Have a Star Wars sound design question? Ask it here! I did a ton of research and since a lot of the info only exists in text form I'd be happy to answer anything else below. Thanks for watching!
Was the same Death Star ambient sound reused as the Nostromo Medical Bay sound and Deckard's apartment in Bladerunner ? do a youtube search for those two. They all sound the same.
@Indepth Sound Design. Fantastic Presentation. Thank you for producing & posting this. Also- by chance, have you ever listened to the Original Star Wars Radio Dramas - which also used Ben Burtt's sound effects? I ask because there are sound effects used within that program that were not in the film, and I have questions. facebook.com/StarWarsRadioSeries/
Thanks for the video! I'm trying to find info on the sound design for the Phantom Menace Darth Maul duel at the end of the movie. Is there any interviews or commentary tracks with Ben on this scene? Thanks heaps!
Everyone here is rightfully lauding Ben Burtt for his incredible work on this film - but I have to point out that this is a brilliantly put together video, too. Thank you for compiling it all in the same place, in such a well laid out format. You can tell there was a lot of research put into it - from stitching together interviews span decades, to going into the 5.1 mixes to isolate background elements for the examples, to tying it all together with the colour-coded table-of-contents - you very rarely see that kind of attention to detail outside of big budget featurettes. Excellent work.
I just want to say this is an incredible compliment and I'm very humbled and grateful for it. When my non-sound friends/family ask about my TH-cam channel I always let them read this so they have a better understanding of what I'm doing here. I appreciate your gratitude and the recognition for my effort!
I agree, the isolation of the sound that is being spoken about is very well done and helps add to the understanding of what Ben was talking about in how he created said sounds.
@@INDEPTHSoundDesign This video is being saved to my favorites for this very reason 👌 The sound design for Star Wars is my favorite out of any movie or show. Such fascinating sounds! I thank you too.
A TINY studio could make a movie like this today. And it could look better. But what’s missing is love, wonder, awe, curiosity, creativity. Makes you wonder why studios worth billions of dollars keep putting out garbage movies that lose $100mil. It’s because they don’t take their own stories seriously and too many of the people involved just don’t give a damn about the project.
To put a point on it: I suspect the vast majority of people who have seen Star Wars could correctly identify the sound of the light saber without the picture. I can't think of another bit of foley (not music) with anything close to that kind of collective memory. Ben brought those things *to life*.
The amount of the iconic sounds in these films that were created purely by chance (like the Blaster sound created by Ben accidentally brushing against that wire, and the exact specific radio tower he found later on that happened not to have all its components) is mindblowing. Shows how fragile, random and beautiful life can be doesnt it?
Just proves that Star Wars was a rare film where every department went above and beyond to create this living, breathing world. Ben Burtt was a genius! And thank you Indepth Sound Design for putting this together!
11:26 I knew it! I happened to be near a train yard once as a child while it was being load by crane and I heard a laser, it couldn't have been any other noise I thought. It turns out the loaders were tensing the cables and testing them before each car was lifted. By the time a third crew got started I would've sworn I was on Hoth. Great video and thanks for the confirmation of a long held suspicion
For some reason, the perimeter of my grade school gymnasium floor was ringed with 10(?) foot pieces of steel angle iron. In third grade I discovered that if I stomped one end of the angle iron it made something very close to the Star Wars blaster sound. I loved doing it, but the gym teacher always screamed at me.
I can't think of any other film in history with sound design as iconic as this. You could close your eyes, have the sounds played out loud, and still correctly identify what they're supposed to be (e.g., blaster, TIE fighter, lightsaber, R2, Chewie, etc.).
Yep. Also Phil Tippet (stop motion and models), John Dykstra (ground breaking special effects processes) and John Williams' incredible score contributed to this "perfect storm" of talent that made this movie greater than the sum of its parts.
@@slutbunwallah True. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend this 18 minute video called "How Star Wars Was Saved In The Edit": th-cam.com/video/GFMyMxMYDNk/w-d-xo.html
R2-D2's voice is probably the most incredible, inventive bit of sound design ever put to film. The way it sounds like a robot, and yet you can feel emotion from it, is an incredibly different sort of thing to see from a film in that era, and the difficulty in making that voice really makes a lot of sense when you consider how hard it would be to balance robotic sounds with the need to sound like an electronic language.
'Worldizing' Definitely sounds like a cool technique to try and I love that R2's voice is made from synths. Now my suspicions from accidentally playing R2 sounds have been confirmed! Great listen, Ben Burtt's a dang genius
Is it just me or modern blockbusters do the opposite of worldizing, by making all the dialogue, sounds, and ambiances as pristine and post-processed as possible? There's less physicality to them, nothing sounds as if it's recorded "on stage".
