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Favorite Sound Effects

post #1 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:16pm
Thread Starter 
Not sure what got me thinking about this, but there are a handful of sound effects that, even divorced from the film in which they appeared, are just so iconic and instantly recognizable. So here's a few of my faves:

1. The Martian War Machines from George Pal's War of the Worlds -- There's something so awe-inspiringly destructive about this sound. You hear it and there's no way it can be anything but Martian death raining down on some tanks or something. And this effect was lifted a ton in other places, such as old school Trek.

2. Godzilla's roar -- One of the biggest mistakes the American version made was not using this roar for the Big G. The original sound was a bow being drawn across a cello, but I like the later version best. Just so distinctive.

3. TIE Fighters from Star Wars -- If the Empire was the Nazis, the TIE Fighter was the Stuka, complete with a cool roaring sound as it flew by. Could have picked the stormtrooper blaster sound or the lightsaber from here as well, but something about the TIE FX always sticks with me.

4. The T-Rex from Jurassic Park -- The spiritual successor to the Godzilla roar. Hearing this blast out of the speakers for the first time made that CGI T-Rex all the more believable. And awesome.

Any others you guys dig on?
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post #2 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:26pm
Definitely the T REX roar from jurassic park. i rewatch the t rex attack fairly regularly on my hd tv, adn i am still blown away by how awesome the robot dino they used for most of the shots looks. waaaaaay better than almost any cgi i've ever seen, and better than anything in king kong. but when it opens up its mouth and yells at lex and tim? that sound is so utterly perfect, so primal and frightening, that i feel like my internal organs are shriveling up and dying. youre trying to picture the biology of the animal that could make it sound like that, but then you just give up and wet yourself.

I totally hate star wars now, but i have to admit, lightsabers sound cool. heck, most of ben burts filmography is just utterly classic when it comes to sound design. indiana jones' punches sound like someone being slapped off their feet by an entire side of beef. its great


another effect i recently heard and enjoyed was the sound of the sun reflecting off the shield in sunshine, right as mr murphey makes it over the edge to safety. its somewhere between a sizzle and a rapid tripple 'clang'
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post #3 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:34pm


The sound of Indy's revolver. There is such a beefy sound to it. I am sure it's not the true sound, but film-wise, it's the best.

edit: in fact, after some research, Indy used a Smith & Wesson M1917 and a S & W Hand Ejector in Raiders, and a Colt Official Police in Temple, as the picture shows. Yet all three guns had the same sound effect. Because it was BEEFY.
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post #4 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:39pm
Darth Vader's breathing, for the win, thank you.
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post #5 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:40pm
yes, i was going to mention indy's gunshots too but his punches are just so ridiculously cool. his gun reminds me of a little cannon or something. you're suprised the swordsman's head didnt asplode Fall Out 3 style
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post #6 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:41pm
this might as well turn into "favorite ben burt" sound effect thread
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post #7 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
If I recall, they used modified explosions from Star Wars as gunshots and punches in Raiders. They wanted everything to be over-the-top.
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post #8 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:44pm
Pretty much all of the sound fx in the OT. But that's boring.

Let's see...

I loved the sound of Jango Fett's seismic charge in AOTC. If only the movie was actually good and well regarded, this could've been something iconic, I suppose.

The super crackingly meaty punch sound fx of the Indy movies. It just pops.

The original transformation sound from Transformers.

Brad Friedel's droning 'theme' for the T-1000. Sure it's score, but it really works like a sound effect.

EDIT: I shouldn't have wasted so much time thinking...
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post #9 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:52pm
things in outerspace should not have sounds, that is why the seismic charge could never qualify as a truely excellent sound effect, even if attack of the clones had respected the restraining order my childhood put on george lucas after Phanton Menace
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post #10 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:53pm
Huh...
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post #11 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
things in outerspace should not have sounds, that is why the seismic charge could never qualify as a truely excellent sound effect, even if attack of the clones had respected the restraining order my childhood put out after Phanton Menace
There may be no sound in a vacuum, but I see no reason to not have sound in movies.
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post #12 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnooj82 View Post
Huh...
there is no way for sound waves to travel effectively in outerspace. therefore, Mr Fetts seismic charges should have made no sound at all. That is why its a bad sound effect, in my own opinion
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post #13 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:57pm
No, I know what you meant. I didn't use a question mark.

