Michael Geiger - the Sardaukar chant singer and co-author

Hello, guys, my name is Dmitry Tarakanov, I'm a violin maker and throat singer. I'm excited to share with you my conversation with the brilliant artist, musician and voice actor Michael Geiger. Michael has more than 40 years of experience. He's been working with John Williams, David Newman, Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman and many other great composers. You can hear his voice in more than 250 movies, including Venom (2018), The Lion King (2019), several Star Wars movies, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, Spiderman. A truly legendary figure in singing and voice acting.
What are we talking about:
0:00 - Intro
1:18 - First time singing, development of the musician career
4:20 - Did you do anything to move your voice from tenor to bass?
6:18 - Back to school, degree in vocal performance, opera course
7:00 - Throat singing happened, mastering kargyraa
10:50 - Not Mongolian, more Tibetan
12:39 - Nonlinear source-filter coupling in singing
15:09 - At the level of my soul I'm a minimalist; monody
17:17 - Mindset while making the sounds for Dune
19:55 - Editing by Hans Zimmer, doubtfully anything reversed
23:47 - The very first sound of the Dune movie
24:12 - Who's the author of the chant words?
31:06 - Throat singing - the sacred timbre
34:34 - There was a lot of reverence
36:22 - Throat singing without any cultural context
38:40 - And the bagpipes.
Michael Geiger's website www.geigervoice.com/
and the youtube channel / @michaelgeiger4043
I'm on social networks:
/ dmitryviolins
civisover
/ kanvaux
#MichaelGeiger #Sardaukar #throatsinging #HansZimmer

[@iforgotthenamemate]

The sardaukar scene is by far the Best scene in the movie, the sound design is out of this World.

[@kanvaux]

yeap, totally agree

[@MantraHerbInchSin]

Absolutely. There are many great scenes, but I come back and listen to this at least once a month. Just because it's so awesome

[@UltimateDelivery]

Are we really on another planet? I'm not sure... Listens to the Sardaukar chant... Yes, we are on another planet.

[@keithnixon1948]

Knowing the book so well - this scene was the one that was out of this world, the rest was good and familiar, but the throat singing was brilliant

[@user-gx7eb6zx8i]

Omg usually for a Mongolian

[@ultimapanzer]

For anyone wondering, Dune is actually more like 20,000 years in the future. The 10,191 date given in both the book and film are using a different, later-established calendar.

[@AlexGeo925]

10191 years after the conclusion of the Buttlerian Jihad against the machines, for context. That was when the law about no computers or ai was made, which is a crucial piece of context for the story. Smart-assert over, just wanted to add that for those curious 🤓

[@OmnipotentEnt]

I've consistently heard 2,000 years in the future, but a quick Google search shows you're correct - what's the disconnect, do you know?

[@RevelationNone]

Where you hearing 2,000 yrs? Lol​@OmnipotentEnt

[@vaultboy4710]

​@@OmnipotentEntUh maybe you're thinking of 3500 years, which was the length of leto II reign.

[@michaelgeiger4043]

Hi Dmitry! You did a great job with our interview! Very enjoyable! I am honored!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you very much, Michael, it was an honor!

[@fredrichl]

You should really record a whole record of stuff like this. I love it!

[@ajinkyatarodekar9099]

It has been an honor listening to your work!

[@iforgotthenamemate]

I hope you will return in part 2 with something.

[@michaelgeiger4043]

@@iforgotthenamemate me too! Thanks!

[@shesh2265]

Im so glad i went down this sardaukar chant rabbit hole and am now listening to tibetan master chants

[@artemavanesyan2694]

Same😂

[@lordinnsmouth9850]

Michael Geiger deserves to have his own album.

[@kanvaux]

For sure! Would love that.

[@nimblehuman]

The scene with this chant was by far the haunting and memorable part of the 2021 Dune movie for me. It's a real treat to meet the mind and voice behind this piece, thanks for making this!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you very much for your comment! I feel totally the same.

[@bobleglob162]

It was a singular scene in cinema for me. I don't think I've ever watched anything that had the same emotional impact.

