How to Create a Better Entertainment Experience With Better Sounds

Sound effects helps enhance valuable entertainment environments, including film, television, video games, post-production, interactive media, or any other audio production that you can imagine. However, consumers are starting to become increasingly frustrated when they encounter a sound that don’t feel compelled to hear. They can disrupt or interrupt the experience and break their immersion.

Drillimation Systems is putting down a list of recommended and not recommended sound design choices to help improve consumers’ experience with media. This article aims to develop and implement new global standards for addressing consumer expectations.

History of Stock Sound Effects

The main focus of this article is on stock sound effects that are frequently used even after they were created over half a century ago. A stock sound effect is a pre-recorded sound effect intended for reuse within an entertainment product, and are usually compiled in a library. When audio recording technology enabled sounds to be recorded and replayed, the most commonly used and tough to replicate sounds were pre-recorded so they can be accessible, allowing them to be used many, many times.

Many famous original stock sounds have included the red-tailed hawk scream, as well as the well-known Wilhelm and Howie screams. Sheb Wooley is said to be the man who created the Wilhelm scream for the 1951 film Distant Drums. It wouldn’t be until Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where the scream would see a revival and become a staple in film sound design.

Studios such as Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera would become powerhouses in stock sound effects in both live-action and animated content. Sound Ideas would go on to strike agreements with both studios, remastering and distributing their libraries in their online store.

How We Can Improve the Experience With Better Sounds Based on Consumer Preferences

Stock sounds help support diverse types of media that spans the world. But as the entertainment industry has grown, certain stock sounds have sometimes fallen short of consumers’ expectations, indicated in part by the emergence of sound muting, ear-plugging, and anxiety when they are forced by someone to view media that contains sounds they do not wish to hear. For example, overused stock sound effects affecting adults can ruin their experience and frustrate them.

In order to improve the consumer experience, we have conducted research to develop better standards in sound design. We aim to measure consumers’ preferences about the types of sounds they least prefer, in order to help the global marketplace take steps to create a better sound experience.

The Research

To determine which sound effects most annoy and frustrate consumers, we will conduct a survey that will replicate the real-world experiences of consumers as they hear sounds in media. This model will be used in all forms of entertainment such as film and television, games, interactive media, and other sources.

Least-preferred Sound Effects

We have compiled a list of stock sounds by library that are least-preferred by consumers:

• Hanna-Barbera are the General Motors of animation, and it’s no secret that they have created their own huge library of sound effects. They have been used by their rivals in the US and other studios worldwide since the 1960s. Even as of today, sounds from the library can take up part of the sound design in a production, or sometimes even the whole selection. Some of the most popular sounds created by the studio that are least-preferred are:
  • Any H-B whistle sound, such as Zip, Cartoon – Big Whistle Zing Out/In, Whine, Cartoon – Shell Screaming Whine Down: These are sounds that do exactly as they say on the tin. For the former, it was regularly used in western animation for objects falling from a great height and isn’t used often in eastern animation nowadays. For the latter, it is a whistle zing whenever an object zips in or out, or for characters and objects being thrown or launched around. It has become extremely common since the latter sound’s introduction in 1958. Eastern animation typically combines this sound with another. It is one of the most commonly cited annoyances for consumers, and have been used in a wide variety of media.
  • Another commonly used sound effect is the Hoyt’s Boing. Created from a Jew’s harp, it is used for things bouncing around as part of a comedic effect or even as a hit sound.
• During a Drillimation Systems meeting with Whitethorn Digital earlier this spring, I mentioned about not using any recognizable stock sounds in Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria. Whitethorn CEO Matthew White has gone onto state that he wouldn’t want to hear the Wilhelm Scream in the game. In fact, no PCM sounds are used; only sounds generated by the NES/Famicom’s APU.
• There are even a few original sounds created from the 1980s and 90s that can qualify. This includes Cats, Two; Angry Yowls During Cat Fight, Close Perspective from The Premiere Edition Volume 1 by Hollywoodedge, as well as Electricity, Spark – High Voltage Spark, Electrical 01 and Human, Scream – Scream: Female, Horror 03 from The General Series 6000 from Sound Ideas. The first sound is so common that it even got its own TVTropes page. All these sounds mentioned can be disturbing to consumers and catch them off guard. If they’re on YouTube, they would be compelled to close the window or tab to stop.
• Just like in real life, any stock recording of a baby crying is another example. They can be found in a variety of libraries, and these sounds can disrupt older consumers in a way that dissuades them. These can be highly aggravating to consumers and serve as a basis for a severe distraction. The result can be disorienting for consumers.

How We Can Improve Media Sound Design

We encourage media companies to view this article as a way to improve consumer experiences with sound. This article can be used to inform sound editors about the choices they make, develop improved experiences for their audiences, create new sound experiences, and assess marketplace prevalence of the sound experiences preferred by consumers.