The Best of Mix Sound For Film – Awards Season: Dune: Part Two

Los Angeles, CA (January 16, 2025)—Our recent Mix Presents Sound For Film: Awards Season all-day virtual event highlighted some of the most amazing work happening in motion picture sound right now. We spoke with 13 sound teams from some of the top films released in 2024; here’s one of the most notable moments and insights from the day:

Richard King, Supervising Sound Editor

“The worm doesn’t really make any vocalizations. I guess it has no need to. It lives underground, and the main sound of the worm basically is its interaction with the terrain around it—and its weight. It’s like a skyscraper traveling as fast as a freight train through the sand, so it was really about creating this sense of mass, and this thing is so massive that it almost creates its own gravity. We wanted to get that sense of not only the intimidation factor, but also the majesty of it and the beauty of it and the impressiveness of it. The scene where Paul rides the worm is one of those moments where we wanted to create, initially, a sense of chaos. I’ve done a lot of sailing, and some of it in very rough weather. My analogy to the worm-ride scene is moments where you’re just barely under control and things could fall apart at any second. We wanted to create in the audience’s imagination that sense of chaos and the sense of hanging on for dear life so that when Paul finally masters it and realizes that he’s able to control the worm’s direction, it’s almost like a magic trick. That’s where the handoff to the epic music happens.”