Bringing Arrakis To Life – Composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen On Forging His Own Path In Dune: Awakening

Music in video games has come a long way since the 8-bit era. This isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of iconic video game soundtracks that have (sand)wormed their way into our ears despite only having a handful of digitized tones at their disposal. But, like most elements of video games, game music has evolved quite drastically, and no game in recent memory bears that legacy better than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dune: Awakening.

two statues brandishing swords over a desert sunset in dune awakening.

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With a sweeping sense of scale and a tone that’s both reminiscent and distinct of the Denis Villeneuve films, the score of Dune: Awakening is nothing short of epic in proportion. Traveling across the sands of Arrakis on a sandbike, while being pursued by grandfather worms, is an experience t🅺hat’s enhanced tremendously thanks to the delightfully captivating compositions created just for Awakening. Shortly after the game’s launch, I sat down𝓀 with composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen to discuss the creative boundaries of composing in the Dune universe, capturing the feel of the varied biomes of Arrakis, and the importance of organic sound in game compositions.

Welcome To Arrakis

A Fremen woman in a headwrap in Dune: Awakening.

Haugen was classically trained in composition, orchestration, and musicology. Despite his more traditional education, Haugen describes 💃a lifelong love of video games and his passion for the space. “I’ve always been interested in games and game music ever since I discovered them with my Commodore 64.”

In his last year in Oslo as a student, Haugen was approached by Funcom, the developeܫr for Dune: Awakening, which was readying to embark on the development of the first Conan game. The developer🎶 spoke to Haugen about collaborating on the forthcoming series. Years later, Funcom would approach Haugen again with an even bigger project - Dune: Awakening.

"We dis🐻covered what h🔯ad been done for the movies wasn’t that far removed from what I had done already."

“I was approached very early with this game back in 2020, before the movies came out. But we didn’t know what the movies would be like or what the music would be like for those,” Haugen tells me. Despite the Villeneuve films still being in production, Funcom was already deve✃loping a clearer picture of Arrakis and the world of Awakening, though Haugen was still relatively green to the world of Dune.

𝐆“I had seen the David Lynch movie,” Haugen jokes. “However, when I started, I was given the books, lots of concept art, and written ༺descriptions of places.” At the time, before Dune: Part One was even released, Haugen spent about half a year auditioning for Funcom, Legendary Entertainment, and Tencent, Funcom’s parent company, which were highly focused on creating a specific and clear vision for this new version of Arrakis.

I Recognize Your Footsteps

Knut Avenstroup Haugen in the studio for Dune: Awakening. — AIR Studios via White Bear PR

Midway through the development process, Haugen explains that the composition process faced a new challeng൩e. “We received the music from the films,” Haugen explains. “Obviously, we were worried that it could change everything. You don’t want to stray too far 𒁃away from that.”

Haugen describes the team’s trepidation in r🐼eceiving the score from the films. “If my music is too far away from the style of the films, then people might not be interested. The other thing that’s much worse is that you could get too close, and plagiarize, or copy. It’s a balancing act.”

“I wanted to put the orchestra more up-front, and give it that a🌄live feel."

Laudably composed by Hans Zimmer, the scores for both Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two are among some of the most iconic film scores of the last five years. Distinct, far more serious than previous film adaptations, and decidedly modern, Haugen and team had an interesting realization when it came 🃏to reviewing the film scores.

“The good thing that happened was that, luckily, we discovered what had been done for the movies wasn’t that far removed from what I had done already,” Haugen tells me. Arrakis is a distinct, iconic environment that’s had many different iterations over the years, but with guidance from Funcom and in immersing himself in the world of the Imperium, Haugen landed in a similar place a🤡s Zimmer, with plenty of room to take inspiration without directly referencing. The score was unique, and still distinctly Haugen’s, but not disconnected from the world of the films.

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Cultivating Desert Power

A player character stares at a glowing Fremen inscription in Dune: Awakening.

With the score in tow, Haugen elected to record with a laꦦrge orchestra at AIR Lyndhurst, a remodeled church revamped to serve as a unique recording space able to house a hefty number of musicians and vocalists.

Haugen describes the importance of recording in such a singular location for Awakening. “I wanted to put the orchestra more up-front, and give it that alive feel. There are lots of synthesizers and percussion, and other sound design elements. But the orchestra, I didn’t want it to be in the background. ﷽I wanted a more organic sound.”

If you haven’t yet played Dune: Awakening, the result of recording at AIR L♔yndhurst is easy to notice. The score of the game is grand in sܫcale, while also able to evoke a natural-sounding, effortless ambience that feels worthy of the world of Arrakis.

In discussing the result of both the lengthy development process, combined with the chance to reco𝓡rd the score in such an iconic space (Hans Zimmer also records most of his compositions at AIR Lyndhurst), Haugen emphasizes the importance of 🔯process over endgame. “The process is one thing, but the result is something else. The result being good or bad depends on whether or not the process has been good.”

Based on the results of the Dune: Awakening score, which somehow perfectly walks the line between being both evocative and additiv🌸e to Zimmer’s score, and the world of Dune as a whole, it’s easy to say that Haugen’s process was a good one. Whether or not more music is composed in the future for potential add-ons to Awakening is yet to be seen, but Haugen has definitively left his unique mark on this iconic piece of intellectual property.