We are joined by Mark Mangini, Theo Green and Dave Whitehead to talk about their work on the new Denis Villeneuve film, DUNE. They talk about designing the sounds for the personal shields, Ornithopters, the ambiences of all the planets and the sand worm! Plus lots, lots more.
Here is a fun video that elaborates on the Red Squirrel story told in this episode:
If you want to hear more from Mark Mangini check out his previous appearances on Tonebenders in the following episodes 068, 100, 167.
Also make an effort to be sure you hear Dave Whitehead’s previous time on Tonebenders, it is frequently mentioned as a listener favourite episode.
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Also a massive, herculean “Thanks” to Floian Ardelean, who edited and mixed this episode. It was a monster task to take on and he did a fantastic job. Please look him up or give him a follow! Florian is a field recordist, sound designer and re-recording mixer based in Bucharest, Romania. You can hear more of his work on his website, FlorianArdelean.com, connect with him on Twitter at @FlorianArdelean or on LinkedIn as Florian Titus Ardelean. Thanks again so much!
The Following is a lightly edited and repaired, AI generated transcript of Tonebenders episode 177 The Sound of Dune. Please excuse any typos or translation mistakes made by the algorithm .
Tim Muirhead/Host
Mark Mangini/Sound Supervisor and Sound Designer on Dune
Theo Green/Sound Supervisor and Sound Designer on Dune
Dave Whitehead/Sound Designer on Dune
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Tim – Hello and welcome to Tonebenders. I’m your host today, Timothy Muirhead, and I’m very excited for today’s talk about the sound design of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. It’s an epic film in every way imaginable. And one of it’s standout strengths is the sound of the film.
And today, we’re blessed to have three people from the sound team with us. First up, Mark Mangini, who is the supervising sound editor and sound designer on Dune. He’s a five time Oscar nominee for films like Blade Runner 2049, The Fifth Element, as well as an Oscar win from one of my all time faves, Mad Max, Fury Road. This is his fourth appearance on Tonebenders for a general for a general rundown of his career. You can check out episode 68 and you can hear one of my favorite episodes in episode 169, where Mark hashes out the best and worst of audio tropes used in film sound. That was a really fun one. Welcome back to the show, Mark.
Mark – Thank You it’s an honour to be back Tim.
Tim – Oh, wow. Thank you. Also joining us today is Theo Green, who was a supervising sound editor and sound designer on Dune. He also worked with Marc on the soundtrack to Blade Runner 2049. This is his first appearance on Tone Benders. It’s great to meet you, Theo.. How are you doing?
Theo – It’s great to meet you. Thanks for having me on.
Tim – The third in the trio is Dave Whitehead, the sound designer on Dune. You’ve heard his work on previous films like Arrival, District 9 and in the Lord of the Rings films. His first appearance on Tonebenders was eight years ago in our Episode 27. He also sent us a great message for our one hundredth episode. Welcome back to the show, Dave. It’s great to hear your voice and see you again. Thanks for joining us.
Dave – Kia ora everyone.
Tim – Excellent. So let’s talk about Dune. I was lucky enough to see this film at the Toronto International Film Festival. Denis Villeneuve was there and did a talk afterwards. And I left the film on a high just with a million questions. It’s epic in every way. Before we get into the kind of details of this actual film, you, Dave, are in New Zealand. Theo, Mark, you’re in L.A.. How did you go about just working together and synchronizing schedules and such like that? How does that work?
Mark – Well. It wasn’t all that complex. You know, it should come as no surprise that modern technology can bring us all together pretty quickly. We communicated by Zoom quite often, and Dave would receive the same picture deliveries that Theo and I would receive. We would send Dave briefs on what where we wanted to focus his efforts after having after Theo and I, having spent that time with Denis and Joe Walker, our film editor, and I didn’t feel a distance, Dave?
Dave – We’re quite used to working from a distance like this. And Mark and I have worked on several projects. But it was really cool getting cookies from Theo and Marc. You know, there’s like sounds to sort of inspire or, you know, and we just back and forth on things like, you know, we sort of carved up the film,so you know, who’s working on what you come up with a version. We have a great template to start off with, And then editors know what they’re, you know, tracks that they’re laying their specific sound on. And and it all comes together. But I would say also great first assistance and that great sort of set up of people transfer in the picture, making sure those things are available. It’s a really, really good system that we had, I thought.
Click on Page 2 below, to read the rest of the transcription of this episode.
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I don’t see a link to the podcast, will you be uploading that later?
It is uploaded now. Caught me while building out the page!