As far back as
Ancient Greece, sound effects have been used in entertainment productions. Sound effects (also known as
sound FX,
SFX, or simply
FX) are used to enhance
theatre,
radio,
film,
television,
video games, and
online media. Sound effects were originally added to productions by creating the sounds needed in real-time. Various devices and props were utilized to approximate the actual sounds, including coconut shells for horse hooves, and a sheet of metal for thunder. With the advent of
radio and specifically
radio dramas, the role of sound effects became more important. When cinema went from silent to "
talkies", sound effects became a large part of this new medium, too.
Audio recording technology continued to evolve, making it easier to record and replay sound. As this happened, the more commonly used and harder-to-replicate sound effects were pre-recorded to make them more accessible. Prerecording also allowed the same sound effect to be used many times. Both producers' and listeners' sensibilities began evolving with the technology, and the need for more realistic sound effects or for using the "real" sound increased. Therefore, a more urgent need developed for prerecorded sound effects. Over time, the quality of audio recording and playback increased, as did the demand for a wider variety of highly specific sounds. For example, rather than use a generic gunshot, a producer might request a gunshot from a specific type of gun, shot under precise conditions. Access to "real" sound effects became increasingly important to producers. These collections of prerecorded sound effects, both real and artificial, began to be referred to as stock sound effects and were organized into libraries. As their usage increased, stock sound effects libraries became the valuable assets of
sound design artists and
production companies. Some stock sound effects have been reused so many times that they have become easily recognizable and even cliché. Examples of these include the scream of a
red-tailed hawk,
castle thunder, or the
Wilhelm and
Howie screams. Many of the original sound effects libraries originated in the mid to late 1950s from film and
television studios that employed the artists who created them, such as
Warner Bros. and
Hanna-Barbera.
Audio Fidelity Records was one of the first record labels to join in releasing compilations from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, notably
Elektra alongside
Jac Holzman's released
Authentic Sound Effects in 1964 as a 13 volume series. Over time, independent companies such as
Sound Ideas and
Hollywood Edge became involved, both distributing the major studios' libraries as well as making their own available to the public. The
internet ushered in a new generation of technology, entertainment media, and sound effects libraries.
Sounddogs became the first to distribute sound effects libraries over the internet and
Soundrangers became the first to create an all-new sound effects library for internet-based entertainment. Dozens of other websites now provide stock sounds for
movies, video games, and
software. Others such as
Freesound aim to provide free sound effects under the
public domain. Over the years, with the evolution of
sound recording technology and new formats, the format used for sound effects libraries also evolved. Sound libraries are now available on many types of media, including
vinyl records,
reel-to-reel tape,
cassette tapes,
compact discs,
hard drives, and via the internet. Sound effects libraries now include more complex, layered, and mixed sounds along with a wider variety of incidental real-world sounds. ==Often-used examples==