FX & Library

Out Of This World - Atmospheric Sounds and FX from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

REC 225 - 1976

Sound Effects - Death & Horror

Vol. 13

BBC REC 269 - 1977

Off Beat Sound Effects

BBC REC 198 -------- 1975

74 tracks from 3 Boings-up to Electronic Grinder.

Heavy Gravy - Tilsley Orchestral No. 6

Music De-Wolfe DW/LP 3154 ------- 1970

This library LP has some real groovers.

Animated Antics - Johnny Hawksworth

De-Wolfe DWS/LP 3426 -------- 1980

Another splash of library music for film. Amazingly late date for it though?

Sound Effects - No 16 - Disasters

BBC REC 295

Another splendid LP, sadly too early for the sounds of politicians roasting and bankers laughing.

Although the first movie was in 1888 you’d have a long wait of 40 years before you could hear as well as see what was going on. In 1928, an audience could finally hear sound in ‘The Jazz Singer’. However, movie cameras were large and very expensive, and on an amateur level, strictly a toy for the uber-rich.

Postwar saw the use of Standard 8 film. It was a film of two halves. You could shoot on one side, turn it over and shoot on the other. Again, this format was mainly used by the professional and the wealthy. In 1965, the Super 8 was released. The massive advantage of this format was that it came in a plastic canister and can be loaded quickly with none of the fiddly feeding of Standard 8 film. It was a cheaper system to produce and the aspiring middle-classes could now record their holidays! It wasn’t until 1973 that a sound version was released, so you could say the golden age of FX and indeed library music on vinyl dated between 1965 and ’73?

Effects records, or FX as they are known fall largely into two camps; Studio generated noise and field recordings. Most are a mix of the two. The BBC famously created the Radiophonic Workshop in 1958 making music for radio. The business boomed, creating sound for not only radio, but numerous TV programmes and films, most famously is Dr Who. Many of the early noises are man-made. However, the BBC were pioneers with synthesizers and helped influence the whole electronic music scene.

The royalty free FX records could be used not only as a soundtrack to the Super 8 film, but were used in stage productions. Below are a few examples of FX records. Note, most are BBC!

No.1 - RED 47M - 1968 : No.2 - RED 76M - 1970 : No.3 - RED 102M - 1970

No.4 - RED 104M - 1970 : No.5 - RED 105M - 1971 : No.6 - RED 106M - 1971

No. 7 - RED 113S - 1971 : No.8 - RED 126M - 1972 :

No.9 - RED 164S - 1973

Below are two later issues of the same records

Relaxing Sounds - Sound Effects Vol. 23

REC 360 - 1979

Gentle relaxing sounds of streams, rain and nature.

Essential Sound Effects

REFX 448 - 1982

A great double helping of FX from spaceships to slapstick.

Super Sound Stereo Effects

MCR 117/118 - 1984

Another late-in-the-day double FX record from Germany.

Sound For A Picture Evening Vol. II

Popular Photography - 1966

American noise for film or slide shows. Comes with handy booklet!

Music & Effects For Home Movies

BBC - RED 120S - 1977

Ethnic sound effects.

28 Timed Sound Effects

Realistic Records - 50-1970

USA electrical giant Realistic produce a cheap FX record.

Demonstration And Sound Effects Record

RCA - INTS 1065 - 1970

A bit of a double act with side 1 featuring Hi-Fi sound and side 2 has various sound effects.

Spectacular Sound Effects In Stereo

Philips - 844 026 PY

A Dutch offering of FX

Some FX records cross over in to Field Recordings and visa versa. Field recordings are either used as an FX or purely as a catalogue of specific noises. See Field Recording page.

HMV Sound Effect Series released 1960’s

Featured

7FX 5 - Horses

7FX 9 - Trains

7FX 17 - Telephone Bell & Footsteps

7FX 19 - Farmyard Effects

A selection of the EMI series that are a cross-over FX/Field recordings. However, this set is intended for home movies and alike.

Released from 1967-68 - Cat Prefix EFX

This term covers a multitude of sins. Basically it can be music you can use for film, t.v., radio, music etc. etc. that you either have to pay for or is license free. Today there are vast banks of digital stuff ranging from noise to tunes. Every angle is covered with musicians waiting for that royalty cheque to arrive on the mat. However, pre digital library music sat on chunks of delicious plastic, some dire and some so sought after, you’ll need a second mortgage. There are a couple of great tracks featured below, but most are horrid cheesy nonsense - yum.