Do you know what two tortoises having sex sounds like? Yeah, you probably don’t want to know either, but there’s a chance that you have heard the sound already. The Jurassic Park sound effects of the velociraptor is two tortoises having sex.
When it comes to movies we have become used to amazing special effects. Long gone are the days when a simple puppet that was attached to strings was used to simulate another creature or being. Although puppets are still used in the industry, they are now blended in with computer generated images to make them seem completely realistic. But deceiving the eyes is a simple task compared to the ears. Usually to get a sound effect, the sound editors have to resort to different measures, as a computer itself may not be able to generate the desired sound. That’s exactly what Gary Rydstrom, Jurassic Park’s sound designer did when he used tortoises having sex as a sound effect of the velociraptor in Jurassic Park.
Rydstrom has revealed that he got the sound for the velociraptors from Marine World. While he was there they asked him if he wanted to record tortoises having sex. He thought it was a joke, but recorded the sound anyway. It turned out to be a good idea in the end. The sound of the tortoises having sex was used as the sound of the velociraptors bark.
He relied on animal sex for many of the sounds. During the Gallimimus stampede when they squeal he used the sound of a mare (female horse) in heat squealing when a stallion got too close to her. The sound of a raptors squeal is that of a dolphin in heat.
Other animals used for sound effects in Jurassic Park are:
Baby elephant for the T-Rex roar
His own Jack Russell dog for many of the T-Rex sounds
brachiosaurus is a donkey slowed down, and when it sneezes it is the sound of a whales blow hole and a fire hydrant
The appalling trill of the Dilophosaurus is that of a swan, and when it becomes more fearsome later in the movie, the sound is of a rattlesnake and a hawke.
The sound of the triceratops breathing was his own breathing.
