Comments on: what is that sound

Question: what is that sound

tremspeed — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:11:37 -0800

what do you call that sad-sack whomp-whomp sound? come on, you know the one. .....sigh. fine, i'll record an example.

so you're telling a story that ends on a 'woe is me' note.

"man, i left my house 20 minutes early to grab a coffee, but
the line at the coffee place actually made me LATE to work!"

and then you make that sound.

"whomp-whomp!"

the second whomp is a couple notes down the scale.

so WHAT do you call that? what is its origin?

on a related note, what is that little melody you might here when a bad performer is yanked from the stage with a giant cane? you know, like a quick lil' ending to the tune?

this one is rather difficult to provide an example for, so listen to both here.

http://bmulvey.com/nahtnahtnaht.wav

that sound file is SO NOT offered to the creative commons. i don't wanna hear that in any mash ups.

but what's it called and where does it come from?

i have NO clue how to search for any of the above.

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:18:36 -0800

Hah. Asked, answered

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:19:21 -0800

That's amazing; I've never heard anyone say "whomp-whomp". Are you sure you don't mean Nelson's "HA ha!"?

By: Brittanie

Brittanie — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:21:23 -0800

For what it's worth, I've always heard (and utilized) the "whomp" in groups of three:

whomp, whomp, whooooomp.

But yeah, no idea.

By: amethysts

amethysts — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:22:11 -0800

From a friend:
Generally, the whomp whomp is made using a trombone (or any brass instrument) with a plunger mute.

the second one is from vaudeville shows from the early 1900s... that was usually done with a marching band.

They were popularized by cartoons such as looney tunes as onomatopoeia for sounds that accentuate embarrassing moments

By: tremspeed

tremspeed — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:36:26 -0800

amazingly concise on that previous question! thanks!

By: bifter

bifter — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:54:34 -0800

For what it's worth, I've always heard (and utilized) the "whomp" in groups of three:

whomp, whomp, whooooomp.

But yeah, no idea.

I've heard that is called a "descending chromatic wah".

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:13:03 -0800

I'm getting a 404 on that wav, friend. I clicked up in here so I could hear a MeFite whomp-whomp into a microphone, and now you deny me this?