Sonic Student

Hear the Mysteries - Sonic Explorations

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Tuning Up

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363 Sonic Clips - Extra Butter

A sound review of popular Hollywood movies, Part II

2001 – Regular rhythm of sound and silence in the scene with the black wall succeeds – it is making a sound that does not exist in this world, and it is hard to identify from which part of the black wall the sound is coming, and how they are making the sound. - Kenichiro Shimada

The Usual Suspects – Sounds like machine guns at the end of a violent scene turn out to be the rumble of a paint machine in the next scene….a closing door is made to sound like a gunshot Also, significant was the climax towards the end of the film, which was accompanied by a cacophonic whirlwind of echoey sounds, many repeated from earlier in the film. - Joseph Davolt

Gladiator – Instead of using a lot of big bass drums that most epic movies use, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard decided to use string instruments. Both the background music and the sound effects were essential to the movie. When they shot the arrows with fire, you heard it from the time they pulled the piece back to get ready to shoot to the landing of the arrow. – Sarah McMahon

Pulp Fiction – The film makes excellent use of sound effect and dialogue. Quentin Tarantino’s musical choices add immensely to the atmosphere of the film…The opening scene contains a myriad of overdubbed sound effects in the background, panned in stereo. It opens with the sound a motorcycle driving by the restaurant, which fades into the scene, with Tim Roth’s character talking over it. In the background, you can also hear easy listening muzak, a man mumbling off to the left, a man coughing off to the right, and numerous pieces of silverware clanking on plates. - Ryan Hayes

Saw II – The movie is very gritty and the music is like a fusion of industrial and classical. The sound effects were used impressively in establishing the environment of the scenes. A good example of that was the scene on the docks between Eric and Daniel, you could hear the water being blown around and seagulls cawing. Even the minutest object in a scene seemed to have a sound effect as you could hear an old light bulb. – Brian Quinn

War of the Worlds – The “thwap” of lightening sounds like a precursor for the “thwaps” made when the death ray turns flesh to soot. The tripod’s footsteps are very methodical in a “step, one-two; step, one-two” pattern, heard in the initial death ray assault but more prominent later in the cellar of the stranger. One of the more interesting elements in regards to the sounds is the “call” made by the tripods when they locate targets – a minor sixth. – David Read

Miracle – The [hockey] hits in this movie sound and feel like you’re right there in the seats behind the glass, and from experience it’s an amazing sound. The slap shots ring in your head….the crowd noises and chants are beautifully caught. The office and home scenes are wonderfully done with just the right amount of ring tone for telephones, the ever so memorable sound of an old time film machine, and lastly the right amount of dialogue. – Eric Konicek

American Beauty – The dialogue in the movie is captivating. The lines are easy to hear and the way the dialogue is used builds the characters…The way certain lines are delivered explains their motives and actions. Much attention and detail was played on the sound effects – The initial gunshot was loud and extremely shocking…the gunshot is played a few different times, showing the reactions of the main characters. – Sarah Vorhees

External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Sound effects are vital to the film’s style because a portion takes place in a dream. We hear a car fall out of mid air and hit the ground to give the audience a jolt…We hear people in the train station vanish….We hear Clementine’s voiceover even though she’s not in the room, and the scene is not about her. The voiceover will continue and the transition will be of Joel appearing in the same room as Clementine, while she finishes her sentence from the last scene as the new scene continues….I suppose, in a movie about a dream, sound has the freedom to go anywhere. - Scott Richards

Rent - The movie starts with the cast standing on a stage singing a song, each about their lives. The first scene shows Mark with his camera doing some filming; the sounds at this time are city sounds since the story takes place in New York City...The movie cuts to a scene of a young African-American boy sitting in the street playing a drum. He is playing a slow beat as though to represent his homelessness. He gets up and walks away, and the entire time he says nothing. In the background, you hear a car horn, other cars and a siren. All these sounds combine to give a feeling of being alone and homeless - and a sense of hopelessness. - Patricia Niemeyer

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363 Sonic Clips - Mega Popcorn

A sound review of popular Hollywood movies, Part I

Crash – There is a scene where a biracial lady is trapped in a car that has turned over and there is gasoline from a truck all around. You can hear the sounds of the truck and then fire touch the gasoline. It makes this igniting sound that I can’t explain (kind of a short “vooommp!” sound) that automatically heightens the intensity of the situation. You can hear the fire crackling and moving toward the vehicle. With a name like Crash, there was definitely some crashing taking place. – Tolu Akande

Left Behind II: World at War – Sound effects were used well to create a war atmosphere. After the third world war starts and bombings simultaneously occur in many large cities across the country, the President is sitting in his oval office reflecting into a video camera – you can hear explosions in the background…bombs exploding and of helicopters flying overhead. These sounds create tension and a sense of urgency. – Cynthia Erickson

Sin City – What really makes this movie great are the sound effects. The sound effects are crisp and clean and definitely defining. It enhances the actions scenes so much that that the score helps it out a bit to give it the finishing touch. When a punch is thrown, you can distinctly hear the swoosh of the arm of the pssst of a bullet whizzing by someone. Even the pounding of the rain was good and atmospheric. – Brandon Scott

Blow – Apart from the classic rock songs, there is a substantial amount of cinematic mood music…used in a very unobtrusive, natural manner [adding] tone and color to the already vibrant movie. Sound effects like footsteps, doors, dishes rattling, gunshots and of course…“cocaine snorts all sound very sharp and up close to the listener. – Karl Wickers

The Sixth Sense – M. Night (writer) can seemingly paint with sound, and what I mean by that is you know what he was thinking and he knows exactly how he wants you to look at a scene by the way the music feels and the sounds that are going on screen….there is a feeling of uncertainty when you watch his movies and all because of the sounds that he uses. – Jeb Randall

The Shawshank Reedemption – Thomas Newman, who also did music for The Road to Perdition and the Green Mile, utilizes his unique understanding of music to create new compositions for the movie…His general understanding of sound created a movie that reaches the humanity in us all. [In the Marriage of Figaro scene] the song rings out over the yard and through the interior of Shawshank. The men stop and just listen as if nothing were more important than what the two women were singing. This moment was very powerful to me. – Steven Chamoun

Armageddon – You hear the echoes of their footsteps as they walk down the hall. You also hear their voice echo very loudly in the wide open hallway. In the background you can hear other people having conversations and you can hear the computers and other electronics that are near them running …It is also very interesting to not that that when the character Chick puts down the toy space shuttle, the last sound you hear musically is the drum cymbal when the shuttle touches the ground. - Casey Doyle

Spiderman – The sound effects of the movie are top of the line….All of the sounds are very creative and sharp. Most of the sounds are very futuristic and amazing. They really help you soak in and mold the story throughout all of the action scenes…The sound transitions throughout the entire movie really are flawless. – Derek Garber

Texas Chainsaw Massacre – As the story line progressed, the sound effects of the chainsaw and the chase music graced the twisted film. As the body count grew rapidly throughout the film, there was an increase in weird sound effects. There were times when the music would throw the audience off making us believe that no action was coming. – Cas Matory

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Pat's Factory Sounds

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Drama for the Ear

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Star Student?

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Sonic Bios

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Sound Off

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Meet the 363ers

Section 1
Tolu, Steven, Cynthia, Ryan, Brian, Patricia, David, Brandon, Sarah V, Jeb, Scott

Section 2
Antonio, Kyrus, Joseph, Casey, Derek, Eric, Cas, Sarah M, Brian, Kenichiro, Karl

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Welcome to Our Audio Blog

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