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Doug Grindstaff, 'Star Trek' Sound Effects Maestro, Dies At 87 (hollywoodreporter.com)
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.
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
There is even an (poor) YouTube interview with its creator.
THX Deep Note with Dr. Andy Moorer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
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Mojang (makers of Minecraft) have gone full SJW retard
"Riding" digital pixels such as pig, horse, dolphin, in a video game is animal cruelty???
*double facepalm*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcOiNBp1J68
If the sound effected the Maestro so much, he just keels over.
He also won an Emmy for sound editing on Max Headroom, in 1987. Specifically based on the Blipverts pilot episode, which I watch all the time, as it's my favorite hour of TV ever made. Going to watch it again now. RIP Doug, and thanks!
How about provide a link that people can actually listen to instead of an Amazon must-pay-to-listen?
The original series
Or for fans of TNG: Youtube ST TNG background sounds
Go visit My Noise website or for Android. There are a lot of OTHER noises there as well.
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 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.)
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
How much of a terrible, terrible, untalented mediocre hack Roddenberry was. The sounds on Star Trek (pretty much all series) are everywhere. 5 minutes on the command bridge would have drive anyone crazy. Compare this with real aircraft and spacecraft that have feedback exactly when and where you need it. He couldn't write worth crap and he stole the better ideas from the best SF writers of the era. The man was a disgrace (and a sexual predator and serial molester too).
The cabin doorbell from Next Generation makes a great "new text" sound.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
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.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
... the M-5 multitronic unit sound effect on infinite loop.
Some of these claims are not true. If you watch and listen to other shows from the '60s you'll hear many of the sounds that Star Trek used on them.
Phasers are the most notable. The reference to "transporter materialization (and dematerialization)." is another one. Off the top of my head I can't remember which show(s) used this. Lost in Space perhaps but I remember hearing this sound in a non-sci-fi show that pre-dated Star Trek and thought it was funny how it was transformed into a 'transporter' sound effect.
But on the flipside, RIP. He was still an innovator that we respect and have enjoyed his creations.
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_
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way