Sound Designers Behind Obi-Wan Kenobi Break Down the Audio In Series Climactic Showdown

Bonnie Wild and Matthew Wood, sound designers behind Obi-Wan Kenobi, spoke to Variety about the battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader at the end of the series and what it was like creating the audio for that momentous scene. Some of the highlights from the discussion include how the team created Darth Vader's voice when his helmet shattered and how they wanted to honor the legacy of the Star Wars soundscape.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzpSqoqsLuU



In the Obi-Wan Kenobi behind-the-scenes video produced by Variety (provided above), Matthew Wood describes how they made Vader's voice when part of his face is exposed by the cracked helmet. When describing the goal of that scene, Wood emphasized the humanity of the moment and the challenge of mixing Hayden's voice with the robotic sounds of Darth Vader:

Wood also emphasized how the team worked on making sure Darth Vader's breathing noise sounds fragile and broken at the end of the fight. While Darth Vader's broken breathing sounds were created previously for Return of the Jedi, they also needed to be updated for newer technology:

Bonnie Wild also elaborated on the unique opportunity and challenges of creating sounds for Star Wars. Wild describes it as requiring a delicate sense of 'balance:'

Matthew Wood also echoed similar sentiments about how the audio team wanted to preserve and uphold the work done by those from the past:

Both Bonnie Wild and Matthew Wood are nominated for Emmys for their work not only on Obi-Wan Kenobi, but also for season 3 of The Mandalorian. They have now also finished work on Ahsoka.



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