@@thisisfyne yeah its real. People dont realize if you want a sound be feel like it's happening in a certain space... it should be happening in a certain space
So every blaster sound in the star wars saga that sparked the mind of an entire generation came from one guy wire of a radio tower in a remote location. Man that's something to think about
Jesse Slack when it boils down to it, we hit peak popular culture around mid 80s. Ever since then, nothing has been as good as films like robocop, Star Wars et al... nothing these days has any decent soundtracks or sound design. 🤯🤯🤯🤯
I think I finally understand why pre-2000’s movies always sound so much better. The sounds were REAL. (The same could be said for the vfx, but that’s changing)
Like, i have always loved R2 and grew up competing with my friends to mimic him the most, but I never realized how communicative those beeps and chirps are. They are so characterful. How Ben created this is astonishing
The method of rerecording the voices in different rooms to get the accoustics right is something sound designers today should take notice of. Often the sound is to "dry" compared with the room where the action takes place. Once you notice its really annoying.
I have SO much more fun worldizing sounds instead of using plugins. It's a much more nuanced effect and I think the sounds have more character and stick to the screen better.
They do, if the film is good. I have friends that spend much of their working lives in remote areas either getting clean wind, lone semi-trailers, cars, etc., or playing recordings back in different reverberative environments. One of their biggest hassles is local police, who see cars sitting by the woods or the highway with a lot of strange equipment, and they think they're up to no good. The sound of the tripods in Spielberg's War of the Worlds was blasted through speakers into a box canyon in the desert, for one example.
@@firthlaist218 I don't know where you get this 90% figure from, this is rather misinformed. It completely depends on the movie and the workflow. Try suggesting to Tarantino that he should rerecord just 3% of the dialogue - he'd probably hang you. Also, it's easier these days to record and edit location sound. According to the Dialogue Editor from LOTR, Polly McKinnon, there are less lines of dialogue replaced in post in this century than the last.
@Johnathan Celso i mean, i don't think there are massive death stars or any known aliens, or laser weapons, but if you choose to think this then, alright xD
All I can say is that Lucas was so lucky to have such brilliant artists involved to construct his film...from sound design to set production to costume design to film score and of course to the now legendary...film editing. Can anyone imagine the loss of even one of these critical components?
@@fundhund62 Yeah, after a certain point, you have to acknowledge it isn't luck when a person consistently picks the exact right people for each job. Talent knows talent.
I think the luck comes in that all those folks were in or around Northern California film school and related social orbits at that moment. Especially back in those days when you didn’t just write an email, you had to know somebody or know somebody who knew somebody. Not to belittle Lucas’ judgment, but it’s amazing Ben Burtt was there and available at that time and place.
Met him at TCM film festival. Wonderful guy. First saw him a It's a Wonderful Life, then met him this year at Club TCM and chatted. Thanked him for being such a big part of my childhood. Priceless.
As a peruvian, i must admit that the first time, 5 years ago, that i heard that greedo´s language was inspired by the second official language in my country, my mind blew, and i can testify that his lines are not quechua at all, but they still are some words and variations related to it. Great research
Ben burtt, I’ve love the distinct sounds of Star Wars since I was a kid… around 4/5. Hell I’m 43 now so you can see how long I’ve loved Star Wars…. Ben Burtt is an absolute Genius… the way he can hear sounds, Brilliant!
Outstanding work...on this video and by Ben Burtt for the Star Wars movies! As I saw someone ask, it would be interesting to see HOW he put it together, synched it to the film, and mixed it all...on TAPE! It does make me appreciate the digital age for ease-of-use, though this is obviously proof that with a little creatively, plenty can be accomplished without digital tools.
I saw Star Wars at the Cooper Theater in Denver when it first came out... I was 7. THE SOUND of the Death Star when they are powering up the laser- the analog synth pitch drop until your bowels move (retaining, of course) along with the Gustav Holst influenced John Williams soundtrack and Han Solo Screaming over the intercom "You're all clear kid, now let's blow this and go home!" ahhh, God. I get chills just thinking about it. I bought a condensed audio LP of the actual movie, and listened to it incessintly. Another of my fav is the Millennium Falcon launching out of Mos Eisley space port. Dude... Big big good stuff for my little ears at the time. Made me want to listen closer!
In the summer of '79, my local athletic association held a basketball camp at our county civic center, which had a pretty large indoor arena. The groups were divided by age, so when we got there, we were shuttled up to the balcony to check in, so we weren't taking up space on the court. While we were in line waiting, there was a hollow, aluminum-extrusion balustrade that ran the length of the balcony, which was like 140' along the long sides, and ran all the way around. I was bored and kind of smacked it with my hand and heard "TYOOP!!!" with a massive reverb. Classic blaster sound. Like all 12 year olds in '79: a huge Star Wars fan, I couldn't believe my ears. My friends close by immediately turned around like "What the hell was that?" so I showed them, and within seconds this spread down the line of kids from all over the county, and the arena erupted in a massive Blaster Battle! Upon arrival the next day, we were all specifically instructed to keep our hands off the balustrade.
