My Epic Journey Scoring Dune: Awakening: Giving Arrakis a Voice and Finding My Sound

Man, oh man. Let me tell you, stepping into the shoes of the composer for Dune: Awakening was like trying to hold the entire desert planet of Arrakis in my hands, feeling the sand slip through my fingers while a freakin' sandworm was breathing down my neck. It was, hands down, the most challenging and exhilarating gig of my career. Forget just adding background noise; my mission was to give Arrakis itself a voice. I wanted the music to be the planet—warm, ancient, filled with gritty, swirling sand, and echoing with the profound sadness of the Fremen and a history that's been lost to time. This wasn't about hitting specific notes; it was about capturing a feeling, a vibe so deep you could almost taste the spice in the air. Talk about pressure, but man, was it a wild ride.

When I first got the call back in 2020, I was pretty green, to be honest. My knowledge of Dune was basically the trippy David Lynch film and that legendary failed Jodorowsky project (I mean, Giger designing the Harkonnens? My mind was blown!). So, I dove headfirst into Frank Herbert's books. It was a ton of reading, but it was crucial. It wasn't about finding a direct musical translation, but about letting that deep lore soak into my bones and change how I thought about everything. It let me go way beyond the superficial and get to the soul of this universe.

The Dune Sound Dilemma: Honoring Legacy vs. Finding My Own Path 😅

Here's the kicker: I started composing before the new Denis Villeneuve movies came out. I had to develop the entire musical language and concept for Arrakis in a vacuum. I was sweating bullets when I finally heard Hans Zimmer's score for the first film. I was like, "Oh boy, if I'm miles off, everyone—Funcom, Legendary, the fans—is gonna say 'This ain't Dune, bro!'" Talk about walking a tightrope! You can't get too close, or it's plagiarism. You can't stray too far, or it loses that essential Dune DNA. Luckily, my instincts weren't too far off the mark.

My approach was a wild mix of old and new, organic and synthetic:

• Vintage Synth Love: I went full 70s/80s with my synthesizers. Think Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream. I love that visceral, imperfect, textured sound. It feels alive, like a real instrument that's never the same twice. Using arpeggiators and processing sounds to death was my jam.

• Melody is King: This is a big one where I diverge. I write long, expressive melodies—lines that can go on for a minute in the strings or vocals. While the films use fantastic motifs, I wanted to give the orchestra and soloists room to sing and tell a story. Melody conveys emotions that pure soundscape just can't touch.

• The "Less is More" Mantra: Translating the vast, epic scale of Arrakis into music isn't about throwing 100 instruments at it. It's about slow movement and sounds that stretch across the entire frequency spectrum. Sometimes, it's just strings and a single synth pad. It creates tension and space, which is everything in a survival game. I learned this the hard way early in my career—you think you need to go big to justify your paycheck, but restraint is truly powerful.

Confronting the Sandworm: Crafting Pure Terror 🐛

Players keep asking me about the sandworm theme—that explosive, unsettling synth blast that hits when you're out in the open desert. Dude, I love that people are freaked out by it! That was the whole point! I actually created three distinct themes for the worm:

1. The Emergence Theme: A distorted, growing sound with a choir, like the music itself is erupting from the ground. It had to be HUGE.

2. The Threat Theme: A more menacing, driving piece for when the worm is barreling toward you. Pure adrenaline.

3. The Approach Cue: A rhythmic, percussive synth track meant to play at the first sign of trouble. (To be 100% real, I'm not even sure if this one made it into the final game, but I know the other two did!)

Magic Moments and Production on Another Level ✨

Picking a favorite track is like picking a favorite child—impossible! But there were some transcendent moments in the studio that I'll never forget.

• The Vocalist, Clara: When she sent me the recordings for "Sayyadina's Lament," I was floored. She took my notes and created something organic, floating, and utterly un-notatable. It transcended the written music and elevated it to another plane entirely. Chills, man. Absolute chills.

• The London Orchestra: These musicians were next-level brilliant. They played exactly what I wrote, but better—that's the dream! They were so efficient we ended up recording 50% more music than planned. It was a composer's paradise.

• Welcome to Arrakis: This track was my crazy experiment—a full orchestra, a rock band with drum kit and electric bass, and layers of synths all mashed together. Hearing it all coalesce into one coherent, powerful song was incredibly satisfying. For this one, we even recorded two orchestras on top of each other to get that massive sound.

The production for Dune: Awakening was unlike anything I'd done before. It wasn't just about writing and recording; I was deep in the mix, hands-on with every production technique. We recorded elements separately, planned everything down to the note. The result isn't just an orchestra in a hall; it's a crafted, modern, cinematic soundscape that feels incredibly solid.

My Hopes for the Players and What's Next 🙏

So, what do I hope you all take away from this score? Two simple things:

1. That you keep the music ON. Seriously, the best compliment I've gotten is hearing from Funcom that players are hitting 100, even 150 hours in-game with the soundtrack still playing. That means the music is working as an integral part of the experience, not just background noise you mute. That's the ultimate win for any game composer.

2. That the music stands on its own. I hope you can put on the 90-minute album (cut down from over 5 hours of in-game music, by the way—that was painful!) and just enjoy the journey, even without your ornithopter nearby.

As for the future? Hell yeah, I'd jump at the chance to dive back into the Dune universe. Working with Funcom has been an absolute blast. The game just launched, so we're all still catching our breath, but who knows what the future holds? The spice must flow, and hopefully, so will the music. Until then, see you on the sands of Arrakis. Don't forget to listen for the worm.