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Started January 24th, 2013 · 14 replies · Latest reply by Headphaze 11 years, 2 months ago
Hey all,
I'm interested in sonic skeuomorphs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph), and looking for examples of them.
Skeuomorphs are things in design which don't have to be there, but are hangovers from when the object was made differently.
For example, the shutter sound on a digital camera is a skeuomorph - digital cameras have no shutters! But they all make a shutter sound, unless you turn it off.
Or in Melbourne, my hometown, we have trams (streetcars). The old ones ring metal bells to let you know to get out of the way, but new ones just play a sample of a bell.
Mobile phone ringtones which play samples of older-style phones are another example.
I've searched and found lots of digital camera sounds on Freesound, but I'm wondering what other sounds like this people have come across and might be interested in uploading? (Or have uploaded already but I just haven't thought of them!)
Speedenza kindly pointed out the sounds electric cars make, like the Nissan Leaf. It's a perfect example!
the qwerty keyboard... (but nothing particularly distinctive about keyboard sounds)
someone in a car asking to "roll up the windows" - cars with power windows don't "roll" up.
Hey thatjeffcarter, thanks for that!
I'm confused though, how is the sound of a qwerty keyboard unnecessary?
And I take your point about the words we use being inaccurate sometimes, but here I'm more looking for the sounds objects themselves make. Because in the examples I'm looking for, the sound has had to be added deliberately - it doesn't come from the object itself. It's just that an earlier version of the object - when it was made from a different material, say - made that noise, and the new version has had it artificially added for some reason.
the QWERTY keyboard is a skeuomorph (though not in its sounds...) in that this particular layout was designed to allow typewriters (with letters mounted on arms) to operate at high speeds without jamming up. Computer keyboards don't have those arms to jam up, but still continue to utilize the qwerty layout.
but, as you said, that doesn't really fit your project. sorry.
Ah I get it now! Yeah, I probably didn't express very clearly what I was looking for, sorry. That's a perfect example of a skeuomorph in general, just not a sonic one.
I suppose another example would be a clock that 'chimes' electronically. My mum has a hanging wall clock with an electronic quartz movement which 'chimes' electronically like a traditional one. It also has a swinging pendulum - which does nothing to regulate the movement. Pretty inauthentic object all round!
I can't easily upload a sample because she lives a long distance from me. But maybe someone else has a similar one that they could record. [Edit: not sure if that would actually be allowed if it's originally a sampled sound?]
Hey Speedenza, those are all perfect examples. Is there a rule against these kinds of sounds on Freesound though? I wasn't aware of that.. I mean, all these sounds we're talking about are samples, added for some reason.
If the sound made by the clock was originally sampled by the manufacturer then I'm guessing it's copyright, so there may be issues with it. But that may be hard to establish (and those rules seem intended to cover synthesizer type samples) so I'm not sure it would be challenged. And I'm no expert on these types of issues...
Other examples include the sounds of door bells. Which often have a 'riiiiing' sound or a door chime sound.
Tower clocks in towns and many churches have no longer any bells, but they play a 'bell' sound to announce the hours.
Some digital alarm clocks also have a typical bell ring sound.
And many schools have digital clocks but still 'ring the bell' to announce the start and end of school time and recess.
There are, of course, many examples on computer games and arcade. Although I am not sure if those count.
Perhaps they do in the case of digital arcade flippers machines?
These are great, thank you!
AlienXXX wrote:
Other examples include the sounds of door bells. Which often have a 'riiiiing' sound or a door chime sound.Tower clocks in towns and many churches have no longer any bells, but they play a 'bell' sound to announce the hours.
Some digital alarm clocks also have a typical bell ring sound.
And many schools have digital clocks but still 'ring the bell' to announce the start and end of school time and recess.
There are, of course, many examples on computer games and arcade. Although I am not sure if those count.
Perhaps they do in the case of digital arcade flippers machines?
The copyright question is a good one. I asked it on Ask Metafilter, and the general opinion is that yes, strictly they are covered by copyright, but that this should count as fair use. One of the things I want to do with the sounds I'm collecting is to make a radio piece talking about them; since the sounds would be being used in this case for commentary, it looks to be fair use.
Responses are here, if anyone's interested:
http://ask.metafilter.com/233896/Does-copyright-law-cover-samples-used-in-industrial-sound-design
It's kind of fascinating that bit by bit the urban soundscape is being replaced by bits of copyright-protected media. It's a little bit Truman Show, or something.