Jeff Tyner
Sampling in Sound Design
Sampling and reusing sounds from previous works was a staple of the film industry since the inception of sound. When films were churned out at a much faster pace this was a cheap and practical form of acquiring sound. The reusing of these sounds also attributed to a recognizable sound that could be appealing to audiences of the time. This was not a severe problem of the industry before the advent of multi-channel sound systems.
George Lucas’ Star Wars was one of the first films to feature multi-channel sound design and therefore it was more imperative to start from scratch when compiling sounds for the film. Similar to the familiarity that came with consistently sampling sounds, creating the sound for Star Wars from scratch from familiar objects gave the film a more credible sound. Layering different elements and finding the perfect balance to realistically portray the film’s environment is what helped Star Wars become the icon that it is today.
Sound sampling can be a grey area in all forms of media today. It can be a form a stealing and can lead to people making money off something they did not create. Because of Star Wars‘ ability to change the game of sound design it is not as big of a factor in regards to the film industry because now it is much simpler and effective to tailor sound specifically to a certain project than in years past.