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My Squirrel Recording is in a MOVIE! 📽 DUNE: Mark Mangini, Oscar Winning Sound Designer

My Squirrel Recording is in a MOVIE! 📽 DUNE: Mark Mangini, Oscar Winning Sound Designer

Dani Connor Wild
1 HN recommenders · discussed 2021–2026
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About this video

Wildlife videographer Dani Connor Wild talks with Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini about how her red squirrel recording became the desert mouse sound in Dune.

Why it appears in the archive

Linked in threads about Dune's sound design as a first-hand interview about the squirrel recording.

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

throw0101a · 2022-03 · rec

Two good videos on the topic of sound in Dune . The first from Vanity Fair , "How 'Dune' Composer Hans Zimmer Created the Oscar-Nominated Score": * [LINK] Interesting tidbit: a good number of the "bagpipe" sounds were not created with bagpipes. The second is from wild life photograph Dani Connor, "My Squirrel Recording is in a movie: Interview with Mark Mangini, Oscar Winning Sound Designer": * [VIDEO] A squirrel recording of hers was used to make the sound in the desert mouse ( muad'dib ) scene.

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throw0101a · 2021-10 · reference

> The sound editor could have done that more tastefully. An interview with Mark Mangini, the sound designer, with someone whose sound was used in Dune (for the desert mouse, muad'dib ): * [VIDEO]

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throw0101c · 2024-04 · reference

The scene in the movie where they're first shown: * [LINK] Somewhat related, the sound design team (who won an Oscar for their work) used cats purring, beetles fluttering, and the canvas strap of a tent in a 100mph wind for the sound of the ornithopters (at 2m40s) * [LINK] Also, for the desert mouse (muad'dib) they used a Swedish baby red squirrel (named Baby Pear); interview with the person who originally recorded the squirrel (Dani Connor): * [VIDEO]

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throw0101d · 2026-03 · reference

Somewhat related, nature photographer/youtuber Danni Connor had her recording of a red squirrel used in the movie Dune (Part 1) for the sound of the desert mouse ( muad'dib ). Her interviewing with (Oscar-winning) sound designer Mark Mangini on it: * [VIDEO] * transcript: [LINK] * [LINK] * [LINK] Story of her 'adopting' the squirrels: * [LINK] The name of the squirrel is "Baby Pear"; her viral tweet: * [LINK]

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