If you’ve seen either of the two recent Dune movies, you know that the scores, by Hans Zimmer, are an evocative mix of futuristic synthesized sounds, otherworldly ambiences and musical influences from around the world.

With Dune: Part II, Zimmer created a score that is at the cutting edge of film soundtracks, using state-of-the-art expressive synthesizers to orchestrate his music, with sounds that blur the edge between electronic and acoustic sound.

Expressive E shared a new mini-documentary, Behind the Music of Dune 2 : Hans Zimmer x Osmose, that is a ‘must-see’ for anyone interested in the current possibilities of expressive synthesis.

The video, embedded below, explores how Zimmer created a unique orchestra for the soundtrack, and shows how Zimmer collaborated with two of the key companies in the MPE/’expressive synthesis’ space, Expressive E and Haken Audio:

The video is obviously a promo for Expressive E, but it’s also exactly what we like to see when synth makers make promo videos; show us how talented musicians can use your gear to make music in new ways.

There are several interesting aspects of Zimmer’s approach worth noting:

• First, Zimmer is not using synths and virtual instruments here to ‘mock up’ his soundtrack. And he’s not using synths to expand the sound of a traditional orchestra. Instead, he’s using the Expressive E and other instruments to create a unique orchestral palette, with electronically generated sounds at its core.
• Second, Zimmer organized a small group of musicians to be his orchestra for the soundtrack. This is very different than using a traditional orchestra, and very different from live composition/orchestration, in the style of Vangelis. Instead, Zimmer created a group that has the sonic range and power to act as an alternative to a traditional orchestra.
• Finally, the video explores how Zimmer used electro-acoustic resonators as way to further blur the line between electronic and acoustic instruments. The resonators are designed by French company La Voix du Luthier, in the tradition of the diffuseurs of French instrument designer Maurice Martenot. Where traditional speakers are designed to accurately amplify electronic sounds, resonators are designed to use electronic signals to make a physical body resonate, more like a traditional instrument. This imparts the resonant qualities of acoustic instruments to electronic sounds. The video shows how a variety of resonators were used, and mic’d to both expand Zimmer’s palette of sounds, and to make it possible to create a surround image based on recording physical instruments vibrating in a physical space.

“This instrument allows us to play the music of an imagined future,” notes Zimmer about the Osmose.

About The Osmose:

For those unfamiliar with it, the Osmose may look like a traditional digital keyboard, but the Osmose – along with instruments like the Haken Continuum and the Roger Linn LinnStrument – are examples of a new category of ‘expressive synthesizers and controllers’.

These instruments go beyond the capabilities of the first generation of synth keyboards by allowing for a much broader range of expressive control.

In the case of the Osmose, it features a keyboard that lets you control pitch, volume, intensity, vibrato, and countless other nuances directly with your finger gestures, with per-note control. This gives it an expressive range of instruments like the violin, but with a much wider sonic range.

For Dune: Part II, Zimmer collaborated with three musicians from Expressive E and Haken Audio at his Los Angeles studio. Guillaume Bonneau, chief of product and sound design at Expressive E, Christophe Duquesne, instrument maker-developer and sound designer, and Edmund Eagan, inventor of the EaganMatrix from Haken Audio. The three worked with the Osmose and the Continuum, paired with the EaganMatrix sound engine, to explore and design new sonic textures to meet Zimmer’s vision.

In addition, percussionist and composer Steven Doar used the Osmose to create unique percussion elements.

For the Bene Gesserit female voices, Zimmer wanted to capture an abstract essence, while maintaining a connection to the characters’ humanity. The team developed an innovative software tool, “resynthesis” (still in prototype), to transform vocal samples from singers like Lisa Gerrard into sounds that could be played via the Osmose and Continuum. This approach, combined with the expressive power of the keyboards and MPE technology, let Zimmer use vocal sounds in new ways.

“Even surrounded by all this technology, I wanted to create a profoundly human soundtrack,” adds Zimmer.

You can find out more about the Osmose at the Expressive E site. And if you’re interested in what the heck is going on with those resonators, see our interview with creator Christophe Duquesne, La Voix Du Luthier & The New Shape Of Electronic Sound.