Star Trek Magazine #21 Preview + Star Trek Movie Sound Designer Ben Burtt Interview Excerpt September 24, 2009
by TrekMovie.com Staff , Filed under: Merchandise , trackback
Star Trek Magazine #21 is just arriving on newstands and Titan has provided TrekMovie with excerpts of their interview Star Trek sound designer Benn Burtt. We also have some previews from the issue, which has a focus on the lighter side of Trek, plus images of the two available covers.
Excerpts from Star Trek Magazine #21
Excerpt of Interview with Star Trek Sound Designer Ben Burtt
Sound Designer Ben Burtt talks about the elements of the original Star Trek TV show that he tried to emulate in the new movie…
Two things in the original Star Trek effects were revolutionary: Roddenberry had his team create lots of detail. Every room in the ship sounded different. Every button made a noise, when you pressed a lever or a switch. Not only were there sounds articulating all these things to make them sound like they were real, but they were very musical sounds. Somebody pressed a button, there was a little melody. That was not in the movie at the point I came on: you’d just hear a little beep. If it was Star Trek, it needed to sing a little bit and feel like it was alive. You really felt there was a complex operation going on and it was fun to listen to. The ships and the weapons and the ambiences of the places they went to were a form of music. When they went to planets there was always a tone going on, like a ringing bell, or chimes in echo. I tried to create sounds in that style.
The other thing that was used a lot in the original show a lot was shortwave radio recordings and sounds off of transmissions and Morse code, things you can pick up in-between the dials on a shortwave radio.
I love that sort of thing and I’ve collected it for years. There’s some of that in the original Star Trek television show – and the whole beginning of the movie, that first minute or two where the Kelvin is coming into view, is all short wave radio sounds. It reads to the audience that you’re way the heck out at the edge of the universe, barely in contact. Things are far away: there’s these disembodied sounds that are being transmitted back and forth. That’s not the way the sound was, but I wanted to make it seem like the ships were way out there. They’re supposed to be encountering something new so I tried to capitalize on this legacy in science fiction of using radio.
Spread from interview with Ben Burtt in Star Trek Magazine
Burtt honored
In other related news, it was recently announced that Ben Burtt is being honored by The Hollywood Post Alliance and will receive the organization’s Charles S. Swartz Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Post Production. The award will be bestowed on Mr. Burtt on November 12th during the Hollywood Post Alliance Awards gala at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. More info at hpaonline.com.
Much more in Star Trek Magazine on sale now
Issue 21 of the official Star Trek Magazine is on sale now, and it has an emphasis on the lighter side of Star Trek, including an interview with Armin Shimmerman (DS9: Quark) and a column by "Trouble with Tribbles" writer David Gerrold looking back at the production of that classic episode. Here are some sample spreads (click to see larger versions at STM Facebook Page).
And here are the two covers
Star Trek Magazine #21
Previews exclusive cover for Star Trek Magazine #21
The magazine should be arriving on newstands this week and can be ordered (at a discount) from TFAW.
You can also Subscribe to get all the upcoming issues of Star Trek Magazine.
To receive Star Trek Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, visit: titanmagazines.com/mailing/.
To become a fan of Star Trek Magazine on Facebook, visit: facebook.com/StarTrekMagazine
For more information visit: titanmagazines.com/startrek
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Comments»
Good Magazine!
TOPS!…lot’s of humor can be found throughout TREK…why TREK4 was so good…
Ben Burtt is awesome and can make any sound with anything…I remenber a STAR WARS doc where he went out to record sound effects…
he recorded an awesome photon torpedo like sound by striking a high tension wire with a screwdriver…I remember doing it myself when I found a similar setup…really cool!!!
Funny business… hmm, sounds a bit like the Live Chat portion of this site…
What? Don’t you love me anymore, Denise? Would you like Harry or BND instead now?
