# What's THIS sound effect in this song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998 "2008-11-30T02:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/1 "2008-11-30T02:00:01Z")
Inspired by the When Doves Cry thread in this forum… The following link is the video for a song from U2’s side project/collaboration with Brian Eno and a few others. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/EM2XMsWfuA4/hqdefault.jpg "Beach Sequence - Passengers (ENO/U2)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM2XMsWfuA4) The song is called “Beach Sequence”. What I am trying to find out is what machine/instrument is providing the background noise. You can hear it at :04 and then more of a flourish at :08. Then it continues in the background. How did these guys make the background sound? Note of trivia: John Malkovich appears in the video. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/2 "2008-11-30T02:29:53Z")
The only thing I hear at those times is an acoustic guitar (or maybe an acoustic bass guitar). ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/3 "2008-11-30T02:33:57Z")
It’s definitely not a conventional instrument; it’s some kind of background ambient-type of continuous sound. I hope I’m not imagining things! ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/4 "2008-11-30T02:43:49Z")
I’m not hearing it either. The “outdoors” track, in addition to the obvious birds, has some or all of these: cicadas, road noise, waves. But at the time markers you mention, I hear only that plus the acoutic (possibly bass) guitar and some soft drums (including a swept snare, adding to the white-ish noise.) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/5 "2008-11-30T10:27:00Z")
I can’t hear it either. BTW, that sounds like an electric guitar not acoustic. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/6 "2008-11-30T11:54:01Z")
What an irritating piece of noise. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/7 "2008-11-30T14:50:01Z")
> [@twit](#): > > The song is called “Beach Sequence”. What I am trying to find out is what machine/instrument is providing the background noise. You can hear it at :04 and then more of a flourish at :08. Then it continues in the background. > > How did these guys make the background sound? There’s a repeating sound, a little faster than 1 per second, not in sync with the beat. It reminds me of the sound of an electronic alarm clock going off. But if you listen really closely, it’s 3 notes, low, medium then high, played really close together. I’m sure it’s done on a synthesizer and then sampled and looped throughout the song…if that’s the sound you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/8 "2008-11-30T21:11:16Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > There’s a repeating sound, a little faster than 1 per second, not in sync with the beat. It reminds me of the sound of an electronic alarm clock going off. But if you listen really closely, it’s 3 notes, low, medium then high, played really close together. I’m sure it’s done on a synthesizer and then sampled and looped throughout the song…if that’s the sound you’re talking about. Jason, I know what you’re referring to because I do hear it low in the mix. What I’m talking about is kind of a cavernous sound in the background behind the actual instruments. I hear it pretty well in the beginning and then it fades out a bit before coming back in again throughout the song. It’s pretty much monotone throughout as well. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/9 "2008-11-30T21:15:54Z")
Just watched it again. I also hear a flourish at 1:55 as John Malkovich is walking toward the beach after exiting a building and also at 2:01. Once again, it’s a cavernous-like sound fairly low in the song. I don’t know if if it would be the sound of wind blowing through a cavern. This is the closest I could come up with. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/10 "2008-11-30T22:07:42Z")
To me it sounds more like a truck running at constant RPMs (though quietly), but my vote is that it’s just computer generated (possibly raw or possibly a modified version of some original sample). Not an interesting answer, but the odds-on favorite, I’d say. I doubt we can do better without asking someone involved in the production, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/11 "2008-11-30T22:12:26Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > To me it sounds more like a truck running at constant RPMs (though quietly), but my vote is that it’s just computer generated (possibly raw or possibly a modified version of some original sample). Not an interesting answer, but the odds-on favorite, I’d say. I doubt we can do better without asking someone involved in the production, unfortunately. I think your answer is probably the closest, Pasta, and you’re right, unless we knew someone who was part of the project, we wouldn’t know for sure. It was probably something Brian Eno came up with. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/12 "2008-12-02T00:29:23Z")
The best way to find out would be to get the original multitrack recording and eliminate everything but that sound. But if you could do that, you’d probably be able to just ask how they did it. It sounds almost like something that could be done with an organ, or maybe some combination of orchestral instruments. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/13 "2008-12-02T00:31:25Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > The best way to find out would be to get the original multitrack recording and eliminate everything but that sound. But if you could do that, you’d probably be able to just ask how they did it. > > It sounds almost like something that could be done with an organ, or maybe some combination of orchestral instruments. I’m thinking some kind of synthesizer and the imagination of Eno. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/14 "2008-12-02T00:58:21Z")
It sounds like a running faucet, or water running through pipes at least, perhaps they just recorded that and mixed it in? ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-sound-effect-in-this-song/474998/15 "2008-12-02T01:02:00Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > It sounds like a running faucet, or water running through pipes at least, perhaps they just recorded that and mixed it in? Ya know, I would not be surprised at all if that was what was used for that background noise. I’m also pleased that it doesn’t look like I’m just imagining things!