# Annoying repeats of sound effects, or beyond Wilhelm **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218 "2012-10-19T11:28:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/1 "2012-10-19T11:28:49Z")
Cougar snarl(or big cat snarl)- Yes that one, you know it! Elephant screams- Usually mixed in with other animal sounds but its so distinct. Eagle cry- I swear I have heard the same eagle cry in tons of stuff by now. Crying baby- There must be like sound libraries where they look these up right? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/2 "2012-10-19T11:37:21Z")
Red-tailed hawk cry used as a stand-in for just about any other raptor (such as bald eagles). ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/3 "2012-10-19T12:12:43Z")
There’s also the ubiquitous [Castle Thunder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_thunder_%28sound_effect%29). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/4 "2012-10-19T12:20:13Z")
How could you leave out what are arguably the most prevalent, yet mosdt inappropriate: 1.) The Kookaboora in the jungle – Maybe because it sounds like what a lot of people think chimps or monkeys should sound like, you get that “OOooh-Oooh-OOOh-OOOh-AAAAH-AAH” sound whenever you see sa jungle, especially in Africa (but elsewhere too). Only it’s made by the Kookaboora, and Australian non-jungle bird. [http://jansjoyousjungle.com/junglesound.html](http://jansjoyousjungle.com/junglesound.html) 2.) The Loon of the Desert – Since you need an audio signature for everything, desert gets this long, low musical-like note. Only it’s the call of the loon, a bird that dwells near lakes in deciduous forests, pretty far from any desert, esxcept the Desert of Maine Loon call: > **[Common loon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Loon)** > > The common loon or great northern diver (Gavia immer) is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purplish, or bluish sheen, blackish or blackish-grey upperparts, and pure white underparts except some black on the undertail coverts and vent. Non-breeding adults are brownish with a dark neck and head marked with dark grey-brown. Their upperparts are dark brownish-grey with an unclear pattern ... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/5 "2012-10-19T12:59:36Z")
There’s a stock lightning bolt that has been used many times. I’ll post a photo when I get a chance. It might coincide with “Castle Thunder,” but I can’t be sure. I’ll try to describe it: It starts at the top of the screen and angles downward to the left. It starts as a single bolt, then diverges into two bolts with a shape roughly approximating your hand if you curl in the last three fingers, and have the index finger and thumb pointing downward. (But I don’t find it particularly annoying.) ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/6 "2012-10-19T13:28:02Z")
Hollywood horses. When there’s a horse on the screen, large or small, there are constant supposed horse sounds of whinnying, whickering, etc. \*Horses don’t do that. \* They’re mostly quiet unless they’re freaking about something or communicating with another horse and even then when being ridden it’s considered bad manners/poor training. I love horses and have been around them all my life, but these noisy Hollywood horses make it hard for me to watch anything with horses in them. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/7 "2012-10-19T13:31:49Z")
Modern computers that beep when they finish any task. The standard Disney cartoon sound effect when someone falls from a great height. The “phfffffffft” of guns with silencers. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/8 "2012-10-19T13:34:13Z")
I get tired of hearing the MG42 sound whenever someone is being fired upon by a machinegun. It’s the sound of a whole lot of bullets going by with a high-ptiched “Pe-ow!” When I was watching “Paths of Glory,” it was annoying to hear Kirk Douglas being shot at by a weapon that wouldn’t exist for another 25 years. On the other hand, when they used it in the exact proper context in Band of Brothers, it was very satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/9 "2012-10-19T13:41:15Z")
The old time canned laughter. There’s one woman laughing really loud: you just know it’s the same woman every time. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/10 "2012-10-19T13:42:46Z")
Every single time you see a cat on screen it’s meowing. The same meow. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/11 "2012-10-19T13:44:59Z")
Every single time there is a semi-truck on the TV screen, the horn does a “HONNK! HAWONKKK!” as it passes the camera. Ice Road Truckers does it a hell of a lot. Woman screaming - Ohhahhh! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/12 "2012-10-19T14:55:06Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Hollywood horses. When there’s a horse on the screen, large or small, there are constant supposed horse sounds of whinnying, whickering, etc. \*Horses don’t do that. \* They’re mostly quiet unless they’re freaking about something or communicating with another horse and even then when being ridden it’s considered bad manners/poor training. I love horses and have been around them all my life, but these noisy Hollywood horses make it hard for me to watch anything with horses in them. And the coconuts-I HATE the coconuts! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/13 "2012-10-19T15:27:58Z")
