It’s the little details that they really appreciate: An In-Depth Study of Spongebob’s Current Sound Design
"Sponge Bob is firing on all cylinders right now. Tony award nominations for the musical. Post sound has a great home with Atlas Oceanic Picture & Sound. The shows are exciting and are funny. SB continues to reach new heights.” - Jeffrey Hutchins
Spongebob Squarepants sound effects designer & editor Jeff Hutchins is exactly right. This guy is as important to Spongebob as Ben Burtt is to Star Wars, which’re some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises.
This is the team that makes up the sound of current Spongebob episodes. Just 4 creatives are listed: sound effects designer & editor Jeff Hutchins, foley artist Vincent Guisetti, foley mixer Aran Tanchum, and re-recording mixer D.J. Lynch. The sound service has been Atlas Oceanic, Inc. since 2012; originally it began at Horta Editorial & Sound, Inc., which folded into Hacienda Post.
All episodes of Spongebob since 2015 have been very rich in exaggerated, humorous, unpredictable character design, animation and, of course, respectively, sound design. Starting in the late Hacienda Post years, Jeff began to create a very predictable style of sound design for his work, among the many unique sounds he formerly created for Spongebob. The style was very predictable during the Oracle Post years, continuing through early Atlas Oceanic episodes, until 2015, when Jeff’s array of sounds would include sounds not often used (if at all) from later 2007-2015, plus a few new sounds. Additionally, Jeff was only the sound fx editor on the pilot, Help Wanted; according to Roy Braverman, Tom Syslo served as the sound fx designer. The sound design isn’t too different, though, from Jeff’s style--in point of fact, most cartoon sound design by Hacienda Post creatives share similar styles to Jeff’s; you could say the same for most creatives of Advantage Audio and Skywalker Sound--many of the creatives of each studio share similar styles.
A number of sound effects in Spongebob have been used to accent character footsteps. Some H-B squeaks accent Spongebob’s shoes, Squidward’s feet are accented by oil splurts (used in Rocky & Bullwinkle), and Mr. Krabs’ feet are accented by “Hollywoodedge, Wooden Blck Hits Raz CRT019402″. For the pilot, though, Tom Syslo approached their footsteps differently.
One of my favorite episode’s sound design in Spongebob includes Krusty Towers, a Hacienda Post episode. It was during Season 4, of course, that the sound design became far more cartoony, like the character design and animation. Another is the scene between Mr. Krabs, Squidward and the exchange chef in Le Big Switch, an Oracle Post episode, as is Walking the Plankton (with some very funny moments of sound design). Also, one of the funniest moments in pre-2015 episodes, Skill Crane, is appropriately accented with the right sound effects as Spongebob does a wild take with his eyes... and then RUNS on ‘em!
One of the most common and funniest parts of Jeff’s sound design is accenting not-so-wild takes with funny sounds, like one of Disney’s “CLANK!”, a Warner Bros. “EHH!” (horn squawk), or my personal favorite: “QUACK!” This quack, “Hollywoodedge, Bird Duck Quacks Clos PE020501″, can be used for many things like impacts or duck-related stuff, but the use of a duck quack for a take was first employed in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II as the episodic title characters react in shock to Spongebob attacking the Atomic Flounder.
I’ll describe of a few episodes: Bunny Hunt, Old Man Patrick, Grandmum’s the Word, Ink Lemonade, My Leg!, and Bottle Burglars. (listing in progress).
In the beginning, Squidward finds that a sea bunny is eating up his garden and attempts to stop him.
This scenario could remind one of Bugs Bunny, of course, and that Warner Bros. ricochet that sounds like “CHOW!” (called “Sound Ideas, CARTOON, WHIZZ - FAST WHIZZ BY”) is used often in the episode, like in the above as the sea bunny falls back into his hole...
and also in this shot, to accent Patrick streaking out of the shot. Not common in past episodes of Spongebob, but very typical for cartoon sound design.
Here, the sea bunny shoved a burnt roast into Squidward’s mouth, and proceeds to swallow it... until soon he has to puke it. Unlike many cartoon sound designers these days, Jeff Hutchins is one of the few to use Disney’s trademark gulps from The Hollywood Edge library’s Cartoon Trax Volume 1. The 4th gulp in “Hollywoodedge, Big Single Gulps For CRT026802″ is the most common, as is heard in the shot above. I wouldn’t object to working with the voice actor on gulps, but I’d like to not avoid the use of the goofy vocal sounds Disney created, too.
