Over-used library sound effects

[Sits]

This is prompted by Jamie & Jimmy's Food Fight Club which Mrs. S has been watching of late. Every time Jamie or his mate are cooking next to a field, barn or anywhere outside and rural (as you do) I can hear the "library crow". This can be heard in movies and TV shows, British and American, and probably Australian. I haven't actually logged it. The conversation will be along these lines:
SWR - it's that crow again
MrsS - it's just a crow
SWR - but it's exactly the same every week
MrsS - but why would they add the sound of a crow
SWR - for atmosphere

Anyway I'm right.

There are loads. In the mid-90s I bought The Elder Scrolls 3 - Daggerfall (I think that's what it was called) and a couple of sounds from there crop up all over the place. There's a creaky dungeon/castle door, and a horse neighing which was definitely in Gladiator.

And I have to mention the Library Fox. I think it's a fox. It's sort of half way between a dog barking and an owl screeching. Step outdoors in any BBC or ITV crime drama after dark and it won't be long before you hear the blood-chilling cry. One you've probably never heard in real life. It was a regular in Inspector Morse and has cropped up more recently in Inspector Linley. I bet it's in George Gently.

There must be many more, but clearly not enough choice.

[tracteurgarcon]

Over-used library sound effects

The "Wilhelm Scream" has to be the daddy of this sort of thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

[Stumpy Pepys]

Over-used library sound effects

I imagine many of the sound samples are royalty free. Or cheap.

[ian.64]

Over-used library sound effects

The "Wilhelm Scream" has to be the daddy of this sort of thing.

I'm getting really tired of that. It's becoming the smug in-joke of choice amongst sound-effects editors and every time I hear it, I can almost hear them chuckling at how clever they are at having slipped in the bloody thing, thinking anyone who hears it will go 'hey, it's that weird cry you hear in Spielberg's Indy movies!'

Well, they can knock it off. I know it's an instant of sound, but I can sense the 'aren't we clever' smart-assery behind it. Start doing a new one and flog that.

[Jah Womble]

Over-used library sound effects

The comedy 'door' sound effect - as used on Python records and various radio sketch shows - never fails to raise a smile with me.

During my days at the BBC, many a happy half hour was spent listening to the dozens of effect CDs knocking about. Some were tremendously specific, such as 'man dropping file of papers down waste disposal chute', while other discs simply offered a variety of explosions. (And, yes, all were royalty-free.)

[Incandenza]

Over-used library sound effects

The eagle cry

[Cal Alamein]

Over-used library sound effects

At my first TV station we had many lps from this series:


They were pretty cheesy and mostly unused back in the late-80s. The ones we used over and over we'd dub to carts.

Yeah Inca, I know exactly what eagle cry you mean.

[Sits]

Over-used library sound effects

Back in the 70s/early 80s my mate had an album of "Sci-Fi" sound effects called Sounds Astounding, featuring such gems as "laser gun" and " spaceship taking off". For some reason we always seemed to be getting it out of the cabinet.

[Sits]

Over-used library sound effects

And great pick on the eagle Inca.

[Sits]

Over-used library sound effects

Remembering when I out up Queen's bicycle race poster, do I now have to add an NSFW to this thread title?

[Incandenza]

Over-used library sound effects

There's also an alley cat screech that always comes up, usually when someone throws something outside.

[evilC]

Over-used library sound effects

There's a sample of a (hound) dog barking that they always use on the Simpsons whenever there's a dog (or sometimes a Cletus Spuckler) moment. I just googled it, but there seems to be no mention, yet its repetition is really obvious (to me).

[Various Artist]

Over-used library sound effects

Is the above-mentioned eagle the stereotypical "keeeeer" sound, which is actually some kind of anonymous-looking hawk but has to be overdubbed onto footage of things like bald eagles, as their real-life strangulated hiccups aren't majestic enough for America's national bird to be seen making? I recognise Inca's off-screen "alley cat screech" to accompany things thrown outside as well, frequently accompanied by the sound of crashing dustbins, regardless of the visible presence of either household waste receptacles or feral felines in the area. I think too Sits' crow and fox must have the same agent as whatever that (tawny?) owl is that gets such regular gigs hooting away in TV night scenes.

