Why is Dune's Score Like That?

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the throat singing on the sardaukar planet was so dope

The fact this movie exists, as it really is, with more than 300M worldwide, going into the pop culture as it should, is by itself a monumental achievement.

Watching this in IMAX with Dolby was singlehandedly the most bone-jarring cinematic experience of my life

It's really interesting how Zimmer made something that was memorable without being hum-able. It does lend itself to the exotic nature of the film and Villeneuve's directorial style as a whole.

The scene with the Bene Gesseret ship landing and taking off was SUPER impactful due to the music, the whispering voices and made my heart beat crazy.

I went to watch Dune with no previous knowledge of it. I knew basically nothing, just that it was a Sci-Fi movie. And, up to this day, I think that it was one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had before. I remember being over the edge of my seat as the movie finished and, just as the credits started to roll in, I found myself amazed with he score and cinematography. I cannot wait to watch the sequel!

The reason Duncan Idaho has his own theme music is that far into the book series, he plays a very major role.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention anything about the Harkonnen motif being a tritone! THE most sinister interval. Not only that, but the Arrakis motifs frequently use semitones. This gives the impression of the Harkonnen motif as an inversion, using the tones in the “wrong” direction. They took Arrakis and twisted it for their own needs, and their motif is similarly twisted.

The Sardaukan theme was so sick. Its shows how ruthless they are

The 'Leaving Caladan' track, that if I remember correctly, starts as the ship breaches the water and ends as Paul looks off at the Caladan sunset - to me that crescendo of bagpipe-like sounds and pounding drums really sold the score to me early on. I thought that was an incredibly powerful moment that would've felt MUCH different without such a dynamic musical backdrop.

DUNE and its score is a masterpiece, but you’re point on how the music takes away space to breathe is 100% accurate. I as an audience member felt quite literally as if I couldn’t fully breath in, with all those low frequencies pressing onto my ears. Would have loved to just hear the wind in the desert and enjoy some authentic sound design in the more quiet moments.

Zimmer is such a genius. His pieces always double the depth and emotion already portrayed by the acting and visuals

This was such a fascinating analysis. I did not notice the mixing of motifs/themes like in the example w/ the Atreides and Bene Gesserit tracks you pointed out. That detail of Paul's theme slowly changing from the "Atreides" sounds to the "Fremen" sounds blew me away. One of my favorite things about the score and sound design is that while they made an effort to make the film sound like something "out of this world", it also uses a lot of traditional/folk music elements - choirs, throat singing, bagpipes - which all evoke the old Earth. IMO this is perfect for Dune, a story set so far into the future yet so deeply tied to humanity's past and present. I am a bit disappointed we didn't get any super-memorable melodies like in some of Zimmer's other works but I can live with it. That could always change in the next film. God am I enamored by this film. I need to see it again. And again.

The score was just so amazing. I felt sucked into the world, and because it was constantly playing, it seemed like I was in a trance after an hour or so. The themes were so subtle and yet so effective. They felt very intuitive and my brain could understand the meaning without having to study motifs and such. Which I think is the perfect way for a score to work.

I don't know why, but the score actually made me shiver, and it was hard for me to breathe. I don't think I was ever this immersed in a movie before

Highly creative people coming together creating something mesmerising is such a crazy thing to witness. I'm simultaneously in awe and annoyed I wasn't part of it

Credit to Lisa Gerrard needs to be recognized. Some music fans might have thought "wow he's getting into Dead Can Dance territory here," especially on pieces like "Paul's Dream" and "Gom Jabbar" that feature mystical belt-it-out chants and wails. There's a reason for that: it actually is Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard on the soundtrack. “There was an amazing commitment from vocalist Lisa Gerrard, who was in Australia, and I kept torturing her and she came up with this language that is all her own," Zimmer told Indiewire. "It could be from the future, it could be from a different world. And there was this linguist [David Peterson from ‘Game of Thrones’] on the movie, who invented a language, and I picked things that would sing well.” Gerrard, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Suzanne Waters, and others were part of a choir of singers led by Loire Cotler.

watching the movie in an imax theater, the sheer volume was unsettling. After the sandstorm scene we felt like we'd been in a tumble-drier full of sand. I do agree that the use of sound would have been more effective if there had been a few more moments of quiet and respite for contrast.

Coming out of the cinema after watching Dune, I was left a bit "disappointed" that I wasn't humming to myself the main theme, as has happened to, I think, everybody after watching LotR or Harry Potter. Now, thanks to this video, I understand why and can appreciate the complexity behind this choice