Professional sound designers on their favorite sounds of 2013

The crew of sound experts over at Designing Sound has put together a giant “best of 2013” post evaluating the year in sound – movies and television, video games, music, even field recordings and the sounds around them.

Some highlights:

Gravity, which dominated people’s lists for its evocation of the vacuum of space, Dolby Atmos™ surroundyness, and heavy, stressed-out breathing:

The video game Final Fantasy XIV made Jack Menhorn’s list for its “super-sparkly and pleasant” UI sounds, and “surprisingly excellent voiced dialogue.”

Diego Stocco’s “Huge Coffee” impressed Doron Reizes, who said,

In less than one minute, this exemplifies the essence of sound design: active/engaged listening, a musical sensibility, fundamental application of physics, recording technique, editing, manipulation, and above all, experimentation (and patience) while doing all of the above:

Cormac Donnelly’s selections included the comprehension-cancelling reverb of the Manchester Art Gallery, which shows that, like a typographer who can’t help but see bad kerning, a sound designer’s finely tuned ears can be both a blessing and a curse:

The entire post is a fascinating look into the minds of people who create sound for a living, and well worth exploring.