Dune I – Trailer

For this trailer, I worked on an extensive set of sound design elements, both punchy hits to match visuals and more subtle textures to help the music appear and disappear smoothly.

I ended up creating a huge number of custom modular and software synth patches. I don’t think I’ve ever made this many for a single project before.

When I took on this project, I had no clue what Dune was. I hadn’t read the book, didn’t know about the David Lynch adaptation from 1984, and had no idea Hans Zimmer was scoring the film. I hadn’t heard any music. I just knew it was an ambitious production and that it needed to feel different. I discovered the story as I worked on my parts, went deeper into the project, and got completely hooked.

The sequences I received were stunning, especially the scene between Paul Atreides and the Bene Gesserit. That one really got to me. It felt like it captured the spirit of the entire film in just a few lines. I synced my first sound experiments to that moment just to see if I was heading in the right direction.

Technically, I used the Moog filter obsessively, especially the MF-101S plugin version, which I ran in tons of instances. Another tool I leaned on heavily was Snap Heap from Kilohearts. It’s a powerful effect rack system that lets you build complex chains and automate them using macros. I created dozens of custom patches for this one.

On the hardware side, I used the Access Virus TI2 and Mutable Instruments Plaits the most. On the software side, PhasePlant was a big part of the process, and of course, Radium to design everything.

This is one of those projects I’d happily return to. It was inspiring in every way.