Meow. Reeaarr! Hiss! Cat sound effects are notoriously hard to come by because, frankly, cats never do what you want them to when you need to make a particular type of cat sound effects. Cat sounds are not that varied, there are several basic types. First, the ever popular "meow" cat sound clip is present anywhere you find a cat, provided it isn't sleeping (cat's sleep upwards of 20 hours a day, did you know?). So, admittedly, the basic "meow" cat sound effect isn't hard to come by. Though, recording the meow can be risky because cats have been know to swat at the microphone and wind screen. All that said, we do have a nice array of cat sound effects here at SFXsource.com
The more difficult cat sounds to capture are the purrs and the angry "reaarr" and hissing cat sound clips. First off, you cannot train a cat to purr. It will only purr when it wants to and when it is relaxed. And, guess what, as soon as you whip out a microphone or recorder to capture the cat's purring, they cease to be relaxes. Mostly, they freak out and get angry. But, not angry enough to make any other cool sounds like reeaars and hisses. So, the quandry continues. You now have a flipped out cat that will not purr anymore but isn't mad enough to do anything else worth recording. So go the trials and tribulations of the SFXsource.com audio professionals.
The easiest way to solve the purring dilemma at least, is to use a small hand held recorder that you or an associate tries to place near the cat's neck without it noticing. If you have a cat that really loves to purr, then one person could pet the cat softly while the other person goes for the cat sound effect. In terms of capturing the super pissed off cat sound effects though, that's something that cannot be planned, though our dedicated sound designers at SFXsource.com are constantly scheming on how to capture new sounds. It has to happen by luck. Or, perhaps there is the off chance that a neighbor or friend has an out of sync cat that randomly hisses or does a cat screech here and there at shadows. In that case, a determined and dedicated sound designer could capture good angry cat sounds. Come to think of it, one might even be able to take out an ad on craig's list or something reading something like, "Angry cat needed for 15 minutes, will pay $10."
