The Academy Award for Best Sound is an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

that recognizes the finest or most

euphonic Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century and ...

sound mixing, recording,

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it should be awarded to the specific technicians. The first were Murray Spivack and Jack Solomon for '' Hello, Dolly!''. It is generally awarded to the production sound mixers, re-recording mixers, and

supervising sound editor A sound editor is a creative professional responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering of a television program, motion picture, video game, or any production involving recorde ...

s of the winning film. In the lists below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the other nominees. Before the 93rd Academy Awards, Best Sound Mixing and

Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

were separate categories. For the second and third years of this category (i.e., the

4th Academy Awards The 4th Academy Awards were held on November 10, 1931 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, awarding films released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931. '' Cimarron'' was the first Western to win Best Picture, and would rema ...

and the

5th Academy Awards The 5th Academy Awards were held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 18, 1932, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, hosted by Conrad Nagel. Films screened in Los Angeles between August 1, 1931, and J ...

) only the names of the film companies were listed. Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department won in both years.

Winners and nominees

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations and awards for Best Sound Mixing

Multiple awards and nominations for Best Sound Editing

Multiple awards

;4 awards * Richard King * Ben Burtt † ;3 awards *

Charles L. Campbell Charles L. Campbell (August 17, 1930 – June 21, 2013) was an American sound engineer who won three Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing. He also served as Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) 1984-1987. Early l ...

* Per Hallberg *

Richard Hymns Richard Hymns (born 18 July 1947) is an English sound editor. He won three Academy Awards for his work on ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''Jurassic Park'' and ''Saving Private Ryan''. He was also nominated for nine more in the category ...

* Gary Rydstrom ;2 awards *

Bub Asman Bub Asman (born August 17, 1949, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a sound editor known for his collaborations with director Clint Eastwood. He and his colleagues on the 2006 film ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing ...

Karen Baker Landers Karen Baker Landers is a two-time Academy Award-winning sound editor. She also has won and been nominated for several Motion Picture Sound Editors awards as well as winning the BAFTA Award for Best Sound. She often works with Per Hallberg. She h ...

* Christopher Boyes * Mike Hopkins *

Stephen Hunter Flick Stephen Hunter Flick (born June 21, 1949, in Evanston, Illinois) is an American sound editor with over 170 film credits. Oscar Nominations All of these are in Best Sound Editing, with one being a Special achievement award. * 1982 Academy Awa ...

† *

Alan Robert Murray Alan Robert Murray (July 30, 1954 – February 24, 2021) was an American sound editor. Murray was nominated for ten Academy Awards. In 2007, Murray won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing for his work on ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' (2005). I ...

* Paul N. J. Ottosson * George Watters II *

Ethan Van der Ryn Ethan Van der Ryn (born October 21, 1962) is an American sound editor. He won 2 Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' and ''King Kong''. He earned further Academy Awards nominations for ''Transf ...

Multiple nominations

;10 nominations *

;9 nominations *

;8 nominations * Gary Rydstrom * George Watters II * Ben Burtt † ;7 nominations *

Wylie Stateman Wylie Stateman (born November 20, 1957) is an American sound director, supervising sound editor, sound designer, and post production media entrepreneur. Stateman has supervised over 150 sound projects, resulting in 9 Academy Award nominations, 6 B ...

;6 nominations *

* Christopher Boyes * Richard King *

Michael Silvers Michael Silvers is a sound editor who has often worked with Pixar. He has worked on nearly every Pixar feature film. He has over 110 credits to his name. Oscar history All of these films were for Best Sound Editing. * 74th Academy Awards-Nom ...

;5 nominations *

† *

Mark Mangini Mark Mangini (born 1956) is an American sound editor with over 125 film credits. He won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Sound Editing along with David White for their work on '' Mad Max: Fury Road''. Mangini is renowned for recording and ed ...

Bruce Stambler Bruce Stambler is a sound editor. He won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing for the drama thriller film ''The Ghost and the Darkness'' (1996). This marked both his first win and fifth consecutive nomination in the category, after being r ...

* Matthew Wood ;4 nominations *

Lon Bender Lon Ethan Bender (born July 22, 1959) is an American supervising sound editor, business executive and inventor. Bender won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing for his work on ''Braveheart'' (1995). He has been recognized for numerou ...

* Per Hallberg * John Leveque *

Randy Thom David Randall Thom (born August 21, 1951) is an American sound designer and the current director of sound design at Skywalker Sound. Career Randy Thom began working at FM radio station WYSO at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio as a volunte ...

;3 nominations * Richard L. Anderson † * Mike Hopkins *

Skip Lievsay Skip Lievsay is an American supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer and sound designer for film and television, Lievsay has worked with filmmakers and directors including the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jonathan Demme and Rober ...

* Paul N. J. Ottosson * Mark Stoeckinger ;2 nominations *

Erik Aadahl Erik Aadahl (born September 16, 1976) is an American sound editor. He is best known for providing Godzilla's roar in the 2014 film of the same name. He also voiced Bumblebee in '' Transformers: The Last Knight''. Career He graduated from the ...

Tom Bellfort Tom Bellfort is a sound editor. He has done sound editing on over 80 films since 1983. He was a member of The Saul Zaentz Film Center, Skywalker Sound, and Soundelux. Filmography Select titles Bellfort worked on at Skywalker Sound *''The Youn ...

* Steve Boeddeker *

Gloria Borders Gloria Borders is a sound effects editor, best known for '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' for which she won an Oscar as well for Best Sound Editing. She was also the General Manager for Skywalker Sound. Borders attended Moorestown Friends School ...

* Robert Bratton *

Brent Burge Brent Burge is a sound editor. Burge was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing The Academy Award for Best Sound Editing was an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound design or soun ...

* Glenn Freemantle * Eugene Gearty * Cecelia Hall * Robert G. Henderson *

Martin Hernández Martin Hernández (born 1 June 1964) is a Mexican sound editor and designer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work on the films '' Birdman'' (2014) and '' The Revenant'' (2015), the latter of which also earned him a British Academy ...

* Mildred Iatrou Morgan *

Ren Klyce Ren Klyce is a Japanese-American sound designer and sound mixer. He has been nominated for nine Academy Awards; six for Best Sound and three for Best Sound Editing. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with director David Fincher, ...

* Ai-Ling Lee * Tom Myers *

Walter Rossi Walter Rossi (July 12, 1894 – February 12, 1978) was a sound editor who won 1 Academy Award and was nominated for 2 more Academy Awards. Oscar nominations * 1957 Academy Awards-Award for ''The Enemy Below'' in the category of Best Special E ...

* Philip Stockton * Oliver Tarney * Gwendolyn Yates Whittle † = includes special achievement awards

Notes

References

{{Academy Award Best Sound Editing

Sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

* Film sound awards