Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1448505
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 21 For our webinar held on December 6 of last year, I had the pleasure of talking to sound designer Ben Burtt. His work on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones fi lms was a big thing that inspired me to become part of this business. When I started corresponding with Ben in the '80s and got to know more about his work, I learned that he and I both began our fascination with fi lm sound in much the same way. Both Ben and I listened to more movies than we actually watched while growing up… and we both independently discovered that many sounds were reused over and over by the various studios. (Read Steve's column in Wavelength's Fall 2020 issue for a very specifi c example of a sound eff ect's reuse over the years!) For me, it was quite a realization… all of the studios had their own sound eff ects libraries. And if you pay attention, you can identify the studio just by listening to their sounds. My parents thought I was crazy... listening to movies without any picture. And they didn't believe that I could tell the diff erence between a Hanna-Barbera tire squeal and a Disney tire squeal. Or a Disney prop plane fly by and a Warner Bros. prop plane fly by. But I could! When I was 10 years old, I started building a library of fi lms and TV shows that I would listen to repeatedly. And I began cataloging my own sound eff ects library… which I can sheepishly say, I still have today. Mom & Dad were part-relieved, part-bewildered when I actually did manage to fi nd a job as an adult… essentially doing what I annoyed them with as a child. Nowadays, cartoons are a combination of original sound material, and these old classic sounds, which are all pretty much traded around or available for purchase. Sound Ideas released CD collections of both the Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera cartoon sound libraries… and many of the Disney sound eff ects were released within a cartoon collection marketed by Hollywood Edge. Unfortunately, most of the people using them may not know their heritage, which is something we want to share more of through our column here, our webinars, our Soundbites series… and venues created by The Hollywood Sound Museum. We believe that sharing the legacy behind these classic sounds, and the imagination behind them, will help inspire and stimulate future artists to create their own original and distinctive works that we'll be hearing in the years to come. BY STEVE LEE, THSM FOUNDER IN THE SUMMER 2021 ISSUE OF WAVELENGTH, I TALKED ABOUT THE WEBINAR PROGRAM THAT THE HOLLYWOOD SOUND MUSEUM HAS BEEN HOSTING FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. I'VE BEEN HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY TALENTED PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTE TO CREATING AUDIO AND ENTERTAINMENT. F ROM TH E VAU LT O F TH E H O L LY WOO D SOU N D M U S E U M Sound Effects History and Building Your Library Museum Founder Steve Lee talks with sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) about how his interest in sound fi rst began; his audio archeological exploits; and the importance of collecting a library of original sounds. So as we always say... Keep Listening! Please support The Hollywood Sound Museum! You can become a subscriber on Patreon or make a direct donation by going to our website. HollywoodSoundMuseum.org