TOG- You know I will marry you before I would marry Harry, BND, Shatner or Mudd, my darling,,,
Shatner looks like Pine on that cover….(with brown lenses)
“Sweet words that turn to bitter orange wax in my ears!”
-Philip J. Fry, Futurama
Looks like a great mag. Love Ben Burtt’s work.
But that’s all we need is a bunch of half-in-the-bag lushes from the chat in here sousing up the joint. I mean, really. Don’t any of you have jobs?
#8—Only “half” in the bag?????
Yes, THX. My job is to souse up the joint and to supply ethanol to any and all who choose to stagger into 69 Forward day or night… And I dance too…
Closet!! Where have you been?!
I think I was once arrested for “sousing up a joint”.
#9
Yeah. It’s only 12:17 where I live. We’ve been drinking for only a couple of hours. Full effect at 3.
Closet- You will never be arrested for sousing up our joint, my darling. At least, that is what I think… might want to check with Anthony for confirmation…
Uh, yeah, nice mag… ummm, sound effects are really cool and, uh… know where I can get some souse?
Yeah dude. I gotta flask right here. Have a pull.
I’m dead Jim#15- Go click on the Live Chat tab at the top of the page. Therein do the hobbits, orcs and redshirts dwell…
THX#16- Did you just say you want me to pull your flask?…
I pulled me own flask a few times…. sure wasn’t gin that came oot…
Oh, Crom! We’re supposed ta’ be interested in this here magazine! Sorry…
Uhhhhhh… sounds o’ Trek?
“Wh-wha-oomp”- barrel roll fly-kick noise
“Goosh-ala” – steppin’ on a tribble
“Pfffffffffffffftttt” – annoyin’ sound of air pushing through Picard’s pursed lips as Wesley explains how he saved his ship once a’again
” ” – Archer gettin’ lucky… oh, so silent… no sound, eh?
Oh, I see.
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Hey, Dayton! Lookie what we did!
Thanks for the peek under the covers, TrekMovie!
(NO! Not THAT kind of peek! Sheesh, people!)
I’m game for some sousing.
Goosh-ala!
Ben Burtt….a huge “thank you” to yet another person behind this fabulous movie that understands TOS! That’s why this movie succeeded, all the way down line, from the director to the writers to the cast and sound people..they understood their source material. They all had enough snap to know they had to understand their source before they could ever hope to recreate it.
Well done Ben Burtt, your attention to detail was a healthy contributor to the movie’s overall “TOS” vibe and the acclaim for all was well deserved.
Oh, me and Miles O’Brien
Went out a’beer a’buyin’
A quark o’ whiskey fur’ AJ
A sip o’ saurian brandy THX’s way
Denise picks up I’m Dead Jim from tha’ fray
And no matter what, I wills pay
Got me Harry’s Visa card ta’day…
Goosh-ala!
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Ben Burtt is right next to John Williams for giving the Star Wars films their indelible magic. Even where the prequels otherwise fell short his sound design pulled you into the story at a gut level.
He came right through again on Star Trek. I loved the Kelvin’s audio cues. It’s great to hear his ideas behind the FX.
#22 … I second that. I LOVED the TOS sound fx in this movie! from the opening shot where the first thing you hear is the bridge chirping sound, to the old school activation sound when Pike or Kirk would tap the shipwide address system button on the command chair, the sound fx never sounded so good!
BND#23- (blushes) Thank you, ya’ wanker…
Goosh-ala!
AJ#27- Is that all you have to say? Seriously?
I’m still on CHAT with CmdrR…Come back!
It’s funny and sad that the guy who helped shape the entire Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises has more understanding for the Star Trek atmosphere than the writers and director of the new movie.
Chattie? Chattie? Goodness, CmdrR- What- arrrrrrrrr magazines some sort o’ dyin’ industry?
