The Sound of Heels

[mlroseplant]

How important is the sound that your heels make when you walk? I know there have been discussions about loud vs. soft in the past, some people even going so far as to pump silicone into heels to get them to quiet down, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, I seem to recall that some fellow used to have his heel tips replaced with plastic just for the increased volume, despite the fact that they wear out quickly.

What about the quality of the sound, apart from its volume? Does it have any effect on your enjoyment of wearing heels? In my own case, I do enjoy a nice, pronounced click when I take a step, and elsewhere I mentioned that I also like the flapping sound of a mule along with that click. I seem to own a lot of wooden heeled shoes, and those often make a bigger, deeper sound than your typical stiletto makes. There is one spot near my town's square where there are a number of brick buildings facing each other, and it's solid concrete street/sidewalk in between. When the wind is calm, walking in this area with a pair of loud heels creates quite a racket with all the reverberation. Love it! Maybe it's one of the reasons I'm not crazy about wedges. No noise. It just doesn't seem right.

I have joked about getting rid of shoes because they don't make the right sound, but that has actually happened once or twice. I had a pair of Calvin Klein boots once which were quite noisy. I had them reheeled with rubber heel tips, and it completely ruined the sound of the boots. The heel was almost completely silent, but the forefoot of the boot still made a rackety thudding sound which was completely lost and out-of-place without the noisy heel to accompany it. I don't know how to describe it. They sounded.  .  . stupid. I had some other issues with them, but that was the last straw. I got rid of them.

Thankfully, as I have accumulated high heeled clogs, which often make a very pleasant sound, I haven't had one where reheeling with rubber has completely robbed the shoe of its sonic character. Changed it, yes, but not to the point of no return. I am at this moment, awaiting the completion of a re-heel on a pair of wooden heeled sandals I got not too long ago which have (maybe had) a unique sound to them. We'll see what they sound like when I get them back. Hopefully not stupid.

Please tell your thoughts and stories on the sound of heels.

[Cali]

When I first started to wear heels (2-3 inch) I was very concern about the noise giving out clues that I was wearing heels. I even had a pair 's soles replaced with rubber. I learned how to avoid places where the sound would be louder. That as about a decade ago.

But when you live in shorts and heels during the summer months, there is no hiding your heels, so sound they might generate is not an issue. I now embrace the sound. And I have wedges that click.

The noisiest place for me is walking down concrete steps in wooden heels like these.

[Jkrenzer]

This morning I wore a pair of 5 inch stilettos to breakfast. The diner has hard tile floors and both heel taps have just worn to the metal nails. I loved the very audible metal nail to tile sound. I of course will replace the heel taps shortly before they wear to an unrepairable state, but really love the metallic sound. I also had my high cut geans on

Here's the shoes.

[mlroseplant]

19 hours ago, Cali said:

When I first started to wear heels (2-3 inch) I was very concern about the noise giving out clues that I was wearing heels. I even had a pair 's soles replaced with rubber. I learned how to avoid places where the sound would be louder. That as about a decade ago.

But when you live in shorts and heels during the summer months, there is no hiding your heels, so sound they might generate is not an issue. I now embrace the sound. And I have wedges that click.

The noisiest place for me is walking down concrete steps in wooden heels like these.

Yes, I think wooden heels are my favorite when it comes to quality of sound. The plastic heels that come on most shoes in my price range just don't have the same warmth. It has been several years since I largely switched to straight cut jeans or shorts for the summertime, so yes, hiding the heels is not a concern anymore.

 

 

17 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

This morning I wore a pair of 5 inch stilettos to breakfast. The diner has hard tile floors and both heel taps have just worn to the metal nails. I loved the very audible metal nail to tile sound. I of course will replace the heel taps shortly before they wear to an unrepairable state, but really love the metallic sound. I also had my high cut geans on

Here's the shoes.

Have you ever replaced your tips with metal ones? I kind of like the idea of the volume, but I'm not sure I would like the timbre of the sound, and also I'd be worried about skating right across the floor and landing on my butt in places with polished floors, like a supermarket.

On edit: Whoops! It just occurred to me that we've had this conversation before! I seem to be doing that more and more often these days. But maybe you could comment on how a metal tip changes the sound. I assume it's louder, but does it lack the depth and warmth of a softer tip? Something like that.

Edited June 29, 2019 by mlroseplant
Further thoughts

[Jkrenzer]

I have a few all metal tips but i can't wear them in my house, they kill wood floors which is why i will replace these heel taps with new plastic ones. The sound however is very sharp and high pitched, personally I love it.

I wore them last night ti dinner as well.

[CAT]

I have s fee metal tips as well.  They are awesome out on hard surfaces 

[Chorlini]

I hate making noise when walking, period. When I moved into my new home I specifically chose to have carpets rather then wooden floors just for that reason. That and it also feels a lot nicer when walking barefoot

[DProud2700]

I had a pair of boots that were from Bakers Shoes/Leeds.  They were knee highs and I remember how they made a nice quiet thud sound when I walked in them. They were never loud and was really nice to walk in them (now gone). 

[hiddenheels]

I personally don't like to make noise... So actually prefer quiet shoes.

[maninpumps]

Noise , not that big of an issue to me . If the noise doesn't give you away your gate will . 

[jetheelsfan]

On 7/1/2019 at 1:29 PM, DProud2700 said:

I had a pair of boots that were from Bakers Shoes/Leeds.  ....... was really nice to walk in them (now gone). 

Bakers had some fantastic styles for many years but face a business fate so many shoe stores have faced. Nobles, Butlers, Thom McAnn, Kinneys, and now Payless has joined their ranks.  Bakers had a great way of doing their clearance seasons by dropping thprice weekley until they were just a couple of dollars --- a great way to purchase.  But over the last 35 years, my foot grew nearly 3 sizes from the 10s and a few 11s Bakers carried.

Edited July 4, 2019 by jetheelsfan
remove unneeded information in quote

[mlroseplant]

On 6/28/2019 at 5:44 AM, mlroseplant said:

I am at this moment awaiting the completion of a re-heel on a pair of wooden heeled sandals I got not too long ago which have (maybe had) a unique sound to them. We'll see what they sound like when I get them back. Hopefully not stupid.

I just picked up the sandals in question from the cobbler two days ago. This is my third pair of True Religion mules of this exact model, and they've all had the same problem--the heel tips are not attached well to the heels, and it's very easy to lose one without realizing it. Furthermore, the wooden heels are not solid wood. They appear to be made out of some engineered wood composite--something like MDF, or Medium Density Fiberboard. On its own, whatever it is is not at all resistant to abrasion. I lost a heel tip on the last pair I had without realizing it and ground down the heel about 3/4" by the time I noticed the problem, making it irreparable. Luckily, I noticed the missing heel tip with this pair very quickly. Funny, it happened in almost exactly the same spot as last time, but I digress from the real subject of this post.

My cobbler used Vibram or something very similar to replace my heels, which is good for durability, but has completely muffled the former sound of these heels. Before, they made a strong, sort of hollow sounding "tok, tok" sound with each step on a hard surface. Now, they are almost silent. You just never know how using a different material for heel tips is going to affect sound. Luckily, the forefoot part of the sandals must be made of something that is way softer than the old heel tips, so at least they don't make an objectionable whapping sound.