# What is that one sound effect?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847 "2002-11-01T14:43:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Astroglide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@Astroglide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroglide)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847/1 "2002-11-01T14:43:18Z")

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I **must** know (and hopefully find a .wav file of it.)

It’s in nearly every recent movie and preview.

Fairly high-pitched, usually happens just before something hits something causing an explosion - but I hear it more and more for more mundane occasions.

One production company even uses it when the logo appears.

If you keep your teeth clenched and say “shooooooop”, that’s kind of close.

My wife says it reminds her of a “lightning strike”, but it’s not “crackly”.

I’m _sure_ if you’ve seen a popular movie in the last 2 years you must have had heard this overused effect.

Please please please help me identify it!

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**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847/2 "2002-11-01T14:53:11Z")

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You might find the answer [here](http://www.filmsound.org/links.htm) .

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**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847/3 "2002-11-02T03:50:53Z")

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I answered this morning, but I guess my post didn’t go through.  
I believe the sound you’re looking for originally came from the last level of Doom II, when the skull on the wall spit out monsters. Since playing Doom obsessively, I’ve heard the sound many times in movies and TV, usually just before an explosion.

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**Author:** ![Astroglide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@Astroglide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroglide)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-one-sound-effect/134847/4 "2002-11-03T07:07:41Z")

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Baraqiyal,

From searching around the web it looks like you might be right.

Now I just have to find a clip of the sound to check it out! (Or find a friend who still has Doom II around - I was never very good at FPS).

Thanks so much for the info!