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"All the main design and editorial machines were equipped with Diamond bundles,” says Matthew Wood, Sound Editor for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Matthew Wood, Supervising Sound Editor for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, has been in the news discussing his role as the voice of General Grievous, as well as showing fans at Star Wars conventions around the world how he used Waves UltraPitch to create the villain’s ominous voice.
A veteran of the Star Wars series, Matthew joined Skywalker Sound in 1991, and within two years had won an Emmy Award and a Cinema Audio Society Award for his work on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. By 1997, Matthew had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In 2000, he took home a Golden Reel for Best Sound Editing, Animated Feature for Titan A.E. Along the way, Matthew has pioneered entirely new methods for sound editing. For Episode III, sound design, sound editing, and mixing were unified under a single non-linear operating platform, a feat never before attempted on a major film. As a true innovator in the world of digital audio, Matthew has long been a fan of Waves. We caught up with him recently to ask about his work on Episode III.
Tell us how you came to use Waves UltraPitch to create the voice of General Grievous. We knew Grievous was to be part biological and part machine, thus George [Lucas] seemed to be leaning towards a deep and ominous voice. We auditioned several actors, putting them all through the same process. Chris Scarabosio (our Dialogue Mixer/Editor) and I started by using some of the other pitch programs out there but found the interface and response of UltraPitch to be much more satisfying. You see the pitch change coming in real-time and can set the threshold accordingly, getting interesting modulation on the bottom end.
What other Waves plug-ins did you find yourself using on Episode III? The IR Reverbs were used extensively for creating spaces. All the main design and editorial machines were equipped with Diamond bundles, which have everything and the kitchen sink.
Can you give us examples of using Waves we can listen for when watching the movie? General Grievous was used both IR and UltraPitch. Also the transformation of Palpatine into Sidious used UltraPitch. MaxxBass was put to the task for some of the space battles.
Do you have a tip or technique for using a particular Waves plug-in that you can offer to Waves users? Practice on RTAS. L1 and C4 are your friend when you are hitting the wall. Don't forget that all the Q series EQ's will retain their settings if you need to add another band...wicked! | 
