Slashdot Mirror

That's pretty much it ... a little EQ and compression on it, maybe, and a touch of reverb for the mix. But it was recorded in 1951, and so it's not all that fabulous sounding. It gets used in the background, and you've heard it more times than you realize. A guy gets shot, or falls off a cliff ... remember too that it's used in a flurry of other sound effects, dialog, and music. When the guy in the hockey puck costume is on fire and runs past the camera with the Wilhelm dubbed in, you aren't paying attention to him and you don't notice it. Unless you're an audio or film geek.

Here's a list of 149 films that have used the Wilhem: http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm.html - with the expected links to the story behind the aaaah!

Something like this: The Audio Scream of Death?

Yeah, but a sound like this deserves a little /. time!

Also see The Page describing the scream.

Yeah, but a sound like this deserves a little /. time!

Also see The Page describing the scream.

Only on Slashdot can a link that appears in the main story get posted again in the comments and moderated as "Informative" !

yeah... ok. why was this marked informative? this is the link that was originally posted.

hell i can link it too.

If your browser won't play embedded WAVs, try going to the sounds sub-directory of that server ...

Here is a website that tries to list all of "The Wilhelm" occurrences in films.

They claim "A series of short painful screams performed by an actor were recorded in 1951 for the Warner Brother's film "Distant Drums." They were used for a scene where a man is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The recording was archived into the studio's sound effects library -- and it was used in many of their films since.

"Star Wars" Sound Designer Ben Burtt tracked down the scream recording - which he named "Wilhelm" after a character who let out the same scream in the film "Charge at Feather River." Ben has adopted the scream as sort of a personal sound signature, and has included it in many of the films he has worked on. He and a small circle of sound effects people, including myself and Richard Anderson, continue the crusade to keep Wilhelm alive. The Wilhelm Scream continues to be heard in new films every year."

Wilhelm recorded a whole series of screams in the studio for use, but the one has stood out more than any other.

Most recently, I heard this twice during the battle against the White City in RotK. It also featured during the battle of Helms' Deep in TTT.

Here's a good listing of the many films it's appeared in (several entries with annotations citing exactly when, as well): http://www.hollywoodlostandfound.net/wilhelm.html.