He really put the “baby” in “Baby Yoda.”
There’s no doubt that Baby Yoda was the standout star the Star Wars franchise’s The Mandalorian series last year. The little green creature looked equal parts gremlin (like OG Yoda) and adorable (like an actual baby), but there’s one detail about the character, who is canonically named The Child, that was made to be a little more human than animal. Oscar-nominated sound editors David Acord and Matthew Wood worked on The Mandalorian and were responsible for conceptualizing Baby Yoda’s vocalization. Though Acord and Wood intended to have him sound like the kind creature that could be found in the wild, they ultimately had to go in a different direction.
“I was recording animals at this wildlife rescue outside San Diego,” Acord told The Hollywood Reporter. “Two the animals I recorded had this really cute, almost childlike quality to them. One was a bat-eared fox and one is a kinkajou.” Baby Yoda’s initial voice was made up these two animals’ natural sounds, but creator Jon Favreau “thought that they needed to be more human-sounding or something a little more relatable.” So, Acord and Wood made some adjustments. “We dialed way back on the animal part, and now that’s just there for little grunts and coos and purring. We used some real baby vocals for when he] gets really fussy and that kind thing.” Acord even contributed to the creation Baby Yoda’s voice himself. “I have some my own vocal in there, too, for more the articulated vocalizations, pitched way up. So it’s a combination things.”
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