Still to this day my number one favorite sound effect next to the lightsaber, is what the TIE fighter sounds like from inside the cockpit. These movies were so amazing and groundbreaking back then in EVERY way!!! Ben Burtt added his skills as sound designer to add the final bit of magic to the films!!!
Thank you ! Awesome collection ! :) Those fantastic ringmodulated atmospheric disturbance radio transmission voices, when Leila, C3PO and Dodonna standing at the planning table in the strategy center !!! Ben Burtt is a living sound designer legend !
Interesting how the TIE Fighter Sound was enraged Elephants (which I thought it sounded a bit like when first hearing it in the Cinema in 1977), however Walter Murch came up with a similar sound for THX-1138 using the sound of Women Screaming in a Bathroom, overdriven for the Robocycles.
Many of these sounds once you know how they were created, you are able to hear some of the elements that were explained in the finished product. It's really cool to hear such iconic sounds and be like how damn that is a jet engine or something like that. Really cool.
Holy crap. I am so excited to watch this and many of the other videos you've posted. I'm a full time music audio guy, and am totally fascinated by the sound design world. Will be delving in after my session today. I feel like a freakin kid on Xmas eve right now!
Back then there were no samplers. So they had to place each and every sound effect by cueing up and then playing tape. Imagine that, all those scenes with tons of blasters going, Burtt had to trigger each of those sounds individually. He wasn’t watching the film and doing foley with picture, he was playing back prerecorded sound designs. Insane. What a genius. The fact that he knew he needed to play back R2’d voice on a speaker in a room and rerecord tells you everything you need to know. He knew how to make ‘physical’ sounds. Everyone who has come after follows in his footsteps. These days you can slap an IR reverb on any sound, boom you’re in the room. But back then you had to set it all up physically, and he was enough of a systems thinker to know what he needed to do to sell the sound. Amazing.
What makes Ben a genius is he actually cared to make it sound REAL, and not ADR studio artificial. Too many gilms are done using ADR and you can hear it. Re-recording ADR inside a bathroom, other space makes it sounds more organic and real. They just don't do that anymore. Everything is too "perfect."
@The Lavian huh, good to know. Could definitely be replicated with a ring mod in the absence of a CB radio. That being said, im on the lookout for a radio now..
Where has this channel BEEN my whole life?? I love sound design in film, though I’m still learning sound technology, and I see a lot of videos on great film sound design here. SUBSCRIBED!
Fantastic video! Thanks so much for putting all of this together. My main question: how in the world did they put all of this together and get it so well sync'd to picture without filling the entire audio spectrum with built-up tape bouncing noise? I mean, in today's world of computers or even sampling keyboards (for live triggering to picture) and noiseless digital pre-mixing/stems it's a lot easier to comprehend the mechanics. But with 1975-1977 era gear...??? Maybe you could talk Mr. Burtt into interview on this? :) And perhaps how 6ch/Dolby influenced sound design decisions?
In the 70's when the CB craze was hot. My dads home base radio did this thing where it sounded just like the banter between the X fighter pilots. Slow and out of phase.
Great video. There's no doubting Ben Burtt's genius and innovation when it came to sound design. One little bugbear though... 24:21 Dave Prowse hasn't got a Welsh accent, he's from my home town of Bristol in England and has got a Bristolian accent. There's a big difference.
14:20 It drove me nuts since I was a kid trying to figure out where the DeLorean Time Machine's whine down sounds came from. Yes, I know they originated with Star Wars IV, but the actual origin of the effect was bugging me for YEARS! Now if I can only figure out how they designed the SFX for the Ghostusters Proton Pack...
2:35 Arc lights are a fascinating piece of cinema history. The lamps on film sets were so hot and dangerous, they regularly burned cast and crew. And started at least one studio fire. I only know this because when I'd go to the ArcLight cinemas in L.A. I always wondered what the heck ArcLight means 😂 and looked it up.
Interesting to see how these were done. I've always loved the screams of the Tie Fighters, haha now I find out they're from elephants. Great work on this video btw. Thanks. 👍
Somehow listening to this never gets old. If only the same passionate attention to aesthetics were still being paid to Star Wars. All of this stuff is grounded in reality despite being fantasy.
@2manynegativewaves You can't really compare something made for television with a theatrical film. With theatrical you have more time and resources at your disposal, with television it must be done fast. Under those circumstances it would be difficult for anyone to do a perfect job.
And the sound effects, musical score, the models, the actors, directors and everone else that help George Lucas's syfy movie, is why the movie is loved and the most highest grossing film for a long time. Star is fun to watch. Then when i was 10 my buddies continued the saga with our action figures and ships and man made sets! That was my best time growing up! Thank you everyone making star wars. Great job Ben Burtt! I drove my mom dad and sister crazy all day with my sound effects. Lol.
