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Sound Designer
Creates and manipulates audio for films, games, theater, and apps.
Did you know?
The lightsaber sound in Star Wars was made from a TV set humming + a movie projector motor
How subjects help
- Physics: Understand how sound waves bounce and fade so footsteps in a cave really sound echoey.
- Music: Build tension in a scene with low rumbles, rhythms and slowly rising tones.
- Computer Science: Layer, cut and mix hundreds of sound clips in editing software to match the picture.
- Psychology: Use sound to make an audience feel scared, calm or excited without them noticing.
A famous name
Ben Burtt: Sound designer who created the voice of R2-D2 and the lightsaber hum for Star Wars.
Try it yourself: Make a soundscape with kitchen sounds
- Pick a place for your soundscape: a busy café, a rainy street or a spooky forest.
- Find a household sound for each part: rice shaken in a tub for rain, a spoon stirring a cup, crumpled paper for footsteps on leaves.
- Plan the order: what the listener hears first, what joins in, and what ends it.
- Perform or record 30 seconds for someone with their eyes closed. Where do they think they are?
Sound designers and Foley artists build whole worlds from recorded sounds, often made with everyday objects rather than the real thing.
Also try: Build a rubber-band instrument.
Known for it in
USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Canada