io9: Sound Effects

Darth Vader will lose a little more of his dignity in Star Wars original trilogy Blu-rays. Listen for yourself!

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:36:38 PDT

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George Lucas is not satisfied with turning the puppet Yoda in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace into a CG creation. Or just fixing some of the wonky lightsabre effects in the original trilogy. He's going a bit further. More »

Brontides: the large booming noises from out of nowhere

Esther Inglis-Arkell — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 08:30:00 PDT

Brontides, deep booming noises without any defined source, are audio cryptids. Have you heard one? More »

The Scifi Sound Effects That Take Over Your Brain

Kevin Kelly — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:42:00 PDT

Even if you just hear a science fiction movie or TV show playing in another room, you'll instantly recognize it thanks to the weird sounds of alien spaceships and laser weapons. No genre of entertainment has ever challenged sound-effects designers as much as SF. We've gone through some of scifi's most identifiable and iconic sounds and boiled them down into a list of the coolest and the most earwormy. More »

The "Castle Thunder" Noise that Rocked a Thousand Movies

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:00:46 PST

On Friday we told you about the pervasive use of the Wilhelm Scream through movies, tv shows, and video games, but today we bring you something even closer to the hearts of science fiction history: Castle Thunder. It's been used to bring assembled body parts back to life, to send people back to the future, and to herald the ominous approach of spooky evil mad scientists who want to shrink you and your friends down to miniature size. Find out all about this multi-purpose noise below. More »

Why You've Already Heard Scifi's Ubiquitous Wilhelm Scream

Kevin Kelly — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:11:22 PST

You've probably heard the Wilhelm Scream dozens of times in different movies and television shows without realizing it, but it's one of those things that once you hear, you'll always be able to identify it afterwards. It's now become an in-joke amongst sound editors who try to insert it into their films whenever there's a perfect moment that just needs an over-the-top scream. It began as a Warner Bros. stock sound effect, but was revived and put to serious use by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt. Now the thing just won't die. Find out more in our screaming triviagasm below. More »