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all 35 comments

[–]I_am_INTJ 79 points80 points  (2 children)

Every single one of those sounds is perfect, iconic and instantly recognizable by nearly everyone.

His legacy is going to live on forever.

[–]DavoTB 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You have beat me to this comment. Excellent work for the technical team.

[–]bramtyr 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I remember finding some relatively uncommon Star Wars edition on DVD or something. Maybe it was a rip. It had a commentary track that jumped between George Lucas, one of the producers who's name escapes me, and Bill Burrt weighing in on elements of the filmmaking.

George Lucas said nothing of interest the whole time, it was pretty disappointing. But Burr had fantastic and insightful anecdotes, told really well, about his creative process, how sounds were discovered, manipulated and evolved, the origins behind the alien languages, you name it. I wish there were hours of him going into depth on the behind the scenes.

[–]crb0r 20 points21 points  (3 children)

He was also the voice of WALL-E.

[–]AdmiralFrackbar 6 points7 points  (2 children)

There's an amazing bonus feature documentary on the wall.e DVD that goes into the sound design for the film (which he did as well). They talk about his work on star wars and scifi sounds in general, and he shows off some of his process. HIGHLY recommend!

[–]reecord2 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Seconding this, it's an absolutely incredible doc. My sound professor showed it to us in film school, Ben Burtt is a genius.

[–]AdmiralFrackbar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seeing it in high school led me to become a sound design major!

[–]AYASOFAYA 18 points19 points  (4 children)

I’ve interviewed this guy about his work and hearing him tell stories is a trip. He’ll be saying the wildest stuff just casually like it’s another day at the office. “Ah yes so we had the raccoon in the bathtub…”

He also has meticulous notes about every sound he’s ever made since the 70s and keeps tons of cool props and foley stuff from his films in his office, but he’s not super protective of his “precious” stuff. He actively WANTS people to play with things and explore and flip through the original scripts and stuff. Easily one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met.

[–]Billy1121 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Did he talk about blaster sounds? Someone said it was beating a golden gate bridge cable

[–]unbitious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think they sound a lot like those toys that have a spring/slinky stretched inside a cardboard tube between two plastic cups.

[–]kstinfo 12 points13 points  (2 children)

I heard a supposedly true story about this guy who set the ringtone of his phone to play the opening of a light saber. One night he's at an arena sporting event and he has to hit the facilities - you know where there are lines a dozen deep at a dozen urinals. Just as he's unzipping his fly his phone goes off. The room went dead silent.

[–]Klin24 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!"

[–]Eknoom 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Was everyone staring at his zipper to see the timing?

How did they keep urinating if everyone started clapping?

[–]Showmethepathplease 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Just reading that list i can hear the sounds those things made

What an amazing talent and impact on popular culture

Who hasn't had a lightsaber fight with anything remotely resembling a sword (present wrapping tubes always a fave) and made that noise?!

[–]JeffCrossSF 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A friend of mine invited me to a short lecture Ben gave on Bebe and Louis Barron. He looked at photos of their setup in NYC apartment and broke down how they probably used that stuff to create their early electronic music. It was fascinating. Another great benefit to living in San Francisco.

[–]Latvian_Pete 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I saw a documentary about the lightsaber and they interviewed him about the sound. He said the curse of a sound engineer is if a sound effect is perfect nobody notices.

" Of course! That is exactly what a laser sword sounds like! No I have never seen or heard one before."

[–]Danclim 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks Ben, your work has been an amazing part of my life!

[–]steveslim 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tie fighters sound like a semi going by on the highway, I wonder if that where ho got it

[–]andyr072 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ben Burtt and John Williams are responsible for some of the soundscape of my childhood.

[–]lostonpolk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nothing beats reel-to-reel.

[–]Princessferfs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The PEW PEW guy!

[–]NoOneKnowsItsMeHere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was he also the guy in the pink shorts?

[–]ApprehensiveCup4079 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolute genius.

[–]sgtedrock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I randomly ended up waiting in line behind him at an event in 1998. He was very friendly and struck up a conversation with me and the missus.

[–]TresBone- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That rug tho !

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–]midshipmans_hat 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    Sound designer is not the same as foley artist.

    [–]Vongbingen_esque 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    how did he make the yoda death sound in lego starwars?

    [–]spakkenkhrist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    They had to kill a real yoda to get that, very sad.

    [–]reecord2 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Fun fact, he offered a library of sound effects to use for BB-8, and the sound designers for Force Awakens didn't care to use them.

    [–]Evetal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Good, they don't deserve it!!