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A Visit to
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Lucasfilm's Skywalker Ranch
September 18, 2002
Written by Steven Simon
As home theater and movie enthusiasts, the one place on this very earth that has a special place in all of our hearts has to be Skywalker Ranch. Up until today, this facility has been spoken in such high regard, and only a place where industry people are granted access. A group of ten Home Theater Forum participants were granted access to the inner sanctum of the spectacular property George Lucas has created. We were cordially invited and sponsored through a company called Atlantic Technology. For those of you unfamiliar with AT, they produce award winning THX Ultra Certified home theater speakers. Through our affiliation with Peter Tribeman, President of Atlantic, we were introduced to John Dahl of THX. John is the Corporate Brands manager of THX. John was the person who arranged for our tour to take place, as well as our primary tour guide of the ranch as well as the THX facility.
Picture By Ronald Epstein, From left to right, Patrick Sun, Gregg Loewen, Robert A. Fowkes, Parker Clack, Dan Brecher,
Bill Hunt, Steve Simon, Frank Anderson Robert Crawford
So on September 18, 2002, we ventured into the hills of Marin County Ca, to visit the 6000 acre property of Skywalker Ranch. We arrived on the property around 12:00pm in the afternoon, and were met by THX representatives and asked to follow there cars up to the actual ranch. We took a ten minute drive through curvy and mountainside roads, and eventually came across the front gate to the Ranch. Much to our surprise, there were no markings on the gate other than the number 5858. Once through the gate, and security checkpoint, we proceeded past the Skywalker Ranch Fire and Rescue Buildings. We couldn’t believe that they have their very own Fire department. We then proceeded to the tech building’s rear parking lot, and were greeted by John Dahl of THX. John gave us a lengthy and informative background history of the ranch, and its lineage over the years. We then proceeded into the tech building, where we were given an excellent lunch for around 30 minutes.
Now this is where the fun begins. After lunch we were brought up to there analog sound mixing studio, and treated to an excellent conversation with the stages leading sound engineer. The conversation spanned from info such as DVD Audio and SACD mixing to appropriate channel placement in soundtracks and even speaker placement . We were then led into the enormous sound recording stage, which was supposedly one of the largest in the world. With hardwood floors and the most advanced acoustical layout you could ever imagine, this room produces the most dead calm, silent room for recording audio. One could hear a pin drop from 100 feet across the room if so desired. All 10 of us concurred that the rooms acoustics were so dead silent that we all had ringing in our ears while in the room from lack of ambient sounds.
From there we were brought into the reference Stag Theater. This theater is used for screening purposes, and had a technical layout of the most ingenious theater ever built. It seemed to fit around 300 seats, and also had acoustic properties to die for. One item that floored me was the surround speaker arrays were covered with acoustical fabrics, and never seen. John Dahl then gave us the technical specs of the theater, which included an explanation of how every speaker in the theater had power amps for each individual driver within that speaker as well as how THX specifications apply to all the facets of this monstrosity. Talk about sparing no expense. We were then off to briefly visit 2 of their professional Multi Channel Sound Mixing Theaters. These rooms were also acoustically built for sonic perfection, but were built on a smaller scale. These rooms are used to engineer the sound mix for films spanning from low budget movies, to George Lucas’s very own Star Wars films. We learned that many different studios rent out these theaters for there final sound mixing. One such film that was just completed in one of the theaters we were located in was none other than “The Two Towers” the second installment in directors Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. One could gather that Skywalker Sound contracts the best of the best when it comes to audio mixing.
After seeing the Audio mixing theaters, we walked through what seemed to be the front door of the ranch, and was delighted to see some of the most lush vegetation and scenic landscapes one could ever lay there eyes on. We were standing right in the middle of the Wine Vineyards, and could smell the fresh vegetation of the fields in the air. Directly in front us was a pristine body of water called Ewok Lake. Then to our left in the distance was a gorgeous colonial looking White House. We took a nice walk through the Vineyards, and toward the White House. As we drew closer to the White House, its beauty became larger than life.
