Whether you’re a newbie or an expert in binging shows on Netflix, I’m sure you’ve heard of the iconic sound that precedes every Netflix Original on the platform.
The ‘Ta-Dum’ sound that most of us know well seems to have been around forever. But do you know where it originated from?
Tod Yellin, is the man behind the sonic logo of the platform. He said that Netflix’s sound needed to be short in the age of click-and-play. Yet he wanted something that would build up viewers’ tension and release it. A sound that had to be uniquely Netflix without ever mentioning the company name, it was a difficult task.
There were many unsuccessful attempts, one of which was even the iconic ‘ta-dum’ sound resolved with a goat bleating.
Yellin said, “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. 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.”
Thankfully, the goat was scrapped out but the percussion sound remained. It was created by Oscar winning sound editor Lon Bender as a combination of music and the sound of his wedding ring against a wooden cabinet along with some additional muted hits and deeper anvil sounds overlaid on top.
Ultimately, Yellin’s ten year old daughter made the decision of choosing one of the five contenders. The logo was then touched up with a “blossom” – the final swell of the signature sound that one hears at the end. It came from a reversed and digitized guitar phrase from Charlie Campagna of Formosa Group.
And there you have it folks – that’s the history of Netflix’s signature sound that almost became a bleating goat!
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