AUDIO IN ANIMATION

SOUND ON PICTURE

In 1928, The Jazz Singer, was the first “talking picture.”  Animation studios were quick to embrace the possibilities that synchronized sound on picture held.  That same year, Walt Disney Studios produced Steamboat Willie which introduced the world to animation with a synchronized soundtrack.  It was so widely viewed that the term “mickey mousing” quickly came to be synonymous with closely choreographed on-screen action and sound.  

TWO TAKES ON SOUND EFFECTS: THE WARNER BROS. & DISNEY APPROACHES

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, recording equipment was extremely large and heavy, rendering it impossible to take outside of the studio.  Unable to record sound effects in the real world, the studios were forced to invent new approaches to creating sound for their animated content.  Thus, two different approaches to sound effects were quickly developed.  

In one approach, sound effects were simulated by a musician during a music recording session.  These were largely played with percussion instruments such as timpani, cymbals, or wood blocks.   The second approach involved creating complex sound effect machines that could replicate the sounds of the outside world within the studio walls.  

Prior to “talking pictures,” pit drummer had been employed by movie theaters to accompany films with auxiliary percussion sound effects.  When animated films began to include synchronized sound, the studios hired these same musicians to record their talents inside the studio.  The pit drummers would bring an assortment of items commonly used in the trade with them: slide whistles, jew's harps, bulb horns, and brake drums among other thing.