What about the sound effects?

[Candlicious Ghost]

I think the sound design on the show as pretty good as much as the visual effects but in the 2 parter finale for season 2 did they use JJ Trek engine sounds?

When the ships went to warp it sounded like the JJprise?

 

[F. King Daniel]

As far as I can tell (and I'm no expert) the sound design on the show draws from every iteration of Trek. TOS bridge sounds, TNG noises for hailing frequencies and other tidbits, Voyager's sound for Pike's ready room and I'm pretty sure they used Kelvin button sounds (or something very similar) when Michael was crawling through air ducts on the palace ship in the mirror universe finale. So I wouldn't be surprised if the warp jump was the Kelvin noise, since it was certainly made to resemble it visually.

 

[Candlicious Ghost]

As far as I can tell (and I'm no expert) the sound design on the show draws from every iteration of Trek. TOS bridge sounds, TNG noises for hailing frequencies and other tidbits, Voyager's sound for Pike's ready room and I'm pretty sure they used Kelvin button sounds (or something very similar) when Michael was crawling through air ducts on the palace ship in the mirror universe finale. So I wouldn't be surprised if the warp jump was the Kelvin noise, since it was certainly made to resemble it visually.

When the Enterprise hit it for warp it was most noticeable and yep they did try to capture the same look too. I liked the sounds.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

I've noticed a lot of 24th century computer sounds and alarms used throughout the show. Except the Enterprise, which takes all its auditory cues from TOS.

 

[NCC-73515]

And the 24th century Klingon and Romulan alert sounds that Starfleet is using 100 years earlier... so damn lazy that they didn't come up with anything new, and instead reused sounds that make no sense and don't fit at all!

 

[The Gatekeeper]

And the 24th century Klingon and Romulan alert sounds that Starfleet is using 100 years earlier... so damn lazy that they didn't come up with anything new, and instead reused sounds that make no sense and don't fit at all!

To be fair, all those Klingon and Romulan ships just took those alarms from 24th century Starfleet. And Enterprise already took those sounds and inserted them into 22nd century Starfleet. This seems an odd thing to accuse Disco's production staff of being lazy for, it's a time honoured tradition that dates back to TNG, which decided to reuse the TOS Red Alert sound as opposed to making their own like the movies did.

 

[NCC-73515]

That doesn't make much sense

 

[OpenMaw]

Honestly i'd say the sound design, at least as far as the ships has been what I would classify as "A ****ing mess."

Since the beginning. The pew pew's have been off, the dropping in of the TOS torpedo sounds is jarring. The use of all different kinds of sounds from all the eras at seeming random is off putting.

Honestly, if they want to use some of the old sounds, that's fine, but they really need to come up with a coherent voice for the sound design in season 3.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

they really need to come up with a coherent voice for the sound design in season 3.

They have. They're all Star Trek sounds.

 

[OpenMaw]

They have. They're all Star Trek sounds.

Not what I meant. They do not harmonize. They distract. You have sounds from the 60s, 90s, and newly created sound effects intermixing constantly, and it becomes a cacophony of nostalgia and misery.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

a cacophony of nostalgia and misery

As in the old sound effects being the nostalgia and the new sound effects being the misery? That sounds like a personal problem.

 

[Tuskin38]

And the 24th century Klingon and Romulan alert sounds that Starfleet is using 100 years earlier... so damn lazy that they didn't come up with anything new, and instead reused sounds that make no sense and don't fit at all!

Fine with me.

 

[Lord Garth]

Not what I meant. They do not harmonize. They distract. You have sounds from the 60s, 90s, and newly created sound effects intermixing constantly, and it becomes a cacophony of nostalgia and misery.

Not everything in 2019 is from 2019. My house was built in 1962, my microwave is from 1994, my car is from 2009. When I turn on the radio, if it's terrestrial, I'll hear a song from the '90s, a song from the '80s, something from 2012, and then suddenly 1977. Talk about whip-lash.

