MPSE Wavelength

36 I M PS E . O R G must have given Richard a copy of the 'buzzing' because it was perfect for the Flyman. The insect vocal appears in both films. In Star Wars, it was used for the masked and cloaked spy that follows Luke and Obi-wan through Mos Eisely to Docking Bay 94. It can also be heard in the first episode of The Mandalorian when the same kind of alien makes an appearance as a Ferryman—played by Chris Bartlett. "I had forgotten about the Flyman until you asked about it, but I went back and looked at my logs," Ben added. SL: So after you hired him a few times, Ben turned around and brought you in to help with the last couple reels on Star Wars—to make sure the right laser blasts were used? RLA: Yes. Ben was basically creating the sounds, and there was a group of Hollywood sound editors, I don't remember who they all were, and they were cutting the tracks. And Ben's complaint was—he would make a series of different laser blasts, and these guys would just take the first one on the roll or the first one that they liked and make a loop out of it, and and then the lasers would all sound the same. Ken Sweet said something like, in Hollywood TV, often the work is done so fast, that if you have a sound that kind of works, just go for it. If it sounds like a gunshot, okay. But now we ask, "Well, what kind of gun is that?" SL: Ben has said that there's at least one or two X-Wing passbys in Star Wars where it's the sound of the Millennium Falcon. I'm sure the editors were like, "It's a spaceship. Who cares?" RLA: Exactly. Whereas… I went through and I would listen to them all when we were doing that kung fu movie, the Jackie Chan film—somebody used the term 'orchestrating' the punches. Meaning they would have a musical sound to them. A rhythm. Not just 'pom pom pom.' That's what I did on Star Wars. Because everything is slightly different in reality. Sound is never exactly the same. It might be similar… I cut reels 11 and 12. Basically, I just cut the Death Star attack and I only cut the guns and the explosions. They were standard explosions. At that point, Ben hadn't gone out and done explosion recordings. That came later. But, yeah, he got existing Hollywood explosions, and then would put phasing on them. I mean the whole idea is ridiculous because there's no sound in space, but it's what you'd expect from it! And then I started working at a place called Gomillion Sound in Hollywood. Actually, I cut Star Wars at Gomillion. Ted Gomillion had rented the rooms for the editorial. So Ben was actually working at Gomillion in another wing. R ichard and I found ourselves in the same undergrad film classes at USC Cinema back in 1972. We were also part of the projection staff and it didn't take long to discover our strong friendship. I'd say a pillar of that relationship was humor: We loved classic Hollywood, movie history, movie technology, superheroes, and comedy. Along with Rick Mitchell, we discovered and named the Wilhelm. Richard and I teamed up to make a Flash Gordon-style spoof. We learned to perform reasonably good visual effects and animation. We also were two of the few who were interested in sound effects and sound editing. Richard got part-time work on low-budget kung fu and exploitation films in the backwaters of Hollywood and he provided the first opportunities for me to record sound effects and do what would later be known as sound design. When I got drawn into the first Star Wars, I got Richard to join me to finish the sound editing on the climactic space battle. From there, our careers blossomed into full-time professional work. We collaborated on Raiders of the Lost Ark and won Oscars. Wow, in just a few years we rose up and joined the ranks of the Hollywood sound editing community. Richard has many admirable qualities; I learned by his example to stay calm under Hollywood pressure, and always find the positive and the comedic in our daily work. He is the ideal partner: practical, creative, sensible when need be and fun-filled when need be. He is what you call a pal. Ben Burtt, Sound Designer Star Wars & Indiana Jones Above: Richard Anderson and Ben Burtt at the Academy Awards in 1982, with their Special Achievement Oscars for Sound Editing on Raiders of the Lost Ark. Photo courtesy the collection of The Hollywood Sound Museum, ©AMPAS –Ben Burtt

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