What was that 60's Laugh Track sound effect? [Obscure!]

Cafe Society
1

I tend to remember it mostly from shows like The Brady Bunch… it was on the laugh track after a wacky hijink elicited a hearty laugh from the canned audience, and the laugh would end with a silly sound effect… sort of like a springy “sproing” sound that rose in pitch… or maybe like someone rubbing on an inflated balloon… or someone rolling a BB in a balloon… or, I dunno, it wasn’t a human laugh sound.

Anyone know what I’m talking about?

I’m looking for both a good .WAV of the sound, and hopefully an idea of how the Foley guys made the sound.

2

Well, perhaps this is so obscure it would do better in GQ?

I wish I could give a better description of the sound… it almost sounds like a meow…

3

Could this be it?

4

By jove, I think he’s got it!

5

ArchiveGuy,

I know the sound that bughunter is talking about, and I don’t think that’s it. The sound is sort of like a “meow” sound. It’s about one second in length and to me it sounded like “hraaaarh”. (Hey, it’s a palindrome, too!) I never could figure out if it was coming from a single voice or if it was a combination of two or more voices mingled together.

6

I’m pretty sure I know that laugh track too, but I’m used to hearing in on The Andy Griffith Show. There would be a group of laughers with one emerging and the end with a breathy “hyeeeeeah!”

My friend and I used to purposely add that to the end of our laughs in tribute to the mystery AG laugher.

7

No, but I remember that one, too.

Another good addition to my system sounds folder… but not the one I was looking for.

Guy and Max seem to have a handle on it… even if they can’t name it any better than I can.

8

My friend just linked this to me because we were also obsessed with it as kids. (I didn’t realize this was a 10-yr-old post…oh well).

I couldn’t get a clear shot of it, but you can hear it at the beginning of the clip under Mike Brady. http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=v5aalk&s=5

9

I always just thought that was the sound of someone halfway gagging when they start laughing. I’ve made a similar sound before when I didn’t expect to be laughing at something.

But I now suspect it was to provide a clear beginning to the sound, so that you didn’t hear the the laughs were not necessarily recorded from the beginning.

10

Threads this old sometimes get locked, but I think we can leave this open and see how people weigh in on this new theory.

11

:cue laughter:

12

Doubt if it was the same one, but there a laugh track that barely sounded human at all, used over and over again in The Flintstones. It sounded more like a bunch of plastic bowling pins falling over, or something.

13

Glad to resurrect this ancient thread. Maybe we can finally get some answers about this clearly unhuman, disturbing sound (that was in nearly every sitcom from the late 60s/early 70s)!

14

The Flinstones one I can answer. It was just a really low quality, tinny recording made on the cheap.

Wiki Cite.

ETA: While we’re at it, I believe that the Brady Bunch used the laff box, which I believe had a few sound effects built in, too. I assumed the question was how they made those sound effects, which I still don’t know. Listen to the YouTube clip: any ideas?

15

“The same prerecorded laugh can be heard after nearly every punchline, which does not go unnoticed by the astute viewer.” Meaning your typical seven year old. :smiley: Just one more reason I disdained Hanna Barbera as a kid.