{"id":3380,"date":"2014-05-21T22:31:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T11:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/videoandfilmmaker.com\/wp\/?p=3380"},"modified":"2014-10-02T18:51:44","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T07:51:44","slug":"godzilla-roar-shook-cinema-sound-designing-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videoandfilmmaker.com\/wp\/features\/godzilla-roar-shook-cinema-sound-designing-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Godzilla and the Roar that Shook Cinema \u2013 Sound Designing an Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 1954 Godzilla has been stomping his way through cinema, with the first of the ‘Kauji’ creature films Gojira<\/strong><\/em> (1954) being directed by Ishir\u014d Honda. The classic monster flick was re-released two years later as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!<\/strong><\/em> (1956) with Canadian actor Raymond Burr spliced into the edit to make the film palatable to western audiences. The creature feature has been filmed 28 more times since then, with the latest reboot ‘demolishing’ this year box office records taking close to US$100 million in it’s opening weekend.<\/p>\n

Story by Nicole Boyd<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Gareth Edwards<\/strong> had his work cut out for him revamping the franchise; particularly that<\/em> roar, along with creating a truly ‘smashing’ (last of the puns) sound design in Dolby Atmos\u00a0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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‘Godzilla’ (1954) with director Ishir\u014d Honda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The sound department\u00a0 consisted of Academy Award\u00ae nominated sound specialist Erik Aadahl<\/strong> as lead the designer, along with two-time Academy Award\u00ae winner Ethan Van der Ryn<\/strong> (supervising), Academy Award\u00ae winner Gregg Landaker<\/strong> (sound effects), Academy Award nominated Rick Kline<\/strong> (music mix), and Tim LeBlanc<\/strong> (dialogue). The team mixed the Dolby Atmos version of Godzilla<\/i> at Warner Bros. Stage 10 in Burbank, California.<\/p>\n

“I think that the Godzilla roar probably tops the King Kong roar in terms of iconic-ness,”<\/em> Van der Ryn says.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy Legendary Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The monster’s original roar was created by Akira Ifukube<\/strong> who used a leather glove (coated in pine-tar resin) wiping it slowly across the strings of a double bass guitar to create the iconic sound effect . Van der Ryn and Aadahl tried experimenting with Ifukube’s technique but only found their Godzilla’s voice after six months and many layers of experimentation.<\/p>\n

The duo are fiercely secretive about the final sound’s creation, telling news radio NPR<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“I think more so than any other sound effect we’ve designed, we have a certain protectiveness over that sound. It’s when you’re giving voice to something, you’re giving it its soul. And if we tell everybody exactly how we did it, people will think of that when they hear the roar, and we want them to think of Godzilla,”<\/em> Aadahl says.<\/p>\n

“We actually were sworn to take it to our graves with us,”<\/em> Van der Ryn adds.<\/p>\n