Star Wars - Sound Design, of lightsabers and blasters (and more)

[Mister Fox]

I was watching a couple of Star Wars related videos recently, and this reminded me again of an age-old question I had:
"How were the sounds from the lightsabers made?"


There have been two books on this topic:
"Star Wars: Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide" by Ben Burtt
"The Sounds of Star Wars" by J. W. Rinzler

But sadly, these are hard to acquire these days. At least "The Sounds of Star Wars", as this is in some cased handled as a rare collector's item for insane amounts of money.

Now don't get me wrong. I knew that the lightsaber humming sound came from two blended sound sources (a large humming projector and a buzzing CRT TV transformer), which were then played through a speaker and recorded with a shotgun microphone to create Doppler effects. I also knew that blaster sounds either came from a Slinky being hit while being recorded with a piezo microphone. Or in case of Star Wars, metal wires stabilizing a radio tower. But the thing that was always bothering me was: "...what about the lightsabers opening/closing? What about the clashing sounds?"

Should have thought of the obvious: metal on dry ice.
Then do some pitching, time stretching, frequency dependent distortion and you're in the ballpark.


I found the following sources for further sound design inspiration - should you ever see the need to delve into the topic of creating sci-fi sounds:

PBS - Shanks FX Lightsaber Audio (4:25min well spent!)
Filmsound - Sound Design of Star Wars (a short run down of effects in text form)
Filmsound - Ben Burtt answers questions about sound design of Star Wars

Here is an interview of Ben Burtt from the "The Star Wars Trilogy Definitive Collection" (Laser Disc release). I think you can find these videos on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases still:
Sound Advice: An Interview with Ben Burtt

A follow up to that is a full making of for "Star Wars - Episode 2: Attack of the Clones"
Sound Design - Star Wars Episode II (FULL)


To those that might not be aware of this, Ben Burtt was also in charge of the outstanding sound design for the movie "Wall-E" (2008). From all organic sounds, to crazy sound effects and voice glitches. I can highly recommend watching the "making of". Pause ever so often, check out the tools Burtt was using (including a Wacom tablet for getting an X/Y modulation pad)

Animation Sound Design - Building Worlds from the Sound up



And finally a very, very interesting short video of Ben Burtt messing with two tape machines and showing off feedback and self oscillation.

Ben Burtt's Sound Lab for "Forbidden Planet" (another 3:27min well spent)



Bonus videos:
Prime Time - Screen Stage and Sound Design (E.T., Star Wars and Indiana Jones)
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" reveal the secrets used to give life to droids and creatures (not Ben Burtt, but Skywalker Sound)
Where the Sounds From the World's Favorite Movies Are Born (through WIRED) (not Ben Burtt, but Skywalker Sound)


Please enjoy!

[Dr Dendrite]

Awesome information! I've wondered the same thing.
The dry ice technique is genius.