Monday, September 27, 2010
Ben Burtt answers questions about sound design of Star Wars
Q: When you watch a movie for the first time, are you constantly paying 
A: I think I can enjoy it just as a movie unless I know the person who did the sound, then I am often aware of the work unless it is truly a superior film and I am completely drawn in.
Q: When Anakin goes to see Watto in Episode II, there's a weird bubbling sound effect in the background. What is that?
A: That sound is boiling liquid nitogen recorded in my father's chemistry lab.
Q: Why was there no "breathing" at the end of Episode II like there was at the end of Episode I ?
A: The music in Episode II ended differently than in Episode I, and the juxtoposition of breathing seemed improper for the mood.
Q: When Luke is dropped on the ground by the Tusken Raiders in Episode IV, I swear I've heard that crunchy gravel sound before. Where is it from?
A: That is an old body fall effect used in many movies since the 1940s. You can hear it in some Bogart films like Passage To Marseille and many westerns.
Q: What animal sounds were used to create the roars of the acklay, nexu and reek?
A: Some dolphins and pigs were used, but actually a main component for both the acklay and the reek were made by dragging a huge wooden palette across the sound stage floor in
Q: Why was Obi-Wan's "You haven't learned anything, Anakin..." line outside the nightclub cut from Episode II? I remember seeing it in the trailer.
A: George Lucas made that decision. He was trying to reduce the contentiousness between the two Jedi at a tense moment when they were supposed to be chasing Zam rather than having a personal moment.
Q: Do you have a favorite sound effect?
My favorite sound is the "Robin Hood Arrow" from the 1938 Adventures of Robin Hood. I have many favorites. I could write a book on the ones I love and their stories.
Q: How did you decide to give Zam Wesell's speeder that howl? Is it based on its look? Where did that sound come from?
A: The howl of Zam's speeder was produced with an old electric guitar. I play drums in a church band and I asked guitarist Dave Weaver to make the sounds for me one day after practice. I chopped the sound up with a synthesizer program and ran it through an old time spring reverb system. The idea was to produce a sound as if Zam's speeder were not rocket-powered, but ran on some sort of magnetism, perhaps in a field produced by the automatic Coruscant traffic control.
Q: Who's voice was used for Darth Vader in the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back? I'm talking about the part when he says "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival."
A: That was James Earl Jones. The line was recorded for A New Hope but never used.
Q: During the meeting with the separatists, Wat Tambor fiddles with one of his dials and makes a noise that sounds like it's from the Q*Bert arcade game. Is this an inside joke, or mere coincidence?
A: This sound must be a mere coincidence. I made it using a vowel generator in a synthesizer device called the Kyma.
Q: I noticed that the Slave I sounds different in Clones and in Empire. There was an overlapping low whine that wasn't present in Clones. Is there a reason for this?
A: I expanded the library of sound for Slave I in Clones because the ship did a lot of new things. I used the sounds from Empire as a foundation, and made new sounds that would connect with the old.
Q: I think the whine you refer to was a sound I made on a trumpet for Slave I taking off in Empire. That sound, also combined with a Doppler pass-by of the horn from my old '71 Dodge Duster was not used prominently in Clones and you probably missed it.
A: I certainly tried to tie both old and new all together.
Q: When Zam Wesell falls prey to Jango's dart, she utters words in her native language which sound suspiciously like Sebulba's word for "slimeball". Do my ears deceive me?
A: Zam speaks Huttese at this point and the word "Slimeball" is indeed correct. For a full translation of the line see my book Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide.
Q: When you're editing and things are cut and moved around, is it difficult to get the pre-recorded music to sync up?
A: The picture cut of the movie is always changing sync until the very last moment before release. Most often, the music is written and recorded for an earlier version of a scene than what appears in the final cut. Ken Wannberg, John Williams' music editor, has the difficult task of recutting the music to refit the new sync. This can be an extremely difficult job. He is the one solely responsible for making it fit after the fact.
