Comments on: VIDEO: JJ Abrams Presents Ben Burtt With HPA Award – Explains How Sound Designer ‘Salvaged’ Star Trek

By: NCC-1701

NCC-1701 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:23:16 +0000

I was always under the impression that the pinging sound was the Starship/future version of a sonar ping that subs use when they navigate? I don’t think it’s the view screen making the sound (why would a view screen make pinging noises?).

I also loved the mixing in of the original sounds. About the only thing I wasn’t crazy about were the weapon sound effects – both hand weapons, and especially Enterprise’s weapons. But it’s a minor nit, really..

By: star trackie

star trackie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:12:32 +0000

#23 How awesome it must have been to meet those guys. And how sad that they are gone and can’t reveal those great little secrets, like the backwards owl being used for the tribble, on DVD. Makes me even more sad when I consider some of the off the wall comentaries being given on the TOS discs rather than useful commentaries by people who were there.

But it’s a joy to see a team in charge of StarTrek that truly understands it…and I’m talking TOS here. The know it, they love it and in doing so, they have reaped the rewards with a huge hit . The sounds are awesome and congrats to Ben Burtt who’s contributions really helped put the final TOS polish on JJs movie.

By: Jorg Sacul

Jorg Sacul — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:50:39 +0000

Ben Burtt is to movie sound what John Williams is to movie music. He makes it a living character that is absolutely essential to the story.

By: PaulG

PaulG — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:23:17 +0000

I just watched the Ben Burtt Star Trek sound design segment on Blu-Ray and was shocked that Burtt failed to mention the great sound effects editor Doug Grindstaff who created all of the original groundbreaking sounds on the original series and who Burtt owes a lot.

I met Grindstaff in 1976 at Paramount and he told me that Gene Roddenberry had hired an original sound effects team who promised him “great stuff” in terms of sound effects and then failed to deliver. Roddenberry fired them and hired Grindstaff who had little time to create the Star Trek universe sounds we now know and love. But he sure came through.

He told me a little of how he created the tribbles sound which was the mix of a backwards owl and some other animal sound. The transporter effect was created on an old organ of some type.

I was there to get some original effects for a Star Trek convention commercial I had shot and produced (and aired during syndicated Star Trek episodes) back in 1976 for the famous ST fan Bjo Trimble. So Bjo had arranged through Roddenberry for Grindstaff to take me to the Glen Glen Sound department and let me look through the Star Trek sound effects log and pick out whatever I wanted! It was cool to see like the separate sound effects listed like Warp 1, Warp 2, Warp 3, etc.! I still have the sounds. A mix of some of what I have was actually put on the Crescendo Star Trek Sound Effects CD.

After Mr. Grindstaff asked me if I wanted to meet Roddenberry (heck yes!) we went to his office I met the Great Bird Of the Galaxy himself. For a 1st generation Star Trek fan like me (and later a VFX Supervisor) it was quite a heady day!

Funny too I have shot season vfx season finale stuff with J.J. Abrams on his ALIAS series and on the LOST pilot in Hawaii too. Also worked on the recent film CORALINE.

By: Cranston

Cranston — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:17:51 +0000

For all of the wonderful work Burtt has done over the decades, I will always love the man for that opening “ping” sound in Trek.

By: Eli

Eli — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:43:14 +0000

All the TOS effects incorporated into the sound mix almost make the movie for me. The transporter effect, the pinging sound on the bridge, the whining of the warp engines as Enterprise tries to out run the black hole or dodge space debris. Classic trek!

By: Kirk's girdle

Kirk's girdle — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:33:51 +0000

I like the Comm system sound on the Captain’s chair. That’s a classic sound snippet.

By: sci-fi bri

sci-fi bri — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:37:14 +0000

the sounds in trek 09 are outstanding… you really hear the love for TOS in them…

By: Chris M

Chris M — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:30:46 +0000

A thoroughly deserved award, the guy is a genius! Ben Burtt put the Star Trek back into the movie and we should all be grateful for that! :)

By: CarlG

CarlG — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:09:06 +0000

@14: I think we’re going about this the wrong way — it’s not that Ben Burtt’s work on Trek sounds like Star Wars; it’s that both Star Wars and Star Trek sound like Ben Burtt! :)