In every Skatepark or skate spot certain sounds can always be heard and found. In skateboarding there is a special dialogue specific to this subculture. Sound is often used to affirm or prove a skater’s ability, as well as communicate admiration and support towards other people’s skating.

There is heavy emphasis on creating specific, desirable sounds when doing certain tricks. Popping tricks high in the air and getting off the ground quickly is seen as challenging, requiring some level of skill and ability that is hard to achieve. Achieving elevation requires the skater to snap the tail of their skateboard into the ground, creating a distinct sound. Skateboarders have come to associate this sound with doing a trick ‘properly’. I think this interest in making tricks sound a certain way stems from an inherent desire to be good at what we do. Another example of this desirability to create certain sounds is when skaters attempt to grind something. This is where they jump onto a bench for instance, and ride along the top of it with the trucks (the metal undercarriage) rubbing against the corner of the bench. A specific sound is created when this happens. Making this noise often means you’ve done the trick you have attempted properly. In ‘Ensemble’ a skate video by my friend Rich Smith, a skateboarding videographer, there is a clip of myself where I land a trick which should involve a grinding sound. On the attempt I landed I failed to produce any of these sounds. Rich decided to edit in the audio of a past attempt I didn’t roll away from because of a lack of sound. This often bring a trick’s legitimacy into question even if it looks fine, sound is often used to affirm what the eyes have seen.

Sound is also used to communicate admiration or appreciation in unique ways in skateboarding. If someone lands a trick they’ve been trying for a long time or have done something considered hard to do, you will find an array of responses. Hitting the tail of their skateboard into the ground is one way. Although this is similar to the sound of someone popping or snapping there tail back to get off the ground, you will hear more resonance and lower tones, a skater’s ear will be able to tell the difference. Another way is by saying ‘yeeeeewww’ in a high pitched voice. For many years skateboarding was a niche activity, not getting much attention from mainstream media sources allowing it to evolve and develop separately into its own subculture. I believe this lack of outside influence has played a major role in the development of the sounds used in skateboarding.