Since the introduction of commercially available synthesizers, electronically produced sounds have played a crucial role in the development of early sound design techniques for visual media. Going back as early as the 1931 Russian film Odna, whose Shostakovich original score wasthe first instance of a theremin heard onscreen, the usage of synthetic sounds has become a go-to trope for filmmakers seeking otherworldly sonic materials. Unlike acoustic vibrations creating waveforms in oxygen, synthesis is the sonic amalgamation of electronic circuitry, producing raw, attenuated waveforms that need to be delicately chiseled and customized by hand to create the intended timbre. And quite often these waveforms have been used as source material to create monstrous, robotic, or otherwise unfamiliar sounds for film. What better way to design sounds for works of fantasy and science fiction than by using purely artificial sounds not found in our “natural” world?

One sound designer that is no stranger to synthesizers and other music tech devices is Ben Burtt. Best known as the man behind the many sounds in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Wall-E, and countless others, Ben Burtt has made himself known as an incredibly hands-on sound designer, even when working strictly with analog and digital synthesis technology. A longtime proponent of using MIDI controllers and hardware samplers to track sounds live to picture, Burtt has always had a knack for combining both traditional foley and radio arts recording techniques with the latest in studio production and synthesizer technology. This includes everything from pitch shifting a chorus of Wilhelm Screams with an 88-key controller, using pick-ups and piezos to amplify everyday objects, to patching modular synthesizers by hand.

One particular synthetic sound that became synonymous with Burtt’s creativity as a Hollywood sound designer was the voice of R2D2. For the creation of the signature R2 sound, Burtt utilized a single modular synthesizer system to get the job done: the ARP 2600. While the 2600 and other early modular synthesizers had been a staple for music technologists and performers alike since it’s commercial release in 1971, it wouldn’t be until the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977 that sound enthusiasts outside the music industry would hear what this particular machine was capable of in the right cinematic context.

To create the voice of R2, Burtt would control the oscillator pitch voltage by plugging a microphone directly into the 2600. This allowed for Burtt to create much more emotionally expressive gestures with the instrument by using his voice as it’s controller, rather than a keyboard or sequencer. The subtle humanity of what is essentially a moving trash can with a spinning head is only manifested through the sounds it emits. It’s through these sounds that we begin to actually know the character beyond the utility, it can convey its emotion through an inflection in tone just as any other actor can. Through Ben Burtt’s ingenuity as both sound designer, and in this case vocal performer and synthesist, we have been able to not only see, but hear, some of our most favorite fictitious characters truly come to life.