18 More Things You Didn't Know About The Terminator
9. How The Sound Effects Were Created
The famous Terminator soundtrack was composed by Brad Fiedel. Using a synthesiser, Fiedel created a music piece that represents, in his own words, "a mechanical man and his heartbeat".
It's bizarre how the most iconic moment from the music isn't a tune or a lyric... but a clanging sound. As crazy as that sounds, it's even crazier how this clank was achieved. Fiedel performed this noise by bonking a microphone with a cast iron skillet. Just to be clear, one of the most iconic beats in music was created with a frying pan. Let that sink in a for a moment.
But that's not the only iconic sound Fiedel performed for the movie. The roar that the Terminator makes when it is squashed in the hydraulic press was achieved by Fiedel and his friends shouting into a microphone and then playing synth over it to make it sound more electronic.
Brad Fiedel went on to work on many other action films like True Lies, Johnny Mnemonic, and of course, Terminator 2. He retired in 2013 but it's safe to say his name will always be synonymous with the Terminator franchise.