[Giggler]

Over-used library sound effects

My first lesson in regional TV news was to never let any moving pictures go out without sound underneath them. If the levels were too low, we were required to use some stock noises which matched the scene.

Obviously, common sense played a part here. I always used mine, but a horsey girl I worked with didn't use hers. That's why, on the anniversary of Donald Campbell's death, some footage of the Bluebird crash went out with what sounded like a Reliant Robin chugging away underneath it.

[Incandenza]

Over-used library sound effects

Velvet Android wrote: Is the above-mentioned eagle the stereotypical "keeeeer" sound, which is actually some kind of anonymous-looking hawk but has to be overdubbed onto footage of things like bald eagles, as their real-life strangulated hiccups aren't majestic enough for America's national bird to be seen making?

Yes, accompanying majestic wide expanses of landscape.

[Reed John]

Over-used library sound effects

The only animal that actually "roars" is the male African lion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZm52nvBB4

Mountain lions do more of a scream (although it's pretty scary in the dark, I suppose) while tigers chuff and moan.

[Reed John]

Over-used library sound effects

Wilhelm scream in full
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio

[Calvert]

Over-used library sound effects

Not effects as such but tiresomely clichéd nonetheless such as every time someone is about to address a room or crowd there's always a small pheep of feedback followed by the most ridiculous stadium slapback echo regardless of the dimensions of the room.
Also, bands sound unfeasably clear in all situations instead of drowning in muddy room acoustics and whenever there's any dialogue happening the level miraculously drops to a level where the actors can whisper and still be heard.
No one's ever shouting 'WHA?? CAN'T HEAR A FUCKING THING'.

[Reed John]

Over-used library sound effects

Explanation of the Bionic Man sound fx. Always wanted to know that.
http://bionic.wikia.com/wiki/Bionic_Sounds

[Reed John]

Over-used library sound effects

Calvert wrote: Not effects as such but tiresomely clichéd nonetheless such as every time someone is about to address a room or crowd there's always a small pheep of feedback followed by the most ridiculous stadium slapback echo regardless of the dimensions of the room.
Also, bands sound unfeasably clear in all situations instead of drowning in muddy room acoustics and whenever there's any dialogue happening the level miraculously drops to a level where the actors can whisper and still be heard.
No one's ever shouting 'WHA?? CAN'T HEAR A FUCKING THING'.

That's right up there with people turning on the TV right in time to hear the part of the news that moves the plot and then turning it off as soon as that's over, which nobody in real life has ever done ever.

Also, in real life, very few people can't reliably knock somebody unconscious with one punch. If they can, the damage is likely to be lasting and possibly sever. It would make just as much sense to incapacitate one's enemies by cutting a leg off.

[Calvert]

Over-used library sound effects

I'm pretty sure Gene Rodenberry's guys came up with the Enterprise bridge doors noise by ripping a sheet of paper.

That's fucking genius.

[Sam]

Over-used library sound effects

For some reason, I was reading about stock sounds on Wikipedia a few months ago (I get very bored at night sometimes). I'm glad it happened, anyway, because the attempts to phonetically describe various 'types' of Tarzan Yell in the Other Tarzan yells section of the Wikipedia page for that sound effect are quite amusing.

The Wiki entries for both Distant Drums and The Charge At Feather River mention the Wilhelm Scream as the film's most notable feature. That doesn't lead me to believe they're great works of art.

[jwdd27]

Over-used library sound effects

One that gets on my tits is the police radio sound effects - soon after the body has been discovered, or the killer apprehended, the shot will open of the aftermath, with a group of police cars parked randomly, and the same
"(crackle)429..control...despatch...over(hiss) " snatch of police radio gets played.

It's bullshit.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Over-used library sound effects

The 'phtoo' sound of a gun fired with a silencer must be a stock effect.

If you go on YouTube and see one being fired in real life, they sound nothing like that. And they're a lot louder.