Reprinted from The Hollywood Reporter by Carolyn Giardina on August 29, 2020.
Supervising Sound Editor Matthew Taylor describes the Star Trek spinoff [“Picard”] as a journey through “many soundscapes, both physical and psychological — physical in that the heroes experience new locations, technologies and languages. Psychological in creating the worlds of our characters’ minds as they experience nightmares, grief, horror and doubt.”Futuristic technology needed unique sound, as did the La Sirena ship. The sound team incorporated the noise of an electric motorcycle combined with electromagnetic recordings of a Dremel rotary tool powering up and down. Another key sound was the inactive Borg Cube vessel. “When inside the research section of the inactive cube, it needed to sound full of unassimilated organic life, a contrast to a Borg Cube. Yet the cube was still menacing, a threat and, to some … revered,” Taylor relates. “[Sound Designer] Tim Farrell’s manipulated recordings of St. Peter’s Basilica was a fun element that contributed to a sense of the cube’s size. Also, parts of the cube walls would shift or reform. Dominoes and wood tiles were recorded and manipulated to help build the constant shape-shifting. And lastly, phrases such as ‘Resistance is futile’ and ‘We are Borg’ were recorded and manipulated to form subtle and foreboding textures when Picard finds himself isolated in the cube.” …
