20 Little Known Star Wars Facts
15. Bizarre Sound Effects
For the original “Star Wars” trilogy, sound designer Ben Burtt had to get creative in order to come up with a wide array of sound effects that would help make Lucas’ sci-fi universe believable.
To make the noise of the Jedi lightsaber, Burtt recorded the hum of feedback emitted by a terrestrial television when he carried a microphone past its speakers.
He combined this recording with the hum of an old projector motor to create the constant noise that is given off whenever the lightsabers are active.
Taking this sound a step further, the designer needed to find a way to make the noise vary when the characters swung their weapons around. He solved this problem by playing the hum on a speaker and then swinging a microphone on a cord back and forth in front of the speaker to achieve the desired Doppler Effect.
The sound of the TIE Fighters zipping through space was another difficult noise for Burtt to come up with, but he settled on a remastered recording of an elephant’s call. He combined this noise with a recording of a car driving on wet pavement to come up with the final sound effect.
To create the language spoken by the Wookiee Chewbacca, Burtt turned to several majestic members of the animal kingdom. Chewie’s screams, squeals, and moans were actually created by blending recordings of camels, walruses, bears, badgers, and sick animals. Burtt collected the array of sounds he felt actually had emotion behind them, and those were the ones that he used.