Lynne Hale on right of Lucasfilm stands in front of the White House
R.A.F (Robert A. Fowkes) stands in front of the stunning Pain Glass Windows of the White House
Waiting for us in front of the white house, was none other than Lynne Hale of Lucasfilm. Lynne is the Publicity Director for Lucasfilm, and is said to be one of the close people to George Lucas himself. Lynne then gave us a warm felt history on the White House, and then gave us a tour of the inside of the compound. We walked through large stained glass doors, into a house that gleamed of history and nostalgia. Large wooden staircases and intricate hand carved woodworking’s were what seemed to be a major them of the house.
Dan Brecher stands in front of the Idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark
We walked through a few hallways, and up to showcases that had a few original movie props from Star Wars, and Indiana Jones films. Such items were Darth Maul’s Duel Light Saber, as well as some other original light sabers. The original miniature models of the X-Wings, and AT-AT walkers were also in the case. Directly across from this Star Wars themed showcase was an Indiana Jones Showcase. Such original items were the Holy Grail, Idol, and Medallion from the Indi movies. The group came away from this particular area of the house just star struck. We were all in awe of these small, but significant pieces of film history.
Parker Clack Looks up at the Dome Ceiling of the Library
We were then treated to what I felt was the most spectacular room in the entire house, the Library. The side walls of the library were lined with books, and a mouth dropping hand carved spiral staircase led up to the second floor of this eye popping room. Perhaps one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life was the Lit Dome cathedral ceiling at the top of the Library. It was painted numerous colors, and just seemed to glow radiantly. This centerpiece gave the entire library an aura that I just can’t describe. It made the room. We then concluded the tour and were led out of the house. My lasting impression was this was better than the White House in Washington D.C. John Dahl continued the tour and we proceeded to the Skywalker Studio store, where most of us just showered ourselves with exclusive Lucasfilm and Skywalker Ranch apparel. From there we were led back to the tech building’s parking lot and headed back to the THX offices.
Lake Ewok
To finish our day off, John gave us a walkthrough of the THX facility, were they do brand licensing and certifications. We were shown many hardware related items bearing the THX Ultra Certified logos, and then shown there own little sound proofed studio. This studio is used to take measurements on products and gain technical data on licensee’s gear. We were then delighted to find out that THX is now doing certification of Car Stereo Systems. We were shown an exclusive prototype Sport Utility vehicle put out by Ford. Inside, the technicians of THX were working on the audio system, implementing there own set of THX specifications, bettering the trucks audio system performance. Finally John let us peek into one of there reference theaters were they do evaluation of hardware items such as speakers and receivers and sound processors. This room is used to duplicate the HT environment, and is the testing ground for many THX certified home theater products.
John Dahl red shirt talks with the some of the group regarding THX Certified Hardware
In conclusion, this tour was technically and visually inspiring for the entire group. We learned of what truly goes on in the inside walls of the ranch. Going in, many of us had certain expectations of what we were going to see, and what this tour would mean to us. I can speak for the entire group in saying we came out of the tour with our expectations just blown off the chart. George Lucas truly is a genius at what he does. This property that he has constructed is a true testament of his greatness and his creativity just exudes out of the walls of the complex.
From Left to Right Top Row, Robert Crawford, Bill Hunt, Robert Fowkes, Dan Brecher, Frank Anderson, Bottom Row Patrick Sun, Parker Clack, Ronald Epstein, Steve Simon, Gregg Loewen
We would personally like to thank Peter Tribeman of Atlantic Technology, a person who was directly responsible for this tour taking place, John Dahl of THX for setting up the tour for us, and being an ever so gracious guide through out the day. A special thanks to all the employees of Lucasfilm, who took the time out of there busy day, to explain to us what it is they do on a daily basis.
Steve Simon
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