Nov 8, 2021
There's no music for our first 90 seconds on Tatooine, forcing us to reckon with the cicadas, barren landscape, and Threepio's frozen joints. This is a deep dive into the music and sound of Star Wars: A New Hope, Minutes 11-15.
Let's see if timestamps work this time (if not, I'm sorry!):
- (0:00:00) - Hello there.
- (0:03:49) - Fonts and motifs
- (0:09:03) - Ben Burtt on creating R2-D2's voice
- (0:11:48) - "Worldizing," a sound design concept by Walter Murch
- (0:15:41) - Cicadas
- (0:23:00) - Silence on Tatooine and what that evokes
- (0:33:20) - Stravinsky Rite of Spring comparison
- (0:48:00) - Sound design of Artoo in the canyon
- (0:55:16) - Jawaese
- (1:15:19) - Cat bomb
- (1:21:20) - Tuba forum tidbits
- (1:22:09) - Tour of the sandcrawler droids.
- (1:24:45) - GNK droid's music debut.
- (1:27:22) - PSA: Gonk droids say more than just "Gonk"!!!!!!!!!!
- (1:33:00) - Hidden writing
- (1:39:18) - Star Wars Music Minute questionnaire
Musical Themes:
- 7. Jawas
- 7) Sandcrawler
- 8) Scum and Villainy
Where we are in the soundtrack album:
- Dune Sea of Tatooine/Jawa Sandcrawler
Anything Else Mentioned:
- Star Wars Minute 11: Cicadas (with guest Chris Radtke): https://wiki.starwarsminute.com/index.php?title=Star_Wars_Minute_11:_Cicadas
- Star Wars Music Minute TLJ #24: Quiet Quadnoculars (with guest Chris Radtke): https://youtu.be/UdxWx9anTcU
- Ben Burtt demonstrating R2-D2 voice creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBKKXjNf1sE
- INDEPTH Sound Design: A New Hope sound design explained by Ben Burtt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So0nmciiFJg
- American Graffiti: One Song at a Time podcast - Episode 27: Misadventure: https://www.onesteelesister.com/american-graffiti/episode-27-misadventure (Xanthe is a guest and talks about sound mixing)
- Twitter thread about the blank musical slate on Tatooine: https://twitter.com/StarWarsMusMin/status/1446673353402585094?s=20
- Ender's interpretation of the GNK line: "Gonk. Gonk. Gonk-yeh gyow goy geh."
- "Jawa Sandcrawler" score reduction and analysis by David McCaulley on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOj6ildsHW4
- Beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark: https://youtu.be/mUWYmTpYdP4
- According to TubeNet (a tuba forum), the solo in the Jawa sandcrawler scene was played by John Fletcher on a CC Holton 345: http://forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?p=519631#p519631
STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE:
1. In exactly 3 words, what does Star Wars sound like?
- California radio voiceovers
2. What's something related to Star Wars music or sound that you want to learn more about?
- Ender would like to see the making of one musical cue from start to finish (similar to the documentary Star Wars Within A Minute: The Making Of Episode III Documentary). This might include things like John Williams looking at a scene, writing sketches, passing it on to copyists, all the way to editors and sound team working on the final mix.
3. What's a score or soundtrack you're fond of besides anything Star Wars?
- Knives Out (composed by Nathan Johnson)
GUEST LINKS:
Follow AurekFonts!
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AurekFonts
- Fonts: https://aurekfonts.github.io/
SWMM LINKS:
Star Wars Music Minute:
- YouTube: /starwarsmusicminute
- Twitter: @StarWarsMusMin
- Instagram: @starwarsmusicminute
- TikTok: @StarWarsMusicMinute
- Email: podcast@starwarsmusicminute.com
Xanthe:
- Twitter: @chrysanthetan
- Instagram: @chrysanthetan
- Spotify Artist Page: Chrysanthe Tan
- Website: chrysanthetan.com
- Patreon: patreon.com/chrysanthetan
Acknowledgments:
- "Cantina Band" theme music written by John Williams, performed by Chrysanthe Tan
- Frank Lehman created and maintains the Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars, a resource that we frequently reference on this show. Available as a PDF on his website: https://franklehman.com/starwars/
- Thank you to Star Wars Minute podcast for inspiring this show.