[@garyhendrie4001]

I agree there was a tibetan throat singer when HH The Dalai Lama came to Edinburgh. It sounds incredible done live. You actually feel like the cells in your body are vibrating.

[@royaltoadclub8322]

Videos like these are why special features on DVDs existed. Thank you for the effort and the great material!

[@soviet9366]

I wish Michael would recreate the whole chant for us (it gets muted out partway through the scene for the characters talking). Amazing track, but sadly incomplete :*(

[@au1317]

I know it's not the same, but check out the cover by Ren Vas Terul here on KZbin. It's very impressive

[@johnsmith-ij9by]

this is incredible thank you so much for this i am truly obsessed with the Sardaukar chant. In New Zealand the film was delayed because of covid i would sit in the breakroom and just rewatch the scene over and over and over on youtube.

[@kanvaux]

Oh, man, definitely feel you on that. Thank you!

[@yungvarg]

13:52 28:08 *Damnnn 👀*

[@elijahx2784]

Had such a blast watching this! Thanks for interviewing such a legend!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you, man, glad that you've enjoyed.

[@YaofuZhou]

This interview is completely underrated.

[@muhammadbegaliev9198]

Спасибо Дмитрий! Очень было тяжело найти информацию о распеве Сардаукаров и его исполнителе, а вы тут организовали целое интервью. 🙏🏼

[@kanvaux]

Спасибо! Мне тоже было сложно найти информацию и я решил обратиться к первоисточнику)

[@randomheraldofnurgle1284]

His kargyraa is really great. Also a bit of chylandyk style in there.

[@laius6047]

the chant in part 1, and the prologue quote in the part 2 are special to me

[@JosephKerr27]

Thank you both for discussing the nuances between Mongolian and Tibetan throat singing. It was enlightening and I enjoyed this very much.

[@tedyavuzkurt9021]

I sure hope they called him back for the second movie! That Sardaukar chant is the most haunting and memorable part of the movie for me!

[@velkylev4217]

You mean 3rd

[@sofiabevilacquaflute]

That's one great interview! Also, very interesting the connection with gregorian chanting... I love to hear how much passion, research and thoughts are behind this Dune chant.

[@kanvaux]

Thank you Sofia! Yeah, I've definitely loved the connection with gregorian chanting and the rhyme with skipping letters in hebrew, too.

[@nightmayor6909]

What a wonderfully sweet interview. Always great to see artists speak on and share with their craft. Thank you.

[@kanvaux]

Thank you, I do agree.

[@hekainu1098]

Great interview, thanks!

[@spitalhelles3380]

'The soldiers have been trained to understand a certain pattern of vowel sounds to mean a certain thing.' The austrian military has AEIOU as their motto which used to be a latin phrase.

[@kanvaux]

That's an interesting fact, thank you!

[@emiliosantanamartinsxavier5564]

Great interview!

[@sirgarence]

Fascinating interview! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[@LangstonDev]

I loved hearing you guys growl back and forth at each other (lol). Great interview!

[@kanvaux]

Haha, thanks, love that moment too. If only I knew that zoom has a noise cancellation, and treats any lasting sound as a noise.

[@bongsnhell]

Loveeee this conversation

[@ollietaro]

I need a whole album from this guy

[@marclaliberte4118]

Very interesting interview!

[@stevenappel1603]

Dear Dmitry, thank you for that Interview. I hope you are well and can continue your passions.

[@claymitchell2335]

Simple coolness. Truly!

[@roicervino6171]

This has been great. Michael seems to be a fenomenal and nice guy. Lovely

[@JH-kw8zy]

Those are my favorite scenes! I losten to that short chant over and over and over!

[@EarthStation888]

Thank you for sharing your worlds with the rest of us. It is pleasing seeing both of you exchanging demo and knowledge around this understated genre.

[@hubertrozalski7070]

12:26 rare footage of Sardaukars using their native language

[@madmaskbass]

Came to this video after being totally captivated by the scene (and the masterpeice of sound design ) This is a super interesting interview. The Sardaukar chant is truly the perfect melding of scenery and soundscape. Thanks to both of you!!!

[@dada331]

Hello from the US! So glad I found this video!

[@serenitymetal]

That intro love it so much. Have it as my ring tone.