Wait… I got a text from Tha’ Atlantic Monthly… seems I owe ‘em fifty quatloos fur’ me subby-scription…
Hope they accept a gallon o’ me pee… cost more than fifty quatloos in gin ta’ produce it all, it did…
Oh, me apologies… I do hope mags like Starry Trek live on… nothin’ like holdin’ somethin’ in yer’ hands… It’s really a wonderful thing to collect magazines for the simple fact that the written word is never so grand than printed on paper and… Awwwwwwk! Got a text from Harper’s Magazine tellin’ me ta’ stop sayin’ they be tha’ fashion mag wit’ almost nudie emaciated lasses rather than tha’ literary mag that published Mark Twain’s encounter wit’ Data…
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Probably John Williams would have been a much better choice for creating the soundtrack, too.
#8: Actually, I don’t have a job… dammit!
How do you get the other cover version? I used to have a subscription and it was always the same cover as the newstand. Anyone know? THX
I certainly hope that Burtt is brought back for the next one. I knew I was going to like his work when I saw a preview clip from Delta Vega and there was that musical tone in the background. That’s straight-up TOS, right there.
35 Yeah, I recognized that too in the theater! I was like, is that really the planet sound effects I hear?
Interesting to hear Burtt’s perspective on the TOS sound effects. I have to admit I never really noticed their “musicality” before, but now that I think about it, it’s definitely a big presence on the show. And really makes you appreciate TOS even more.
I mean, the way nearly every button and device almost had it’s OWN unique sound effect is pretty extraordinary– especially compared to what you heard in a lot of other scifi back then.
Was there a “Wilhelm” in ST09? I need to listen again. What’s a Wilhelm? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YDpuA90KEY :-)
“Previews Exclusive”? What this mean – Previews Exclusive???
“can be ordered (at a discount) from TFAW.”
TFAW? What this mean – TFAW??
#34 – I have a subscription, too, and it seems to me that if anyone should be getting an “exclusive” it should be the subscribers!!!
Interesting. Things that most people take for granted (such as sound) are so important to the moviegoing and television experience. Sounds like Burtt has lots of respect for what Roddenberry did (as he should). I wish that one of the docs on the DVD would be about the sound ceations! That would be “fascinating” indeed!
34/39/41 The “exclusive” edition is a bit of a misnomer. It’s actually the Diamond Comic Stores exclusive edition – on other magazines subscribers have been annoyed when they didn’t get the issue they saw on newsstands (we can’t win this one either way). In other words, comic stores can order a different cover through Diamond’s Previews magazine, which of course is an incentive for fans to buy issues from there…
Effectively there’s two options: subscribe, get it (usually) earlier than on newsstands at a reduced rate; or if you want the exclusive cover, buy it from your local comic book store and help keep that industry going!
#42 There is a documentary about Ben’s work on one version of the movie’s release – might be only the Blu-ray?
#38 – Wilhelm can be heard during the initial attack on the Kelvin…
43.
Good news – thanks for the info!
Ben Burtt captured the true spirit of Trek sound effects. The recreated original transporter effect, with that sort of twitting sound when locking the signal before beaming, is really, really awesome.
With the exception of the transporter effect, I’m not convinced that Burtt captured the feel of Trek at all.
Perhaps it was the mix, or perhaps it was that what I heard was just too Star Wars-ish.
I loved the Sound FX in the new movie – just loved it
47
The only thing that sounded too “Star Wars-y” to me was the jellyfish sound effect.
In fact, everything ABOUT that ship felt too much like something out of the SW prequels for my taste.
I loved the sound effects in the new Trek movie
I loved the movie, I just dont want what has come from the past to be forgotten because of this new movie, I like for it to exist along with the rest of Trek, not take over.
Decent enough magazine. I miss the technical specs and specially designed covers from the previous magazine series.
#50 “I just dont want what has come from the past to be forgotten because of this new movie”
Original Trek (1965-2005) is over. And I’m fine with that. I’d love to see Bill and Leonard as Kirk and Spock again, but it ain’t gonna happen. It’s done. Neither are Picard or any of the other spinoff characters likely to return.
