While it certainly has a vast array of memorable visuals that stick with its fans, the sound of Dune is perhaps just as important and has just as much impact. The music of the franchise's film and game adaptations has become one of the defining features of the atmosphere they create, impacting how players and viewers alike experience the harsh deserts of Arrakis. However, when it comes to Dune: Awakening, there's more to the story behind the soundtrack than most players might expect.
In a recent interview with The Best War Games, Dune: Awakening composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen shared the story behind his approach to the game's music, how his process unfolded alongside the rise of the Dune films, and what it meant to find his own sound in a world already claimed by another composer. Fortunately, while Haugen might have found himself at odds with the work of legendary film composer Hans Zimmer, he was lucky enough to have been allowed to make something of his own with little pressure to imitate.
What 100 Hours of Dune: Awakening Solo Taught Me About Surviving on Arrakis
Dune: Awakening solo play is immersive and meditative, but 100 hours in, survival starts to feel like something far more isolating than empowering.
How Dune: Awakening's Composer Balanced His Own Voice With Hans Zimmer's Influence
Haugen Started Work on Dune: Awakening Before Dune (2021) Was Released
There's no denying the influence Hans Zimmer has had on the Dune franchise's sound after his work on the latest films. For many, Zimmer's work has become an essential part of Arrakis as the films continue to achieve success. However, Dune: Awakening composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen wasn't actually following Zimmer's lead. In fact, Haugen was already deep into forming the game's musical identity before the films ever arrived. As he explained:
"First of all, I started before, so I had to develop an identity before any of us had heard the music from the films. So then, I was quite nervous before I listened to the music for the first time, because if it was too far removed from what Zimmer was doing, people would say — well, Funcom included and Legendary and Tencent, they would all say, "No, this doesn't sound like Dune music anymore." Luckily, I wasn't too far away from what he had chosen to do."
Even though Haugen's music for Dune: Awakening sounded more like Zimmer's work than he expected, there was still a balancing act to consider. Players who were also fans of the Dune films would naturally hear the connection, of course, but Haugen still wanted to maintain his own voice. The challenge, then, was finding a space where he could do something unique without moving too far away from what fans now associate with the sound of Dune's Arrakis.
Haugen's Signature Differs From Zimmer's in a Unique Way
In the end, that led Haugen to lean even more into his own style, especially when it came to sound design, in order to distinguish his work. His creative process layered synthetic sounds with acoustic instruments in ways that gave Dune: Awakening's soundtrack a distinctive feel that still paid homage to Zimmer while sounding more like Haugen's signature. The composer continued:
"I can see that, in some places, my music is closer, more similar, and in other places it's more different, and I think there are many things that are very different. I do a lot of sound design and there is a lot of treatment of sounds, like acoustic instruments that I manipulate the sounds for and process the sounds. And I also do the same with the synthesizer sounds. There's a lot of layering, both of synthetic sounds and also live sounds with synthesizers. I combine them to create new sounds, things like that. There's a lot of that and Hans Zimmer also does a lot of that."
One thing Haugen stressed was his emphasis on the melodic. Whereas Zimmer typically relies more on ambient sounds that can fill a room, Haugen feels his trademark in the Dune space consists of melodies that stand out more explicitly. In addition to these melodies, Haugen feels his preference for the orchestral would put him on a different ladder from Zimmer's usual work, with celli and vocal soloists front and center of Dune: Awakening's sound. He concluded:
"And another thing I think sets me apart from the scores of the films is that I use a lot of melody. I write very long melodies. There are melodies in Dune: Awakening that go on for a minute, long melodic lines in the strings, for example, or in the vocals, which is quite different from what you will hear in the movies. There are lots of motifs, but you don't hear the same long melodies. Also, I put the orchestra a bit more front and center, to emphasize that the celli in the orchestra, they play these long lines, and I wanted to be able to hear that clearly. And the same with the soloists, like the singers."
Even with these distinctions, Haugen made it clear that his intentions with Dune: Awakening's score were never to outrun Zimmer's influence on the IP, only to not follow it. Dune: Awakening's soundtrack still carries a sound that feels true to the Arrakis of the Dune films, all while creating a space where it can be heard and understood separately.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Survival, MMO