Q: Why was Plo Koon and Ki-Adi-Mundi's commando raid on the Droid Control Ship cut from the final edit of Attack of the Clones?
A: The attack on the Droid Control Ship was filmed and edited together, but never completed with final special effects. A Jedi attack force battled its way up the ship's ramp, through doorways, down halls, and into the bridge of the ship. The scene was filled with much swordplay and stunts.
The sequence was dropped from the cut because it added another story to be intercut with what already was becoming too complicated and time consuming for the climax of the movie. Including the sequence also meant time needed to set it up and resolve it while the arena battle and the Clone War land battle proceeded simultaneously.
There was lots and lots of material in each one of these sequences that needed to be trimmed. There was lots of Jedi action in the arena fight dropped, more Jango and Mace, and even at one point a battle in space with the Droid Control Ships.
All of these would have been great to see, but choices have to be made for the priorities of the storyline.
Q: Do I hear the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn shouting, "Anakin, Anakin... No!", in Yoda's apartment after Anakin attacks the Tusken Raiders?
A: Yes indeed, the voice that Yoda hears is that of Qui-Gon Jinn.
Q: The sound produced by the seismic charges were simply awesome. How did you get that "twang" sound?
A: I prefer not to discuss in detail this sound at this time. After all, can't I keep a few secrets?
I will say that this is something I've wanted to do since A New Hope, we just never had a sequence which allowed the explosion to be featured in a way that I could exploit the idea of delayed sound in space... what I call an "audio black hole", an explosion so cosmic that the energy of the sound is unable to escape at the time of ignition, but is released a moment later.
I originally made a variety of similar noises for what I called "Space Ether Explosions" for A New Hope. I used them as experiments, especially for exploding TIE fighters in the scene when Han and Luke are in the gun turrets. They were mixed into a scratch mix for the sequence, but George Lucas did not like them so I halted research.
Now, many years later I revived the idea using some new material and it seems to have found its place.
A: I tried to make the hologram sounds relate to the character they depicted.
The Sith hologram tonality is partly made on an electronic synthesizer. Two low frequency sine waves of nearly the same frequency are played at the same time. The slight difference in frequency produces a phenomena called beats (you learn about this in Physics class). The result is a wavering up and down in pitch of the sound. I also mixed in some short wave radio sounds that you can hear between broadcasting stations. This is one of my favorite sources of sound. Finally I added a very very slowed down sound of a jet plane firing a Vulcan Cannon, an electronically driven machine gun that fires 100 bullets per second.
Q: Have the tasks of Sound and Editing enabled you to overlap skills and concepts?
A: Filmmaking is the blend of many skills and processes. I started out with an interest in writing, directing, music, special effects, sound, and editing. All of these tasks overlap and interrelate. I learned over many years of sound how to enhance drama with layers of sound. Now as a picture editor, I am asked to enhance drama with layers of images. The process of building up a complete dramatic sensation with sound is the same one I apply to picture editing. The key element in filmmaking is the juxtaposition of sound and picture elements to produce a desired emotional response in the audience.
I am really fortunate that Star Wars offers me the chance to straddle both disciplines. It is not the norm.
A: I love to write. If I was able to earn a steady income as a writer (I have two children in college) I would do it. I have several script and novel ideas I would love to pursue. I would really like to write a book on the history of sound effects in motion pictures, with the emphasis on the aesthetics and language of film sound, and a detailed account of my adventures in sound design over the past 25 years. >> Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide
Q: Now that everything is digital, why do you still talk about editing and completing specific reels of the movie?
A: It is hard to let go of some traditions.
However, for organization reasons, we still break the movie into segments, or reels, because most storage systems, even digital ones, would be sorely taxed by having to hold all the picture and sound data for a two hour movie at one time and still run quickly and smoothly.
