Burtt’s film production career spanned thirty-five years, and included films such as Star Trek XI, WALL-E, the Indiana Jones franchise, E.T. and various Star Wars episodes. Burtt’s skills include: directing, producing, sound design, sound editing, editing, voicing and voice design in both motion pictures and television.

The video shows Burtt receiving the award from Abrams. “This gentlemen ended up one of my heroes,” said Abrams. “I first heard of Ben Burtt when in the eighties I saw a documentary about the making of Star Wars.”

“He became a hero of mine personally, not just as a fan, when we were working on Star Trek and we had a mix of the film and there were an amazing array of incredibly talented people working on the film. And we had a mix and the truth was that the mix, just for some reason, wasn’t working. And so…I asked if Ben Burtt might be available just to give us some perspective. And amazingly, he was, for this period of time. And I called Mr. Burtt and it was a like a rock star on the phone for me. And I got on the phone and I was nervous, and I was like so excited talking to Ben Burtt…And he was so kind and so nice and said he would come down and watch the film which he did.

Abrams went on to explain what advice Burtt gave him when he came down and saw the film and how to fix the problem. “Ben Burtt came in,” said Abrams, and he salvaged it [Star Trek XI]. And I realized that this man really does have visionary ears.

Ben Burtt Receives Charles S. Swartz Award from JJ Abrams from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Nominations have been announced for the Fourth annual HPA Awards and Star Trek XI was nominated for two awards, one for Outstanding Editing-Feature Film and one for Outstanding Compositing-Feature Film.

According to HPA President Leon Silverman, “Again this year, the fourth for the HPA Awards, we have been consistently impressed with the quality, skill and talent of the entrants. These awards honor those people who make the art happen, the collaborative partners throughout the creative process. It is no small accomplishment to take a vision, contribute to it, and make it reality. We are proud to present these nominees who make the magic real and we are grateful to the companies that support them, and who make their work possible.”

The HPA awards acknowledge creative and technical excellence in the art, science and craft of post production in twelve categories.

For the Outstanding Editing-Feature Film award, Star Trek XI goes up against The Hurt Locker and Slumdog Millionaire.

Star Trek XI will be competing for the Outstanding Compositing Award-Feature Film against Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Star Trek XI Sound Designer Ben Burtt will receive the Charles S. Swartz Award, which honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of post.

The Awards will be announced during a gala evening ceremony on November 12 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

The attention to detail when it came to the sound effects in the original series was something to be emulated according to Burtt. “Two things in the original Star Trek effects were revolutionary: Roddenberry had his team create lots of detail. Every room in the ship sounded different. Every button made a noise, when you pressed a lever or a switch. Not only were there sounds articulating all these things to make them sound like they were real, but they were very musical sounds. Somebody pressed a button, there was a little melody. That was not in the movie at the point I came on: you’d just hear a little beep. If it was Star Trek, it needed to sing a little bit and feel like it was alive.

“You really felt there was a complex operation going on and it was fun to listen to. The ships and the weapons and the ambiences of the places they went to were a form of music. When they went to planets there was always a tone going on, like a ringing bell, or chimes in echo. I tried to create sounds in that style.”

“The other thing that was used a lot in the original show a lot was shortwave radio recordings and sounds off of transmissions and Morse code, things you can pick up in-between the dials on a shortwave radio,” said Burtt. “I love that sort of thing and I’ve collected it for years. There’s some of that in the original Star Trek television show, and the whole beginning of the movie, that first minute or two where the Kelvin is coming into view, is all short wave radio sounds.”

There’s a purpose in using these special sounds. “It reads to the audience that you’re way the heck out at the edge of the universe, barely in contact,” said Burtt. “Things are far away: there’s these disembodied sounds that are being transmitted back and forth. That’s not the way the sound was, but I wanted to make it seem like the ships were way out there. They’re supposed to be encountering something new so I tried to capitalize on this legacy in science fiction of using radio.”

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