Sounds Used to Create The Millennium Falcon’s Hyperdrive

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One of the most iconic sounds from the original Star Wars trilogy was the sound of the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive... failing. A fascinating 1980 interview has surfaced online thanks to Eyes on Cinema. It features sound designer Ben Burtt breaking down the various elements used to create the Falcon’s failure in The Empire Strikes Back. There were eight sounds combined to give us that effect, but the video only identifies five of them, and those include:

• The inertia starter of an old 1928 biplane
• An air jet recorded in a dentist’s office
• The sound of an arclight motor starting and stopping
• The sound of a motor located in the turret of an armored tank
• Pipes underneath a broken sink in the bathroom at the recording studio

You can listen to the sounds below in the video. I’ve also included a clip of one of the scenes where the hyperdrive fails. I wonder if we will be hearing this sound from Han's bucket of bolts in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Also watch: "Fantastic 10-minute SFX documentary w/ Sound Designer Ben Burtt on Star Wars, Indy, E.T. & more!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWiuKNPqkko The 'comical' sounds that make the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive malfunction, as demonstrated by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt in this 1980 clip.

While not as popular as the Wilhelm Scream, this hyperdrive failure noise shows up in a few places after its initial use in The Empire Strikes back.