I have season one and the movies on blu ray, and am about to pick up season two. That’s good enough for me. TOS never looked so gorgeous. So we’ll always have the past, and the future of Star Trek looks bright.
51 – There are some blueprints appearing in the two issues following this one, and I’m talking with one of the previous contributors who provided blueprints etc for Star Trek The Magazine for possible work in 2010/2011.
Not sure what you mean by specially designed covers though.
#50—”…I just dont want what has come from the past to be forgotten because of this new movie, I like for it to exist along with the rest of Trek, not take over.”
You’ve been expressing that fear for a long time, and I’m still not sure what exactly that fear is based upon. Forgotten? How? Why?
It is pretty clear that everything which took place (storywise) between ENT-NEM is intended to be precisely what leads up to the timeline incursion at the beginning of ST09. It is therefore a part of the story (in fact, the *bulk* of it to this point).
As for the interest of potential new fans in what came before, it is difficult for me to imagine that somehow fewer people now will check out what is preserved on dvd than would otherwise have done so if not for the obvious interest in Abrams’ film. That would make no sense whatsoever. Although it would probably be impossible to accurately guage what impact the new film has had (and will continue to have) upon the amount of interest from those who were not previously established fans, it is totally inconceivable to me that the impact it has could be negative.
Just about the only impact upon what has come before of which we can be absolutely certain is that the final nail in the coffin for any potential continuation of the Bermanverse has been driven, not that any such hope on the part of a certain segment of fandom was anything other than futile already. It was either to time to do something else with the franchise, or do nothing more at all. Star Trek needed to evolve in order to survive, and it is doing so. Ironically, the new interpretation of the old premise is far more like the original incarnation that anything in the TNG-era (TNG-VOY) ever was, IMO.
Closet:
The legacy of pre-JJ Trek is so rich and diverse, that it will be simply impossible to “forget” it. If ST09 is the “new direction” of Trek for the early 2000’s, and it draws primarily on elements of TOS for inspiration, it may temporarily dim the lights of the Bermanverse on the collective consciousness.
However, that content is available, and I am sure that it will be consistently marketed by CBS. We will most definitely see Picard’s “Star Trek” re-booted, and who knows what else? It seems nothing is allowed to age and be forgotten anymore.
53 – Not sure what you mean by specially designed covers though.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Star Trek The Magazine had some incentive covers specially made for them by Doug Drexler and Adam Mojo Lebowitz among others.
Great to hear about the blueprints!!
#55—”The legacy of pre-JJ Trek is so rich and diverse, that it will be simply impossible to ‘forget’ it. ”
Agreed…the fear that it will somehow be forgotten is completely irrational, IMO….the hole in my wallet forged by the release of TOS-Season Two on BluRay is proof!!!
Classic Trek doesn’t need me or anyone else to wish it success. It’s already had its share and then some, and the periodic technological upgrades to the home viewing quality of TOS make it the gift that keeps on giving (and taking too)… Forgotten? That’s ridiculous.
It is a great issue, I enjoyed the fact that they coulddo an article about the humor, which was always there but some people had missed it or did not understand it. Kirk was the best at humor when inacting with McCoy & Spock.
@55: ” It seems nothing is allowed to age and be forgotten anymore.”
Why on earth would you want anything about Trek to be forgotten?
(…Ok, maybe Neelix, but still!)
Agreed classic Trek is not going anywhere. However, the bigger question is why does anyone care if it forgotten? As a fan, the only thing that matters is that it continues … and it will. Like it or not Abrams has found a new audience and almost certainly exposed the franchise to a new fans. Which means for those of us who already loved it, it endures. Who cares if no one remembers Bill Shatner’s Kirk? For many, Chirs Pine not only represents the only Kirk they know, but a more accessible one in line with their other contemporary film heroes.
We live in a culture where everything gets remade now, over and over. They are remaking Bill & Ted’s Excellent adventure for cryin’ out loud! How can they do that? Well one reason is nostalgia by the original audience, but the bigger reason is that the original was forgotten and a new generation sees it as fresh – it worked once, it’ll work again and keep making money.