 

[OpenMaw]

As in the old sound effects being the nostalgia and the new sound effects being the misery? That sounds like a personal problem.

Don't put words in my mouth. I welcome new things. I welcome nostalgia.

Sometimes you don't get chocolate and peanut butter when you mix the two. Sometimes, you get a mess.

Discovery's sound design is a mess.

Not everything in 2019 is from 2019. My house was built in 1962, my microwave is from 1994, my car is from 2009. When I turn on the radio, if it's terrestrial, I'll hear a song from the '90s, a song from the '80s, something from 2012, and then suddenly 1977. Talk about whip-lash.

That's neither here nor there.

They're using a ship design that was conceived in the 70s, but they did not just try to plop the concept art in there 1:1. They made it their own. Discovery as a ship design, works for the show they're making.

Using all of these iconic sound effects out of context, and then mixing it with new sound design that does not flow or feel natural, is a problem. If it doesn't bother you, that's fine, but i'm not going to be told my opinion is misplaced. It sounds bad.

 

[David cgc]

I didn't care for the half-assed excuse for using 24th century sounds that Discovery was supposed to be the most advanced ship in Starfleet, so it'd be ahead of the curve. One, that doesn't explain the same sound palette being used on the Shenzhou (because it's clearly an after-the-fact rationalization), and, two, that's like doing a movie on the Titanic and having the telegraph sound like this because the ship was a top-of-the-line technological marvel for the time.

It shouldn't have been so much trouble to keep it straight. They had all the TOS sounds, all the ENT sounds, and even, potentially, a revamped version of the TOS sounds from the KT movies, or even do what the prior series and films generally did, and make up a new sonic vocabulary. But, no, let's just randomly have one room on the Discovery use the doorbell from Voyager.

 

[Lord Garth]

This, my friends, is why I'm glad Discovery's not a prequel anymore...

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Commercial airplanes have been using the same "bing-bong" alert sounds in the cabin for decades now. It ain't broke, they ain't fixing it.

That said, I also find the DSC sound design distracting. Whoever's in charge was most likely given a big ZIP disk from 2005 filled with everything that the Berman era came up with, which includes folders for various episodes set in or flashing back to the TOS era, and told to have fun with it. The very-certainly-in-the-tiny-minority of fans who DO care about such things is already way smaller than the fraction of fans who are okay with ANY familiar sounds being part of the mix, and THEY are far smaller than the fraction of watchers who don't give a hoot.

Still, IMO it pales in comparison to the relative consistency we had in the Berman era. When we were on the Defiant, it SOUNDED like the Defiant. When the NX-01 Enterprise had a bridge scene, it sounded distinctly different, even to the casual fan who wouldn't pay it too much mind. And when either of those shows time traveled or dimension jumped or whatever onto a TOS starship, by golly did it sound like it was 196X again.

Here it DOES sound like Trek, but any close ear to the ground makes it sound sloppy and lazy, using random sound effects found in a folder and used because it had "bridge comm beep 002" in the file name. I can only hope that someone pays attention to the new Picard show and gives it a sound portfolio that sounds evolved from TNG, and more importantly distinct from DSC.

Mark

 

[Lonemagpie]

Meh, all the different Trek sounds still are nothing compared to season 1's TIE Fighter.

 

[seigezunt]

DSC uses previously used sound effects. Fans: how lazy that they just recycled things!

DSC uses new sound effects. Fans: that's not what it would sound like on Star Trek!

 

[Boris Skrbic]

DSC uses previously used sound effects. Fans: how lazy that they just recycled things!

DSC uses new sound effects. Fans: that's not what it would sound like on Star Trek!

Or maybe some fans are creatively mature enough to say “fine, reimagine away, but if you’re already asking us to accept changes, why not come up with your own matching sound effects, given that those from TOS are likely to feel out of place?” Not everyone needs the random nostalgic bone thrown at them, as if something TOS is better than nothing.