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: podcast@starwarsmusicminute.com

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.