Ever since the universe of Dune, created by Frank Herbert, first leapt onto the big screen in 1984, a handful of musicians have taken a crack at creating a distinctive sound for the barren and dangerous planet Arrakis, the warring parties trying to control its wealth in Spice, and the subsequent struggles that ensue. For that 1984 film, Toto assumed the scoring duties (with additional material by electronic rock pioneer Brian Eno). Just last year, noted New Zealand Composer Graeme Revell created his own unique sound for the Sci-Fi Channel’s miniseries revival of Dune.
But somewhere in between, Dune took a detour from the big screen to the computer screen in the original real-time strategy game, Dune II. A combination of combat leadership and resource management, Dune II gave players the chance to see if they had the stuff Muad’Dib was made of – or it they’d perish in the sand at the end of a futile battle. In 1998, Westwood updated Dune II with new graphics, sound and strategic elements, creating the much-loved Dune 2000. Built on an engine similar to that of Westwood’s 1995 best-selling Cold War RTS game Command & Conquer (and its sequel, Red Alert), Dune 2000 earned Westwood many a fan that hadn’t taken an interest in rewriting the history of the Cold War – and it also exposed many players and science fiction fans to the unearthly music created for the game by Westwood’s in-house composer, Frank Klepacki.
With the release of another Dune game, Emperor: The Battle For Dune, right around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to check in with Frank Klepacki to see just how music is made for an interactive experience like Emperor. Is it more challenging than a straightforward film, whose dramatic beats are laid out before the music is ever envisioned?
“They are a lot alike, and I score directly to picture on the cut scenes,” Klepacki says. “I probably have more creative say in the music here than I would on a movie, but I would still love to do one someday.” (Frank’s also quick to point out that he has hit celluloid in some form, however: “For the time being, my band’s songs have only been in cheesy B-movies.”)
But with a non-scripted campaign structure that can literally go anywhere, Emperor has even less of a direct storyline than Dune 2000, which creates an even more expansive canvas for the music.
“The music of Emperor is a little different from Dune II, in that there are three separate composers, one for each house. I did the house Atredies, while David Arkenstone (who helped out with half the score to Lands Of Lore 2 and 3) did Harkonnen, and Jarrid Mendelson (who helped out with half the score to Tiberian Sun) did Ordos. This game contains a ton of music, more than our average. The reason we hired two outside composers is to give each house a different style.”
So, do the composers actually get to see or play the game beforehand, to get a feel what what kind of music is required? Yes and no. “I do get to play early builds, and it’s cool to watch the game progress,” says Klepacki. “Sometimes I’ll wait a long time before I play a new version so I can see a ton of new changes they’ve made, and that always inspires me. In the beginning, though, I’m pretty much in the dark, and don’t always have the luxury of seeing the game before I have to start scoring it.” When he was pressed for any tidbits about Emperor, Klepacki offered this promising hint: “I must tell you, I think the overall game is awesome, especially the 3-D engine.”
But how does one land a plum job like this? It takes talent – and being in the right place at the right time helps.
Bands, Fans, and Sand
Frank Klepacki had aspirations to create music from the very beginning – but his instrument of choice didn’t exactly lend itself to song composition. “I got my first drum set when I was eight years old. My parents were always musicians, and I wanted to learn to play something. I played my first pro gig when I was 11, and by the time I was in high school, I learned to play guitar and keyboards. I really wanted to write my own songs, and you can’t really do that if you’re just a drummer.”
“Then I got some studio experience cutting demos with bands, and I paid a lot of attention to how the process works. I had also taken a big interest in computers and games, and learned how to program music in BASIC on a Tandy 1000. I got my first job as a game tester when I was still in school, and through that met the head of the sound and music department. He was impressed by my music, and soon enough I got the chance to prove myself. I’ve been here ever since…for 10 years!”
Klepacki was also a fixture in the Las Vegas retro-funk band Home Cookin’, a band with an awe-inspiring full brass section, bringing the sound of ’70s funk to some excellent original songs without leaning heavily on electronics. Home Cookin’ maintained a steady schedule of gigs in and beyond Vegas, as well as releasing two albums, Mmm Mmm Mmm and Pink In The Middle. Home Cookin’ disbanded late in 2000 after playing one final show, after years of being proclaimed the best band in Vegas by numerous media outlets. So what happened? “We broke up last December in good spirits, but it had to end because it was too hard to keep all ten of us together after a decade,” Klepacki says, adding, “The music will always live on.”
“Home Cookin’ was around for ten years. I was a part of it for five, and we cut two CDs which are still available on www.theconnextion.com and also a live EP exclusively on our main site, which we switched over to www.mp3.com/HomeCookin. The last thing we did in the studio was a song for the Las Vegas Christmas 2000 CD.”
From the atmospheric, cinematic sounds of the Dune games, to the techno-funk grind of the Command & Conquer series, and the more mystic sounds of Nox and Lands Of Lore, Klepacki has spent a decade amassing a diverse portfolio of sounds – as well as a diverse audience of fans. “I have quite a few fans that e-mail me on a regular basis from all over the world – Italy, Austria, the U.K., etc. Many of them ask me about my old bands and my early C&C work,” he says. “For some reason, despite all the improvements that have been made to the C&C universe and music, I find a lot of fans still love the original as much as ever. They are all cool people, and I’m happy to be part of their music life.” And Klepacki even confirms that composers of music for video games get over-the-top fans, like anyone else: “No one has gone over the edge or anything, except this one person from Egypt…”
Film scoring and game music are similar in other ways as well, the composer says. “The average game takes me about three months to score total. Over a year’s time, I work on at least three projects at once so each project is pretty spread out.”
With CDs available of the soundtracks from the Command & Conquer games, where are the CDs of music from the Dune games? There’s been some speculation that the tangled copyright web surrounding Dune as a novel and as an audiovisual property might be preventing it, but Klepacki says, “The Dune music is 100% original, so we don’t have to worry about the rights. It’s up to Westwood whether they release a soundtrack or not.” (An Emperor soundtrack is, in fact, shipping with some pre-orders of the game.)
And which of his own soundtracks does Klepacki like the best? “That’s hard to answer, but I am quite proud of Red Alert 2, Blade Runner and Emperor. I’ve always liked Sole Survivor‘s music a lot too.”
Whether it’s in the form of Atreides battle hymns, or the score to some movie yet to be made, Frank Klepacki continues to amass a loyal following of listeners (and players) who will remember those soundtracks as more than just the accompaniment to a movie, but the mood-setter for more intense experiences on parallel Earths – and a distant world called Dune.
©2001 Earl Green – reproduction of this article without the express consent of the author is strictly forbidden.
Special thanks to Amy Farris at Westwood Studios.