Did he do all the studio processing himself? How about a separate vid on the outboard gear and how it got tweaked to perfection? How did he line everything up in the mix without computers? Thanks.
What’s crazy when you think about it is that Star Wars is so dated at this point that any random person with a little bit of tech knowledge could replicate a movie like it, even with better quality, from a tiny studio right now. But it also takes an enormous amount of creativity and love for your project. And actors who can deliver the lines and make it seem realistic. Just remember, a movie like this could easily be duplicated today, but people just can’t do it. We’ve lost wonder and awe and curiosity and creativity.
Have a Star Wars sound design question? Ask it here! I did a ton of research and since a lot of the info only exists in text form I'd be happy to answer anything else below. Thanks for watching!
The sounds of the BB-8 in The Force Awakens or Back To The Future Sounds
Was the same Death Star ambient sound reused as the Nostromo Medical Bay sound and Deckard's apartment in Bladerunner ? do a youtube search for those two. They all sound the same.
@Indepth Sound Design. Fantastic Presentation. Thank you for producing & posting this.
Also- by chance, have you ever listened to the Original Star Wars Radio Dramas -
which also used Ben Burtt's sound effects? I ask because there are sound effects used within that program that were not in the film, and I have questions.
facebook.com/StarWarsRadioSeries/
Thanks for the video! I'm trying to find info on the sound design for the Phantom Menace Darth Maul duel at the end of the movie. Is there any interviews or commentary tracks with Ben on this scene? Thanks heaps!
I'd love to see that info, even in the form of notes!
Everyone here is rightfully lauding Ben Burtt for his incredible work on this film - but I have to point out that this is a brilliantly put together video, too. Thank you for compiling it all in the same place, in such a well laid out format. You can tell there was a lot of research put into it - from stitching together interviews span decades, to going into the 5.1 mixes to isolate background elements for the examples, to tying it all together with the colour-coded table-of-contents - you very rarely see that kind of attention to detail outside of big budget featurettes. Excellent work.
I just want to say this is an incredible compliment and I'm very humbled and grateful for it. When my non-sound friends/family ask about my TH-cam channel I always let them read this so they have a better understanding of what I'm doing here. I appreciate your gratitude and the recognition for my effort!
I agree, the isolation of the sound that is being spoken about is very well done and helps add to the understanding of what Ben was talking about in how he created said sounds.
@@INDEPTHSoundDesign This video is being saved to my favorites for this very reason 👌 The sound design for Star Wars is my favorite out of any movie or show. Such fascinating sounds! I thank you too.
100% agree. It's exactly what a sound nerd like myself wants to know about. Brilliant stuff
I kept clicking on the menu on the left to jump to a different section. I wish YT let you do things like that.
Sound design is pure genius in this film.
Sound design in any film is fascinating, but yeah this was truly visionary stuff, so to speak 😆
The sound design and music are such an enormous part of what makes it so good.
He basically created sound design for sci-fi movies.
it's crystal clear to me now that the Sound Design is what gave this entire franchise life.... stunning
I wonder what it would be like if any other person had taken the reins on this 😱
This kind of creativity is part of what made the original trilogy so great!
It's true! Thanks for watching!
It´s part of what made the prequels so great, too.
A TINY studio could make a movie like this today. And it could look better.
But what’s missing is love, wonder, awe, curiosity, creativity.
Makes you wonder why studios worth billions of dollars keep putting out garbage movies that lose $100mil. It’s because they don’t take their own stories seriously and too many of the people involved just don’t give a damn about the project.
To put a point on it: I suspect the vast majority of people who have seen Star Wars could correctly identify the sound of the light saber without the picture. I can't think of another bit of foley (not music) with anything close to that kind of collective memory. Ben brought those things *to life*.
Very well exclaimed!
It's true, I'd say, for North America at least.
The amount of the iconic sounds in these films that were created purely by chance (like the Blaster sound created by Ben accidentally brushing against that wire, and the exact specific radio tower he found later on that happened not to have all its components) is mindblowing. Shows how fragile, random and beautiful life can be doesnt it?
Burtt is just next level genius when it comes to sound design, insanely creative!
To have all of these ideas in the late 70s was so ahead of its time it's unreal 😮
Just proves that Star Wars was a rare film where every department went above and beyond to create this living, breathing world. Ben Burtt was a genius! And thank you Indepth Sound Design for putting this together!
It's really amazing what they accomplished. A lot of hard work, and a whole lot of luck and happenstance as well.
11:26 I knew it! I happened to be near a train yard once as a child while it was being load by crane and I heard a laser, it couldn't have been any other noise I thought. It turns out the loaders were tensing the cables and testing them before each car was lifted. By the time a third crew got started I would've sworn I was on Hoth. Great video and thanks for the confirmation of a long held suspicion
Star Wars blasters have always had a sort of "Pillerrm" weight to the sound effect.
