more projects and companies. My music background turned out to be quite rare in sound design and became one of my biggest strengths.

What originally drew you to working with sound rather than another creative field?

I started piano at six, guitar at eleven, and majored in music in high school. Always headphones in my ears, Walkman to Discman to iPod to iPhone. Always fangirling, always discovering new music. Music and sound were just always there.

Sound design is still a very male-dominated field. What has your experience been as a woman working in it?

I know how lucky I am to have worked with people who never made me feel like being a woman was a disadvantage, because coming from the record production industry I felt that dynamic constantly. I’d regularly be referred to as male - they’re just used to the person on the other side to be a man. and technical questions would always go to my male colleague. But I know my worth now, and I think that confidence is something clients feel too.

Is there a project or piece of work you’re especially proud of, and why?

One project that’s really close to my heart is the sonic branding for Base44. I was lucky enough to come on board from the very beginning and shape the entire sonic identity of the brand together with their creative team. It’s been an ongoing collaboration and every time I see people notice the sound and appreciate the thought behind it, I feel genuinely proud.

The peak of that journey so far was composing their Super Bowl ad. Getting to work on something that big, with such incredible musicians and the Base44 team, and scoring a theme that lives not just in the Super Bowl spot but across a whole series of upcoming ads, it’s the kind of project that reminds you why you do this.

What does your creative process usually look like when you begin designing sound for something new?

It always starts with references. I ask the client for examples of work they love, then dig deeper into their taste, which ads and brands they connect with and what they want me to avoid. That foundation is everything.

Then I’ll take one or two scenes and start building the aesthetic layer by layer. I never lock into one tempo because I want the piece to feel alive, and movement in video is never linear so the music can’t be either.

What I love most is building the sound design and music simultaneously. My favorite thing is making the music do the work of the sound, a glide up instead of a swoosh, a pizzicato instead of a ting. But the real magic happens when the two meet and feel completely seamless, like they were always the same thing.

What’s one thing about sound design that you wish more people understood or appreciated?

That sound is felt before it’s heard. People watch an ad and walk away remembering how it made them feel, rarely stopping to think about why. The sound is doing so much of that heavy lifting invisibly, and I think that’s both the beauty and the frustration of the craft.

That’s actually a big part of why I started showing my process on Instagram. I wanted people to see how I think about everyday objects and what they can represent sonically, and then how I use that to serve the visuals. The feedback I get most is “I never thought about it like that before” and that means everything to me.

Are there any tools, techniques, or creative approaches you find yourself returning to again and again?

I always come back to the idea of making the music and sound design feel like one thing. And the tools? You’d be surprised how much you can achieve with just an EQ, a filter and a reverb. The approach is always the same: start with what the scene is asking for, find the sounds that serve that, and make sure nothing feels placed. It all has to feel inevitable.

What advice would you give to women who are curious about getting into sound design but don’t know where to start?

Say yes before you feel ready. That’s the honest truth. I came into sound design with zero experience and said yes anyway, and it changed everything. The skills you already have, whether that’s music, film, design, anything creative, are more transferable than you think.

And don’t wait to be invited in. Put your work out there, show your process, ask questions, reach out to people whose work you admire. The community is more welcoming than the industry’s reputation might suggest.

How do you stay inspired creatively when working in such a technical craft?

Sound is everywhere and I never stop listening. A door creaking, a coffee machine, rain on a window, everything is potential material. And honestly I never really think of what I do as technical, it always feels creative to me.

And at the end of the day I'm a huge music fan, always discovering, always with headphones in, always fangirling. That part will never switch off and make me constantly inspired.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of sound design and audio creativity?

The possibilities are genuinely exciting right now. The way brands are starting to understand that sound is as important as visuals, that a sonic identity is just as powerful as a logo, that’s a shift that’s been a long time coming.

And with AI in the mix, the creative possibilities are expanding in ways that genuinely excite me.

We’re incredibly grateful to Tal for sharing her journey and perspective with us. If you’d like to explore more of her work and hear the sounds she’s helped bring to life across music, advertising, and film, you can find her through the links below.