If I'm watching a movie or tv show or playing a game, if it is good and sucks me in with the story, I find it hard to pay attention to the sound. I'll notice little bits here and there, but I am more interested in enjoying good media then being a sound geek. I'll tell people about a game or movie that I really enjoyed, people ask me how the sound was, I usually say I don't know, I was too busy enjoying the movie.

If there is something bad about the sound/music/dialog, usually I'll pick up on it and it will end up distracting me and hindering my enjoyment of the movie/tv/game.

If the sound is really good something will catch my ear. Then I'll need to revisit the movie/tv/game a least a second or third time to focus on the sound.

If someone was to ask me what the best sounding movie I've seen in the last year, my answer would have to be something that I've watched more then once. I actually can't think of anything I've seen in the last year that I remember the sound in, except maybe Star Trek, because I've watched it a few times :) Take Avatar for example. I really enjoyed the movie (saw it in 3D) I don't remember the sound, was it good?

Remember, if we do our jobs well, no one should ever know we were there....

Actually, I did think of a couple of movies where I really focused on the sound the first time I watched them.

Wall-E. Sound is such a key storytelling element in that film. Impossible to ignore. Amazing work by one of the true greats in our field.

Saving Private Ryan. That movie changed my life. I remember flipping through the cable channels, SPR was on, maybe half-way through the movie. I had a sound request on game I was working at the time for some darts that should sound like the bullets in SPR. So I started watching it to check out the sound. I was so floored by what I heard (and the film in general), that I watched it to the end and then watched it again right after (it was on HBO and repeated for west coast time). I then went out a few days later, bought the DVD and watched it again.

I find it very difficult to switch off my "poor sound radar", especially when it comes to dialogue. If I notice poor quality sound effects or something, I can usually push that to the back of my mind, but if the dialogue is off, there's bad ADR, ambience is wacky, or certain sounds are particularly bad, I can't overlook it. It doesn't really bother me though, since I enjoy picking apart films and TV shows so I can learn from others' mistakes

It takes a very good film for me to stop concentrating on the sound. By good, I don't necessarily mean a well crafted movie, but rather a gripping narrative. My attention will be stolen as much by a great piece of sound design than a bad one. My love for it makes it hard to be just an audience member. I find myself often not enjoying watching movies or listening to music because either the sound is too loud, or the quality too low, or the listening environment not right. I've gotten better lately though, forcing myself to let go a bit.

Unless the sound is somehow annoying, I get drawn in and am a complete punter if the movie is good. In fact, I sometimes think if I don't notice the sound, it's because it was well done.

By default, I watch movies like most anyone else does -- get immersed in the story, subconsciously appreciate the component aspects like cinematography, editing, sound design, etc. If any part of the movie is particularly bad (writing, acting, camera work, any aspect of the soundtrack), causing me to fall out of the story and back into the theater seat (or couch), there's a chance that I'll start scrutinizing the components that make up the film, including sound. If the film is excellent all around, I may consciously appreciate some component of it for a moment or two before getting back into the story.

On good films like those, if the element that grabbed my attention is a great sound moment, I always watch the film again later to do nothing but scrutinize the sound. I did this most recently with Avatar to the tune of yet another $18 3D IMAX ticket -- ouch. (Chuck, yes, the sound was good - I loved the mix and there was plenty of killer FX work.)

If the movie is just horrendously awful, I'll try to make the best of it by turning it into a listening exercise and scrutinize every last iota of sound work that I can.

I find it harder to stay in "story mode" when gaming - possibly because I have to listen critically while gaming day in, day out at work. Habit, I guess.

I try it sometimes, but after a while I realize that by concentrating on the sound I will lose the plot. Therefore: first time : getting immersed second time,etc. : listening for sound

I don't really notice sound all that much when I'm watching films or playing video games. If there is something really bad, like poorly lined up ADR or junk sound effect, I notice right away and it takes me out of the film for a minute. Generally, if sound design is very good, I don't notice until the end of the film when I have time to process the experience - like Wall-E or Inception.

When playing video games, I will occasionally take time to wander around after baddies have been cleared to enjoy the design of a level. For instance, I recently replayed Half-Life 2 and was really loving the bridge level - such a cool level, really makes you feel the height of the bridge.