I’m not sure this would qualify as a sound effect, but I looooooove Ren’s Evil Laugh.
Happy
No-brainer for me. I’ve become an aficionado of the Wilhelm scream. I love spotting it in movies. I caught it in all six Star Wars, as well as the three Lord Of The Rings flicks, and countless other movies.
Shtoink
Foinsap
Poit
and all the other gems given to us by Don Martin.
The low frequency oscillation sounds beloved by spacey musicians like Gong and Air. The synthesised bird tweet (often heard in Reggae influenced music) is a close relation, for those who have no clue what I’m talking about. “Whup whup whup whup whup whupwhupwhpwhpwpwpww” is the best rendering I can give of this type of sound effect.
The THX building, droning sound.
The sound used in The Simpsons Halloween of Horror short where Bart has magical powers. When he changes something, there’s this strange, almost ‘clocklike’ sound. You’d usually expect a different sound effect in it’s place, but it actually works really well. No idea what it is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was borrowed from another TV show or movie.
I can’t be more specific, but the Star Wars spaceship laser sound… It sounds like an archer firing a laser beam from his bow!
The tape scratching to a stop… Man, that never gets old
Reticulating Splines
I actually read once that this noise was made by a man slapping a leather couch as if it was a bongo drum.
Another vote for lightsaber sounds, and Wilhelm. But another great SW sound is Jango Fett’s seismic charges in AOTC. …silence… BWOOOOWWWM!!!
(I’m also a sucker for a good Orchestra Hit.)
Is THAT what that’s called?! I always called it “generic storm trooper scream”. Thank you for that link. I enjoy finding it in movies as well.
Another two; The sound of the original Constitution class Enterprise going to warp (or the impulse engines straining) from inside the ship and the red-alert siren in the refit vessels (not counting the awful swap they made in the Director’s Cut of TMP)
I love the sound of breaking glass (and so does Nick Lowe)
I also backup Wordman on the “goigle, goigle, goigle” sound
But no discussion of sound effects is complete without a mention of Don Martin, one time cartoonist for Mad Magazine. A complete lexicon of his sound effects can be found here.
My favourite is…
“Arrargh Wamp Blamp Oof Yug”
described as the sound of “A Lady And The Hulk Making Love.”
Selfish request: more sound links please.
Ack…Thbbbt
Law and Order: BOM BOM!
Also, the one that’s used when somebody says/does something stupid. Phonetically it goes like: Wah, wah, waaaaahhhhhh.
Here be mine.
You’re so right.
The Bionic sound.
Lightsaber hum.
The generic/cheesy body-blow sounds from saturday afternoon kung-fu theater.
The sound of the baby going “aAI-Aah” found in separate Prince and Madonna songs, IIRC.
The “piw-piw” sound of a silenced pistol.
I found these annoying. It sounded like Pete Townshend doing a windmill-powerchord slam with too much distortion/reverb/flange.
IMHO.
Another vote for the original photon torpedo sound (equals War of the Worlds secondary weapon sound, equals used in a bunch of other places).
The disaster klaxon in the ruined test chamber in Half-Life 1. “Wuh-HUUUH!!! Wuh-HUUUH!!!” It practically screams “WE’RE IN DEEP S**T!”.
The almost subsonic white noise used for deep space, originated in 2001:ASO and now used widely
The sound used in the Pink Panther cartoons (and others by that animation studio) of something hitting the ground: <PLOCH!> like a cinder block hitting concrete.
I love the sound that AdAware makes when it’s finished a scan and has found Critical Objects.
Another great sound is the one in “Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy” when Keen squishes a skypest with his pogo stick.
The siren from a Stuka Dive bomber That whine it makes as it goes into a dive is one of the most recognizable and probably, if you were on the ground at the time, terrifying noise.
From WWII ocumentaries the sound of the Soviet multiple Rocket launchers (can’t remember what they were called) There is the high pitched roar that makes your hair stand on end.
My Ultimate fav happens to be a sound effect I’m using in A One act play I just wrote and directed… The sound of Metal creaking under pressure. Like in the old sub movies. Trust me if you are in a blackened theatre and your hearing this for a minute or so it us very disturbing.
Most of the Star Wars sounds are great, but my favorite is the howl of a Tauntaun (the snow-kangaroos they were riding in Empire Strikes Back). I don’t know how it was actually produced, but you can get a close approximation by playing a tuba mouthpiece connected only to about a foot of neck tubing (but not the rest of the tuba).