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When Transformers in the G1 continuity transform, they make a distinctive five-part noise: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformation#The_noise

What's the "behind the scenes" story for that noise... someone who worked on the original cartoon must have invented that sound, but I haven't been able to find the back story online.

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    I don't know why you think there's going to be a "back story". It was likely created by a sound engineer and/or foley artist. There's some discussion here, and that includes a copy/paste from some old FAQ that I can't find. It discusses what noises were supposedly used to make up the final sound.
    – phantom42
    Jan 21, 2014 at 5:43
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    ‘I don't know why you think there's going to be a "back story"’. Because it’s awesome?!?!? I feel like whoever devised it should be up there with Delia Derbyshire in the annals of audio history.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Jan 21, 2014 at 7:26
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    But as awesome as it is, it's very unlikely that there was some big revelatory moment or story. It was probably just some sound engineer/designer combining things and the production company was happy with one of their results.
    – phantom42
    Jan 21, 2014 at 15:27
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    there's a backstory for the Millenium Falcon sound and the Hypnotoad sound...why not the Transformers sound?
    – coburne
    Jul 24, 2014 at 19:45
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    @ThePopMachine : I narrowed down the creator of the sound to five individuals, all of whom were sound engineers or foley artists when work began on the original Transformers cartoon in 1984. Unfortunately, none of them have been interviewed extensively and none have written or spoken in detail about their sound work on the cartoon. Sorry, but I tried.
    – Praxis
    Aug 29, 2015 at 3:45

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Lack of available information

I narrowed down the creator of the sound to eight individuals, all of whom were sound engineers or foley artists when work began in 1984 on the original Transformers cartoon, where the sound first appeared. They were:

  • Jim Blodgett
  • Michael L. DePatie
  • John Detra
  • Ron Fedele
  • Michael Tomack
  • Richard B. Elliot
  • Richard S. Gannon
  • Richard C. Allen

(See here for instance.)

Unfortunately, none of them have been interviewed extensively, nor have any of them written or spoken in detail about their sound work on the cartoon.

Unless one of these individuals decides to reveal the "back story" behind the creation of this distinctive sound effect, I doubt that an answer can be found at the present time.

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    to the twitterverse??
    – ThePopMachine
    Nov 30, 2015 at 19:10
  • @ThePopMachine : Where have you been lately?! Sure, I might do that. :-)
    – Praxis
    Nov 30, 2015 at 19:58

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