Ben Burtt Interview: Chewbacca's Voice

Ben Burtt, legendary sound designer of the Star Wars films, talks about creating Chewbacca's voice in this vintage interview.

The first voice that Burtt worked on in Star Wars was Chewbacca's, but in the script, there was little direction as to what a Wookiee would sound like. It had to be alien and an intelligent language, but not recognizable.

In one of Burtt's first meetings with George Lucas, the director suggested that bears might be suitable. For a year, Burtt collected the grunts and roars of bears, along with the sounds of walruses, lions, and many other animals. By extracting little bits from each recording, Burtt could identify sounds based on emotions -- anger, affection, etc. He cut those together in a way that could match how the character's mouth moved, as well as convey feelings and language. The resulting mix formed the basis of Chewbacca's iconic voice.

[scottishdave]

A video about sound that's nearly inaudible? : ) Priceless.

[StarWars]

Ben Burtt explains how Chewie found his voice in the creation of the best collection of emotional grunts, growls and roars we've ever heard.

[sarahlehnhoff]

Ich selbst bin großer STAR WARS fan aber das so viel Arbeit dahinter steckt, das hätte ich ich nicht erwartet.

[paulbuterbaugh]

Ben burtt is a genius he made Star Wars come alive

[Manobaru]

Video about sound designer, with really bad sound. What an irony

[LeadingNowhere]

For a video about sound design, this video is waayyyy too quiet.

[KILLDZER]

Remember to crank the volume back down after watching this video. I didn't, played a music track right afterwards and almost blew a fuse in my speakers, not to mention my eardrums.

[thebob]

The question is how does Han understand what the hell Chewy is saying?

[graficasamericateve]

would be nice if they normalize the audio is so low... 

[eduardo_corrochio]

Amazing that we have to blast the volume to its maximum ... to even start hearing the audio on something about SOUND. Needs a do-over. Yeesh.

[Silicon_Audio_Labs]

Could you turn the volume down a little in your next youtube upload?

[Hyoukikyo]

His eyebrow and lip are forever in smirk mode. Jokes aside; well done with chewie.

[teathomass]

All of Ben Burtt's interviews need to be reuploaded, the video quality is fine, and but there's a serious volume problem.

[Rolodzeo]

The audio is extremely low, can't hear a thing. Fix it, please.

[thelathems]

It is a shame that Ben Burtt's interview is recorded to low even with video volume maxed and computer audio maxed.

[modsleix]

How about some more videos with info on "STAR WARS: Episode VII", the rumored STAR WARS Solo and Fett spin-off films, "STAR WARS: Rebels", "STAR WARS: Attack Squadrons", "STAR WARS: The Clone Wars" bonus episodes, "STAR WARS: Battlefront", various new STAR WARS novels, info on the new STAR WARS "canon" system... something. These yesteryear videos are great but, I'm dying here. Need NEW STAR WARS info please...

[sebigomezzz]

3 thank u very much! We r the first three!

[Loddentidster]

All this time I thought Peter Mayhew was making the Chewie sounds aswell 😂

[ThomWillis]

Love this videos, but they are all too quiet!

[DarkUnicorn]

Where are story arcs when are they coming out will it be on cartoon network and what day and time