In addition, the film will still be printed in the lab in reels and shipped to the theater in reels. Film rolls, or reels, cannot be made spliceless in sizes much greater than 20 minutes in running time. The theater recieves the individual reels and the projectionist still splices them together into one big platter.
Q: What sounds, if any, from the classic trilogy could be re-used for Episodes I or II?
A: Obviously certain reoccurring characters such as Jawas, Tusken Raiders, and Artoo can be reused but added to as necessary in the new episodes. Jedi lightsabers, many lasers, and some environments like Tatooine can be "recycled" where appropriate. However, I am always getting new sounds and new ideas as I go along, and each film adds hundreds of new sound effects. I hope to keep expanding the sonic lexicon already built up over 25 years of sound design for these films.
Q: Are "natural" sounds easier to find and work with than those made from scratch digitally?
A: I prefer to record natural sounds as the basis for the audio in the Star Wars universe. Real "organic" sounds bring credibility with them. I try to create something that sounds "familiar" but unrecognizable. This gives the characters, vehicles, and objects the illusion of reality.
Q: How did you decide on the "personality" of the different engine sounds for each Podracer? What real-world noises did you use?
A: I definitely try to give each vehicle a personality. I consider the pilot of the craft and whether I want the audience to like or fear a certain ship or character.
A pod sound can be powerful, angry, comical, smooth, cool, hip, old-fashioned, goofy, or dangerous. I try to make a sound that will relate to that type of coloration. Pod sounds were made from race cars, boats, warbirds, electric tooth brushes, shavers, motorcycles, rockets, and helicopters.
Q: What sounds were used to create Chewbacca's famous voice?
A: Mostly bears, with a dash of walrus, dog, and lion thrown in.
Q: What process is used to create the languages for the different alien species?
A: The process is very complicated, but I usually start by finding a rare language that appeals to me and has the character of the alien species I'm working on. Inspired by the real language with all it's cultural signifigance and detail, I write out in phonetics the sounds which are the essence of that language. I then work with actors with special vocal talents and record them mimicking my "sound-alike" phrases. Often I process and combine their sounds with animals if need be to give the desired effect.
Q: I've been wondering for 20 years: How are the various lightsaber sounds made?
A: The lightsaber was, in fact, the very first sound I created for A New Hope. Inspired by the McQuarrie concept paintings, I remembered a sound of an interlock motor on the old film projectors at the USC Cinema Department (I had been a projectionist there). The motors made a musical "hum" which I felt immediately would complement the image in the painting. I recorded that motor, and a few days later I had a broken microphone cable that caused my recorder to accidently pick up the buzz from the back of my TV picture tube. I recorded that buzz, and mixed it with the hum of the projector motor. Together these sounds became the basis for all the lightsabers.
Q: When creating engine sounds, such as the hyperdrive engine for the Queen's ship or the submarine, do you base these sound designs in physics or simply come up with something that sounds 'cool'?
A: I earned my degree in Physics, so I invariably begin my imaginings of sound on a scientific basis. At first, I may often reason a sound out on the basis of scientific fact, in the end I will make my choice among the possibilities subjectively, not objectively. After all, I put sound in the vacuum of space! Now that violates the laws of physics. I guess I made a good choice, otherwise I would be out of a job.
Ben Burtt - Sound Designer of Star Wars
THE LEGACY OF STAR WARS, THE BIRTH OF MODERN FILM SOUND
In 1980, while at USC film school, I tried to be Ben Burtt. I was creating sounds for a student film about a TV game show and didn't want to use a synthesizer because I heard how for Star Wars Ben Burtt made those cool sound effects from real sounds. And I wanted to be cool. But I couldn't for the life of me figure out how he did it, and in the end resorted to a synthesizer. Soon after, my sound career began when Lucasfilm called USC asking for “another Ben Burtt.” Luckily, they didn't know how badly I had already failed at that. Years later, for Star Wars: Episode I, I was amazed when Ben made a video screen sound effect in the style of Flash Gordon by recording my wife playing her flute. Ben combines an aficionado's knowledge of film history with a knack for twisting real sounds into fantastic ones. After 25 years of working with him, I've learned that there never will be another Ben Burtt.
