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New Book Explores The Sounds of Star Wars

Sound designer Ben Burtt discusses how he made the pew-pew laser sounds and everything else that has come to define the seminal space epic.

They’re some of the most iconic sounds in cinema: the electric whirring hum of a lightsaber being drawn, Darth Vader’s heavy breathing, Chewie’s animal roar. Even heard in isolation, you’d still recognize them, and we’ve all got one man to thank for that—Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt. A pioneer of modern sound design, and big fan of the Wilhelm scream, he primarily records sounds from the real world to create his effects. For instance—as he discusses in the video above—the laser blaster sound came from hitting a guy-wire attached to a radio tower. In an interactive book called The Sounds of Star Wars the story of how all the different sound effects and aural environments in Star Wars were created is told through text and, appropriately, sound. The book comes with a sound module (that vaguely resembles a Nintendo game controller) so you can hear the sounds as you learn about their creation.

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