Cartoon Sound Effects: From Steamboat Willie to The Jetsons

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2018

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cartoon sound effects are some of the most iconic sounds ever made. Even modern cartoons continue to use the same sound effects from decades ago. How were these legendary sounds made and how have they stood the test of time? Featuring Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini of the Formosa Group, and Advantage Audio’s Heather Olsen. 20K is made out of the studios of Defacto Sound and hosted by Dallas Taylor. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Help us make 20k - become a sustaining, recurring contributor. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/cartoon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:11.1	I'm Dallas Taylor.
0:13.6	If you watched cartoons as a kid, you probably knew instantly that the sound you just heard was from Looney Tunes.
0:19.9	You probably also know that sound
0:21.8	meant Wiley Coyote failed to catch the Roadrunner again. It's pretty crazy how we can fill in the
0:27.9	whole scene based solely on the sound effects, even without a single meep-meat from the roadrunner.
0:35.5	Wiley Coyote started falling off cliffs in 1949,
0:39.3	yet we still hear that falling sound effect
0:41.3	in modern cartoons, like Teen Titans.
0:43.9	I wouldn't stand there if I were you.
0:49.6	Here it is in Justice League action.
0:57.0	How do you do that? It defies the laws of physics.
1:00.0	And here it is even in Family Guy.
1:03.0	It's been almost 70 years since the first Wiley Co. Ow.
1:11.6	It's been almost 70 years since the first Wiley Coyote cartoon,
1:15.6	and that sound, along with many other cartoon sounds, remains constant.
1:24.6	The beauty and the joy of cartoon animation is that the characters do not have to obey the laws of physics.
1:34.3	They also don't have to obey the laws of logic, and therefore sound doesn't have to obey those laws either.
1:43.3	That's Mark Mangini, an Oscar-winning sound designer who works with the Formosa group.
1:48.0	I don't very often get to talk about my early days in cartoons.
1:52.0	Mark doesn't get a lot of questions about cartoons, because he has an impressive resume
1:56.0	designing sounds for Hollywood blockbusters.
	...

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