Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504731
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 47
and other undersea creatures …
and maybe, some submarines
that we need to keep track of. This
was a fantastic collection of deep
sea aquatic beast noises. The best
came from Roger Payne, however.
We would find him in Lincoln,
Massachusetts … where my brother,
who is also a sound person, also
lives. We made arrangements to
make a donation to his foundation
in return for access to the archives.
As would happen, my brother
went in for three or four days, and
culled the most amazing stuff.
Some were so clean we joked that
it sounded like they put a whale on
an ADR stage. Deep deep ocean
stuff, with no krill—which is the
shrimp crackling that always spoils
a whale recording. My brother sent
us extraordinary recordings. I used
many of those tracks, as recorded,
for the sounds of real Humpback
whales. I took many of those same
recordings and processed them for
the Probe speaking to the whales.
I wanted the Probe utterances to
have a linguistic connection to
actual whale vocalizations, as if the
civilization the Probe came from had
taken a Berlitz course in Humpback.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: We are sorry to
add that, during our editing of this
article, Roger Payne passed away
on June 10, 2023, at age 88.]
I've been really lucky to work
with these very progressive
filmmakers. Leonard Nimoy knew
the importance of that beat in the
movie. The first time the crew of the
Enterprise hears the Probe, they're
on the bridge. Kirk says, "Put it on
speakers, Uhura!" and she hits a
button, and you hear these whale
calls, and these processed whale
calls over their sound system—
Leonard wanted them to be filmed
reacting to the sounds. We designed
the sounds in advance for the crew
to have an authentic moment as
they're hearing them for the first
time on set. I thought that was
brilliant—that was Leonard Nimoy.
SL: That's very cool. There's a
line in the film where Kirk asks
Spock if the whale's voice could
be simulated, and he replies, "The
sounds, but not the language. We
would be responding in gibberish!"
I often think that, if we ever do
decipher what they're saying, and
they watch this film—I can only
imagine what your selects would
translate to!
MM: Well, because it was a chop-
job—you know, almost like a ransom
note that was Frankenstiened from
tons of pieces of newsprint, it's
probably a whale saying, "Please-
17-walk-watermellon-tomorrow!"
I'm sorry if that's going to cause
somebody to attack this planet!