15 Iconic Star Wars Sound Effects & How They Were Created

Since its inception, Star Wars has been at the forefront of visual effects, revolutionizing the way audiences watch movies. This is down to the hard work and talents of Industrial Lights and Magic, which was founded by George Lucas way back in 1975 for the production of the first film, which helped give A New Hope some incredible effects.

As well as all the iconic imagery, Star Wars also has its fair share of iconic sounds that have stuck with fans throughout the decades. Ranging from the sounds of a blaster to a lightsaber to Chewbacca’s roar, fans will forever replicate Star Wars sound effects.

Updated on August 2nd, 2021 by Rhys McGinley: It is not massive Star Wars news to say that the franchise has some truly awesome sound effects. In all of cinema, there are few, if any, movies and franchises with sounds anywhere near as iconic as those in Star Wars. With the legendary Ben Burtt at the helm of the Star Wars sounds, there is brilliance aplenty, ranging from the sounds of weapons, characters, creatures, vehicles, and more. The saga is packed with sounds, with a lot of fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of their creation available in the series’ extensive featurettes.

15 AT-AT

The AT-AT walkers are one of the most iconic vehicles in Star Wars, and the lumbering of the walkers headed to destroy Echo Base is a significant part of what makes the Battle of Hoth so good.

To create the sound of the slow, menacing Imperial vehicle’s joints walking through the Hoth snow, Burtt used a sound very locally sourced. It came from a dumpster in front of his home that had a squeaky quality. Mixing that sound in the studio created the metallic sound of the walkers walking.

14 Tauntaun

Sticking with The Empire Strikes Back and the many iconic sounds to come from the Hoth part of the movie, the Tauntaun is an instantly recognizable creature for all fans.

The Tauntaun may not be the cutest creature in Star Wars, but to create the memorable sound effect, Burtt turned to an adorable Asian Sea Otter. With the animal giving a high-pitched, talking-esque squawk, Burtt slowed down the cry, and the result was the Tauntaun.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

13 General Grievous’ Cough

Design-wise, General Grievous is undoubtedly one of the most intimidating looking villains in Star Wars–even if he is not the most powerful villain–with his look, voice, and of course, cough, being well remembered by fans.

It seems obvious that Grievous’ cough is just that, a cough. However, it was not created by way of any old cough. The cough was from George Lucas’ own lungs during a time early in Revenge of the Sith’s production when he had bronchitis, which was weirdly good luck.

12 Jawaese

First introduced in A New Hope, the Jawa’s are one of the most mysterious yet recognizable species in Star Wars, being a prominent part of the franchise.

The Jawa’s speak their own language of Jawaese, and to create the sound of the Jawa language, Burtt turned to the real language of Zulu. He had actors re-voice scripts he wrote out of from recordings of people who spoke Zulu, sped up the recordings, raised the pitch, and Jawaese was born.

11 Slave 1

There are so many iconic ships in the Star Wars franchise, but few are as loved as Slave 1, a big part of Boba Fett’s badass factor in the original trilogy.

The sound of the ship is another distinctive Star Wars sound. To create the sound of its take-off, Burtt combined his own 1971 Dodge Duster’s horn and the whine of a trumpet, an odd mix of brass, to create Slave 1.

10 Death Star

The Death Star is a massive space station (not a moon) filled to the brim with technology, so Burtt used pretty much every technological sound at his disposal to create the ambient noises in the backgrounds of those scenes.

Using motors, weird electronic tones, and loops of sound played forwards and backward through rhythm chambers, due to the sheer size of the vessel, Burtt found he could pretty much justify any interesting sound in the mix.

9 Pod Racers

Some people have a lot of resentment towards the prequel trilogy, but just about every fan can agree that the Pod Race was one of the best and most exciting sequences.

To give each pod racer their own individual personality, Burtt used the sounds of real preexisting fast cars such as Mustangs and Porsches, then used sound sympathizers and sound choppers to give them the sci-fi edge.

8 Tusken Raiders

Tusken Raiders, desert marauders of the planet Tatooine, are quite a terrifying foe, albeit one of Star Wars’ most beloved alien species, especially when they first appeared attacking a young Luke Skywalker.

As well as their scary physical appearance, the Sand People have a famous, nightmare-inducing battle cry. So what created this haunting, nightmarish shriek? The sound of a braying donkey. Altered to various speeds and pitches, not so fearful.

7 The Millennium Falcon’s Hyperdrive Failure

Being one of the most famous space crafts in all of science fiction, the Millennium Falcon’s certainly has its fair share of noises to choose from, such as laser cannons and co-pilot roars, but one of the more unique effects is that of the hyperdrive, more specifically its failure to launch.

If there is one reliable thing about the Falcon, it’s its lack of reliability, and the sad groans of the engines failing to leap into light speed were made by a collection consisting of a dentist’s air jet, a 1928 bi-plane, and arc light motor starting and stopping, the motor noise of a tanks gun turret and the sound of a broken sink in the studio’s bathroom.

6 TIE Fighters

Another scary sound of the saga is the shriek of the villainous TIE-Fighters flying by. However, the noise of these machines was almost a happy accident, as Burtt was actually attending to use the noise for something else, most likely a laser weapon.

It was created by taking the noise of a screaming elephant sampled from the 1958 Errol Flynn adventure movie Roots Of Heaven and combining it with the “swoosh” of a car driving on wet pavement. Burtt said he gave the sound to the TIE Fighters because he had no other alternative, and when his colleagues flipped for it, it stayed in.

5 Blaster Shots

Blaster shots, gun turrets, and all the pew sound fired from laser-based weapons all pretty much come from the same origin. Burtt was on a hike with his family, and as he passed underneath the guide wires of a radio tower, he bumped into it, and the wire made a twanging sound.

That principle became the basis for all the laser noises; bigger weapons like the Death Star reportedly used bigger coils, such as metal slinkies.  Amazing what a well-timed strike to a children’s toy can make, isn’t it?

4 Chewbacca’s Roar

The challenge of creating a “voice” for Chewie is the fact that he didn’t have articulated lips, and so the noise had to seems authentic to its source.

Many animals were sampled for the roars and moans of everyone’s favorite Wookie, including four bears, a badger, a lion, a seal, and a walrus from Long Beach, who was sadly moaning because his pool had been emptied for cleaning. That last one is probably why fans feel so much sympathy for what is essentially a giant dog man.

3 R2-D2

The trouble with creating R2-D2’s effects was that despite him being a droid, the little astromech goes through many emotions which helped make him everybody’s favorite droid in the franchise.

He can be excited, scared, cautious, even screams when being shot at or flung into a Dagobah swamp! After originally attempting to create the noises with a sympathizer, Burtt found the sounds to be too electronic, so he tried something else.

2 Darth Vader

Darth Vader’s booming voice and breathing are often impersonated by children and childish grown-ups by placing a cup to their mouths and breathing heavily.

Of course, Vader’s actual voice was recorded by James Earl Jones and manipulated to give it extra, bassy tones. As for the breathing, it was done via a scuba breathing apparatus. Burtt would place a microphone onto the deep-sea diving gear and breathe into it in various ways.

1 Lightsaber

Arguably the most famous sound in all of Star Wars, the lightsaber. Not as clumsy as a metal spiral twang or an animal scream, it was a more civilized sound for a more civilized age.

Burtt had an idea of the sound he wanted to achieve from the very moment he saw the concept designs for the weapon. He used an old motor from a projector in the USC Cinema Department and combined it with other elements to give the legendary hum. The method has apparently not changed much over the years, and there is nice poetry that something that used to display films went on to help create one of the most important films of all time.

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