The characteristic noise of lightsabers and blasters, the cry of Chewbacca, and so many others… It’s an understatement to say that the Star Wars saga bears the imprint of legendary sound designer Ben Burtt. In this register, we must add the cry of R2-D2!
It is an understatement to say that the Star Wars saga bears the imprint of the legendary Sound Designer Ben Burtt. The sound of TIE-Fighter engines, that of blasters, that, also legendary, of lightsabers, the cry of Chewbacca, the breath of Darth Vader’s breath, and so many others… Sequences entered into the History of Pop Culture that everyone, or almost, knows.
Alongside, there are some creations by the master, less known, but whose manufacturing secrets are not necessarily less tasty. Among these is the cry of the adorable droid R2-D2.
A little booster shot?
“George Lucas wanted the sound environment of his universe to be realistic” told Ben Burtt to JW Rinzler, author of a book dedicated to the sound design of the Star Wars saga, The Sounds of Star Wars, in 2010.
The filmmaker therefore encouraged the sound designer’s team to drop their synthesizers to feed on outside noises with their tape recorders. This is how the sound engineer’s fabulous sound effects library was born, allowing him to create all the famous sounds we know.
In this same interview, Brutt also reveals that the sound that gave him the most trouble is that of R2-D2. “I was playing his ‘words’ on the synthesizer, while making sounds into the microphone at the same time, and the two were melting together. I was hissing and cooing […]I sighed and groaned, while adjusting the oscillators of the synthesizer” Burtt will tell.
And for the cry? “I had a room in George Lucas’ house where their offices were, but I was in the basement. When I wanted to record something – I didn’t have a recording booth – I had the used to get under a big table in the room where I was working, with a microphone, and curl up in a corner. And one day, I just screamed. I just screamed. There was maybe be a little stress behind. This shout, accelerated, is used pretty much directly like R2-D2’s shout.”
For several decades, it is always the same cry that is used!