You're welcome! I'm glad the mystery was solved 👍
For some reason, the perimeter of my grade school gymnasium floor was ringed with 10(?) foot pieces of steel angle iron. In third grade I discovered that if I stomped one end of the angle iron it made something very close to the Star Wars blaster sound. I loved doing it, but the gym teacher always screamed at me.
I can't think of any other film in history with sound design as iconic as this. You could close your eyes, have the sounds played out loud, and still correctly identify what they're supposed to be (e.g., blaster, TIE fighter, lightsaber, R2, Chewie, etc.).
Star Wars would have been a very dull affair without the genius of Ben Burtt
Let alone George Lucas's wife who basically saved the film in the editing room.
@@slutbunwallah Don't forget Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew.
@@ENIGMVTIK Couldn't agree more mate.
Yep. Also Phil Tippet (stop motion and models), John Dykstra (ground breaking special effects processes) and John Williams' incredible score contributed to this "perfect storm" of talent that made this movie greater than the sum of its parts.
@@slutbunwallah True. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend this 18 minute video called "How Star Wars Was Saved In The Edit": th-cam.com/video/GFMyMxMYDNk/w-d-xo.html
R2-D2's voice is probably the most incredible, inventive bit of sound design ever put to film. The way it sounds like a robot, and yet you can feel emotion from it, is an incredibly different sort of thing to see from a film in that era, and the difficulty in making that voice really makes a lot of sense when you consider how hard it would be to balance robotic sounds with the need to sound like an electronic language.
'Worldizing' Definitely sounds like a cool technique to try and I love that R2's voice is made from synths. Now my suspicions from accidentally playing R2 sounds have been confirmed! Great listen, Ben Burtt's a dang genius
So glad you enjoyed it!
Is it just me or modern blockbusters do the opposite of worldizing, by making all the dialogue, sounds, and ambiances as pristine and post-processed as possible? There's less physicality to them, nothing sounds as if it's recorded "on stage".
@@thisisfyne yeah its real. People dont realize if you want a sound be feel like it's happening in a certain space... it should be happening in a certain space
Sound design is one of the most under appreciated aspect of film.
So every blaster sound in the star wars saga that sparked the mind of an entire generation came from one guy wire of a radio tower in a remote location. Man that's something to think about
star wars would literally not exist without this guy
Best sound design of any film ever made !
Mrs. Phyllis Stephens yes.
Without question! The sound, music, editing are as good as it gets.
Mrs. Phyllis Stephens we are talking about sound design here.
Star Wars without a doubt has is best sound design, but Robocop is very strong in the force of sound.
Jesse Slack when it boils down to it, we hit peak popular culture around mid 80s. Ever since then, nothing has been as good as films like robocop, Star Wars et al... nothing these days has any decent soundtracks or sound design. 🤯🤯🤯🤯
19:50 Let's all take a moment to applaud the fact that, "Han Shot First" was used in this video.
I think I finally understand why pre-2000’s movies always sound so much better. The sounds were REAL. (The same could be said for the vfx, but that’s changing)
Like, i have always loved R2 and grew up competing with my friends to mimic him the most, but I never realized how communicative those beeps and chirps are. They are so characterful. How Ben created this is astonishing
Absolutely incredible. A perfect storm of creative geniuses all working together to make this film!
Definitely. From Ben Burtt to Phil Tippett, And John Williams, not to mention the editing of Marcia Lucas.
The sound design was so good that I never really noticed it or gave it much thought.
This was wonderful to watch. Ben Burtt, George, and crew really did amazing things to give us teh wonderful world of Star Wars.
Genius. Not only were the elephant howls the primary source for the TIE-fighters, he recorded highway traffic going by on wet pavement.
The method of rerecording the voices in different rooms to get the accoustics right is something sound designers today should take notice of.
Often the sound is to "dry" compared with the room where the action takes place. Once you notice its really annoying.
I thought the sound of TC-13 in The Phantom Menace was it of place. Like Ben Burtt said, it sounded too clean.
I concur...
90% of lines are re-recorded in a small sound studio during post...
They absolutely forget to fit many voices to the original location!!
I have SO much more fun worldizing sounds instead of using plugins. It's a much more nuanced effect and I think the sounds have more character and stick to the screen better.
They do, if the film is good. I have friends that spend much of their working lives in remote areas either getting clean wind, lone semi-trailers, cars, etc., or playing recordings back in different reverberative environments. One of their biggest hassles is local police, who see cars sitting by the woods or the highway with a lot of strange equipment, and they think they're up to no good. The sound of the tripods in Spielberg's War of the Worlds was blasted through speakers into a box canyon in the desert, for one example.
