Doug Grindstaff, 'Star Trek' Sound Effects Maestro, Dies At 87 (hollywoodreporter.com) 36
Doug Grindstaff, a five-time Emmy Award winner behind Star Trek's Tribble coos, communicator beeps, and Enterprise bridge door whooshes, has died at 87. The Hollywood Reporter looks back at Grindstaff's contributions to the Star Trek universe: [Grindstaff] received 14 Emmy nominations in all -- including one for Star Trek in 1967 -- and won for his editing on The Immortal in 1970, Medical Story in 1976, Police Story in 1978, Power in 1980 and Max Headroom in 1987. Working with Jack Finlay and Joseph Sorokin, Grindstaff created the background sounds and effects used on NBC's Star Trek. These sounds included red alert klaxons, the whoosh of Enterprise bridge doors opening/closing, heartbeats, boatswain whistles, sickbay scanners and communicator beeps and the acoustics that invoked phasers striking deflector shields and transporter materialization (and dematerialization).
In a 2016 interview for the Audible Range blog, Grindstaff noted that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry "wanted to paint the whole show [with sound] like you were painting a picture. "And he wanted sounds everywhere. One time I asked him, 'Don't you think we're getting too cartoony?' Because I felt it should be a little more dignified, but he wanted sound for everything. For example, I worked on one scene where [Dr. McCoy] is giving someone a shot. Gene says, 'Doug, I'm missing one thing. The doctor injects him and I don't hear the shot.' I said, 'You wouldn't hear a shot, Gene.' He said, 'No, no, this is Star Trek, we want a sound for it.' "So I turned around to the mixing panel and said, 'Do you guys have an air compressor?' And they did. I fired up the air compressor, squirted it for a long enough period by the mic, went upstairs, played with it a little bit and then put it in the show. And Gene loved it. So, that's how Gene was. He didn't miss nothing!" Grindstaff said he created Tribble coos by manipulating the sound of a dove.
In a 2016 interview for the Audible Range blog, Grindstaff noted that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry "wanted to paint the whole show [with sound] like you were painting a picture. "And he wanted sounds everywhere. One time I asked him, 'Don't you think we're getting too cartoony?' Because I felt it should be a little more dignified, but he wanted sound for everything. For example, I worked on one scene where [Dr. McCoy] is giving someone a shot. Gene says, 'Doug, I'm missing one thing. The doctor injects him and I don't hear the shot.' I said, 'You wouldn't hear a shot, Gene.' He said, 'No, no, this is Star Trek, we want a sound for it.' "So I turned around to the mixing panel and said, 'Do you guys have an air compressor?' And they did. I fired up the air compressor, squirted it for a long enough period by the mic, went upstairs, played with it a little bit and then put it in the show. And Gene loved it. So, that's how Gene was. He didn't miss nothing!" Grindstaff said he created Tribble coos by manipulating the sound of a dove.
Now this is the /. I remember! (Score:5, Insightful)
I had always wondered if the foley sounds for Tribbles were doves. Thanks for the confirmation / details! THIS type of article is the ones I remember from /.'s days of yore.
Any other resources for how (modern) SFX are created? I know Indianna Jones' whipcrack is a bit of a trade secret but recently THX sheet music for "Deep Note" sound was shared [gizmodo.com]
There is even an (poor) YouTube interview with its creator.
THX Deep Note with Dr. Andy Moorer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
--
Mojang (makers of Minecraft) have gone full SJW retard [twitter.com]
"Riding" digital pixels such as pig, horse, dolphin, in a video game is animal cruelty???
*double facepalm*
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My favorite sound effect, if you can call it that, is the creepy sort of buzzing V'Ger sound in TMP. You hear it by itself around 2:15 in the Klingon battle theme [youtube.com] and a few other times in that piece. It's also used elsewhere in TMP and I believe once in TWOK. It's made with a huge instrument called a blaster beam and has a very dark, large, and creepy sound to it. Roddenberry-era (TOS & early TNG) era had great sound effects and incidental music. Grindstaff's sounds and Alexander Courage's scores w
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Thanks for the YouTube link.
Wow! That's an VERY interesting bit of music trivia. That "Spaced" track is from 1969 too! It lasts a little longer, but dam, that THX version [youtube.com] was _definitely_ inspired / ripped-it-off! That's pretty cool you know Paul Beaver too.
Interestingly enough Iannis Xenakis's 1953 song "Metastasis" @0:30 [youtu.be] has a similar, but slightly different glissando. I wonder if Paul Beaver knew about it?
It is almost comical to see a phrase of music become popular 14 (or 30) years later. Shame that
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The Beaver and Krause soundtrack is available on Google Play and thanks to having a subscription, I'm listening to it right now. It's a really cool and eclectic collection of music.
Interestingly enough, there's a piece called "Aurora Hominis", which is just a slightly altered version of Strauss' "Thus Spake Zarathustra".
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It's from Harrison's personal media collection...
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THIS type of article is the ones I remember from /.'s days of yore.
...
Mojang (makers of Minecraft) have gone full SJW retard
Do I even need to explain it?
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Given that this is a Star Trek-related thread, here's something [imgur.com] to enhance your last sentence (SFW).
THX deep note predecessor. (Score:2)
The "several voices wandering pseudorandomly within a narrowing envelope converging on a note" thing has a predecessor:
Krzysztof Penderecki used (I think he originated) the technique in his 1960 _Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima_
Max Headroom Emmy (Score:4, Interesting)
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and now, we're way further into the future than a mere 20 minutes....
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It wasn't based on a pilot, it was based on a short film from the UK. Great film, one of the best pieces ever made. But not a pilot for that crappy American TV show with the really awesome sound effects and trailer.
As I was a child I had no idea about the film, but the advertisements for the TV show made it appear to be the best thing ever. But it was so bad, nobody knew anything about it other than the sound effects! But those sound effects could be heard being massacred in the school cafeteria every day.
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samples (Score:2)
The original series [youtube.com]
Or for fans of TNG: Youtube ST TNG background sounds [youtube.com]
It's not "Real Star Trek" noise, but... (Score:3)
We moved to an open-office space a few years ago. I was occasionally going NUTS with all of the background babble. At times I needed to solve a problem but all I could hear is my next door neighbor talking -- I guess NOT trying to listen made it even worse. I purchased noise-canceling headphones and when I just had to concentrate they went on. Nice, icy, cool quiet.
Here [mynoise.net] is an alternative that would have helped cover it up. Voices not saying anything, but still covering up the actual ones that ARE.
RIP Doug, you were one of the unsung heros of Star Trek. Thanks for your work. (I just wish you hadn't made those Daleks so screechy-annoying.)
I use one every day (Score:2)
The cabin doorbell from Next Generation [mediacollege.com] makes a great "new text" sound.
Cool (Score:2)
The one sound effect in Trek I hate though is the beyooooop of a ship flying by in TMP era thru Voyager, also of a ship leaving by warp.
The quiet shush of TOS was no great thing, but it was better than that. The current sounds are like something a kid might make.
Meditation is... (Score:2)
... the M-5 multitronic unit sound effect on infinite loop.