Here's The Story Behind Netflix's Iconic Intro Sound. A Goat Is involved.
- 3 years ago
We're all familiar with Netflix's iconic "ta-dum" intro sound, which has been around since 2015 — many of us hear it multiple times a day. But where did it come from? The podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz and host Dallas Taylor decided to find out, and reveal the fascinating story behind this ubiquitous sonic logo.
In an episode dedicated solely to this sound, Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin starts out by revealing that it's actually called "ta-dum" internally. Yellin is a former filmmaker with an affinity for sound design, and he led the process of creating the ta-dum: Something immediately sonically tied to the experience of watching Netflix.
Designing the sound presented challenges, especially in that it had to be very short. Yellin didn’t want anything that sounded too much like software or games. In 2020, no one argues that Netflix is more synonymous with entertainment than technology, but the introductory sound had to say that too. He wanted the sound to tell a story — in three seconds and less.
Yellin enlisted Academy Award-winning sound designer Lon Bender for the project, giving him descriptors that conceptualize this sound: Tension, release, quirky, and more. Bender came up with 20-30 sound effects in different styles. For a long time, the frontrunner was close to the current ta-dum, but also included a goat noise. Yellin recalls liking something that bubbled like the ocean. But he didn’t care what it sounded like as much as how it made people feel. A focus group associated the early ta-dum with "dramatic" "interesting" "beginning," and even “movie” without anyone knowing its purpose.
In the end, Yellin's 10-year-old daughter made the decision when he was torn between his top five contenders. The finished logo was touched up, adding a "blossom" sound effect to the end — that's the little swell you hear right before it cuts away, and that's guitar from Formosa Group's Charlie Campagna. All in all, it took a year to create the ta-dum we all now know and love.
At the end of the episode, Yellin notes that he's just thankful they didn't use the goat.
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