Search - Rhino Records, Henry Corden, Earl Kress :: Cartoon Sound Efx

Great Classic Cartoon Sound F/X, with Lame Extras

Sir Charles Panther | Alexandria, Virginny, USandA | 08/07/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here you go, dozens of classic cartoon sound effects, from the "world leader in cartoon sound effect, Hanna-Barbera." How can you go wrong with sounds like ba-wong, kabong, bronk, pixie and dixie boinks, squish pop, peeong, szwip-p, little zabork, whizz klonk and so many more? Just about any cartoon sound effect you can think of is here, and they're great, in high quality, and very straightforward and to the point. They're perfect for use in your PC for sound cues and computer actions, etc.

Strange is that there are a bunch of extras thrown into the CD. My take is that it's from 1994, when the digital sound medium was still new and somewhat of a novelty, and something like all of these high-quality sound effects available on CD was pretty sexy (now, you can get all of this online in seconds, of course). The extras are things like cartoon character phone answering machine message, birth greetings, and get-well messages. These are cute, I guess, but actually come off as lame.

Then there are the "comic capers," seven bits with cartoon character narration that serve as contrived little sketches existing only to use a series of the included sound effects in a short period of time. I guess they're useful in that they show in what context each sound effect might best be used, but the bits just come off as lame (although some of the jokes are decidedly adult--not dirty or sexual, but referring to facts and knowledge that only an adult would get, such as a reference to Stanislavski). Most of the comic capers have a little character-narrated inventory at the end where you're told on which track you can find each of the sounds you just heard in the bit. The character vocalizatons are particularly grating, not really good at all. In the closeness of a CD, and listening in a closed environment, the cartoon voices just don't seem right. They're credited as Fred Flintstone by Henry Corden (not the original Alan Reed) and all other voices by Earl Kress. That means that Earl is doing Snagglepuss, Mutley, Peter Potamus, Hokey Wolf, Quick Draw McGraw, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse, and Wally Gator. And it sounds like only one guy is doing all of these voices. This was not the place to save money, and in the end is the lamest part of the entire recording. Quick Draw McGraw sounds like Forrest Gump, with Hokey Wolf sounding like Phil Silvers' evil little brother.

Me, I really liked the Jetsons sounds, which are particularly good for use as computer actions. You get the Jet Screamer intro sound effect, but sadly you don't get his classic chart smash, "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah" ("Jetsons" Season 1, Episode 2, 30 September 1962, voiced by Howard Morris, not that I'm a geek or anything). You also get some recognizable Flintstones and Yogi Bear sounds, running feet, explosions, door sounds, bonks, squeaks, boinks, zips...well, you get the aural picture.

There are no liner notes, so to speak. There's a double-fold insert which is nothing but artwork on one side, with a full track listing on the inside. This track listing is very useful, as it's printed across two pages, which means the print is much, much larger than the tiny full track listing on the back of the CD. You get a few credits and admin announcements on the third page of the insert.

Bottom line: If you're after classic cartoon sound F/X, this one will work. As this is a collector's item, now out of print, the price can get pretty steep, if you're looking for a copy in really good condition (my CD was good, but the case was cracked front and back). But, you get what you pay for, and these are original sound effects from the horse's mouth, so to speak."