Academy Award winner Ben Burtt spoke at a Celebration 2016 seminar, “The Magic of Sound,” last Friday where he recounted career episodes, anecdotes in Hollywood filmmaking, the history of sounds, and discoveries and theories of sound and editing in motion pictures.

Imagine Star Wars without the hum of the lightsaber or the mighty roar of Chewbacca. Think about E.T. and his voice or Indiana Jones without his whip cracking and the crashes of adventure. Without Burtt none of these iconic movie sounds would have been created.

“As a kid, I spent hours listening to movies on my tape recorder,” said Burtt in the foreword of “The Sounds of Star Wars.” “I could vividly relive a movie by letting the dialogue, sound effects and music trigger my imagination. Sound made the experience interactive and more emotionally involving for me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but all this audio ‘daydreaming’ was training me for a career as a sound designer.”

Burtt, often called “the father of modern sound design,” graduated from the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in film production. He was recommended by a professor to work on George Lucas’ “Star Wars.” Burtt got to work on the film and began to reinvent the science fiction movie sounds.

Burtt took his inspiration from organic sources like animal cries to car tires and even the sound of his wife breathing. This incorporation of everyday sounds with synthesized noises made Burtt’s sounds unique and memorable.

Since his original success with “Star Wars,” Burtt has gone on to produce effects for all the “Star Wars” movies, “Indiana Jones,” and “Wall-E,” among others.

Burtt has won four Academy Awards for Sound Editing as well as Golden Reel and BAFTA film awards for sound effects.