@@firthlaist218 I don't know where you get this 90% figure from, this is rather misinformed. It completely depends on the movie and the workflow. Try suggesting to Tarantino that he should rerecord just 3% of the dialogue - he'd probably hang you. Also, it's easier these days to record and edit location sound. According to the Dialogue Editor from LOTR, Polly McKinnon, there are less lines of dialogue replaced in post in this century than the last.
Wow, so TIE Fighters are drive-by elephants.
EXACTLY! 😆
haha crazy
@Johnathan Celso i mean, i don't think there are massive death stars or any known aliens, or laser weapons, but if you choose to think this then, alright xD
@Johnathan Celso sometimes fiction is better than reality
LOLOLOL
This TH-cam channel is such an invaluable resource for such an under appreciated art form thank you for all the work you put in.
I never noticed the low-rumbling sound of the force! 21:39
It's super subtle. Good stuff!
All I can say is that Lucas was so lucky to have such brilliant artists involved to construct his film...from sound design to set production to costume design to film score and of course to the now legendary...film editing. Can anyone imagine the loss of even one of these critical components?
The stars that had to align to make this all work are mind boggling.
Nothing lucky about it. Lucas was the genius who brought them all on board. And who aligned the parts to work so perfectly together.
Especially if Lucas lost Ben Burtt
@@fundhund62 Yeah, after a certain point, you have to acknowledge it isn't luck when a person consistently picks the exact right people for each job. Talent knows talent.
I think the luck comes in that all those folks were in or around Northern California film school and related social orbits at that moment. Especially back in those days when you didn’t just write an email, you had to know somebody or know somebody who knew somebody. Not to belittle Lucas’ judgment, but it’s amazing Ben Burtt was there and available at that time and place.
Met him at TCM film festival. Wonderful guy. First saw him a It's a Wonderful Life, then met him this year at Club TCM and chatted. Thanked him for being such a big part of my childhood. Priceless.
I'm glad you were able to meet the man himself!
As a peruvian, i must admit that the first time, 5 years ago, that i heard that greedo´s language was inspired by the second official language in my country, my mind blew, and i can testify that his lines are not quechua at all, but they still are some words and variations related to it. Great research
Ben Burtt is a sound design genius. Genius.
So true you said it deux ✌
I cannot use my table saw without at least once recreating the Falcon's failed hyper drive jump sound.
Haha good stuff. That breakdown will be in my next Star Wars video for Empire!
The movie that the TIE fighter/elephant sounds come from is "Roots of Heaven" made in 1958 in case you were wondering.
14:24 That’s one of the Back to the Future sound effects for the DeLorean.
By god.. you're right: th-cam.com/video/k0kswK2aI08/w-d-xo.html
Fun Fact: In addition to sound designing the Star Wars films, Ben Burtt was also editor of the prequels.
No wonder he noticed all the tone problems.
He did a perfect job on episodes 1-6.
Incredible how they created the sound. Also very great video edited together ☺️👍
Ben burtt, I’ve love the distinct sounds of Star Wars since I was a kid… around 4/5. Hell I’m 43 now so you can see how long I’ve loved Star Wars…. Ben Burtt is an absolute Genius… the way he can hear sounds, Brilliant!
Outstanding work...on this video and by Ben Burtt for the Star Wars movies! As I saw someone ask, it would be interesting to see HOW he put it together, synched it to the film, and mixed it all...on TAPE! It does make me appreciate the digital age for ease-of-use, though this is obviously proof that with a little creatively, plenty can be accomplished without digital tools.
I saw Star Wars at the Cooper Theater in Denver when it first came out... I was 7. THE SOUND of the Death Star when they are powering up the laser- the analog synth pitch drop until your bowels move (retaining, of course) along with the Gustav Holst influenced John Williams soundtrack and Han Solo Screaming over the intercom "You're all clear kid, now let's blow this and go home!" ahhh, God. I get chills just thinking about it. I bought a condensed audio LP of the actual movie, and listened to it incessintly. Another of my fav is the Millennium Falcon launching out of Mos Eisley space port. Dude... Big big good stuff for my little ears at the time. Made me want to listen closer!
Great memories! Thanks for sharing 🙏
Absolutely genius. As a person who has worked in music production for some time this is absolutely wondeful.
For how much effort was put into Darth Vader’s sound design, it’s astounding that he’s wheezing while talking in soooooo many shots.
In the summer of '79, my local athletic association held a basketball camp at our county civic center, which had a pretty large indoor arena. The groups were divided by age, so when we got there, we were shuttled up to the balcony to check in, so we weren't taking up space on the court. While we were in line waiting, there was a hollow, aluminum-extrusion balustrade that ran the length of the balcony, which was like 140' along the long sides, and ran all the way around. I was bored and kind of smacked it with my hand and heard "TYOOP!!!" with a massive reverb. Classic blaster sound. Like all 12 year olds in '79: a huge Star Wars fan, I couldn't believe my ears. My friends close by immediately turned around like "What the hell was that?" so I showed them, and within seconds this spread down the line of kids from all over the county, and the arena erupted in a massive Blaster Battle!