Ask any 10 year old kid who George Reeves is. Ask them who Superman is. WIll they even remember Christopher Reeve? Do any of you remember Kirk Alyn? I’ll bet you any 10 year old kid who grew up during the 40s and early 50s will. And that’s but one example. It’s inevitable that the original will eventually be forgotten, just as Lucille Ball will, despite the ubiquitousness of the series in syndication, if for no other reason than it’s in black & white. A new generation loses touch with the entertainment of the past. How many movies stars from the 30s can any of you name? However many it is, I bet you’ll remember more from the 40s, 50’s, etc. This despite the fact the 30’s was the Golden Age of film in Hollywood. New generations embrace their own and seek a more modern style, and lets face it, CBS Digital’s efforts aside, TOS only continues to look more and more dated as time goes by. Eventually there will be a new generation who could care less. I once asked a 22 year old “actress” at a party about Doris Day and she was clueless, never even HEARD of her. And this was 10 years ago!! While I might expect any-old 22 year old business major not to know Doris Day, I would expect an actress of any age to know her, even to day.
Yes the time will come when TOS will no longer be syndicated. But by that time, it will be available as an “historical document” on some on-demand internet for anyone to see and CBS will continue to profit from it. But the kids of the day will be embracing the latest actor to play James T. Kirk, debating his merits against the old Kirk: Chris Pine, and Star Trek will go on producing an ever new installment, TOS will for all practicle purposes be forgotten. And ultimately what difference will it make if anyone remembers TOS as long as the franchise lives on?
Dear God-
Everything goes, me mates!
Even Kirk got kilt by a metal tube bridge.
I once got kilt by a metal tube… but that bloody cyborg averted and now runs some Paciifc state o’ yer’ Union…
I been watchin’ old ToNGe epsiodes lately… God, they should be erased… and replaced wit’ Mannix!!!!
Who Mourns Fur’ Mannix?
KIRK: Mr. Spock, how come, in the real 23rd Century, they have visually enhanced both my butt and crotch for the vertebra-instertion-net that all the young kids plug into? Kids are… actually touching my velour!
SPOCK: Well, at least you are not making cooing noises before commercial breaks. Damned new fangled sound effects.
SCOTTIE: Maties! They brushed me teeth on tha’ close-ups!
McCOY: Gootchie-gootchie goo.
CmdrR the THIRD: I can’t believe gramps actually watched this frakking bullplop. Let’s go get some solar powered emu burgers and retsin beef cola! I’ll drive us there in my new Fugi Uni-Cycle Butt Thruster.
God… I need some sleep…
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
56 Thanks for the explanation. More ideas percolating for future issues…
#60 And ultimately what difference will it make if anyone remembers TOS as long as the franchise lives on?”
Conversely, what do I care if the franchise lives on or not if it’s not representing what I fell in love with to begin with? TNG and it’s ilk did nothing to proliferate the Trek I loved so I had so interest in it. Just being in the same fictional universe just didn’t cut it. When it all died on the vine 5 years ago I had no feelings what so ever.
Now, Trek is back and it’s more in line with what I like in my Star Trek, so I’m back on board. I hope JJ’s version continues, not because it keeps Star Trek going, but because it’s embodies TOS and it entertains me in a similar fashion.
Like I said, if a version of “Trek” isn’t delivering the kind of Trek I want to see, I really don’t care if the “franchise” lives on or not. 24th century “Trek” died and I haven’t shed a single tear. It just wasn’t my bag.
#63—”…Trek is back and it’s more in line with what I like in my Star Trek, so I’m back on board. I hope JJ’s version continues, not because it keeps Star Trek going, but because it’s embodies TOS and it entertains me in a similar fashion.
Like I said, if a version of “Trek” isn’t delivering the kind of Trek I want to see, I really don’t care if the “franchise” lives on or not. 24th century “Trek” died and I haven’t shed a single tear. It just wasn’t my bag.”
