Audio About the Cartoon Noises [closed by author request]

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ethian

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Greetings

I also heard the popular cartoon noises. I always wanted to use them, until someone here told me they're not free to use (What does it completely mean?)
Now, i won't use them for my game, but i have curiosity of know what's their story behind them, and others...
So, let's talk about the cartoon sound effects...
  • What's their story behind them? Also, it seems they changed the world...
  • They're not free to use, how to do for make someone use them? How the people who work for sound effects for modern cartoons own and use them?
Also, i already know they're made with instruments...
 
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dannyjenn

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Which cartoon noises are you referring to, exactly?

You can't rip pre-existing audio clips from a cartoon, because the cartoon's audio is copyrighted.

You also can't use catchphrases such as Fred Flintstone's "Yabba dabba doo!" or the Roadrunner's "Meep meep!"/"Beep beep!" because those words themselves are trademarked.

But you are allowed to record your own sound effects, so long as you don't violate anyone's trademark. Nobody owns the rights to things such as "man getting hit over the head with an anvil", "man getting hit by a baseball bat", "man having a pie thrown into his face", "anvil falling from the sky", "man falling off a cliff", "horse galloping", "space ship door opening up", "space ship door closing", "character running really fast as background scrolls behind him", "character tip-toeing across the room", etc. So you can make those sorts of sounds, even though the same sorts of sounds are found in Bugs Bunny. What you're not allowed to do is find a Bugs Bunny cartoon and record the clips directly from that.


I'm not sure the whole history behind these sorts of sound effects, but I know that they were popularized by a man named Jack Foley who was really good at making them. (For that reason, these artificial sound effects are often referred to as "foley", as opposed to "sound effects" which are recordings of the natural thing. e.g. 'coconuts' used as a horse galloping = "foley", but 'horse galloping' used as horse galloping = "sound effect".) Usually in cartoons what you hear is foley. It can be made with musical instruments, everyday objects (such as coconuts, pots and pans, floorboards, etc.), or even generated completely digitally.
 
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ethian

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Which cartoon noises are you referring to, exactly?
The familiar whistle noise that plays when you toss something, for example... however, there's different whistle noises played on instances like this and i don't can't show what is the one from the category i was talking about...
I can't show what noises i talking about because you told this, sorry:
You can't rip pre-existing audio clips from a cartoon, because the cartoon's audio is copyrighted.
However, i still can mention noises that are bongo-like noises playing when someone is running, it belongs to Hanna Barbera, and also the toss whistle mentioned before... i guess...
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
They're not free to use, how to do for make someone use them? How the people who work for sound effects for modern cartoons own and use them?
They pay royalties/fees to the license holder for a license to use them? There's a lot of stuff out there which isn't free to use, but still legal to use, you know...
 
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ethian

Guest
They pay royalties/fees to the license holder for a license to use them? There's a lot of stuff out there which isn't free to use, but still legal to use, you know...
I knew it... but, what license is? More info about the ones who work for sound effects in modern cartoons? Also, i know what happens if i do something illegal like using those noises without a license and other illegal actions like downloading music, old videogame ROMs and ISOs and cracking trialware computer programs... i go to prison, but, i know people don't go to prison if do those stuff at home... how to do those stuff for go to prison? (I won't do it as i know it's illegal and i don't want to go to prison)
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I knew it... but, what license is?
I don't know, look into whatever site you're gonna get them from. (Sites like Shutterstock and Textures.com have big easy-to-find legal / licensing sections with all the gritty details)

Also, the general rule is that if there is no license, you can't use the stuff. Unless licenses or other things explicitly lets you use something, it's automatically copyrighted by its creator (under US law).
 
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ethian

Guest
There's a lot of stuff out there which isn't free to use
Cartoon noises are not free to use because their original audio files aren't avaiable anywhere on the web? I know something that makes this question be wrong, but i can't show it because i showed it before and they asked me to remove it...
 
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dannyjenn

Guest
The reason that some people don't go to prison is because the law is difficult to enforce in the situations you've described. (i.e. Some guy downloads pirated files in the privacy of his own home. But the government has a hard time proving he did it, so the government can't throw him in prison).


Back to the original question...
A "license" is a legal agreement, kind of like a contract. The person who owns the audio agrees to allow you to use the audio, and you agree to only use it in accordance with the terms he sets. His terms might include restrictions on what you may do with it (e.g. whether or not you're allowed to alter the audio / whether or not you're allowed to use the audio in obscene games / whether or not you must include the artist's name in your credits / etc.). His terms could also include stuff about payment (e.g. whether or not you need to pay royalties / whether or not there's a one-time licensing fee / etc.).
In the case of Hanna Barbera sounds, there simply is no license. You just aren't allowed to use those sounds.
In the case of sounds you find online, usually the license won't be difficult to find.
 
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ethian

Guest
The reason that some people don't go to prison is because the law is difficult to enforce in the situations you've described. (i.e. Some guy downloads pirated files in the privacy of his own home. But the government has a hard time proving he did it, so the government can't throw him in prison).
Thanks for this... :)
In the case of Hanna Barbera sounds, there simply is no license. You just aren't allowed to use those sounds.
And how modern cartoons use them?
 
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dannyjenn

Guest
And how modern cartoons use them?
I'm not sure, but there are a number of possibilities.
1.) The sound in the Hanna Barbera cartoon might not be owned by Hanna Barbera. Perhaps it was a stock sound effect, and whoever owns the sound chose to license it to Hanna Barbera and also to other cartoon companies. Then you'd find the exact same sound in both cartoons.
2.) It's possible that Hanna Barbera does in fact own the sound, but maybe the sound in the other cartoon is not the exact same sound. Hanna Barbera does not own exclusive rights to "bongos being used as running". Anyone can use bongos as running. What Hanna Barbera owns is their recording. Anybody is allowed to take some bongos and record it and use it for running, but nobody is allowed to take a Hanna Barbera cartoon, rip the sound effect from it, and use that for running.
3.) It's also possible that Hanna Barbera (now a part of Warner Bros., I think) licenses their sounds to other companies. I'm not aware that this is the case, but if it is the case then the other company has entered into a private agreement with Hanna Barbera and is probably now paying Hanna Barbera huge royalties. edit - It seems that each big cartoon studio has its own private sound effects library, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was some agreed-upon sharing going on between studios.

Also, as @Yal said, sounds found in online sound effect libraries are not always "free". They're "legal" (assuming that they've ended up in the library legally), but each sound is still governed by its respective license. Some of these licenses are completely free (such as the CC-0 license), but most are not entirely free. Most have restrictions and/or require some sort of payment.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I know something that makes this question be wrong
Me too, your inability to phrase it correctly so it's impossible to tell what exactly you're asking.

To quote the GNU General Public License: "free in this case refers to freedom, not price". Be mindful that ability to use something legally is completely orthogonal to having to pay for it. For instance, if you buy a music CD you generally aren't allowed to put it in your games/cartoons, or charge people for listening to it, or make copies of it and sell those... you're only allowed to listen to it for recreational purposes.

Anyway... TL;DR don't steal audio from old cartoons, it is illegal. Even if you're lucky and don't get thrown into prison, you can face huge backlash if people find out. There's one game called Limbo of The Lost that was forced to be recalled and all copies destroyed after people realized most of its assets were stolen (and people were called to court hearings in that case).
 
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ethian

Guest
There's one game called Limbo of The Lost
Thanks to you, i found something i was thinking since times ago!
A game that used stuff from other games...

Continuing with the main topic...
 
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