Upon arrival the next day, we were all specifically instructed to keep our hands off the balustrade.
Still to this day my number one favorite sound effect next to the lightsaber, is what the TIE fighter sounds like from inside the cockpit. These movies were so amazing and groundbreaking back then in EVERY way!!! Ben Burtt added his skills as sound designer to add the final bit of magic to the films!!!
A legend in my book. His sounds shaped my taste and understanding of sfx. And it is indeed rare to find sfx of a quality even just close to his.
What an imaginative fellow. His ears are probably always open.
Thank you !
Awesome collection ! :)
Those fantastic ringmodulated atmospheric disturbance radio transmission voices, when Leila, C3PO and Dodonna standing at the planning table in the strategy center !!!
Ben Burtt is a living sound designer legend !
I know! That effect is also so easy to do... as long as you have a shortwave radio. 👍
Interesting how the TIE Fighter Sound was enraged Elephants (which I thought it sounded a bit like when first hearing it in the Cinema in 1977), however Walter Murch came up with a similar sound for THX-1138 using the sound of Women Screaming in a Bathroom, overdriven for the Robocycles.
Awesome! If you have a link for this info I'd love to hear/read/see it!
Many of these sounds once you know how they were created, you are able to hear some of the elements that were explained in the finished product. It's really cool to hear such iconic sounds and be like how damn that is a jet engine or something like that. Really cool.
Thanks for digging so deep! (Especially the TIE fighter "spoilers")
You're welcome!
Holy crap. I am so excited to watch this and many of the other videos you've posted. I'm a full time music audio guy, and am totally fascinated by the sound design world. Will be delving in after my session today. I feel like a freakin kid on Xmas eve right now!
Back then there were no samplers. So they had to place each and every sound effect by cueing up and then playing tape. Imagine that, all those scenes with tons of blasters going, Burtt had to trigger each of those sounds individually. He wasn’t watching the film and doing foley with picture, he was playing back prerecorded sound designs. Insane. What a genius.
The fact that he knew he needed to play back R2’d voice on a speaker in a room and rerecord tells you everything you need to know. He knew how to make ‘physical’ sounds. Everyone who has come after follows in his footsteps. These days you can slap an IR reverb on any sound, boom you’re in the room. But back then you had to set it all up physically, and he was enough of a systems thinker to know what he needed to do to sell the sound. Amazing.
What makes Ben a genius is he actually cared to make it sound REAL, and not ADR studio artificial. Too many gilms are done using ADR and you can hear it. Re-recording ADR inside a bathroom, other space makes it sounds more organic and real. They just don't do that anymore. Everything is too "perfect."
The ring mod on the radio voices is perfect
@The Lavian huh, good to know. Could definitely be replicated with a ring mod in the absence of a CB radio. That being said, im on the lookout for a radio now..
@The Lavian thanks! This is the channel I actually upload my music and sound design to, so it'll be here when it happens
And the fact that he increased the short wave radio effect depending on how far away they were makes it even more awesome and nuanced.
Real sounds make you feel real emotion.
So so true!
Oh what joy learning about this!
Now whenever I hear I Tie Fighter, I'm going to picture elephants flying through space.
and snakes...there is a hissing sound on the TIE fighter.
Haha someone else pointed out that the TIE fighters actually look like elephant heads, so there ya go!
Where has this channel BEEN my whole life?? I love sound design in film, though I’m still learning sound technology, and I see a lot of videos on great film sound design here. SUBSCRIBED!
Compliments like this are why this channel exists! Thanks so much!
Another thing the Disney films lack: *BEN BURTT*
Check his IMDB. He worked on the Force Awakens & Rise of Skywalker. The only one he didn't work on was The Last Jedi.
@@jasonshaneyfelt1039 getting credit and actual work..... two different things
MarCuseusFX He’s credited with doing sound design for the films. I’m going to believe that over TH-cam comments.
And Wall-E
@@jasonshaneyfelt1039 The Last Jedi sound design was bit duller than Force Awakens.
Great Video & Idea. I've listened to the commentaries and wished there was one just with Ben Burt. Absolute Genius!
This is great. Thanks!
How did I never know that trick with the elephant sounds?? Wow!
this kind of stuff is so interesting, ben is a legend
You did amazing work, may the force be with you.
Hehe thank you! 🙏
Fantastic video! Thanks so much for putting all of this together. My main question: how in the world did they put all of this together and get it so well sync'd to picture without filling the entire audio spectrum with built-up tape bouncing noise? I mean, in today's world of computers or even sampling keyboards (for live triggering to picture) and noiseless digital pre-mixing/stems it's a lot easier to comprehend the mechanics. But with 1975-1977 era gear...??? Maybe you could talk Mr. Burtt into interview on this? :) And perhaps how 6ch/Dolby influenced sound design decisions?