Very well said. I agree completely. TOS was sexy, adventurous, endearing, funny, romantic, and unafraid of a good old-fashioned bare-knuckled fistfight….and above all else, it was fun! That’s what I got out of ST09, and it’s something that, in my opinion, has been missing for a long time.
I too have not shed a tear for 24th century Trek, nor for a continuation of the “geeks only club” that Star Trek had become in the Next-Gen era.
Some people will no doubt dislike the new Star Trek because they feel it is too different from what was done from 1987-2005….but ironically, I felt the same way in 1987 and beyond. The last time I was truly content with the state of Trek was around 1986, with a very successful film at the box-office that I found quite endearing, and the promise of a new series on the small screen to come. I gradually lost interest (especially post-1991) in what was being produced right up until the announcement of Bad Robot’s involvement in Star Trek. Something about that convinced me right off the bat that *this* was something I might enjoy.
Count me among those happy to see Star Trek return to its roots in 2009. I’ve been waiting more than 2 decades to see it happen.
#60. RD
I used to imagine that we were the same age, but now I wonder if we are even from the same planet?
Remakes and reimaginings are not the be all and end all that you make them out too be.
In my lifetime, there have also been many “rediscoveries” of that which had gone before (THE THREE STOOGES, THE MARX BROTHERS, and even THE MONKEES for crying out loud.)
Even that other Bill S., The Bard himself, who had a great influence on many ToS and movie narratives is not forgotten to this day. And need I remind you that he was member of his works’ original cast as well?
“The Franchise” with which you refer is purely a Paramount of the era’s invention to describe a lucrative market they found they could exploit. It was not, nor is not the be all and end all of STAR TREK:
“A second Star Trek adventure is in pre-production, probably because the first Trek flick scored well with European audiences (Americans remained relatively loyal to the syndicated TV series.)” – REBORN LOSERS, Robert Alan Ross, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, November 8, 1981
news.google.com/newspapers?id=KfQNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PHsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6061,5858891
Sponsorship, corporate or otherwise is not the basis for that which endures, as you should well know.
Star Trek “returned to its roots” like Wild Wild West did… =(
#66 … What a dumb statement. But congratulations, you’re the only person on Earth who feels that way.
# 65. Son of a Maui Portagee,
I did not mean to imply I approve of all these remakes. I think they are mostly egregious abominations. Nevertheless it is a reality.
Your comparison to Shakespeare is apt, for that is at the core of what I was getting at. We don’t remember Shakespeare for his ensemble of actors, but rather the depth of characters and resulting dialogue embedded with intricately woven stories evocative of rich tapestries in which one sees ever new and fresh patterns emerging which somehow manage to suit anyone’s contemporary decor.
My point in a nutshell is that the roots of Trek are what is important here. There is a rich cache of precious gems in the original characters and backgrounds created for TOS. The most important thing is that they can be brought out, polished and made relevant to a new generation of kids who have rejected the past in favor of an ever growing self-absorbed and materialistic society.
Yet like Shakespeare, the characters and stories endure finding new life with new production companies. When we think of Shakespeare some think of Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, or Kenneth Branagh, and yes even Keanu Reeves and Leonardo DiCaprio. Does anyone remember John Barrymore? Ask any 30 year old to name even 4 Shakespearean actors. And just like Shakespeare, it is the content of the material that is important, not the actors who portray it.
So, in the long run, it will not matter whether anyone remembers William Shatner’s Captain Kirk, so long as Captain Kirk continues to live in our imaginations through someone else. And just like Shakespeare’s general audiences of the time got over the fact someone else played those parts written just for the revered Richard Burbage, and eventually forgot him altogether, so will it be in our future. In the end it is the material that lives on to inform new generations by the idols of their age. As it always has been and likely always will be. It is simply a fact of life, no matter how hard we resist it or wish it were not so.