I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the original Star Wars has the most iconic sound design of any movie in history, from the lightsaber noise to Chewie’s growls, to even the sound that ships make as they’re about to jump to light speed. Now, thanks to Laughing Squid, we’ve learned about a musician by the name of Davidlap, who very cleverly found a way to replicate several of the most instantly recognizable sound effects from Star Wars by rubbing different objects along the strings of his guitar. You can listen to his renditions of Artoo’s beeps, Vader’s breathing, and several others in the video down below:
This same guitarist has made similar videos in the past, where he uses his instrument to recreate animal sounds, and even played a guitar solo with his hands literally on fire. (The song in question? “Through the Fire and Flames” by the UK metal band Dragonforce, appropriately enough). So, he’s got a cool gimmick going. Actually, should he ever decide to do a sequel video to this one, we’d be here for it. I’d love to hear what the TIE Fighter scream sounds like replicated on the guitar, or even the weird noises that the tauntauns make.
This video is also a nice way to pay tribute to the legendary contributions of one Ben Burtt, the sound designer for the first seven films in the Star Wars saga, who through his own ingenuity discovered how to create so many iconic sounds. And he did this using ordinary things like a guy wire on a radio tower to create the sound of the lightsaber, or a scuba breather to create the sounds of Darth Vader’s mechanical breathing. After all, much like John Williams’ score, what would Star Wars even be without its iconic sound design?
Images: Lucasfilm