Terrific video. Subscribed!
Five Easy Pieces (1970) has an oil rig sound that got used in the trash compactor.
Better than Dune 2021. This doesn't need IMAX level audio to be iconic and capture imagination.
Never even noticed some of these sounds!
As a character from a different sci-f franchise might say: "Fascinating."
In the 70's when the CB craze was hot. My dads home base radio did this thing where it sounded just like the banter between the X fighter pilots. Slow and out of phase.
Holy shit, the telemetry backgrounds are so freakin rad!
Great video. There's no doubting Ben Burtt's genius and innovation when it came to sound design. One little bugbear though... 24:21 Dave Prowse hasn't got a Welsh accent, he's from my home town of Bristol in England and has got a Bristolian accent. There's a big difference.
You and a lot of people have confirmed this! Thanks! 🙏
Impressive... most impressive.
41:17 the wind blowing over a guy wire is the same principle that makes an aolean harp work.
I had no idea- Thanks for this!
14:20 It drove me nuts since I was a kid trying to figure out where the DeLorean Time Machine's whine down sounds came from. Yes, I know they originated with Star Wars IV, but the actual origin of the effect was bugging me for YEARS! Now if I can only figure out how they designed the SFX for the Ghostusters Proton Pack...
I love that you pointed this out. Thanks! th-cam.com/video/k0kswK2aI08/w-d-xo.html
As for the proton pack, let me know when you find out!
I'd be fascinated to know how the X-Wing sound was constructed. It has a bright high-pitched tinkley -almost a windchime- sound under it
Incredible.
Wow. I knew _some_ of the sound design that went into SW, but... WOW.
Haha yeah, you get it!
Another great sound design documentary in a series of blinders! Keep up the excellent work Indepth Sound Design! 👍💪🙌
What a compliment 😎 Thanks so much!
2:35 Arc lights are a fascinating piece of cinema history. The lamps on film sets were so hot and dangerous, they regularly burned cast and crew. And started at least one studio fire. I only know this because when I'd go to the ArcLight cinemas in L.A. I always wondered what the heck ArcLight means 😂 and looked it up.
Anyone else here doing this for AV tech? Amazing video btw. 👏🏽👏🏽
Interesting to see how these were done. I've always loved the screams of the Tie Fighters, haha now I find out they're from elephants. Great work on this video btw. Thanks. 👍
Thank you so much for this video--it was intensely fascinating.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
2019... still my favorite movie of all time. LOL and the way Disney are going.... it always will be.
Thank you for this video, really cool stuff.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I love this documentary but David Prowse is`nt Welsh, he`s from Bristol. I just had to say it :-)
Somehow listening to this never gets old. If only the same passionate attention to aesthetics were still being paid to Star Wars. All of this stuff is grounded in reality despite being fantasy.
@2manynegativewaves You can't really compare something made for television with a theatrical film. With theatrical you have more time and resources at your disposal, with television it must be done fast. Under those circumstances it would be difficult for anyone to do a perfect job.
Absolute genious. Ben burtt and John Williams: without them these movies would suck.
Many thanks for this!
I appreciate your gratitude- You're welcome!
THIS. WAS. FANTASTIC. Thank you!
Why does the thumbnail have the danish 'Wheel of Fortune' host Bengt Burg?
This is such a strange comment that I must have an explanation! 😆
Today I learned we have a backpack to thank for the iconic blaster sound.
Nice Work, Mr. Ben!
👍
S*** guys, the Jawas voices are basically the exact same thing as the Minions! Especially here 11:18 Universal got some explaining to Lucas...
Great work !
Thanks so much!
Wow this was awesome!!!
And the sound effects, musical score, the models, the actors, directors and everone else that help George Lucas's syfy movie, is why the movie is loved and the most highest grossing film for a long time. Star is fun to watch. Then when i was 10 my buddies continued the saga with our action figures and ships and man made sets! That was my best time growing up! Thank you everyone making star wars. Great job Ben Burtt! I drove my mom dad and sister crazy all day with my sound effects. Lol.
Did he do all the studio processing himself? How about a separate vid on the outboard gear and how it got tweaked to perfection? How did he line everything up in the mix without computers? Thanks.
This is a huge question! There is an amazing book called The Sounds of Star Wars that goes into incredible detail on the whole process. Check it out!
Thank you for making this video. I loved it.
What’s crazy when you think about it is that Star Wars is so dated at this point that any random person with a little bit of tech knowledge could replicate a movie like it, even with better quality, from a tiny studio right now.
But it also takes an enormous amount of creativity and love for your project. And actors who can deliver the lines and make it seem realistic.
Just remember, a movie like this could easily be duplicated today, but people just can’t do it. We’ve lost wonder and awe and curiosity and creativity.