The two-toned explosion sound that A-Team used to use for every kind of explosion from hand grenades to wrecked cars. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/14 "2012-10-19T16:05:04Z")
There’s a canned woman sneezing sound that makes its way into seemingly every other allergy commercial. It sounds something like a high nasal “Ehh-shoo” but I’ve never heard a sneeze like it in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/15 "2012-10-19T16:54:08Z")
The explosion sound from the original Battlestar: Galactica, which also appeared in Airwolf, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, indeed it often appeared several times in those programmes to represent a bunch of explosions. It was a kind of double-barrelled BAA-DAA noise. E.g. this clip: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UruEF-hozqg/hqdefault.jpg "Old School Battlestar") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UruEF-hozqg) Fast-forward to 01:00, and then to 1:24, where it happens again (they seem to play two similar variations one after the other). Also, I have to say that the clip makes the show look a lot better than it was. It’s “explosion 2” on this page: [http://www.joelowens.org/bsg/sfx.html](http://www.joelowens.org/bsg/sfx.html) That, and the gunshot richochet sounds from the Clint Eastwood / Sergio Leone westerns. There’s a romantic scene in _For a Few Dollars More_ where Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef’s characters bond whilst shooting each other’s hats off - sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but come on - and it’s basically the same bloody gunshot over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/16 "2012-10-19T17:45:52Z")
The scary spider sound. I can’t find a clip of it, but it’s used any time there’s a spider or a scorpion or other creepy-crawly, especially if they’re giant. The most obvious use I can remember is in Disney’s _Beauty and the Beast_, when Belle has pledged to take her father’s place, the Beast drags Maurice out to a carriage, throws him in, and commands the carriage to take Maurice back to the village. The carriage - without wheels - walks off, with the sound effect playing loudly. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/17 "2012-10-19T17:51:18Z")
“High Altitude Winds.” Characteristic whistling winds, as on a high mountain, climbing a radio tower, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/18 "2012-10-19T18:00:32Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > The scary spider sound. I can’t find a clip of it, but it’s used any time there’s a spider or a scorpion or other creepy-crawly, especially if they’re giant. The most obvious use I can remember is in Disney’s _Beauty and the Beast_, when Belle has pledged to take her father’s place, the Beast drags Maurice out to a carriage, throws him in, and commands the carriage to take Maurice back to the village. The carriage - without wheels - walks off, with the sound effect playing loudly. There’s a rattle-like effect I’ve often heard used for this, as if any creepy-crawly thing is a rattlesnake. It’s not used commonly anymore, but I was watching the 1958 Roger Corman _optus_, _The War of the Satellites_, and noticed that they used the very same “outer space sound” that they did in the non-Corman _It! The Terror from Beyond Space_ (and, I think other 195-0s space movies). It’s not really music, but a sort of background cue that sounds vaguely theremin-like, and has an oscillating frequency that goes from low to high and back again in the space of about half a minute. (ooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooo). It’s the Sounf Cue To Let You Know You’re in Space, just like the Kookaboora for You’re In A Jungle and the Loon for You’re In A Desert that I cited above. Noawadays nobody uses it, thank Og, although the birds are still with us. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/19 "2012-10-19T18:05:05Z")
Do you have an example of the desert loon? I associate the red tailed hawk screech with movie desert scenes personally. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/20 "2012-10-19T18:50:51Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Do you have an example of the desert loon? I associate the red tailed hawk screech with movie desert scenes personally. I linked to a recording of a loon, but I don’t have sound at work, so I can’t tell if I’vbe linked to the right thing. It’s a long, lonely single-toned wail. It’s not obvious what sort of beast made it, but it’s very distinct from the screeching of a hawk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218.md?page=2)