Star Wars score was Re: [ot: tape music]

[Sean Costello]

P.M. van Nugteren wrote:

> As I'm on the subject, I've always wanted to know how they've made those
> briliant sound effects. Anyone info about that? I believe (very
> vaguely), they've used a custom SAMSON sound computer for some of the
> effects. 

I don't think that the Samson Box (the famous CCRMA refrigerator-sized hardware digital synthesizer,
that was replaced by a few NeXT cubes) was used for Star Wars. James Moorer, a CCRMA PhD, ended up
developing an early digital audio editing/manipulation device for Lucasfilm; I think there is an
article about it in John Strawn's Digital Audio Engineering (the same article is also in one of the
books that reprints Computer Music Journal articles).

As far as Star Wars, other people have mentioned the genius work of Ben Burtt. I saw the 1978
version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" recently, and was blown away by Burtt's sound design -
what a horrible scream! I did a quick search, to see if there was any information about this unsung
hero. Turns out that this "unsung hero" has 4 Academy Awards, and also has directed an IMAX film
about special effects. 

Sean Costello