Sound Analogues and Metaphors

As sound designers, we always need to get better at sound metaphors and sound analogues. Screenwriters should also use them a lot more often than they do, because a character connecting two ideas, feelings, places, or experiences via sound can give us strong hints about who that character is. In the movie “The Right Stuff” we turned the clicking cameras of the swarms of reporters into the sound of locusts. Some sounds are analogous in timbre, some in rhythm, some dynamics, some all three. Here are a few sound analogues. I bet you can think of many more.

dripping faucet ticking clock train braking a whale’s call underwater

book page turning bird wings flapping ceiling fan hum guitar amp buzz

thunder rolls subway rumble ice cracking twigs snapping in fire

river slapping rocks flag flapping breath into microphone storm gust

train wheels on track joints horse hooves on pavement

jackhammer bouncing basketball cat purring motorcycle idling

car blinker person tapping their pen copy machine scanning cat purring

bowling strike thunder crack dripping faucet a metronome ticking

wind in trees human whispering shuffling cards rattlesnake rattle

office printer walking in high heels breath while asleep waves rolling in

bird pecking wood someone typing on a laptop crying baby bird call

bee swarm pulse electrical transformer hum clock ticking dripping tap

ice cubes in glass tiny wind chimes coughing fit engine backfiring

river babble fast conversation paper crumpled dry leaves stepped on

broom sweeping hands rubbing fabric electric hum Tibetan singing bowl

flickering fluorescent cicada pulse nail gun a camera shutter in rapid fire

computer fan a seashell held to the ear rustle of silk grass swaying

dog drinking water someone stirring soup gravel under tires frying oili