Can you make a light sabre sound?

sheridan · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:41 pm Post subject: Can you make a light sabre sound?

Hey everyone. It's me again with another bizarre topic! Sorry, but if you've come here looking for a light sabre sound, you'll be disappointed for now because I tried and failed! Funnily enough, what started out as a poor imitation of said sound turned out to sound a bit like a car and so I transformed it into the rather superb attached patch of 'the sound of a pit lane'.
Anyway, back to the sound of a light sabre. Apparently it is composed of two main sounds: the sound of an idle projector motor (running but with no film) and the sound of interference from a (muted) TV set picked up by a microphone as it was moved past it. This almost continuous 'tone(s)' was then played through a speaker and re-recorded by a microphone which was being waved around it (to create the movement or doppler effect). So, who can recreate this? Again, a very difficult thing, but I'll have another go soon.

Formula 1.prf2

Description:

In the pit lane. All sound is routed through slot D.

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Formula 1.prf2

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17 KB

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mosc · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject:

I"m not a Star Wars fan, so not too facinated by the light sabre sounds, but why the formula 1 sounds?

sheridan · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:57 pm Post subject:

Oops, this was supposed to be in the forum... don't suppose you could move it for me please mosc? As for the F1 sounds... my light saber attempt just sounded more like cars, so I gave up with the original plan and experimented with that instead. I will have another go though.

ian-s · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject:

I think I remember a ‘making of’ documentary. The sound designer did not want to use synthesisers because he wanted a more organic sound Rolling Eyes

, I remember thinking he should have just got a better synthesist. Anyway, the bass part of the sound as I remember he used an electric shaver waved around inside a steel mixing bowl, then re-sampled, or played the tape back slower, to bring it into the bass region.
I don’t have any star wars DVD’s (to scary for the kids yet) so I did this from memory, and its been a long time.

LightSabre.pch2

Description:

light saber

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LightSabre.pch2

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1.99 KB

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3phase · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:46 am Post subject:

sheridan · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject:

Hey Ian, that's pretty dam good! I don't think it actually sounded quite like that (I've been trying to find some audio), but that definitely has the right feel. Well done! That's an effective way of creating the movement too.
By the way, I found this regarding the creation of the actual sound:
http://www.filmsound.org/starwars/burtt-interview.htm#Lightsabers

Unfed · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:49 pm Post subject:

cappy2112 · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:27 pm Post subject:

Unfed · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:25 pm Post subject:

well, i did add the smiley...

even if someone's never seen Star Wars (or whether they liked it or not if they did see it), the sounds from the films are quite interesting from a sound design standpoint.

ian-s · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 12:29 am Post subject:

Well the Remington in the steel bowl turned out to be a false memory, or maybe It was one of the things he tried first.
A little research indicates that it was a 50/50 mix of a film projector and the buzz induced in a microphone by the field at the back of a TV. The sound is then played through a speaker and re-recorded by someone waving a microphone around.

This patch I think is a bit closer though I may have overdone the stuttering. Doppler in this case comes from the phase modulation of the ShapeLfos.
Version 3 has the white noise based effects, press and hold a key, extra keypresses generate the clash noise, release to turn off.

Sabre3.pch2

Description:

light sabre buz + noise effect

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Sabre3.pch2

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3.11 KB

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v-un-v · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:

You can get a very convincing light saber sound by stroking a large fluorescent light tube with a telephone pick up.

Sorry not an idea for a patch, but it leaves a lot of food for thought concerning electro-acoustics vs pure synthesis. I know I shouldn't really be saying this here, but I've always found the former more interesting to listen to than the latter.

You can do a post-graduate course in Electro-Acoustic music here at Birmingham University. It's supposed to be unique to Britain and highly regarded throughout the world.

Tom

sheridan · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:27 am Post subject:

Well, I've only managed to find 2 very short samples of a lightsabre, and my efforts at trying to synthesize the sound have not yet yeilded anything as good as Ian's. I've attached the samples if anyone is interested... but don't cough or you'll miss them!!

lightsabre 2.wav

Description:

Clashing sabres

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lightsabre 2.wav

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92.53 KB

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litesabre.wav

Description:

Turning on light sabre

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litesabre.wav

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29.56 KB

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G2egory · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 10:20 am Post subject:

I like the light saber patch that g2ian developed very much. What a fun patch it will be for boys to play on my synthesizer while quoting Star Wars lines. For this patch, very much thank you, I do.

Razz

dorremifasol · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:31 am Post subject:

Cool patches here!

But the sound I most like in the Star Wars universe is the Tie Fighter sound, it's really frightening! Are you capable of synthesizing it with the G2? Very Happy

I don't have the knowledge (and talent) to make such sounds yet, I'm starting to learn my G2.

the0verclock · Joined: Apr 24, 2006 Posts: 1 Location: nyc

sheridan · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:15 am Post subject:

The Tie fighter sound originally came from a 'drastically altered' elephant sound!* This is not to say that it is beyond synthesis, but I think it would be very tricky. I'd cetainly like to hear some attempts, although due to a heavy workload at present, I can't take the time to try myself.

* more information can be found here: http://www.filmsound.org/starwars/

mosc · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject:

kvnvk · Joined: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 105 Location: Texas

13rian · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:22 pm Post subject:

i'm sure it's not cool to post a recently released track on here, so i'll point you to it instead.....

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=203008005&s=143441

the latest venetian snares release, track 2 - beverly's potatoe orchestra. there is a lot of sounds in there, but there is one reoccurring tone that seems to be a processed voice, maybe some spectral stuff. there are a few points (for example - 1:13, 1:19, 1:23) that sound closer to the tie fighter sound than anything else i've heard.

almost sounds like some scrubbing (like in radiohead's 'everything in its right place') but with some heavy spectral mutation of some sort.

is it 'off-topic' for us to have moved onto tie fighter sounds from light sabre sounds? Very Happy

- b

13rian · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:25 pm Post subject:

so i just tried that itunes link that i posted, if you do the free preview of the track, you only get 30 seconds, but the very first second has a little bit of the voice stuff. later in the track it is more tie fightery.

- b

mosc · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:45 pm Post subject:

phlizmo · Joined: Jan 31, 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Los Angeles

sheridan · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:23 am Post subject:

Unfed · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 8:05 pm Post subject:

great post! thanks, and welcome to E-M.