— Gary Rydstrom, Oscar-winning sound designer, Pixar director
BEN BURTT ON SOUND DESIGN FOR EPISODE II
"I call Matt Wood the 'digital architect,' and he only reluctantly takes on that term privately. I rely on him to keep me up with the technological present or future. [When we were starting work on Episode II], we were unable to get the support from the [New England Digital] Synclavier that we wanted, and the files did not interface comfortably with the rest of our system. Matt wanted me to get off of it and "update myself" to Sample Cell. I could essentially do the same things I did with the Synclavier, but simpler. This was especially true for taking sounds from Pro Tools into Sample Cell and then back into the Pro Tools session. We used to have to digitize them into the NED format, and if I made a sequence or made loops, we had to use S-Link to translate over and batch-digitize.
"The Synclavier was a performance-based instrument–I would put samples on the keys and then play with it. Coming from an older sound design and technical school, I don’t like to think out ahead of time that I want a sound to have this amount of delay, in that kind of an echo chamber. I just want to touch something, hear it, and react. A large part of the sound design job is making the right choice of a sound, and not really your technical knowledge. I like accidents and spontaneity, and I pick takes out of my performances that often lead to new ideas that I wouldn’t have been able to objectively reason out ahead of time. It’s a very subjective process for me.
"I may have a sound I recorded that I need to digitize from an original DAT. I may want to make samples out of pieces of it and play with it. Try it on the keyboard in different pitches, chop it up with the modulator on the keyboard and listen to it. Try it with different plug-in settings that I’ve made in Pro Tools. I don’t want to stop and think about how I’m going to do it–I just want to be able to synthesize with it as spontaneously as I can. To me, that’s the most direct and satisfying creative process. Out of those experiments or performances, I can select what’s good.
"Often, I’ll start out in the morning intending to make the sound of a certain vehicle pass-by in the film. As I experiment, I’ll come up with different sounds that I realize will work for something completely different–a door that I need in reel 11, say.
"From a strict library standpoint, I entered about 600 sounds in the library for this film. At the end of the film I make sure that everything that I’ve made, even outtakes, is given a name and label, so on the next Star Wars film I can access a database of everything that was done. That’s where I’ll pick up and start on the next one."
Ben Burtt - Sound Designer of Star Wars
Transcript of an excerpt from an interview of Ben Burtt in the Star Wars Trilogy: The Definitive Collection Laserdisc Box Set (If you want to see the full interview, rent it or buy it.)
Secondly, you'll have a sound editor and this is a person back in a studio who generally has a collection of sound and is able to go out with a portable tape recorder or something like that. And bring them back and edit them and fit them into and add them onto the soundtrack of the film itself.
The third person is a sound mixer. This is a person whose job is to blend together all the different sounds that come in to make up the soundtrack such as music, dialogue, and sound effects. These types of positions have really existed since sound films first came into being in one term or another.
The term sound designer has gotten usage in the last decade really since the Star Wars films began a new interest in creative soundtracks in motion pictures. I called myself a sound designer because I wasn't really functioning as a production recordist, or a sound editor, or just a sound mixer. I did some of the job that all three of those people might do. But I was able to follow through from the point of production of a film. That is I can go out and advise and make suggestions about things that could be recorded once I'd seen the script of the film. I was on hand during some of the filming of the motion picture to gather sounds or at least see what was going on so i could run off myself and begin to manufacture and make sounds that I'd know we'd need later on. I was also on hand during the editing of the film to function as a sound editor, that job would be to pick out sounds out of a library of our own making and edit them and synchronize them with the action on the screen. And also I'd be involved with the sound mixing and it's not often that one person gets to move through all those different jobs on a film.
