[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'221925\' date=\'Aug 4 2009, 09:24 AM\']Maybe not my favorite sound of all time, but I loved the "CBS bell" when it had a more manual sound to it. Through the 70s and 80s, you could practically hear a hammer striking an actual metal bell when it rang on Price is Right or Press Your Luck. Heck, on Body Language, you often heard whoever was doing sounds slamming the button a lot for a puzzle solve.
NBC had a lock on the best stable of SFX though. Their chimes and buzzers are so identifiable with their shows, and they fit with the big/loud nature of their game shows.
-Jason[/quote]
In the 70s and into the 80s the TPiR bell WAS live - you're right in that you actually DID hear a hammer striking a metal chime! It was controlled with a small fist-held button that resembled the call button a patient used in the hospital to summon a nurse. Those of us of a certain age will remember those chimes being used in department stores to summon employees (instead of people screaching on a PA system).
TPiR used other, what are called "practical" sfx left over from the days of radio drama. The Squeeze Play squeezing of the numbers (also the closing of the Safecrackers door) was created by a desktop device that enabled the tech to rub a hinged piece of wood against a piece of leather.
Randy
tvrandywest