Nevertheless,

Huh...
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post #14 of 118
8/5/09 at 7:59pm
Some of the sub sounds in The Boot are really great, and they make sense because there can be sound underwater. You really feel the fear the men must feel regarding water pressure and its effects on the hull of the boot
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post #15 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:00pm
Seismic charges don't exist, they shouldn't be filmed.
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post #16 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renn Brown View Post
Seismic charges don't exist, they shouldn't be filmed.
they did not actually film it, it was created by computers. maybe if they'd done it practically they could have filmed it, with models or what have you.
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post #17 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:06pm
I came in here specifically to mention the T-Rex roar.. but since I've been handidly beaten to the punch on that multiple times, I humbly submit:

The ALIENS smart-gun

Let's rock indeed..
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post #18 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:07pm
It's become clear to me over the past couple of years that the reason I've loved The Matrix so dearly for so long is largely due to its sound design. The movie is incredible in a lot of ways, but the soundscape is sumptuous. Every digital tick, click, and shift is perfect and really heightens the entire experience. I would pay particular notice to Neo's scream as he is "unplugged" for the first time, the sounds of the power-plant, and the sound of the raining code.

Also, Chigurh's shotgun.
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post #19 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:10pm
i was thinking about the matrix too, but then didnt only want to bring to the table "the gun shots sounded cool". youre right though, its not just the guns, its all the sound design that really are a notch above the rest.
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post #20 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:10pm
Continuing with The Matrix, I thought it was really clever that every impact of a punch or a bullet sounded as if it were played in reverse. Instead of sound pouring out from each hit or puncture, it sounded like the sound was being sucked inwards.
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post #21 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:18pm
Again with the matrix, i love how the shot of the minigun firing from the helicoptor, the shot below the heli, is as much about the sound of all the shell casings hitting the landing strut thing on the flying machine as it is the sound of the gunshots themselves
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post #22 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:26pm
The big, booming noises are fun, but I always get a big grin on my face every time I hear that creaky noise of the first chestburster. (around 1:27)

Cute lil' bastard...

ETA: Dickson, I love the mention of Gozilla's roar. He hollers at me every time my mom calls me on my cell.
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post #23 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:29pm
I'm rather a fan of the minimalist heavy breathing of Frank Poole (which I think was actually Kubrick providing the sound effect?) after being attacked by HAL in 2001. Very jarring and it certainly draws you into the situation.
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post #24 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:43pm
The sound the proton packs in Ghostbusters make when they're switched on.
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post #25 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:45pm
(slaps forehead)

Thanks for making me feel dumb, Nexus.
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post #26 of 118
8/5/09 at 8:59pm
Don't forget the Ecto-1 siren too!
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post #27 of 118
8/5/09 at 9:17pm
*** Don't click the link if you haven't seen Season 3 of Lost. SPOILERS ahoy!

The sound made when the Smoke Monster from Lost is near, which I've recently found out is the sound of a NYC taxi meter. I also like Smokey's mechanical horn noises once it arrives.

Also, I'm not that big of a Star Wars nerd, but I love the sound of the "pew pew" noises the Tie Fighters(?) make when shooting their weapons.
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post #28 of 118
8/5/09 at 9:46pm
The 'vipping' and 'whizzing' of bullets at the start of 'Saving Private Ryan' and the sounds of their impact on flesh completely blew me away that first time at the cinema.

Don't know if it counts but the 'whub', 'whub' sound every time the camera passes a beam in 'Evil Dead' has always stuck with me in a big way...very unique.

The punches in 'Raging Bull'

The oddly 'crunchy scrunchy' headshot sounds in Fulci's 'The Beyond'

The sound of Talos in 'Jason And The Argonauts'

And, for some reason, the strange piggy squealing that ED-209 makes when he falls down those stairs
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post #29 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:17pm
The sound of the giant ants in THEM!
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post #30 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:26pm
The sound of the Mach 5 jumping in Speed Racer! hahahahah... oh yes...

Though I never watched Speed Racer as a kid, I do find that a lot of old cartoons have some very 'personally iconic' sound fx by default simply because I was exposed to them at an impressionable age.
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post #31 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
there is no way for sound waves to travel effectively in outerspace. therefore, Mr Fetts seismic charges should have made no sound at all. That is why its a bad sound effect, in my own opinion
Please shut up.

R2D2, specially his kind of hum sound he can do in between beeps. The only example I could find online is from this scene in Attack of the Clones (When they try to kill Padme with the worms in her apartment);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCYny...EF8556#t=2m14s (starts at 2m14s).
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post #32 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:43pm
The sound of the T-1000's pistol in Terminator 2.

The "PERSHUNK" sound that Chigurh's bolt gun makes, and the sound of his silenced shotgun. In No Country For Old Men.

Frank Booth's heavy breathing while breathing in whatever the hell is in that tank in Blue Velvet.
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post #33 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) View Post
The sound of the T-1000's pistol in Terminator 2.
Even better, the sound of Robocop's pistol.

And speaking of Indy, the sound of his whip.
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post #34 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:56pm
Renn beat you to the shotgun, Rene. I totally agree, it's an amazing sound.

