7 annoying scream sounds

There's a collection of 7 stock scream sounds, which belong together. All 7 were voice acted by the same person. They were recorded in the 80s (not sure, maybe they're even older!) You can hear them in countless videogames, movies, ads and even in documentaries! Sometimes they're shortened, stretched, trimmed. Sometimes they're distorted or altered in one way or another. Sometimes they're played in reverse or cross-faded into each other...

They are so damn overused, that every time I hear one of them, I can't decide if I should laugh my ass off or cry my eyes out! I bet there's not a single person who doesn't have at least heard ONE of those stupid sounds once in his/her life! The following table gives a (in no way complete!) list of all the appearances I know so far. And I'm sure there MUST be more. If you know any more details about these sounds or if you "encountered" one of them somewhere else, please let me know!

First, let's look at the sound's waveforms. I numbered them for reference because not every sound is used in every game/ad/movie and in some cases I have to clarify some stuff about a particular sound. Note that sounds number 2 and 3 consist of 4 "yells" which are often used as seperate sound, omitting the other 3 segments.



According to the "Series 4000 Hollywood SFX Library" the sounds are tagged as follows:

1 scream male, terror, human, horror
2 scream male, agony, human, horror
3 scream male, agony, human, horror
4 scream male, long, human, horror
5 scream male, long, human, horror
6 scream male, long, human, horror
7 scream male, short, human, horror

Videogames

Mass Destruction

1 generic death sound, time compressed to 50%
2c generic death sound, time stretched to 150%
3d generic death sound, unchanged
4 when soldiers get crushed by the tank, time compressed to 50%
The pitch of all sounds is randomly altered for more "variation"

C&C Tiberian Dawn

1 when soldiers die from tiberium exposure or flames. The sound is shortened by the first 1/5th
3a generic death sound
4 generic death sound, shortened to approx. 25% and faded
5 generic death sound, first 75% cut off
7 generic death sound
Some sounds can also be heard in cut scenes. For example 4 and 6 when the GDI base is attacked by the stealth tank; 6 when the sundial is blown up; 1 when the soldier, who tries to escape to the taking off helicopter, gets killed

C&C Renegade

all generic death sounds from C&C 1 are reused in Renegade (among other sounds)
Inside the game files there are 3 of the scream sounds with reverb added (probably for use as ambient sounds) but I never heard them in-game.

Return to castle Wolfenstein

1 in the very fist level, when the doctor interrogates the guy on the operation table
2, 3 and 5 when soldiers get killed by flames. The last sound has a small segment cut out near the 70% mark.
A mixture of 2a, 2b and 4 as background sound when someone gets eaten by zombies in the catacombs

Death Trap Dungeon

1 can't remember where I heard it but it was definitley there! Shortened, faded and only 8-bit 11 kHz

Project IGI

1 right at the beginning, in the intro cut scene, where Priboi smashes a hammer into his victim. The sound is shortened in a way that only the first and last 20% remain. The center is cut out.

God of War 1

4 and 5 in "the path of Hades" as screams for the falling people in the background (among other sounds). The sounds are time stretched to more or less 200%

Unreal

4, 5 and 6 as ambient sounds in the first level and later on (can't remember where, maybe in the last third of the game).
The sounds are only 11 kHz and have reverb added. Sound 6 is shortened to about 70%.

Doom 1 & 2

1 shortened to the last 15%
5 heavily shortened to the first 10%
6 heavily time compressed, the first 25% seems to be cut off and mixed with something else
7 time compressed to 50%
All sounds are played at 1/2 of the original speed.

Doom 3

1, 4, 5 and 6 blended together and played backwards. Used when in berserk-mode.

Banjo Kazooie

2a when you hit the 4 legs of the turtle in Bubblegloop Swamp (11 kHz only)

Katamari Damacy

I never owned or played the game myself but I remember hearing sound 7 in one of the tutorials near the beginning (one of those 2-frame-animations) while watching a speed run.

Silent Hill 4

1 near the beginning when looking at the broken mirror. Sound is shortened and faded.

The Void

1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 mixed together (not faded), also a lowpass filter was added. Used only in Una's chamber as ambient sound.
In that mixture, 2 and 3 are left unchanged while the other 3 are played at approx. 70% of their original speed.
5 is also used as death scream for one of the brothers (played at lower speed, added lowpass filter as well as a volume envelope)

Amnesia

1 mixed together with other sounds + added deep reverb. Used as ambient sound in the very first level where you move around a few corners (while the player collapses for a short period of time).
6 later in the game, as ambient sound inside a prison-like area (can't remember the actual level name ... in the Nave maybe?!) Reverb added + slightly lowpass filtered.
I actually EXPECTED these sounds in the game!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

1 as background sound in the the very first in-game cut scene, while the camera tilts up. The sound is faded and shortened to approx. 60%.

Overlord 2 (trial version)

The intro cutscene, which is under 1:50 long, contains already 4 sounds, in the following order: 1, 4, 7 and 6.
All that in just 6 seconds!
6 when the yeti sends the guy flying and 7 when he "lands" again.
I only checked the trial version. Don't know if there are any more encounters in the retail version...

some cartoony (3D) sidescroller for PS1

I can't even remember the game's name but what I definitley know is that I heard sound number 1 there!

007: GoldenEye

not sure

Assassins Creed 3

WHAT THE ... !

4 as random background sound in the prison. Up to this point, I thought it was just an accident and won't happen again - but NO!
When Connor and his father are about to escape the brewery, sound 1 is heard in a cut scene where the wooden floor breaks apart and 2 soldiers falling down.
7 among other sounds, when a ship is destroyed.

I mean ... seriously! Is this a kind of a running gag?!

TV/Movie

Traumschiff Surprise (German movie)

5 and 1 directly following each other. Reverb added, slightly lowpass filtered.
Used as ambient sounds in the prison scene.

Stargate (Series, not the movie)

1 in some escape scene. But I can't remember in which episode because I didn't watched it in years. Moreover, I can only say this for the German dub. Don't know if the original also uses that sound.

The League of Extraordinary gentlemen

You encounter a lot of our precious sounds in the "swarm of bats" scene. They appear in the following order:
1 trimmed almost the same way as in "Project IGI" but even shorter
7, 3a and 3c unchanged
5 heavily cut (first 10% followed by the last 15%)
and finally 4!
This is from the English version. The German dub, which i saw first, differs in that matter (i believe).

German "Actimel" commercial

2 when the man takes a cold shower. The pauses between each "yell" are shortened a bit, the last yell is cut off.

in some report about an assassination (can't remember which one)

2 and 3 but without any connection to the actual scene. This is maybe the most stupid/senseless point to put these 2 shitty sounds! Two different ones for the SAME scene. The only difference is that 2 is played when the scene is shown at normal speed and 3 when it repeats in slow motion.

tutorial VHS to the board game "Dragon Strike"

1, 4 and 7 used as background sounds inside the dungeon (yeah, don't tell me you didn't see this coming!)
I discovered this actually by accident while watching it on YouTube after I saw a review from AngryVideoGameNerd about the game!!!



by WDLmaster