Hidden in the hills north of the Golden Gate Bridge is the legendary Skywalker Ranch, and there, in what is known as the Technical Building, is Skywalker Sound. Step inside their central machine room and you’ll find over 80 Mac Pros daisy chained together, this network of computing power linked by wires and cables to the editing bays, mixing rooms, and foley studios where the cinematic sound for over 200 projects a year is created.

On Star Wars Day, 2022 – May the 4th — we quite literally took audiences behind the scenes with Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound, a nearly 17 minute long documentary that shines a spotlight on the pairing of Apple computers with sound genius, the result being decades of movie moments that connect us all.

A learning journey into a world most have never seen or imagined, we sit viewers alongside the sound magicians who, in their own words, capture raw sound, bend it, break it, and mix it down from 1,000 tracks into singular iconic soundscapes. Along the way you meet artists you’ve never heard of, but whose art you instantly recognize as part of the cultural soundtrack of our times. The AT-AT’s stomp – that’s Randy Thom. The Mandalorian’s ship plummeting through low atmosphere – that’s Bonnie Wild. Maverick’s jet flying by at mach 2 – that’s Al Nelson.

Overbrimming with infectious enthusiasm and unmatched passion, capturing the inspiring intersection of creativity and creativity-enhancing technology, this film just might convince more than one or two of its 8.8 million viewers to take a shot at making the iconic sounds of the next generation. Because we at Apple have always believed that if you give people wonderful tools they’ll make wonderful things. And what could be more wonderful than the sounds of an entire galaxy?