GK: You probably know that people regularly exposed to loud noise are twice as likely to have high blood pressure. One more reason not to go duck hunting (SHOTGUN, FOUR SHOTS). One more reason not to fly helicopters (CHOPPER). Not to listen to music on headphones (HIPHOP PERCUSSION). Not to be a professional woodcutter. (CHAINSAW) Not to buy a house in the flight path of an airport (JET GOES OVERHEAD), not to live with a large dog (LOUD WOOF). Our sound effects man Mr. Fred Newman had his blood pressure checked a couple months ago (HEART POUNDING) and it was way high (BLOOD SHOOTING THROUGH ARTERIES), the valves of his heart were slamming open and shut (SFX), the veins protruded from his forehead (SWOOSHING), so he was given a medication (POP) and put on bed rest in a cabin on the Olympic Peninsula (WIND). On a salmon ranch. It was very quiet up there. So quiet you could hear a fly buzz. (SFX) You could hear a praying mantis pray. (SFX) You could hear the starfish creeping up the beach. (SFX). You could hear the tide come in. (SFX). Fred spent six weeks up there in that cabin and while he was gone we split up the sound effects. Sue Scott did the cats (SS CAT), I did the cows (GK COW), and the foghorns (GK FOGHORN), while Tim Russell did the helicopters. (CHOPPER). We were all happy when Fred came back (FN: Hi) but when he did, something was different. He had learned to establish boundaries.
FN: I don't do big explosions anymore. No oil refineries blowing up. I can do a whale but I don't want to do dolphins.
GK: So we changed the story, took out the dolphins, put in a whale.
FN: A small whale. Not a big whale. (WHALE)
GK: He moved to the San Juan Islands and sold his lawn mower and got a couple of sheep to chew his grass (SHEEP). He fixed the plumbing (DRIPS, WRENCH) he turned off the air-conditioner (SFX). He gave away his big dog Bruno and got a cat, Miko (SFX). He wanted a quieter life. But one night, suddenly, while Fred was meditating (OMMM) a whale in the harbor (SFX) released a huge bubble of methane gas (SFX) that exploded (SFX) and set fire to the salmon ranch (SFX) and Fred was a hero--- (CHOPPER) he flew his helicopter down low to guide a team of fire-fighting dolphins to the scene (SFX) and they set an explosive (SFX) that put out the fire and everyone had blackened salmon that night, including Fred's loud cousin Ed (FN: Hey! How you doing?), who was visiting with his elephant (SFX) but that's another story.