Audio Appreciation: Six Great Pinball Sound Designers Who Shaped the Sounds of the Game

Pinball wouldn’t be pinball without sound design. The chimes of the EM pinball machines of the 60s & 70s are still eponymous with the game to this day, but as the industry evolved and the capabilities of pinball machines improved, sound design did along with it. In my 10+ years of playing pinball, I’ve found myself championing the sound design of tables even at locations where they might be tough to hear; and though you might see me wearing headphones a lot, sometimes I’ll just be listening to what I can of the machine’s audio.

For this article I wanted to highlight 6 of the all-time great pinball sound designers, regarding both music and shot sound design. The designers will mostly range from the 80s up until today, though I will touch on some of the sound designers who made older pinball machines iconic for their own reasons.

Chris Granner

If you’ve played an 80s or 90s Williams table, chances are you’ve heard the work of Chris Granner without even realizing it! Granner was responsible for some of the earliest full audio tracks in pinball, including the ones played on Road Kings and PIN*BOT, with the help of Bill Parod. He was also heavily involved during the early production of Williams’ DCS sound system, which debuted on and pushed pinball sound design to new levels.