Make your own Star Wars Lightsaber Sound Effects

Take a swing at these 11 electrical-style whooshing sounds intended for use as lightsword sound effects in movies and games – royalty-free.

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These sounds are all original, royalty-free and high-quality, having been made in 24-bit, 48kHz resolution for professional video projects. You can get your direct link below after entering your email address in the form.

Using Krotos Studio to create your own Lightsaber sounds

If you’re a sound designer always on the lookout for high-quality sound assets to expand your library, Krotos Studio is here to help. Krotos Studio contains a plethora of commonly sought-after sounds, from ambient soundscapes to isolated foley recordings.

Krotos Studio can be run as a standalone application, or from within your favoured editing software. The free trial gives instant access to 14 base presets, including the Lightsword sound, which we’ll be using for the following tutorial.

Step 1: Open Krotos Studio

Once you’ve installed the software, go ahead and open it up. Then, navigate to the Lightsword preset under the Whoosh category.

Step 2: Record your lightsaber sound

Now that you’ve opened the Lightsword preset, you’ll be able to modify the settings to customise your desired sound. 

The two main controls are the XY matrices. The left-hand side one controls the whoosh of the sound from left to right in the stereo field, and the right-hand side one alters the sound mix between a more crackly lightsaber to a more humming-sounding lightsaber.

You also have the toggleable Quick FX menu at the bottom, allowing you to add EQ filtering and different reverbs to your sound. This is great if you want to design your lightsaber to sound as if it’s housed in different environments.

Step 3: Export your sound file

After you’ve experimented with the settings and are ready to record your lightsaber noise, you can go ahead and export it directly into your editing software’s timeline, or into a folder on your computer for later use.

You’ll notice each time you trigger the lightsaber sound, the software begins recording a fresh take. Feel free to take as many tries as you like, and once you’re happy, you can click and drag the recording from the Drag Recording panel.

And now you have been armed with the force, young Jedi! Congratulations, you’ve made your very own custom lightsaber turn on sound effect.

The great thing about Krotos Studio is that you have complete creative control over each recording instance of your sounds. This means you can record for as long as you wish and tailor your settings differently each time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHnI7zsy8C0

Check out the above Savage Blitz preset, also included in the Whoosh category within Krotos Studio. Signing up to the premium version of the software will give you instant access to this preset and many, many more.

How can you create your own on-screen lightsaber?

We’ve probably all seen some of those gimmicky internet recreations of famous movies by this point and some of them have been hilariously made with an extremely low budget on purpose for comedic effect. Just check out the clip below to see what we mean. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re definitely in for a good giggle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG5eWR56cYU

But, unless you’re intentionally going for a cheap, plastic lightsaber with sound and light toy and tacky Halloween costume design, how can you create an immersive and realistic on-screen lightsaber experience?

It’s actually not as hard as it looks, and with the advanced technology and abundance of YouTube tutorials available to us today, you should be able to make a pretty impressive lightsaber battle scene in no time. You just need to invest in the essentials and learn an online visual effects tutorial in a program like Adobe After Effects or Blender. 

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Check out Crossbow Productions’ Blender tutorial below and peep their intro cutscene for a good preview of what’s possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwMkA5NTvwA

Another thing that’s important to consider with the lightsaber sound design for your on-screen battle is the different types of sound you’ll need. For example, our Krotos Studio tutorial earlier in this article only results in a lightsaber turn on sound effect. 

If you’re making a duel between a Sith Lord and Jedi Knight, you’ll also need to include some lightsaber clash sound effects, as well as many other variations that might apply. You can find a wide variety of lightsaber sounds you’re likely to need in our free sample pack attached to this article. 

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The top 3 best Star Wars lightsaber battles

The Star Wars films are widely regarded as some of the best pieces of cinema of all time (well… the original trilogy certainly are). With that being said, we’ve compiled a quick top 3 of our favourite lightsaber battles from the Star Wars universe.

3. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo__6MZIg6U

Despite the initial negative reception of The Phantom Menace (Star Wars: Episode I), we did get introduced to two of the series’ best characters of all time: Qui-Gon Jinn, played by the legendary Liam Neeson, and the evil Sith assassin, Darth Maul, played by Ray Park.There’s something about Darth Maul’s sinister design and dual-bladed lightsaber that makes him a fan-favourite villain, even though he certainly has some tough competitors in the Star Wars saga. The battle between these two is a sight to behold, especially with the involvement of our young Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi.

2. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLheiLGZ1k8

One of the most iconic movie scenes of all time, and in tough competition for the top spot, we have Luke Skywalker’s battle with Darth Vader, who (spoiler alert) reveals to Luke he’s actually his father (but we’re sure you knew that already).

Even though the cinematography is outdated by today’s standards, this scene alone cements the entire series in legendary status. The calm and monotonous, yet seemingly sinister Darth Vader voice of James Earl Jones, combined with the fear-inducing breathing sounds, gives Lord Vader a truly corrupted and power-driven aura, making him a striking villain and ferocious opponent.

Anakin Skywalker Versus Obi-Wan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3OtoO5zjjU

This scene has also gone down as one of the most famous from the entire saga and has even subjected itself to a barrage of online memes. Episode III: Revenge of The Sith was the redemption fans wanted, after the harsh criticism of the previous two prequel entries.

After we’ve journeyed with Anakin Skywalker from being labelled as the chosen young boy with outstanding Jedi potential, we see him take a dark turn and side with Emperor Palpatine on the dark side. This closing battle between two best friends turned enemies was the perfect finale of the prequel trilogy and it sure pulled on most fans’ heartstrings.