Usually there pretty strictly categorized. One person doesn't, you know, one sound recordist may not do the any sound editing. The sound editor may not do any sound mixing. That's the tradition of the division of labor in feature films. But since I was an exception to that traditional division if labor I needed to describe myself in some new terms. So I began to use the term sound designer, which essentially meant that although I emphasize my creative work in sound effects, my job was to coordinate all you heard in the final soundtrack of the film."
| Darth Vader |
"The concept for the sound of Darth Vader came about from the first film, and the script described him as some kind of a strange dark being who is in some kind of life support system. That he was breathing strange, that maybe you heard the sounds of mechanics or motors, he might be part robot, he might be part human, we really didn't know. And so the original concept I had of Darth Vader was a very noise producing individual. He came into a scene he was breathing like some wheezing wind mill, you could hear his heart beating, you move his head you heard motors turning. He was almost like some robot in some sense and he made so much noise that we had to sort of cut back on that concept. In the first experiment the mixes we did in Star Wars he sounded like an operating room, like a, you know, emergency room, you know, moving around." | Lightsabers |
"The lightsabers are one of my favorite sounds, and in fact it was the very first sound I made for the whole series. For some reason after I read the script even though my assignment was to find a voice for Chewbacca, and then a voice for Artoo, and then, well maybe come up with some sounds of laser guns and other things. The lightsaber fascinated me at the time when the script had first come out, they had some paintings that Ralph McQuarrie had done. So that there were some concepts visually of what some of these things would look like, and those pictures were very inspiring because they gave an idea of the direction we were trying to go in the look of the film and it was inspiring to me to therefore think of sounds that might fit that kind of visual style. I could kind of hear the sound in my head of the lightsabers even though it was just a painting of a lightsaber. I could really just sort of hear the sound maybe somewhere in my subconscious I had seen a lightsaber before. I went to, at that time I was still a graduate student at USC, and I was a projectionist and we had a projection booth with some very, very old simplex projectors in them. They had an interlock motor which connected them to the system when they just sat there and idled and made a wonderful humming sound. It would slowly change in pitch, and it would beat against another motor, there were two motors, and they would harmonize with each other. It was kind of that inspiration, the sound was the inspiration for the lightsaber for the lightsaber and I went and recorded that sound, but it wasn't quite enough. It was just a humming sound, what was missing was a buzzy sort of sparkling sound, the scintillating which I was looking for, and I found it one day by accident.
I was carrying a microphone across the room between recording something over here and I walked over here when the microphone passeda television set which was on the floor which was on at the time without the sound turned up, but the microphone passed right behind the picture tube and as it did, this particular produced an unusual hum. It picked up a transmission from the television set and a signal was induced into it's sound reproducing mechanism, and that was a great buzz, actually. So I took that buzz and recorded it and combined it with the projector motor sound and that fifty-fifty kind of combination of those two sounds became the basic lightsaber tone, which was then, once we had established this tone of the lightsaber of course you had to get the sense of the lightsaber moving because characters would carry it around, they would whip it through the air , they would thrust and slash at each other in fights, and to achieve this addtional sense of movement I played the sound over a speaker in a room.
Just the humming sound, the humming and the buzzing combined as an endless sound, and then took another microphone and waved in the air next to that speaker so that it would come close to the speaker and go away and you could whip it by, and what happens when you do that by recording with a moving microphone is you geta Doppler's shift, you get a pitch shift in the sound and therefore you can produce a very authentic facsimilie of a moving sound. And therefore give the lightsaber a sense of movement and it worked well on the screen at that point."
Original URL: http://home.online.no/~rohaagen/sw/txt/benburtt.txt
Ben Burtt demonstrates how he made Wall-E
-Steve Weintraub
http://benburttinterviews.blogspot.com/2009/02/ben-burtt-demonstrates-how-he-made-wall.html