Knowing Jeff’s style, one would probably expect “FISHFACE” (created by Roy Braverman), but these more recent Spongebob episodes make good use of the infamous Warner Bros. sound called “TROMBONE GOBBLE”.
I don’t know what horn toot is used here (not “Hollywoodedge, Old Car Horns Single CRT021302″, which Jeff tends to use), but it sure stands out. I never heard this particular “ahooga” before, though it kind of sounds like the Hanna-Barbera one. Also, while Jeff tends not to use heartbeats to accent love like other cartoon sound designers (such as Glenn Oyabe, Robert Hargreaves, Michael Warner, Randy Thom), “Hollywoodedge, Sub Woofer Heartbea SDT021301″ (a synthiszed-sounding, heartbeat-like pulse thump), also common to Jeff’s style, is (I think) subtly audible.
The only use of “QUACK!” in Bunny Hunt seems to accent the oven mitt sock puppet opening its mouth. It’s a bit subtle, but perhaps the gag is that the mitt is making the quack. Regardless, not an episode of Spongebob goes by these days without at least one “QUACK!”
In this moment, I picked up on a subtle, funny sound of foley--some sort of stretch sound, admist the typical red-tailed hawk screech--as Spongebob ceases speaking and slumps to a different position. Foley is the art of performing specific sounds, like walking, touching, that help give life in the aural medium and make the scene sound believable. The mixer of Vincent Guisetti’s foley, Aran Tanchum, did the same with J. Lampinen’s on Star vs. the Forces of Evil, which’s probably driven more by foley (among dialogue and Brian H, Kim’s sound effects) than sound effects.
With crazy visuals such as this, the question often comes to mind: What choices might the sound designer make to accent such exaggerated animation? What’s the right sound--or, often, what are the right sounds to accent and/or help tell the story? Bird chirps and saw warbles are some that help accent the insane stage of Squidward at the end of the episode, whacking himself with a mallet, thus causing his brain to fly away.
Most recent Spongebob episodes tend to close out with the classic “iris out”, but Jeff finds different approaches to accenting the transistion without Robert Clampett’s classic guitar string sounds (like one would expect with Looney Tunes and the works of sound master Michael M. Geisler and Glen Oyabe). In Bunny Hunt, “Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - TUBE ARRIVE 01″ (”ShhhOWP!”) is the accent; in Old Man Patrick “Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - FAST ZIP IN 01″ helps accent.
The detail of sound design can include even the small pieces of animation by accenting the slightest touch, movement, etc. When Patrick tells Spongebob that he’s “all wrinkle-y now”, small raspberries/farts spice up the movements of his skin when he touches it, and his old organs are clearly at work as his stomach growls loudly, perfectly in sound timing as he says “old stuff”.
Essentially the Ren & Stimpy of Spongebob episodes, including character design by Bob Camp; Ink Lemonade has Patrick scare the ink out of Squidward... literally, to sell it in place of lemonade.
Another use of “QUACK!” is used for comedic effect here in addition to a “BIG HEAVY FACE SLAP” to accent Squidward’s face snapping back into place after Patrick blows Squidward’s face out of place with a megaphone.
Patrick goes to extremes for scare tactics... like talking with his intestines. Along with a “gooey splat” for the intestines’ “tongue”, most of the sound here is Vincent Guisetti’s foley to convey the sound of his intestines talking.
As with most of the 2015- Spongebob episodes, the H-B “TEMPLE BLOCK GALLOP” is used for many run accents (in the pic above it accents Squidward rapidly swishing his arms and legs); Jeff also used this for shaking/trembling movements in The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack shorts. Also, in Ink Lemonade, Jeff played this sound twice in reverse.
