ANH 3: Droid Musicality (Minutes 11-15)

There's no music for our first 90 seconds on Tatooine, forcing us to reckon with the cicadas, barren landscape, and Threepio's frozen joints. This is a deep dive into the music and sound of Star Wars: A New Hope, Minutes 11-15. Guest: Ender Smith AKA AurekFonts.

Let's see if timestamps work this time (if not, I'm sorry!):

(0:00:00) - Hello there.
(0:03:49) - Fonts and motifs
(0:09:03) - Ben Burtt on creating R2-D2's voice
(0:11:48) - "Worldizing," a sound design concept by Walter Murch
(0:15:41) - Cicadas
(0:23:00) - Silence on Tatooine and what that evokes
(0:33:20) - Stravinsky Rite of Spring comparison
(0:48:00) - Sound design of Artoo in the canyon
(0:55:16) - Jawaese
(1:15:19) - Cat bomb
(1:21:20) - Tuba forum tidbits
(1:22:09) - Tour of the sandcrawler droids.
(1:24:45) - GNK droid's music debut.
(1:27:22) - PSA: Gonk droids say more than just "Gonk"!!!!!!!!!!
(1:33:00) - Hidden writing
(1:39:18) - Star Wars Music Minute questionnaire

Musical Themes:

7. Jawas
7) Sandcrawler
8) Scum and Villainy

Where we are in the soundtrack album:

Dune Sea of Tatooine/Jawa Sandcrawler

Anything Else Mentioned:

Star Wars Minute 11: Cicadas (with guest Chris Radtke): https://wiki.starwarsminute.com/index.php?title=Star_Wars_Minute_11:_Cicadas
Star Wars Music Minute TLJ #24: Quiet Quadnoculars (with guest Chris Radtke): https://youtu.be/UdxWx9anTcU
Ben Burtt demonstrating R2-D2 voice creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBKKXjNf1sE
INDEPTH Sound Design: A New Hope sound design explained by Ben Burtt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So0nmciiFJg
American Graffiti: One Song at a Time podcast - Episode 27: Misadventure: https://www.onesteelesister.com/american-graffiti/episode-27-misadventure (Xanthe is a guest and talks about sound mixing)
Twitter thread about the blank musical slate on Tatooine: https://twitter.com/StarWarsMusMin/status/1446673353402585094?s=20
Ender's interpretation of the GNK line: "Gonk. Gonk. Gonk-yeh gyow goy geh."
"Jawa Sandcrawler" score reduction and analysis by David McCaulley on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOj6ildsHW4
Beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark: https://youtu.be/mUWYmTpYdP4
According to TubeNet (a tuba forum), the solo in the Jawa sandcrawler scene was played by John Fletcher on a CC Holton 345: http://forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?p=519631#p519631

STAR WARS MUSIC MINUTE QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. In exactly 3 words, what does Star Wars sound like?

California radio voiceovers

2. What's something related to Star Wars music or sound that you want to learn more about?

Ender would like to see the making of one musical cue from start to finish (similar to the documentary Star Wars Within A Minute: The Making Of Episode III Documentary). This might include things like John Williams looking at a scene, writing sketches, passing it on to copyists, all the way to editors and sound team working on the final mix.

3. What's a score or soundtrack you're fond of besides anything Star Wars?

Knives Out (composed by Nathan Johnson)

GUEST LINKS:

Follow AurekFonts!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AurekFonts
Fonts: https://aurekfonts.github.io/

SWMM LINKS:

Star Wars Music Minute:

YouTube: /starwarsmusicminute
Twitter: @StarWarsMusMin
Instagram: @starwarsmusicminute
TikTok: @StarWarsMusicMinute
Email: [email protected]

Xanthe:

Twitter: @chrysanthetan
Instagram: @chrysanthetan
Spotify Artist Page: Chrysanthe Tan
Website: chrysanthetan.com
Patreon: patreon.com/chrysanthetan

Acknowledgments:

"Cantina Band" theme music written by John Williams, performed by Chrysanthe Tan
Frank Lehman created and maintains the Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars, a resource that we frequently reference on this show. Available as a PDF on his website: https://franklehman.com/starwars/
Thank you to Star Wars Minute podcast for inspiring this show.