Another great T2 sound... I'm always had a fondness for the "FWOOMP FWOOMP" of the gun that shoots the tear gas canisters.
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post #35 of 118
8/5/09 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
Even better, the sound of Robocop's pistol.
Touche.

I like the sound of the drill that Arnold uses to get at Benny in Total Recall.

Also the monster "Boom!" that Harry's .44 makes, and the sound of the switchblade opening and hitting Scorpio's leg.
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post #36 of 118
8/5/09 at 11:06pm
Wilhelm
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post #37 of 118
8/5/09 at 11:09pm
i was just coming in to say how refreshing it is that no one has dropped the wilhelm bomb...
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post #38 of 118
8/5/09 at 11:15pm
If we're talking screams too, then Scorpio's when he gets stabbed in the leg in Dirty Harry.

Doesn't even sound like a human scream....
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post #39 of 118
8/5/09 at 11:40pm

Favorite Sound Effects: Star Trek Edition

Sound when anyone in Starfleet opens/activates their Communicator

Sound of the Transporter......Transporting

Sound Phasers make, both hand held and ship based.

Sound of Photon Torpedoes

Background computer noise in TOS

Sound of the Tricorder
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post #40 of 118
8/5/09 at 11:53pm
Medusa's rattle in Clash of the Titans

The circular blade flying machines in The Incredibles.

Bullets hitting the rolling gong in Temple of Doom.

Falcon hyperdrive failing.

All time favorite: The *splat* as Prince Herbert falls to his death in MP's Holy Grail.
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post #41 of 118
8/6/09 at 12:00am
Medusa. Nuff said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBtAO4dYL98

Edit: beaten by one post! Great minds, etc.
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post #42 of 118
8/6/09 at 12:00am
The sound that the shotguns make in Assault In Precinct 13 that were also used for the shotguns in The Terminator.

The pistol firing sound effect that was used in just about every Spaghetti western ever, that was also used for Tarantino's gun in Sukiyaki Western Django.
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post #43 of 118
8/6/09 at 2:19am
The Wilhelm post reminded of my most favorite awful scream effect ever:

Day of the Dead (1985) when the soldier gets his head pulled off, he lets out the scream that slowly alters to a higher pitched squeal as his larynx is detached from his torso. Eeew.
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post #44 of 118
8/6/09 at 2:45am
I can't pick a single effect, but the heightened sound design in Evil Dead 2 is a large factor in the movie's Looney Tunes in an abbatoir vibe.
My least favourite sound effect is Steven Seagal in The Glimmer Man. He makes no sound at all.
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post #45 of 118
8/6/09 at 6:12am
I know it's a video game but I thought of Half Life 2 straight away. So many things make great noises in that game:

The big machine gun has a distinctive sort of whipping noise

Those weird electro balls that home in on you, they sound almost like rodents

The rattle of the black spiders before they leap at you, gives me shivers everytime

The echoing clanking and whirring inside the Sentinel, really gives it a sense of scale and unseen immense workings.


I've probably missed loads more.
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post #46 of 118
8/6/09 at 6:17am
There is a sound made by razors cutting through paper in the opening of Seven that is still giving me the chills up until today. And speaking of Fincher, the broad daylight killing in Zodiac just sounds so realistic that it qualifies as one of the most brutal scenes I ever watched for me. And that is mostly because of the sound effects and not the visuals which are rather tame in comparism.

And there is always the THX sound. As shown on the Simpsons.
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post #47 of 118
8/6/09 at 6:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Oysterburger View Post
I know it's a video game but I thought of Half Life 2 straight away. So many things make great noises in that game:

The big machine gun has a distinctive sort of whipping noise

Those weird electro balls that home in on you, they sound almost like rodents

The rattle of the black spiders before they leap at you, gives me shivers everytime

The echoing clanking and whirring inside the Sentinel, really gives it a sense of scale and unseen immense workings.


I've probably missed loads more.
Valve's sound effects are next to none in games as far as I'm concerned. The Strider's death sounds, and Dog alone are up there with any Hollywood film, along with the examples you mentioned.
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post #48 of 118
8/6/09 at 7:54am
Seconding the love of the proton pack and falcon noises.

May I add the noise the Aliens make in the Spielberg War of the Worlds, hands down the best part of that film.

Also the creepiest one I have ever heard is Kirsty Alley performing an autopsy on herself during the village of the dammed flick. You don't see anything but the noises made as she saws through her own chest are just creepy as hell.
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post #49 of 118
8/6/09 at 8:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
Some of the sub sounds in The Boot are really great, and they make sense because there can be sound underwater. You really feel the fear the men must feel regarding water pressure and its effects on the hull of the boot
You think it's called "The Boot"?
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post #50 of 118
8/6/09 at 8:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Humanoid View Post
You think it's called "The Boot"?
Maybe he is talking about this:

"In a glass of water - some can hear you chew!"
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