The world of Dune is a wild one. On any given day you’ve received clairvoyant sisterhoods poking your neck, large spicy worms, and Javier Bardem spitting in your flooring — and I haven’t even began on the actually bizarre stuff. Capturing the tone and taste of this eccentric setting isn’t straightforward, and whereas I’m not against getting a prolonged monologue from Virginia Madsen, the proper audio route can do a greater job of laying the groundwork for a sci-fi epic. And music has all the time performed an necessary position within the varied variations of Frank Herbert’s Dune universe throughout films, TV, and video games.
The soundtrack to David Lynch’s 1984 Dune adaptation includes a sweeping orchestral soundtrack by Toto. A particular look was additionally made by Brian Eno, who recorded the extra moody and haunting stuff. Dune is the one soundtrack Toto has ever labored on, and the way they got here to be concerned with the film is a for much longer story which you could learn extra about in A Masterpiece in Disarray (David Lynch’s Dune — An Oral Historical past).
The soundtrack for the ’84 movie is simply as epic as Hans Zimmer’s rating for the 2021 film, however takes a unique strategy. On the time, the work of James Horner and John Williams was dominating sci-fi on the field workplace, and the theme for the unique Dune film follows a equally bombastic strategy however avoids a few of the extra uplifting melodies (an specific request from Lynch).
Very like the film’s vibe itself, the rating for the unique is much groovier than the later variations, with a heavy reliance on synths punctuated with guitar riffs. The primary title suite appears like a rock opera model of “Experience of the Valkyries,” whereas the theme for Baron Harkonnen instantly evokes Mike Oldfield’s haunting “Tubular Bells.” Nonetheless, should you simply want the CliffsNotes, the rating is greatest summarized with the sci-fi rock ballad “Take My Hand,” which performs over the film’s closing credit and runs by the important thing actions within the rating in below three minutes.
Whereas Zimmer’s rating for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films is actually a drastic departure from Lynch’s movie, you possibly can nonetheless hear echoes of the ’84 soundtrack in it. Particularly, the observe “Stillsuits” pays direct homage to the opening measures of the primary title of the unique film. The rating isn’t an enormous departure from Zimmer’s work on a myriad of different blockbusters, however makes a better effort to really feel distinctive.
I’m a fairly large Hans Zimmer fan, and whereas a lot of his work is responsible of sounding a bit same-y, I’d argue his rating for the 2021 film Dune: Half One is a few of his greatest work. Zimmer’s id remains to be very current in Dune, with aggressive devices and percussion, however the rating locations a better emphasis on vocals and unconventional devices that sound otherworldly when layered collectively.
The rating for Dune: Half One is greatest described as very dry and really previous, due to its intentional use of woodwinds and hole percussion to convey not solely the arid surroundings of Dune, however its enigmatic ambiance as nicely. These phrases usually sound like a foul factor, however right here, it actually works. The deep, heavy rhythms from tracks like “Armada” and “Leaving Caladan” are probably the most paying homage to Zimmer’s earlier work. Nonetheless, it’s with tracks like “Sanctuary” and “Ripples within the Sand” the place these emotions of thriller and marvel actually manifest.
The soundtracks for the Dune video video games are an entire different can of sandworms, but it surely’s necessary to debate them as a result of they not solely occupy a essential place in online game historical past, however have been dealt with by a few of the most prolific composers within the gaming trade.
1992’s Dune 2: The Constructing of a Dynasty, by the now-defunct Westwood Studios, is maybe probably the most well-known recreation based mostly on the Dune franchise, and is continuously cited as the sport that popularized the real-time technique style. The soundtracks for Dune 2 and its 1998 remake Dune 2000 have been dealt with by Frank Klepacki, who was additionally accountable for scoring each entry within the legendary Command & Conquer franchise.
Klepacki’s work on Dune 2 was meant to emulate the soundtrack for the unique Dune journey recreation by Cryo Interactive. And whereas stable, the soundtrack undoubtedly bumps up in opposition to the technical limitations of manufacturing music for a recreation with a file dimension of below 5 MB. Nonetheless, when Klepacki revisited the traditional rating, he had the liberty to not solely remake increased constancy variations of his unique Dune 2 soundtrack, however inject them with homages to Toto’s work on the ‘84 Dune film. That is most obvious when listening to the Dune 2000 observe “Rise of Harkonnen,” which is a remastered model of Dune 2’s “Rulers of Arrakis,” with a gap that’s an efficient tribute to Toto’s Baron Harkonnen theme.
The latest Dune recreation title, Dune: Spice Wars, featured a soundtrack composed by Jesper Kyd, whose credit embrace work on franchises like Hitman, Murderer’s Creed, and Borderlands, to call just a few. Whereas Kyd hasn’t cited any particular inspirations for his Spice Wars soundtrack, the rating mirrors the fashion of the sport, borrowing ideas and themes from throughout the prevailing franchise with out sounding spinoff. The 2 hours of music options ambient, dreamlike tracks that echo the work of Brian Eno on the ‘84 Dune movie, whereas additionally together with rhythmic synth beats that may really feel acquainted to followers of the traditional Westwood titles.
Frank Herbert’s Dune was initially printed in 1965, and it’s exceptional that just about 60 years later — and throughout its spectrum of variations — each composition manages to evoke comparable emotions in its viewers. Whether or not it’s the appropriately epic work from Toto, the extra primal model produced by Hans Zimmer, or the stellar online game soundtracks, Dune has impressed a wealth of composers and musicians to offer a cohesive sense of id to Frank Herbert’s unusual and enigmatic universe.