The Netflix “TA-DUM” sound that plays before each piece of content is practically Pavlovian. By the time the “DUM” part finishes vibrating across the eardrums, your mouth is no doubt salivating over how mind-blowing that next episode of The Kominsky Method is going to be. (BTW, that Alan Arkin can getttt it.)
But what is now a sound effect as famous a lightsaber swoosh was almost something much different.
As in, a goat.
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In a recent episode of the podcast “Twenty Thousand Hertz”, Tod Yellin, Netflix’s VP of product, revealed that in the early planning days of the streaming service, the intro noise was almost the sound of a goat bleating.
Explaining the intention behind designing an intro noise for use across all content, he said he wanted the viewer to feel like, “I’m going to get a treat, I’m about to get an amazing story, that’s relevant to me, that’s — most importantly — cinematic in my home.’”
Lon Bender was the sound editor leading the project, and he was a big fan of using a goat.
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“If we were going to do that call-and-response, that creating tension and then resolving it really quickly, I liked the sound of the goat,” Tod said. “It’s funny, I thought it was quirky. It was our version of [MGM’s] Leo the Lion. For a while we were stuck on it.”
So the next time you plop down to watch some Netflix (which in all likelihood will be today), just imagine one of these sounds leading you into your blissful viewing:
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curiobi
Dang it Netflix, you should have done this ;D