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Sound Design of Terminator 2
From: Filmsound.org
Date: September, 1991
By: Gary Rydstrom
Hyperrealistic sounds
Gary Rydstrom: In Terminator 2 Cameron's approach to sound was 'hyperrealistic'. Everything had to be so much
bigger than life. Every sound effect in Terminator 2 had to sound like it was injected with testosterone,
it had to be inflated to unworldly possibilities.
It is hard because when you get the mix, you have one sound after the other which you have designed from
the beginning to be the largest sound ever heard. The challenge turned out be more in the mixing than
the creation. You have the dialogue, the music and larger than life sound effects thrown together. James
Cameron really shaped the mix. He had a very distinctive idea of how he wanted to feuture music and effects
in each scene. He saw things in terms of rhythm.
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Voice-type sounds
Gary Rydstrom likes sounds that have a vocal characteristic. He loves real-life sounds that have the
same emotional envelope a voice does. He says that there are so many sounds in real life -squeals,
squeeks, and air hisses- that reminds him of a voice. Gary Rydstrom likes sweetening non-voice events
with voice-type sounds to give them intelligence and resonance.
The transformation of T-1000
Gary Rydstrom: My first instinct was to put a goopy mud, liquid sound to the transformation of T-1000.
It would sound very low tech and I did not want that. So my first attemps at transforming metal were very
musical, taking a violin string bow and sliding and sliding it across different pieces of metal and coming
up with very rich tones that evolved. It was a very beautiful sound, but it just did not fit for the
director James Cameron.
There is a definable moment when the sound you are making just snaps onto the film and meshes with what it
is representing. It had not happening yet. I was making too etheral a sound. So I went back to record back
recording liquid effects, but I tried to record them in a unique way.
Metallic, evolving quality
For the transformation sounds Rydstrom was spraying Dust-Off into a flour and water mixture, with a
condom-sealed mic stuck in the goo. The Dust-Off would make huge goopy bubbles. The moment the bubble is
forming, it has this sound that is similar to a cuppucino maker or a milk steamer. The slowly forming
bubble has a metallic quality to it. It also had an evolving quality. The sound seemed to fit because it
had beginning and an end.
T-1000 passing through steel
The basic element of the sound of T-1000 passing through steel bars is nothing more than dog food being
slowly sucked out of a can.
Bullets hitting T-1000
For the sound of the bullets hitting T-1000 Rydstrom slammed an inverted glass into a bucket of yoghurt,
getting a hard edge to accompany the goop.
The sound of the molten pit
Gary Rydstrom: I wanted a deep sound of something huge and hot, the high sizzle of something hot and the
liquidy goop of something you could splash. That was made by compressed air into a lot of mud, but there
were also boiling sounds which have been pitched way down.
Key sounds in T2 is metal
Gary Rydstrom: We did a lot of banging in all sorts of metal. The archive building at Skywalker Ranch
was still under construction, all the girders were exposed. We recorded banging on big long girders in
various ways so they would really resonate. I mixed together different piches of metal hits until they
were matched and sounded like one metal hit. You would get the deep thud with a high ring-out. Some of
the girder sounds were used for the rolling I-beam used to smash the Terminator.
The wind in the opening scene
The sound of the wind in the opening scene comes from a crack of an open door to main mix room at
Skywalker sound.
The sound of the crushed skull
The sound of the crushed skull is actually a pistachio beeing crunched by a metal plate.
The silence and small sounds
When the Cyberdyne building blows up - when the big explosion of the building is preceded just by a
long period of silence and the clic of the detonator.
When Arnold shoots the frozen T-1000 in the steel mill, all background ambiences fades out in the split
second before the gun goes off.
When Arnold flies on Harley, the engine, the music, everything cuts out until he lands.
Foley (a sound effects technique for synchronous effects or live effects)
All the incedential movements have been replaced as the leather creaks on the Terminator jacket, the
buckle clinks, and the footsteps etc.
Shining moment of foley is when Sarah is getting out of her straps in her hospital bed. She takes
the paper clip, spits it out, it lands on the bed, she puts it in the buckle, she gets out of her
strap, and she uses the paper clip to pick the lock of the door. The whole scene is nothing but
Foley and music. And a lot of the tension is coming from focusing in on those little sounds from
Foley, the paper clip into the
tumblers of the lock.
ADR ('Automated' or 'Automatic' Dialog Replacement)
70% of the diaglogue and most of the breathing is ADR.
OSCAR 1991 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Best Sound:
Tom Johnson, Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers and Lee Orloff.
Best Sound Effects Editing:
Gary Rydstrom and Gloria S. Borders
Sound goofs
- Sarah is barefoot, but it sounds like she is wearing shoes.
- The bullets come out of the minigun the Terminator fires through Cyberdyne's window faster
than the sound.
- During a chase scene, the T-800 (on a Harley) passes in front of a Honda CRX that honks at
him, but the sound is not that of a Honda CRX horn.
- After the helicopter pilot jumps out, the door slams shut. The T1000 reaches over and shuts
it again.
- John's bike's throttle sound doesn't match the throttle action.
- John's bike has a four-stroke engine, but sounds like a two-stroke.
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Last modified: Feb 04 2008
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