Legacy Matters

The Emotional Power of Vintage Sounds

What do the following have in common?

slamming down a phone,
the pop of flashbulbs,
the clickety-clack of typewriters,
the jackpot sound of cascading coins,
the ka-ching of cash registers,
the screech of a phonograph needle,
the clatter of home movie projectors?

You don't hear them anymore in our increasing digital age.  These sounds are becoming obsolete, except in our memories if you are of a certain age.    But they are not forgotten.  At least not by Dan Sheehy  whose job is to preserve America's acoustic heritage for the Smithsonian Institution.  Sheehy says sounds are like smells.  They can transport the listener to another time and place.  Such is the emotional power of vintage sounds that a cell phone ring tone that mimics an old-fashioned rotary phone is the most popular ring tones offered by Valentino Production Music, the nation's oldest sound-effects warehouse.  Full story by Roy Rivenburg of the Los Angeles Times

It makes you think about what sounds you might want to capture and preserve.  Your grandbaby's gurgles, your son's laughter, the commotion of everyone getting out the door on a school day.  Pick one day and be a sound gatherer in your own life.  You'll be delighted with it in 10 years.