Forum From the Archives: Fred Armisen on Recording the Sounds of the Everyday

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

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Summary

Fred Armisen, the comedian, actor and musician known for “Portlandia,” “Documentary Now!” and “SNL,” has a new album out called “100 Sound Effects.” There’s a jacket zipping, glass shattering, the “ooh” of receiving room service and even the sound we make when “Walking into a Video Room at an Art Museum and then Walking Out Quickly,” as the effect is titled. We’ll talk with Armisen about recording the sounds of the everyday, and we want to hear from you: What’s a sound you’d record in your life or would want preserved in a sound effect library decades from now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:55.8	Fred Armisen, best known for our Saturday Night Live,
0:58.7	Portlandia, and playing Uncle Fester on the series Wednesday,
1:02.1	is also really intrigued by the way things sound,
1:05.8	from sort of pure sounds like the needle on a record,
1:08.7	to the sounds of specific scenarios, like when
1:16.3	room service arrives and reveals your food.
1:22.4	Ooh. He's collected a hundred or so of these sounds on a new album called 100 sound effects.
	...

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