Sound Effect - History

History

The term Sound Effect ranges back to the early days of radio. In its Year Book 1931 the BBC published a major article about "The Use of Sound Effects". It considers sounds effect deeply linked with broadcasting and states: "It would be a great mistake to think of them as anologous to punctuation marks and accents in print. They should never be inserted into a programme already existing. The author of a broadcast play or broadcast construction ought to have used Sound Effects as bricks with which to build, treating them as of equal value with speech and music." It lists six "totally different primary genres of Sound Effect":

  • The Realistic, Confirmatory Effect
  • The Realistic, Evocative Effect
  • The Symbolic, Evocative Effect
  • The Conventionalised Effect
  • The Impressionistic Effect
  • Music as an Effect

According to the author, the key to Sound Effects is that "It is axiomatic that every Sound Effect, to whatever category it belongs, must register in the listener's mind instantaneously. If it fails to do so its presence could not be justified."

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