Cover Legendary sound designer Mark Mangini, Oscar winner for Dune, is crafting an entirely new auditory experience for the sandworms with each layer of wind and sand reimagined in sound
Legendary sound designer Mark Mangini, Oscar winner for Dune, is crafting an entirely new auditory experience for the sandworms with each layer of wind and sand reimagined in sound
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Though absent from the screen, it is the sound designer who fine-tunes every beat of the audience’s emotions through sounds they may never consciously notice.
Rarely seen in front of the camera or under the spotlight of the awards stage, sound designers shaping space with sound are the silent performers who guide a film’s emotional journey. When the lights dim in the cinema, audiences are transported to another world, not only through the moving images, but also through the soundscape that envelops them like an invisible atmosphere.
In cinema, sound is far more than a backdrop. The range of frequencies operates as an emotional language of its own, an aesthetic medium with the power to stir feelings, awaken memory, and even steer the narrative. At the heart of this language is the sound designer.
If the director sets the tempo, the sound designer establishes the rhythm of the viewer’s response. Their work spans from capturing and editing on-set sounds to creating entirely new audio elements that have no real-world counterpart: the soft creak of a door, the wind echoing through memory, the low hum of insects in a dream. Their purpose is not to describe, but to make us feel.
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Sound designer: The profession of creating emotions from the unseen
Sound in film doesn’t happen by chance. In truth, much of what we hear on screen is the result of deliberately constructed sonic elements. Footsteps, wind, creaking wood, even muffled cries behind closed doors. Behind it all: the sound designer.
Their task isn’t simply technical assembly. More crucially, they craft emotional resonance through sound. In any given scene, a viewer can “hear” tension, chill, disquiet or hollowness without a single line of dialogue. This is where the sound designer’s storytelling begins.
Above A sound designer is responsible for creating the sound system for a film, play or performance (photo: iStock by Getty Images)
A sound designer is responsible for creating the sound system for a film, play or performance (photo: iStock by Getty Images)
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A sound designer is tasked with developing the entire sonic landscape of a film, theatre production, or show. They record, select, edit and manipulate sound effects ranging from natural elements like wind and rain to entirely imagined sounds that have no basis in the real world. To do so, they may capture ambient recordings, draw from specialised sound libraries, or invent their own using imaginative techniques.
For example: aluminium foil may become thunder, twisted vegetables can mimic the crunch of breaking bones, and synthesised tones can emulate the hum of alien machinery. Their work is both technical and expressive, because every sound must “perform” the mood and texture of the scene.
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Above A sound designer can produce an extraordinary range of effects, from the strikingly real to the utterly surreal (photo: iStock by Getty Images)
A sound designer can produce an extraordinary range of effects, from the strikingly real to the utterly surreal (photo: iStock by Getty Images)
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While the director directs the eye, the sound designer shapes the inner world. Just as lighting alters the emotional hue of a moment, sound, when placed precisely, can shift how an audience experiences the story. Many sound designers even “sculpt” silence to evoke unease or heighten emotional intensity.
Quiet but powerful names: From Hollywood to Asia
Though rarely spotlighted in the media, sound designers are vital figures in the production of cinematic works, especially on large-scale films.
Richard King, Christopher Nolan’s long-standing collaborator, is responsible for the intricate, layered sound design in Inception, Dunkirk and Tenet. His work goes beyond mere “sound effects”, using audio as an integral narrative device, ushering viewers through realms of calculated distortion and dreamlike ambiguity.
Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road and Dune composer Mark Mangini has turned his sound work into a form of “soundscape writing.” In Dune, he and his team developed entirely new audio textures for the sandworms, crafting a fictional planet that felt not only convincing, but alive.
In Asia’s art film scene, Ai-Ling Lee made a landmark achievement in the long history of the Academy Awards. She became the first Asian woman to be nominated in the Best Sound Mixing category and also the first to receive a nod for Best Sound Editing, both for La La Land (2016), a category long dominated by male sound engineers. Her credits also include Barbie (2023) and First Man (2018).
As both a sound designer and re-recording mixer, Ai-Ling Lee is known for a design approach led by feeling rather than technology. In La La Land, sound is not merely a backdrop, but the emotional thread weaving together imagery and inner monologue from soft breaths in a solo dance, the solitary rhythm of tapping shoes, to the meaningful silence before music begins. Each project reflects how she brings a meticulous, understated, and quietly resolute mindset deeply rooted in her Asian heritage into one of the world’s most exacting industries.
Companion melodies: Composers and the universal language of feeling
Within the realm of sound, if the sound designer builds the atmosphere, then the composer is the one who gives it emotional shape. While their roles differ, the two often collaborate to create a story that resonates on a deeply sensory level.
It’s hard to think of Studio Ghibli without hearing the music of Joe Hisaishi, the man who gave Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro their signature soul. His scores go beyond emotional enhancement; they exist as cultural memory. One Summer’s Day or The Path of the Wind are instantly recognisable to global audiences, regardless of language.
Hans Zimmer, likewise, is inseparable from the immersive grandeur of films like Interstellar, The Lion King and Gladiator. His compositions fuse physical rhythm with emotional undertone, lifting the cinematic experience into something that feels almost meditative.
Composers like John Williams, Ludwig Göransson and Alexandre Desplat are also emotional architects. Each has a distinctive style, yet all understand the power of music not as background, but as the undercurrent carrying the soul of the film.
Sound in cinema is something rarely noticed, yet it holds the greatest power. It doesn’t need to be seen. No dialogue is necessary. A single echo, a faint background noise, or a perfectly timed silence can move audiences into profound emotional terrain.
Although still not often recognised in the public eye, sound designers are increasingly shaping the audiovisual identity of our time. As the distinction between real and artificial imagery grows ever more fluid, it is sound—primal, immediate, and immersive—that is becoming the most irreplaceable force of all.
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