Gaia
25th June 2011, 23:55
The bizarre musical instruments behind classic scifi movie sounds.
Some of the strangest sounds in scifi movies and television come out of equally strange musical instruments. Here are three weird instruments you've probably never seen, but have almost definitely heard before.
The Waterphone :
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The video up top is of a waterphone. If you've seen a science fiction or horror movie in the last fifty years, then the dissonant sounds of the waterphone are almost guaranteed to have sent shivers down your spine at one point or another. Invented by Richard Waters in the late 1960s, the waterphone has been used in film scores and sound effects in movies as diverse as Poltergeist, The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And it's easy to hear why; this thing could seriously score your nightmares.
The Theremin :
As recognizable as the waterphone is, if you really want to talk about an instrument's ubiquity in science fiction cinema and televison, look no further than the theremin. The theremin's invention predates the waterphone's by about 40 years, which means it came into being just in time for some of the earliest scifi flicks. One of the wildest things about the theremin is that it is played without any form of physical contact; rather, the musician controls the pitch and volume of the theremin by moving his or her hands closer or further away from the instrument's two metal antennae's, as demonstrated in the video above.
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The Blaster Beam :
The blaster beam is something of an instrumental version of Frankenstein's monster. The thing is absolutely enormous measuring up to 18 feet in length and is made of aluminum, bronze strings, and moveable electric guitar pickups. It can be played with a bow, a mallet, or as the video on the left demonstrates old artillery shells. Its inventor calls the blaster beam's sound "Rich," which I imagine is an adjective only the blaster beam's creator could think of to describe this behemoth. Then again, at a concert in New York City's Central Park back in the 90's, the beam's jarring twang was reported to have brought several audience members to the point of orgasm. How very rich, indeed ?
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Bonus: The sound-source of Jango Fett's Seismic Charge ? The "Sound" in Star Trek is not a "Sound effect", it is actually part of Jerry Goldsmith's music score, it's created by a musical instrument called "The Blaster Beam"
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Hope you enjoy !
Gaia
Some of the strangest sounds in scifi movies and television come out of equally strange musical instruments. Here are three weird instruments you've probably never seen, but have almost definitely heard before.
The Waterphone :
Q9u0WkL4c10
The video up top is of a waterphone. If you've seen a science fiction or horror movie in the last fifty years, then the dissonant sounds of the waterphone are almost guaranteed to have sent shivers down your spine at one point or another. Invented by Richard Waters in the late 1960s, the waterphone has been used in film scores and sound effects in movies as diverse as Poltergeist, The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And it's easy to hear why; this thing could seriously score your nightmares.
The Theremin :
As recognizable as the waterphone is, if you really want to talk about an instrument's ubiquity in science fiction cinema and televison, look no further than the theremin. The theremin's invention predates the waterphone's by about 40 years, which means it came into being just in time for some of the earliest scifi flicks. One of the wildest things about the theremin is that it is played without any form of physical contact; rather, the musician controls the pitch and volume of the theremin by moving his or her hands closer or further away from the instrument's two metal antennae's, as demonstrated in the video above.
cd4jvtAr8JM
The Blaster Beam :
The blaster beam is something of an instrumental version of Frankenstein's monster. The thing is absolutely enormous measuring up to 18 feet in length and is made of aluminum, bronze strings, and moveable electric guitar pickups. It can be played with a bow, a mallet, or as the video on the left demonstrates old artillery shells. Its inventor calls the blaster beam's sound "Rich," which I imagine is an adjective only the blaster beam's creator could think of to describe this behemoth. Then again, at a concert in New York City's Central Park back in the 90's, the beam's jarring twang was reported to have brought several audience members to the point of orgasm. How very rich, indeed ?
bPimk6y1-JI
Bonus: The sound-source of Jango Fett's Seismic Charge ? The "Sound" in Star Trek is not a "Sound effect", it is actually part of Jerry Goldsmith's music score, it's created by a musical instrument called "The Blaster Beam"
yAEoZ-dJjZ4
Hope you enjoy !
Gaia