When composer Hans Zimmer was approached to score "Dune,” the new movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel, he knew one thing absolutely: It would not sound like "Star Wars.” Musically, those films drew on influences that ranged from Holst and Stravinsky to classic movie scores of the ’30s and ’40s. Even the rollicking tune performed by the bug-eyed creatures in the Cantina was inspired by Benny Goodman.

For "Dune,” by contrast, Zimmer wanted to conjure sounds that nobody had ever heard before.

"I felt like there was a freedom to get away from a Western orchestra,” he says, speaking in the Warner Bros. offices overlooking Hudson Yards in Manhattan. "I can spend days making up sounds.”