As we once again celebrate May 4th, we’ve gathered a huge number of stories behind the iconic sounds of the Star Wars franchise for you – feast your ears below, and Happy Star Wars Day!
The sound of Andor
The Andor series will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
Much more on the superb sound of Star Wars – hand-picked stories and interviews
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Behind the sound of Obi-Wan Kenobi – told by Bonnie Wild, Julian Howarth, and Danielle Dupre
Creating the score for Obi-Wan Kenobi, with composer Natalie Holt
So thrilled to be welcoming Natalie Holt back to Soundtracking – a composer who’s doing great things, most recently in providing the score for Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney +.
Here she tells Edith about adding to the legendary musical landscape of the franchise, and meeting the man who’s behind much of it, her idol John Williams.
Hear the interview here – starts at 3:34:
Skywalker Sound: Behind The Mac
The Sound Of The Mandalorian – with Bonnie Wild
In this great interview by the Dolby Institute and the Soundworks Collection, Bonnie Wild – sound effects editor and re-recording mixer of Disney+’s hit show The Mandalorian – takes us behind the scenes for a conversation about achieving cinematic scale and production value on a television budget, balancing the palette of new sound creation with classic Star Wars sounds we all know and love, why mixing in a home theater environment was important for the show, and how to do a Jawa loop group session:
Rare footage: Behind the sound of Empire Strikes Back here
How The Mandalorian Score Found The New Star Wars Sound
Get the story behind Ludwig Görransson’s score for The Mandalorian:
Behind the sound for Return of the Jedi – with Ben Burtt
Check out Mike James Gallagher’s great feature on the sound of Return of the Jedi – with Ben Burtt:
Twenty Thousand Hertz special – the sound of Star Wars
In this episode from Audio Podcast Alliance member Twenty Thousand Hertz, the team explores how Ben Burtt created the sonic universe of Star Wars from scratch, one sound at a time – featuring Marshall McGee:
ABC’s fantastic Force of Sound documentary
Go behind the sound of Star Wars in ABC’s fantastic documentary below:
Ben Burtt, on the sound of Star Wars
Mike James Gallagher has released this brilliant educational video with commentary by legendary sound designer Ben Burtt, giving you the interesting stories behind the making of the Star Wars: A New Hope sound design:
Audio interviews
In this Soundworks Collection interview, supervising sound editors Matthew Wood and David Acord delve into the conceptual and sonic intricacies of evolving “force lightning,” and about working in stages from temp mixes to the final mix in a film with a legacy. They share experiences working playfully and dynamically with director J.J. Abrams, recording lines in actor Adam Driver’s closet, and working on previous Star Wars films.
Matthew Wood and David Acord, co-sound supervisors on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, have been working on the sound of the SW films for nearly two decades. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on the audio restorations of the original films, the voice of Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian, the importance of sound to George Lucas… and even the controversy about whether Han or Greedo shot first and the notorious “Maclunkey.”
(via @Soundworks)
Go behind the sound of Rogue One here
Get the story behind he sound for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in this in-depth feature:
Behind the Audio of the Heroes of Star Wars Battlefront II
EA Dice’s Philip Eriksson shows how the audio team at DICE unified the sound experiences from all eras of Star Wars into one soundscape for Star Wars Battlefront II:
Hear the Rise of Skywalker score here
Here’s legendary composer John Williams on creating the score for Rise of Skywalker:
Hear the full score below, via Spotify:
Shaping the satisfying sound of ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’
How Respawn Entertainment’s sound team designed their first Star Wars game — Jedi: Fallen Order:
Read the story here