Know this movie soundbite?

August 5, 2005 2:18 PM

"Dr. Davis, telephone please. Dr. Blair, Dr. Blair. Dr. J. Hamilton, Dr. J. Hamilton"

I've heard this stock hospital soundbite on tons of TV, movies and on a few albums, anyone know where it came from or anything about it?

posted by Cosine to media & arts (8 comments total)

The interweb has many discussions, but nothing definitive. It's used at the beginning of a Queensryche song, but it's doubtful if that's the point of origin. This site claims that it's from an "industry-standard sound-effects disc," but doesn't provide a source.

Guess no one's ferreted out the backstory a la The Wilhelm. (Caution: page with sound.)
posted by MsMolly at 3:31 PM on August 5, 2005

I'm not sure what it comes from originally, but I know it was used on the Queensryche Operation:Mindcrime album from the late 80's.

This faq lists the mindcrime cast a ways down the page, but I'm not sure if a member of the cast originally recorded it or not.
posted by freshgroundpepper at 3:32 PM on August 5, 2005

I don't know the answer, but I do remember reading once about a CD that just has "office sounds" on it, and that this particular CD is used in tons of different tv and film productions, providing the "background hum" in office settings. Presumably there are other sample library discs with things like "hospital sounds" and "train station announcements", and there probably aren't a ton of different ones out there -- after all, how big a market could there be for discs full of different hospital type of sounds... it might seem odd to not just record an announcement like that yourself rather than rely on something pre-recorded, but it's at least a guess as to why the same thing might be heard in lots of different places. If you're asking "why those particular names, is it a reference to something?" -- well then I have no clue.
posted by edlundart at 3:35 PM on August 5, 2005

I recall hearing soundbite this in an episode of The Flash TV show (remember that?) after already being familiar with it from Mindcrime. I asked about it on GEnie at the time and was told that it's a sound effects disc that was used by both producers. Seems reasonable enough to me. Tracking down the exact library will probably prove difficult unless we have someone reading AskMeFi who has actually used it in a production.
posted by kindall at 3:51 PM on August 5, 2005

But for something fun to do, it's kind of neat to browse through some of the sound libraries listed here.
posted by MsMolly at 4:10 PM on August 5, 2005

From memory, I believe it was also used at the beginning of Motley Crue's 'Dr Feelgood' track.
posted by TheDonF at 7:19 AM on August 6, 2005

I cannot officially confirm it, but I believe it is definitely from a sound effect album. I have heard it many times, usually on TV. I believe I first heard it on Mindcrime, and I have heard it being used as background noise many times since.
posted by bh at 9:14 AM on August 6, 2005

Definitely from a SFX album series, which I remember from interning/assisting in a recording studio. The same hospital pager sound is also used at the beginning of Phish's "Catapult", from A Picture of Nectar.
posted by emelenjr at 10:53 AM on August 6, 2005