Ben Burtt is an award winning sound designer best known for his work on the Star Wars movies. Alongside his work as a sound designer, he has also done voice acting, directing and screenwriting. He has created some of the most iconic sounds in cinema and he does so by using “found sounds” rather than just simply using synthesizers.
Arguably, Burtt’s most iconic sound that he has created is the Lightsaber. The lightsaber is created through two different hums, first through the idling of motors in a projector. Burtt discovered the louder swishing noise by walking past a television set with a live microphone in his hand. He created the sound of lightsabers clashing together by jamming a stick into dry ice and combined it with a vacuum cleaner.
He also created the noise of the blasters by hitting a hammer against a cable connected to an AM radio tower. Burtt created the intimidating breathing of Darth Vader with a scuba regulator. He created R2D2’s beeps and screams by combining his own voice with a synthesizer. Burtt is the genius behind many of the most iconic film sounds that you have heard over the years.