61°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

NAB Show treated to the sounds of ‘Star Wars’

The distinctive sound of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was created using malfunctioning electrical equipment, a slowed-down explosion and the purr of Porkchop, the sound designer’s cat.

A speeding TIE fighter? That’s the cry of an elephant mixed with cars driving over wet pavement.

And when Finn and Poe’s stolen TIE fighter is sucked into the Jakku desert, the sound you hear is dog food being pulled out of a can and “a long, low-frequency burp.”

That was just some of the ground covered in a “Force Awakens” panel during the National Association of Broadcasters Show, where the artists responsible for that movie’s visual and audio effects were greeted like rock stars.

More than 100,000 attendees were expected as the NAB trade show opened inside the Las Vegas Convention Center on Monday.

It felt like nearly that many techies jammed their way into a small ballroom to hear from Matt Wood, the supervising sound editor for Skywalker Sound, and his colleagues from special effects pioneers Industrial Light &Magic.

Given that they also displayed behind-the-scenes footage and such nerd-friendly artifacts as concept drawings of a troll-looking Yoda and a photo of the Post-it Note on which the original sketch of BB-8 was drawn, the panel could have filled a much larger room.

Like, say, the T-Mobile Arena.

In addition to providing the origins of some of those “Star Wars” sounds, Wood, who also voiced General Grievous in “Revenge of the Sith,” said it was vital for the new audio effects to match those in the original. Even for such seemingly inconsequential sounds as the noise made by the Millennium Falcon’s seats.

“So we found out the kind of motor that was used in the original,” he said. “We got that motor again and re-recorded it, so the sounds would be exactly the same.”

“We don’t want to change those things,” Wood added, “because sound has such an easy sort of emotional and subliminal way to put you back in the universe again.”

Of Monday’s 193 events spanning the broadcast industry, the only one to rival that “Star Wars” session was the annual television luncheon that inducted Chuck Lorre, the co-creator of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men,” into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Introducing Lorre, “Two and a Half Men” star Jon Cryer said he’s often asked where his former boss found the drive to create so much content, including “Cybill,” “Grace Under Fire” and “Mom.” Among his many other credits, Lorre also was a co-executive producer on “Roseanne.”

“Honestly,” Cryer said, “I attribute it to a discount colonoscopy he received when he was a young man.”

When he got to Hollywood, Lorre was a musician who hated TV, Cryer revealed. Then Lorre developed ulcerative colitis and lacked the insurance to pay for a colonoscopy.

“What he ended up with was a bunch of pre-med students who offered to do it for cheap if he allowed many, many people to watch it, and if he did it without anesthesia,” Cryer said, as some of the most powerful and influential executives in broadcasting dined on a nice salad.

Cryer insisted that was when Lorre decided to become a comedy writer, because the Writers Guild offers insurance.

“A lot of people argue,” Cryer concluded, that colonoscopy “was actually perfect training for dealing with the likes of Roseanne Barr, Brett Butler, Cybill Shepherd and Charlie Sheen.”

As he joined such previously enshrined TV institutions as “60 Minutes,” “Meet the Press” and “Saturday Night Live,” Lorre turned sentimental for a moment. “Broadcast television has allowed me to do what I love, which is to make people laugh.”

It was a rare moment of sincerity in a speech in which Lorre referenced the same anatomical region as that fateful colonoscopy.

“The Hall of Fame. It’s really something,” he said. “I don’t wanna take anything away from it, but I have to imagine being inducted into any hall of fame is a thrilling experience.

“I mean, think about it: The (Expletive) Hall of Fame is still a hall of fame.”

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
UK set to launch COVID-19 vaccination plan watched by the world

Around 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be in place for the start of the rollout on Tuesday, a day that British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly dubbed as “V-Day,” a nod to triumphs in World War II.

Trump halts COVID-19 relief talks until after election; markets fall

Stocks dropped suddenly on Wall Street Tuesday afternoon after President Donald Trump ordered a stop to negotiations with Democrats over another round of stimulus for the economy.