August issue of Wired magazine has an article on the sound of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, featuring Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn.
The pair decamped to their LA studio and fired up Pro Tools 9 and a range of plugins, including GRM Tools and SoundToys, to warp the pitch and speed of a variety of recordings. The slowed-down squeal of a faulty car window became a deep robo-growl, the gargling of a bent garden hose with its pitch altered became bleeping data-chatter, and a car door slamming became booming Transformer footsteps.
And for some of the robots’ more unusual noises, the team turned to the animal kingdom. “To make the buzzing that became Bumblebee’s signature sound, we actually caught a bee, put a microphone in a cup with him and let him buzz around,” says Van der Ryn, laughing. “Michael Bay really gave us free rein.” Other sonic contributors included Van der Ryn’s dog, and, in new instalment Transformers: Dark of the Moon, an elephant’s trumpet, slowed down to 20 per cent of its original speed, becomes the sound of an alien mothership.
More at Wired.