EPTAnybody else excited about the new star wars being released? I have been forcing my girlfriend to watch the whole series, we are going to start Episode V today, the Empire Strikes back. It isn' t a surprise that her prejudice towards the star wars saga dissapeared after watching the first hour of film; What can i say? its the power of the force
There is obviously a big debate wheter Disney will be able to provide an epic and up to class new series; i have seen the preview and it doesn' t say anything about the story, but the graphics look cool. I for one am less concerned, as they kept John Williams to do the soundtrack. It couldn' t be otherwise. Being the master, with 40 years of feature films under his belt, and Star Wars is the only film he has worked on video game wise too. Star wars The old Republic, a WOW like game, is the only rpg i played, cause the music is so spectacular.
This new star wars will create a new series of challanges. Sound-wise, a lot of work has always historically been done on star wars. For R2D2, a sound mixer was given unlimited budget to create a language for the persona (aka astro-Droid). This here is a translator http://www.r2d2translator.com/
Machines and starships pose their own challange too. This last part is all done for cinematic effect, as you may or may not know, Sound does not travel in outer space. THERE IS NO SOUND TO BE HEARD. What i' m saying is that, even do objects and things will make sounds, the sound does not find a medium trought which it can propellate vibrations and so travel and be heard by the human ear.
Imagine a rocket being launched into outer space. The noise it makes is phenomenal. But in outer space, even do it makes that noise, no-one would be able to hear it, since sound is vibration, and vibration does not move in outer space.
It needs an atmosphere, such as Air, water or metal. Sound travelles trought metal faster, and trought water slower, than air. You can see this in old western films, when bandits or Indians put there ear on the railroad track to "hear" when the train is going to arrive.
See here this comparative table: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/sound-speed-solids-d_713.html
Here is a fun test: http://www.focus.it/ambiente/animali/verso-degli-animali
You hear the sound that the animal makes and then you have to match it to the animal proposed. Sorry i cannot find something similar in English
There are other experements you can do, by yourself or with others. The one i propose is this: DO a task that you have repeatedly done for years, months or at least Weeks. Assuming it won' t be dangerous, do it with your eyes closed, take notes of what sounds you hear, and write them down. You would be surpirsed at the amount of different things happening;
This is because your ears, like your eyes become saturated and used to different sounds. When you are talking to a parent, close friend or girlfriend/boyfriend, a fraction of a second can pass and without seeying or knowing they are there, you will recognize them. If instead you are talking to someone you have heard once or up to 5 times before, it will take longer to associate that person to that sound.
Lets talk now about comunication beetwen people. When speaking, or lecturing, taking breaks after long sentences or key concepts allows the listener to really intake what they are hearing. If the person is Drooning on, on the other hand, the listener will lose focus and attention, and most likely stop councious listening.
The tone, pace, and feeling transmitted are as important as the thing that is being said.
Salesmen use this to the great effect, as well as people in politics, tv or an everyday conversation.
Evolution has provided with sytems to insure that humas survive, even on a sound level. For example, the loudness of a baby crying, is because it is unable to provide for itself, and by making itself be heard so loudly, most likely it will draw attention to its needs.
Our ears are an incredible structure, that modern technology can only try to replicate to its best.
And what about sounds we cannot hear? commonly called ultra-sounds, we cannot hear them with our ears because the vibration amount is too high or too low to pick up. But our body is still invested with that vibration, so in a kinestetic way, we do hear those sounds too.
Think about an Earthquake, if you have ever been under one (hopefully not). your body full on hears and maybe fears the vibration of the earth moving; the cycle per minute are so low that its possible not to hear it with your ears. But your body will.
On the higher range, Bats and dogs and some sea animals can hear a wider range than we can. To send away a bat, it is sufficent to produce a low continues hum pointing in its direction. This breaks the ultrasound that a bat send out to point pin his location, kinda like a gps. If the bat gets no response, or the response is a low hum, the bat will not identify what is in that area, so it will move away from it, just as people move away from sounds they do not identify.
SO yeah, this was supposed to be a blog about Star wars and it turned into sound conversation.
I hope it Sounds good to you, and that everything is safe and sound. Hear me out on this last thing.
Every single person has a unique voice, like we have unique finger prints.
You can devolve into this documentary if you want to know more about music troughout the ages. Its a very long series but entertaining hopefully
+ Show Spoiler +
