Dune Awakening - The Sound of Arrakis Soundtrack Behind-The-Scenes Video - video Dailymotion

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00:00The most important thing music lends to a game is the emotional part, and this is something

00:20music does better than any other thing.

00:30Sound is 50% of the experience, you can play a game without sound, but sound will convey

00:36the emotions that we have written and planned for, it connects the unconnected.

00:50We are approaching launch, and I'm here in London to watch the beautiful soundtrack

00:57being recorded at Eyre Lindhurst.

01:00It's been in my mind since the very beginning that we have to try and record this at Eyre.

01:11The sound of the hall is, in my mind, it's the best place in the world to record, and

01:15also the sense of scale that it lends to a production like this is exactly what we need.

01:21It gives us this huge sound that we cannot achieve anywhere else.

01:26The other thing that is equally important is the level of the musicians here.

01:32It's a level of perfection that you don't really encounter very much.

01:36Being there and hearing the songs has been a fantastic experience, I'm looking forward

01:40to get all this great music into the game.

01:45When Aril first approached me with this project, he said it was Dune, and I got very inspired

01:52to work.

01:53I could see so many things that we could do with the music.

01:56It is always a bit of a challenge to work on something that other people have worked

02:01on before you.

02:02Hans Zimmer's score from the films is spectacular music, and you have to take that into consideration

02:09when you're working on the same IP.

02:11Knud is particularly interesting.

02:14He has great anthemic songs, and it was natural for me to get in touch with him when we started

02:19this project.

02:20So we experimented quite a bit in the beginning.

02:25The Dune books, there is fantastic lore.

02:28It's an established universe in every way, but it also has these limitations.

02:34There's no computers, there's no gunpowder in the world, it's not the typical digital

02:42sci-fi slick soundscape you're used to in many games.

02:46In the game, you can be anyone you like, you can belong to any faction, so there are very

02:51few areas and situations in the game that are purely Atreides, purely Harkonnen, purely

03:00Fremen.

03:01So, you have to approach it in a different way.

03:06Knud is a classical composer.

03:08He composes for orchestra, but we started out experimenting with synthesizers, and that

03:13was a really fun exercise to see what he would come up with.

03:16We definitely wanted these heavy synths, broken up brass, and huge arcing strings.

03:23Arrakis is just a huge, open landscape.

03:27Ice cold at night, burning hot at day, you're alone as a player, and we really needed the

03:32music to fit and work with the landscapes.

03:36We came up with pillars for what we wanted to achieve.

03:40One of the pillars we wanted to use was flow, which means how sound needs to flow over time,

03:47not be too intrusive.

03:49The next pillar was information.

03:52Information is very important to players, and sound plays a big part of that.

03:55The last pillar is evocation.

03:57We want to evoke feelings with our sound design.

04:01From the very beginning, we decided that the music should be written in D.

04:07D because it's very practical to write in, with everything recorded in the same tempo,

04:14in the same key.

04:15We have different parts, we have different layers.

04:18Suddenly, we have endless possibilities for variation.

04:24The deliveries from Knud are delivered in stems, which are interchangeable and layered,

04:30so we can play around with it and adapt naturally to any situation.

04:38What we might start with is ambient music, supporting the normal game scenario, a player

04:43walking around, maybe building, doing survival gameplay, just beautiful music to support

04:50the visuals.

04:51Then, suddenly, a war might appear, or you might be attacked by a terrible scavenger.

04:58We need the music to change fast.

05:01We have a traditional adaptive music system, where we use horizontal layering, vertical

05:06layering, to do that.

05:13On this project, I've been able to do a lot of creative things with the music that I haven't

05:18been able to really work with before.

05:21It allowed me to step out of the box of traditional orchestral thinking, and explore a much bigger

05:29musical world.

05:35Windsack is an interesting track.

05:38The vocalist is very central here.

05:41The singer in this track, she represents Mother Arrakis, the voice of Arrakis.

05:47She's the voice of the desert.

05:49It doesn't become music before you put a human in there, and that human makes it music.

06:00And every now and then, you meet a performer that can really elevate your music and your

06:08intentions.

06:09You just feel in awe.

06:11It's like a religious experience.

06:14It's just there.

06:15You cannot really imagine how you could write it down, because you can't.

06:19You cannot write this down.

06:21You rely on someone that can actually bring it to life.

06:27We are extremely happy that we were able to do this here, and with these people.

06:32The musicians are such a high level, that you cannot really get that anywhere else.

06:39It's been an amazing experience, and it's elevating our game to a different level.

06:51In terms of iconic sounds, we try to do what we think is right, and you never know what

06:56will become iconic.

06:57It can be a small sound, it can be a UI sound, reminding you of a sandstorm approaching.

07:01There's the worms, which are maybe the most iconic part of the books.

07:06It's been very interesting to work with these worms, and try to come up with our own soundscape

07:10for them.

07:12In the books, they are described, I mean, sound-wise, as just hiss.

07:16Hiss of sand.

07:18What you will hear when a worm approaches, is you might hear your vehicle shaking, your

07:24building shaking.

07:25Sandworms are divine environmental creatures, not monsters.

07:31They will breach through the ground, and make huge, breathy screams, but still we try

07:36not to make them too monster-like.

07:45Sound is increasingly important in this type of games, and in general today, I think it's

07:50more respected than ever.

07:51You have the technical aspects, where sound needs to convey information.

07:56Sound design can tell you what's inside a box, what's the technology behind this.

08:01We want players to be able to close their eyes, and just listen to the soundscape, and

08:05the wind, and what's going on, to understand where they are.

08:09Whether it's in Sheol, which is a radioactive area, the Red Desert, which is known as Vermilion's

08:15Gap, or the opening area, Hagerbass in the South.

08:19It's truly wonderful to work with sound, and have a great team to work with, and such an

08:23amazing IPS dude to explore.

08:32The most important function of music in visual media is to lend emotion to the visuals, and

08:39this is something music does better than any other thing.

08:43Another very important function of the music is to create a sense of time and space.

08:48What it does for the game, is that it helps transport the player into a new universe,

08:54to a strange new world, to the world of Dune, to Arrakis.

Dune Awakening - The Sound of Arrakis Soundtrack Behind-The-Scenes Video

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