Did you know that the voice of the famous android R2D2 from Star Wars movies was created with a synthesizer? The sounds were created using an ARP 2600 semi-modular system synthesizer by Ben Burtt, who also did most of the famous sound effects at Skywalker Sound. For the R2D2 voice, Burtt used several samplings from whistles, human vocalizations and water pipes.
Ben Burtt also created the infamous voice of Darth Vader, as well as effects such as the laser gun blasts and the lightsaber. For this last one he combined the sound from simplex projectors with interference sounds that he created with a TV picture tube while waving the microphones over a speaker.
Ben Burtt was born in Syracuse, New York, and earned a college degree in Physics. He started working with George Lucas in 1975 and has won four Academy Awards for Sound and Sound Effects Editing for the films ‘Star Wars’, ‘E.T.’, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, and ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. He also worked in the sound design for other movies, such as ‘The Dark Crystal’, ‘Niagara’, ‘Willow’, ‘Alien’, and ‘Howard the Duck’.
The ARP 2600 is credited to be one of the best synthesizers built during the 70’s and only about 3,000 units were produced. Some reputed artists who used this synthesizer are Stevie Wonder, Tony Banks, Patrick Moraz, Rick Wakeman, Vince Clarke, Pete Townshend, Joy Division, Jean Michel Jarre, Front Line Assembly and Weather Report.