[@giontesla2311]

What a great and intelligent guy. Love how he's passionate about his job!

[@wallyhack5476]

Awesome

[@elizabethkelsey8087]

Great interview, Dmitry! The Sadaukar chant is by far my favorite aspect of Dune. The scene itself is utterly stunning and the best part of the film, but the chanting itself is somehow both scary and yet transcendent. It reminds me alot of Tibetan chanting. You did a tremendous job, Michael.

[@alexkopteev]

Дмитрий спасибо большое )) с удовольствием послушал и интервью и кавер - отличная работа

[@BluntInstrument-]

Brilliant video - thank you - such great insight

[@Anautistictherapist]

Very, very good interview!!!

[@MBroam]

This was awesome, thank you for sharing it!

[@TheSaladKing]

As a singer and amateur voice actor myself this was incredibly interesting to me! I have so much respect and reverence for Michael now realizing just how prolific his career has truly been! Thank you for posting this excellent interview sir

[@overlyfatman9722]

Waaaaaa so cool!!!!

[@Victoria-yk1zw]

What a legend

[@mikemcgibney]

How interesting, thanks for this. The Sardaukar chants are an integral, chilling, memorable aspect of these films. Wonderful.

[@harjindersokhi9852]

Great video and a fascinating insight into this beautiful piece.

[@abrotherinchrist]

Thanks for the tip Michael! I just tried the method you suggested and was able to produce the appropriate tone. I practiced the Mongolian style a while back and can do the ringing overtones, but I couldn't figure out how to do the Tibetan tone until just now. I think it helped that I recently watched a video of a bass singer explaining how to kick into an octave lower just by learning how to control vocal fry. This is kind of similar. Many thanks to people like you who offer little tips to help out others.

[@peter486]

man thank you i wanted to know about this after saw the movie thank you.

[@randomheraldofnurgle1284]

very nice

[@Thepsychedelicverses]

So awesome. I'm from Grand Rapids, just west of Kzoo and also moved to LA, funny! God bless.

[@JosephKerr27]

"I buried Paul." lololol How appropriate a reference!

[@JanooProductions]

Amazing interview, very interesting

[@Iberokolxi]

Great interview. I was really intrigued about the Sardaukar chant when I saw the movie. Thank you for doing this!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you, I was really intrigued, too)

[@Drad_]

Wow! Glad I turned on notifications after the last video, you did a great job, thank you for conducting this interview!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you for your feedback, glad to hear that!

[@jihad4realniz]

I cant stop watching this Scene its scary and wonderfull at the same Time

[@miketacos9034]

Dude I’ve been wanting to know about the making of this scene! Thanks for making this!

[@kanvaux]

Thank you, you are very welcome!

[@Grillmouth]

Thanks for a great interview! Made me happy hearing Arvo Part mentioned!

[@michaelgeiger4043]

Arvo Part is one of my all time favorite choral composers! I have performed many of his works!

[@tranxss]

Amazing channel

[@RenVasTerul]

How come I never seen this earlier 😮 THANK YOU for making this interview. It's fascinating to see some insight from the original voice behind Sardaukar Throat Chant! 🎉

[@MrSeedi76]

I also loved this interview and I think you will like a bit of kargyraa I found that sounds very similar. The singer is Aleksei Khovalyg, IMHO one of the very best I found on KZbin. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJaqY6qmfpWXjrcsi=q8CSqBXKGxmETJxn

[@itsd0nk]

It’s amazing how I instantaneously recognized the timber of his voice as the throat singer. It probably especially helped that it’s even on the same mic he used for the recordings of it.

[@michaelgeiger4043]

Ha! Yes, it is! Same mic!

[@Originalcopy20]

@@michaelgeiger4043 That's amazing! Thank you for your work. Very inspiring!

[@edraith]

His Hans Zimmer impression is post on :D

[@Metal13Maven]

This was great!!!!!

[@DoctorXander]

Bless the algorithm and its suggestions

[@JosephKerr27]

Languages do tend to fuse and truncate over time as part of natural processes; Cherokee ex: ᏴᏫ ᎤᏁᎦ yvwi unega ("white person") -> ᏲᏁᎦ yonega ("English"). And, of course, you two mention practices of reverence that are fairly common. But, rather than natural occurrence or reverence, the Sardaukar chant is deliberate functional obfuscation, social engineering for military purposes. How appropriate to apply such principles in Dune! Love it!

