Sound effects...hmm...

[FreddyE]

What do you think about the sound effects? Overall I like them...the only ones where I´m somewhere between "hate" and "needs getting used to" are the weapon sounds. They sound much to "Star-Wars-y" to me.

Thoughts?

I really missed the usual "screeching" sound of the phasers....although of course we haven´t seen any "regular" ship phasers in the movie (unless I´m mistaken)...only what would have been called "pulse phasers" in the prime universe. Maybe we get to see some regular ones in the next movie...

 

[Cyke101]

What do you think about the sound effects? Overall I like them...the only ones where I´m somewhere between "hate" and "needs getting used to" are the weapon sounds. They sound much to "Star-Wars-y" to me.

I brought non-Trekkie friends to the film, and they were utterly convinced (as was I before I read on the board) that the film used the very same original sound fx from TOS. I don't hear the Star Wars vibe at all.

I really missed the usual "screeching" sound of the phasers....although of course we haven´t seen any "regular" ship phasers in the movie (unless I´m mistaken)...only what would have been called "pulse phasers" in the prime universe. Maybe we get to see some regular ones in the next movie...

The Kelvin had beam phasers. But for the "pulse phasers," those have been around since TOS -- I recall an episode where Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Away Team had stunned a group of rushing men in jumpsuits using repeating pulsed phaser blasts. Also, every ship-phaser fired in The Wrath of Khan was a series of pulses.

Yes, I missed the screeching phaser sound and I wish it was brought back in some form, but short phaser bursts have been around since the beginning.

 

[FreddyE]

It was the same sound fx as TOS or slightly changed for all other stuff I think. Like for example: the background "beep" on the bridge is very close to original..only that it now sounds a bit more "high tech"...and the transporter effect really is the same just with some kind of additional "electrical crackling" layered into it (wich I really loved because it really gives you a sense of the huge amount of energy involved)

 

[Cyke101]

It was the same sound fx as TOS or slightly changed for all other stuff I think. Like for example: the background "beep" on the bridge is very close to original..only that it now sounds a bit more "high tech"...and the transporter effect really is the same just with some kind of additional "electrical crackling" layered into it (wich I really loved because it really gives you a sense of the huge amount of energy involved)

No, every sound effect in the film was created from scratch, including the TOS-reminiscent sound effects. They're similar but not the same, just a touch different.

 

[Clancy_s]

I was too taken with the visuals to notice fine details in the sound - that's one thing I'm looking to the Bluray for.

 

[Kpnuts]

The sensor 'ping' was amazing. It's the first thing you hear in the film, and the last thing you hear.

Also, watch the rising up from Titan sequence. The editing there is fantastic and the way they mix in the sensor ping with the action is nicely done.

 

[Kev]

I think that all the sound work was excellent - from Ben Burtt I don't think anyone would expect any less.

I also think that all the TOS sounds were very well recreated and that sound effects for things that perhaps didn't have a defined sound before (shuttles etc) could to some ears be a little 'Wars-y' but I think that is more down to Burtt's style than deliberate-ness.

All in - the sound work was excellent I thought.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I paid a little more attention to the sound on the second viewing, and I thought it was fine.

 

[Sector 7]

In the Kelvin sequence I noticed the TOS sounds. This made it immediately seem like Trek to me.

 

[Gojira]

I think the sound effects were so close to the original that it really made me feel at home with this new movie.

 

[M'Sharak]

It was the same sound fx as TOS or slightly changed for all other stuff I think. Like for example: the background "beep" on the bridge is very close to original..only that it now sounds a bit more "high tech"...and the transporter effect really is the same just with some kind of additional "electrical crackling" layered into it (wich I really loved because it really gives you a sense of the huge amount of energy involved)

Here are an article and excerpts from an interview in which Ben Burtt talks about doing the sounds for the movie (and other projects - the full interview can be found here.)

 

[number6]

It was the same sound fx as TOS or slightly changed for all other stuff I think. Like for example: the background "beep" on the bridge is very close to original..only that it now sounds a bit more "high tech"...and the transporter effect really is the same just with some kind of additional "electrical crackling" layered into it (wich I really loved because it really gives you a sense of the huge amount of energy involved)

Here are an article and excerpts from an interview in which Ben Burtt talks about doing the sounds for the movie (and other projects - the full interview can be found here.)

There's also a great article in the recent issue of Star Trek Magazine. I am a huge Ben Burtt fan. He did his homework, and while he didn't go out of his way to duplicate TOS sound efx exactly, he employed the same prinicples Courage and his cohorts used in the 60s.

 

[QuasarVM]

I dunno....everything seemed all understated and stuff...

I don't like understated.

When they push a button it should go "BLOOOP!" and phasers should go "SH-NOWWWW!" (like the phasers in Star Trek II). The bridge sounds should be LOUD like they are in TOS...not all muffled and a beep here and there and just a low rumble in the background...that's boring.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yep, seemed more real.

 

[QuasarVM]

To me, louder is more realistic. Cos, I'd have those sound effects cranked if I was on the bridge!

 

[I am not Spock]

I dunno....everything seemed all understated and stuff...

I don't like understated.

When they push a button it should go "BLOOOP!" and phasers should go "SH-NOWWWW!" (like the phasers in Star Trek II). The bridge sounds should be LOUD like they are in TOS...not all muffled and a beep here and there and just a low rumble in the background...that's boring.

Oh, I love those phaser sounds in TWOK. My favourite phaser sound in Trek, actually.

And as for those Star Wars-isms people were mentioning, I recall TOS had some of those effects years before Lucas used them. The phasers in TOS occassionally made TIE Fighter esque blaster noises. And The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country definitely use Star Wars blaster sounds.

 

[Rackon]

I thought the sound design and sound editing were wonderful!

I just got chills when I heard the sensor pings at the beginning of the film - I felt like I'd come home.

Burtt is did a fantastic job of creating an immersive, complex soundscape for XI, a truly seamless combination of the familiar with the new. The sound added a lot to the "you are there" intensity of the movie experience. I noticed the sound design the first time I saw it...very intricate and apt.

If you thought the FX were too soft, you must not have seen it at IMAX..the tboom at the transition into warp drive the boom shook the seats. it was plenty visceral enough for me. Loud when it needed to be, subtle where other elements were to the fore.

 

[Glacial]

I thought the sound was perfect. Spot-on. Recognizably TOS in everything (I smiled when the 1701 started firing torpedoes), but 21st-century quality. Wish ENT had paid as much attention to the sonic feel of its series.

And +1 for the IMAX experience. Didn't think it'd be much of a difference, but oh man was I wrong.