Electronica Artist Owl City/Adam Young Designed iOS 7 Sounds [Updated]

Electronica artist Adam Young, the musician behind the popular project Owl City, is responsible for many of the new sound and ringtones in iOS 7 according to the discography on the musician's website (via 9to5Mac).


Alongside the top-to-bottom redesign of the visual user interface in iOS 7, Jony Ive's design team -- with Young's help -- also reworked all the sounds in the OS as well. It isn't clear exactly which sounds Young worked on, though many of the texting and ringtones sound similar to his music.

owl_city_ios_7
Some of Adam Young's more well-known songs, under the Owl City name, include his breakout hit Fireflies, Good Time with Carly Rae Jepsen, and When Can I See You Again? from Disney's Wreck-It Ralph.

Young began creating songs in his parents' basement, sharing tracks on MySpace before signing with a record label and receiving commercial success. Like many musicians, he uses Macs and a number of different software titles including Apple's Logic, Pro Tools, and Propellerhead's Reason.


Update: The reference to Apple's iOS 7 sounds has been removed from Young's discography page.

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Top Rated Comments

chrono1081 Avatar
153 months ago
I hate Owl City so bad. That guy doesn't have an ounce of talent in my opinion. (Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's successful and lots of people like him) but I personally can't stand his autotuned garbage.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4ubrey Avatar
153 months ago
I hate Owl City so bad. That guy doesn't have an ounce of talent in my opinion. (Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's successful and lots of people like him) but I personally can't stand his autotuned garbage.
The greatest thing about music = there's something for everyone.

I think many will "get you wrong" because you are saying someone has no talent when they are obviously musically inclined enough to A. make multiple entire albums (that went platinum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_City_discography)) and B. make the system ringtones for MILLIONS of devices.

Maybe it's just me... I "got you wrong."
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Erphern Avatar
153 months ago
Ha, I thought Night Owl was an Owl City ripoff tone. Apparently not. ;)
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Starflyer Avatar
153 months ago
Very cool. If you you don't already, you should follow Adam on twitter. Funny guy.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Tuck Avatar
153 months ago
Good find! I was always surprised that with Steve Jobs's aesthetic taste that the notification sounds were so bad on iOS (and the Mac for that matter). The iOS 7 sounds are MUCH improved.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macbookairman Avatar
153 months ago
That guy doesn't have an ounce of talent in my opinion.

Thats a bit harsh, IMO. You don't like his music, fine, but he's certainly got talent.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)