[@laurioho2041]

omg the greatest timeline

[@jasoncreamer5747]

A good chant to meditate to.

[@YawnGod]

Nice interview.

[@user-ur3mq9mt7r]

Дмитрий, приветствую! До последнего надеялся услышать полную версию всего пения Сардаукаров)

[@ScoriacTears]

30:09 It certainly imbues the movie with a distinctive soundscape.

[@Despotic_Waffle]

As someone who's deeply invested in both Mongolian/Tuvan throat singing and tibetan buddhist chanting, I immediately saw how people who compared the Sardaukar Chant to mongolian throat singing may have been slightly inaccurate. It is much more similar to Tibetan throat chanting but with its own spin or as stated in the video the kargyraa style of tuvan mongolian throat singing.

[@spitalhelles3380]

tibetan was my first impression too, even though I'm not too familiar with both styles

[@MrSeedi76]

Yeah, not sure about that - I think the similarities are striking. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJaqY6qmfpWXjrcsi=q8CSqBXKGxmETJxn

[@molenade]

Amazing interview, I'm fascinated by the Sardaukar chant and love all the meme remixes so it was great to see who sang it. Shame about not using any of David Peterson's lyrics for the chant though.

[@michaelgeiger4043]

We used David Peterson's material for the audition process! I didn't mention that in the interview...

[@benbowland]

I don't know why the Sardaukar Chant isn't in the official soundtrack. I wish I could listen to it on Spotify :(

[@timothyhanks14]

Agree why leave this out seem very odd thing to leave out

[@annointedbytalos5673]

It's a bit in premonition. But yeah not the direct thing

[@Arisbe_obasmoqweef]

This shit is awesome!

[@aaronmaynard6019]

50 2 minute tracks... God I would love to have them.

[@patrickedwards7107]

To those who wanted to get on some cultural appropriation kick they don't understand the context and setting in which dune takes place being a person of Scottish descent I was absolutely honored to see elements of my peoples culture still alive with the "humans" that persisted beyond earth beyond deep space travel after a complete restructuring of society and culture in its entirety that's what dune is about in a lot of ways us not escaping universal things inherent to our nature as human beings warfare is unfortunately sacred to us the sardaukar are an amalgam culture of every warrior aspect their society is brutal and centers around the art of war. Dine represents simultaneously the edge of humanity and the concept of regression to the old world following cataclysm would we rise and fall to our behaviors again after the passage of many centuries. Anyways I think you did a wonderful job with the score encapsulating remnants of humanity here and there.

[@Despotic_Waffle]

People screaming cultural appropriation about every little thing are braindead and will probably shit themselves if they pick up an anthropology book. Shit from the middle east can make it to Britain back in the BC's and vice versa because news flash, human culture spreads, gets adopted and gets forced on others.

[@Spida_Chapplliinn]

WE LITERALLY LOVE YOU

[@joebob8713]

That was awesome! Great talk; lovely fellow. Thanks for bringing my attention to Tibetan chanting… I’m going to be making people’s lives more miserable now lol

[@jimpemberton]

This idea of the shorthand sounds for soldiers kind of has a modern day equivalent in the military. It's the way I learned how to drill a platoon and call cadence when I was in the Marines. Consonants don't carry very well so while you may lip those, you substitute a constricted throat partial glottal stop (I'll indicate with a 'Y'), use a strong 'H' substitution for soft breaths and fricatives in key spots, and overemphasize vowels. So the command "Attention" becomes [Yaw-ten-HUH']. "Right Face" becomes [Yoit HACE]. "Forward march" becomes [Hiorward YARCH]. You can often sing "left, right, left, right, left, right." For example, [Yo righdy do righdy yef'foot right]. The melody and cadence of the phrase is important.

[@nicholasleon7819]

I wish they would release the fucking track so I could listen to it without the rain and dialogue

[@kanvaux]

Yeah, I wished I had that when I was transcribing 'lyrics;.

