# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/21 "2012-10-19T19:03:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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. If that’s the sound I think it is, it’s being used in the current ABC sitcom, The Neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/22 "2012-10-19T19:26:38Z")
I don’t know how to describe it, exactly, but there is a particular warning siren that gets used all over the fucking place and for some reason it pisses me off. I’m sure it’s based on a real alarm/siren too. It always seems to show up whenever you have a bulkhead closing very slowly, some sort of doorway closing slowly, or big heavy things getting raised or lowered or something. Usually accompanied by those spinning yellow alarm lights. Does anyone here have any idea what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/23 "2012-10-19T19:43:54Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > 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. Don’t forget when Clint shoots everyone’s hat off after rescuing Tuco at the beginning of TG,TB&TU. (I assume it’s the same sound–I’ve only watched _A Few Dollars More_ once, as it didn’t do much for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/24 "2012-10-19T19:49:42Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I don’t know how to describe it, exactly, but there is a particular warning siren that gets used all over the fucking place and for some reason it pisses me off. I’m sure it’s based on a real alarm/siren too. > > It always seems to show up whenever you have a bulkhead closing very slowly, some sort of doorway closing slowly, or big heavy things getting raised or lowered or something. Usually accompanied by those spinning yellow alarm lights. > > Does anyone here have any idea what I’m talking about? Yes! Kind of a raspy waaaaaaaannngggk waaaaaaannngk? That one? I thought it was called a klaxon, but I just looked that up and a klaxon is the sound a submarine makes when it dives. To think, all these years I’ve been hearing the wrong thing in my head when a klaxon showed up in a book I’m reading… ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/25 "2012-10-19T20:00:13Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Yes! Kind of a raspy waaaaaaaannngggk waaaaaaannngk? That one? > > I thought it was called a klaxon, but I just looked that up and a klaxon is the sound a submarine makes when it dives. > > To think, all these years I’ve been hearing the wrong thing in my head when a klaxon showed up in a book I’m reading… Yup, I think we’re thinking of the same thing. waaaaaaaannngggk waaaaaaannngk seems to approximate the noise pretty well. I swear, every time I hear that alarm I just want to mute the TV. I don’t know why it grates on me so much. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/26 "2012-10-19T20:02:52Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Every single time you see a cat on screen it’s meowing. The same meow. Yeah, the startled cat meow. Same one every single time. Can’t someone just poke their cat with a fork and record a new one? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/27 "2012-10-19T20:37:46Z")
Dirty Harry’s pistol makes that same big pistol noise every time it’s fired. ---
**Author:** ![TimToyGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TimToyGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimToyGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/28 "2012-10-19T20:48:05Z")
Even in 2012, I sometimes notice the specific sound effects of Atari 2600 ‘Pac-Man’ being played to stand in for any generic video game whose screen is not seen. That to me may be the ultimate in lazy Foley effects. Atari 2600 Pac-Man. Tim ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/29 "2012-10-19T20:57:44Z")
[Door creak](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWSXVZuXlrc). It was a common sound effect in the videogame Daggerfall, and I hear it in movies and TV shows constantly. It drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/30 "2012-10-19T21:06:54Z")
There’s a scream that we first heard in the movie Wag the Dog and now hear so often that we wonder if hollywood is really so cheap that they can’t create any new screams. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/31 "2012-10-19T21:17:53Z")
[I prefer the Howie Long scream](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4DX2DBWtTk) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/32 "2012-10-19T23:12:08Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The old time canned laughter. There’s one woman laughing really loud: you just know it’s the same woman every time. The first thing I thought of. Specifically, on _I Love Lucy_ when hilarity is about to ensue you can hear what sounds to me like Lucille Ball say “uh oh”. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/33 "2012-10-20T00:40:54Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] The first thing I thought of. Specifically, on _I Love Lucy_ when hilarity is about to ensue you can hear what sounds to me like Lucille Ball say “uh oh”. [/QUOTE] That was Lucille Ball’s mother, DeDe. Just thought of another horribly overused sound - the sssschhhingg! whenever a sword is drawn, swung or even simply brandished. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/34 "2012-10-20T04:01:00Z")
Camera sound, or better yet Professional Camera sound:\* Ptweeeeerint\*, that’s the film advance motor. Goddamnit, it’s a digital camera, it just goes ‘Click’ on the expensive ones, you’ll barely hear that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/35 "2012-10-20T14:42:39Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Camera sound, or better yet Professional Camera sound:\* Ptweeeeerint\*, that’s the film advance motor. Goddamnit, it’s a digital camera, it just goes ‘Click’ on the expensive ones, you’ll barely hear that. The sound is overdone, but if you’re shooting an expensive dslr, you hear it. It’s no quieter than a film SLR, as you still have the mirror slap to contend with. You won’t hear film advance, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/36 "2012-10-20T14:48:20Z")
There’s the sound of children laughing tink-plink-ly, shown any time there’s little kids or a playground. I can’t stand this one. One time I was watching something and there was an empty playground, no kids at all, and someone put their finger down somewhere and played that stupid weird little kids laugh. So tacky. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/37 "2012-10-20T15:54:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The sound is overdone, but if you’re shooting an expensive dslr, you hear it. It’s no quieter than a film SLR, as you still have the mirror slap to contend with. You won’t hear film advance, of course. Actually don’t most mass-market digital cameras, from Prosumer down to the ones on cellphones, make a simulated camera click noise - so people around you know you are taking pictures (unless you go out of your way to disable the click noise, of which there are youtube videos how-tos, of course). Shutter click noise, not film advance noise (although my Canon A series does makes a bit of a hum after the fake click) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/38 "2012-10-20T16:14:59Z")
There’s a standard, stock baby coo that is often used in commercials. It starts low, raises, then lowers again - ah-Ah-ah. You’d recognize it if you heard it… ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/39 "2012-10-20T16:27:53Z")
The “chirping” of a helicopter powering down…a sound produced only by the drive belts of the [Bell-47](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_47). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218/40 "2012-10-20T16:31:38Z")
The “splat” sound you always hear in fight scenes as two people punch each other. A punch is usually pretty quiet. Compare what you hear in this movie [fight](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGCMfprPJoA) to an actual [fight](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aucH9Ow3xu8&feature=relmfu). (Granted, this particular movie fight is so exaggerated you can hear their arms “whooshing” as they swing.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-repeats-of-sound-effects-or-beyond-wilhelm/638218.md?page=3)