Worthy of note is that accenting Squidward’s fall is a whistle of air that’s different from the usual “Sky Rocket Loud High”, that high-pitched whistle you’d in hear in Cartoon Network’s “Powerhouse” bumpers and most cartoons these days, except for most of Advantage Audio’s projects. Jeff uses “Sky Rocket Loud High” for most falls; in earlier episodes he’d play it in reverse if a character/prop ascends a great distance, and in some Hacienda Post episodes this whistle would accent flying objects (e.g. Squidward’s windows and other parts launched toward his house in Squidville). However, Jeff uses some other whistles on a few occasions too, including “SHELL SCREAMING WHINE DOWN” (the classic H-B/MGM whistle) in The Secret Box and The Good Krabby Name; Jeff also uses sounds of artillery “roaring”.
As I said before, one of the most common uses of “Hollywoodedge, Bird Duck Quacks Clos PE020501″ is for a simple “take” of a character. The pic above highlights the extremes of that take where Jeff tends to put a funny sound to help spice up this little jump of his emotion.
A more poignant take, here, is accented by the H-B “KAZOO PARTY HORN”. Advantage Audio tends to use that sound a lot, particularly Heather Olsen (she even used it in Star vs The Forces of Evil episode “Booth Buddies” for accent when confetti is thrown), but it seems to be an occasional accent in current Spongebob episodes.
Quickly following it, as Squidward streaks under a rug, is a very high-pitched version of the classic WB siren whistle, “FAST ZING WHISTLE, ZIP”, which is rarely heard in non-Hacienda Post episodes.
Like most cartoon sound designers these days, even a simple movement of a small body part can be accented with a funny sound. Squidward’s eye looking up here is accented by a Warner Bros. double violin string sloop, similar to Joel Valentine’s use of such sounds in The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack.
Relative and notable is that many classic cartoon sound effects come from musical instruments, like violins, slide whistles, xylophones, and even harps [a Jew’s harp, in particular].
[more to be discussed; post in progress]
To solidify knowledge of sound design, I’ll introduce a little about myself in this area: I’ve always been very conscious of sound effects, and my realization of sound design in cartoons has always been a part of my life. In 2010, I began to become the huge fan of Skywalker Sound I am, and I’d read up online about their 500+ staff over the years. In 2013 I joined IMDb to update credits regarding knowledge of credits and articles about the roles of certain creatives involved; soon I looked up the credits of non-Skywalker projects, like Spongebob (Hacienda Post, Atlas Ocenaic/Oracle Post), The Fairly OddParents (Advantage Audio), Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (DigiPost.TV), etc.
Eventually, I began to know of an unsung sound designer, Joel Valentine, a mentor to Jeff Hutchins and “a pillar of sound design”, but often uncredited--except as the name of his “sound editing” company “Twenty First-Century Entertianment, Inc.” Though I knew not Joel’s name (or pretty much anyone in post-production sound), yet certainly I was conscious of Joel’s work from an early age, watching The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. His sound design for Cartoon Network projects has always been familiar to me, namely that castanet sound he uses to accent trembling, shaking in anger, etc. Joel Valentine & Jeff Hutchins met in 1986 and were roommates at Saban Productions, where Jeff often worked for Saban sound designer Johnny Valentino. Jeff edited sound effects with Supervising Sound Editor Joel on Dead in the Water, and Jeff worked for Joel also on Pirates of Darkwater Season 3. After Sym-Bionic Titan, Joel didn’t work on anything until Season 2 of Wander Over Yonder at Craig McCracken’s request, eventually returning for Season 5 of Samurai Jack, with which Joel and his very small team opened up an amazingly realistic sonic world of sound, but not without some of his signature sounds and some really cool new sounds.
I’m always conscious of sound effects. On January 31st, 2010, I did this camcorder recording shaking and stuff in sync with SFX from “Sandy, Spongebob and the Worm” (tweet here).
Jeff Hutchins also did sound on Bill Kopp’s Tom and Jerry movies, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and many Hacienda Post projects. Jeff works usually at Hacienda Post/Sabre Media Studios and Warner Bros. Sound (particularly division Audio Circus); he also worked at West Productions, Inc. and even his own place, Jeff Hutchins Sound Design in Oxford, California.
I feel that some of my favorite shows deserve contribution from certain sound services/creatives, like Disney’s franchise of Star vs. the Forces of Evil (at least for the future) due to its cartoony animation & design but imbalanced sound design.
@rwinger24 and I are people who appreciate the art of sound design and the work/style of Jeff Hutchins, who will always be one of my favorite influences in creative media. Thanks for all of the laughs your aural art creates for us!