[@cecilyerker]

There are a couple good covers

[@pacotaco1246]

How am i already subscribed to Geiger? Small world

[@0Ruzena0]

This is awesome, the chant immediately evoked the sardaukaur priest reciting some dogma of warrior code in singing for the sardaukaurs, something like all those who oppose the emperor will be slain, you shall not spare kids and women, there is only one path of the warrior, looks like i was not far off the truth, THANKS!

[@mahmoodthedealer6545]

Very nice interview and thx for clearing the whole mongolian thing

[@kanvaux]

Thank you, man!

[@yokartik]

what does he say about it ? coulndt find.

[@adomalyon1]

That the sound is more Tibetan or Krygiz than mongolian.

[@mahmoodthedealer6545]

@@adomalyon1 i meant clearing out that it isnt mongolian but idk how i messed it up my english isnt that good

[@viperking6573]

In Sardinia we also have throat singing :3

[@MrSeedi76]

Very true. I have read that almost every civilization had it at some point in time. In Germany it probably got eradicated by Christianization because it was considered a pagan practice. But historical sources mention German tribes doing throat singing. In Germany it vanished and then got reinvented without any connection to Tuvan or Mongolian throat singing in the 1970's by singers trying to emulate the sound of electronic synthesizers.

[@jankosmith5667]

Here in Sardinia we have an ancient throat singing tradition and during the bronze age Sardinian warriors got hired by Rameses Ii as mercenaries because they were known to be almost invincibile

[@gatodrums]

🥁🔥🥁🔥🥁🔥🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@Discordantmusic]

Really great interview!!!! Fascinating!

[@GeeDeeONE]

Its so interesting for me to see... i started singing mongolian Kargyraa and Sygit almost 30 years ago, not many people knew it back then in Europe... I even had a mongolian teacher once (that told me after a few minutes that he heard me sing: "Well... lets sit by the piano for a handful of hours and i will show you some things BUT basically i cant teach you a lot, you know how to do it already!). Over the years suddenly throat singing became more and more famous and now its in so many movies... a few tips for you who to listen to (most likely you know all of them already!): Paul Pena (Ghengis Blues) - What a kind person... i was in contact with him before he died. Kongar ol Ondar (Of course) Huun Huur Tu - i met them as well... sadly i lost the poster they signed for me Yat Kha non mongolian: young Michael Vetter kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2XGmK19o8-gl8k Christian Bollmann kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYPVe2RmpqmZZrs Sadly in the meantime my voice chords are broken, i cant sing anymore... but i still enjoy listening to overtone music!

[@S-be6hp]

I really struggle to sing in harmony. The sort of music I sing is quite emotional, and I get overwhelmed and usually cry lol.

[@AcceptTheNull]

The chant idea is actually kind of perfect and for me it's funny from in a modern take, which makes it even more perfect and understandable as why it would used in the future. For example, here is my battle chant for streaming into battle, HTTPS UDP IP IEEE 80211 Say it letter by letter without the space HTTPSUDPIPIEEE80211 and you'd confused the hell out of people now, as they are actively doing what you are chanting about.

[@snogger6]

15:20 does he mean Tony Conrad or La Monte Young? (y/n)

[@BuJammy]

I think he's talking about Jonny Cope?

[@Metal13Maven]

I hope you’ve kept in touch with him!!!

[@roadlesstravelled9213]

Very interesting. I wonder if Zimmer didn't get some inspiration from the haka- the haka references the sun god, and contains a line stating "the sun shines!". During Dune chant scene, there's a bit where the sun comes out.

[@kanvaux]

Hm, that's an interesting reference, thanks!

[@LuficariusRatspeed]

I need a recording of him to break up my kidney stones.

[@MrMaximkozin]

Definitely the most memorable track from the movie, the lady singer could be as good if Zimmer didn't use her great skill to record a mare female "AH ZABENYA"

[@MantraHerbInchSin]

I hate that I the audio went down when you did your thing!

[@kanvaux]

haha, thank you man! Well, I'll upload a lot of throatsinging stuff to this channel anyway, please, stay tuned, if interested.

[@NIDUS_WF]

Uuu.. terry riley was mentioned