Pinball audio has been an important part of the game for decades. What started as simple bells & chimes in the earliest pinball machines soon evolved into simple but effective electronic sounds on par with the video games of the early 80s. Now, with the continued technological and creative evolution of the games, immersive soundscapes are increasingly becoming synonymous with modern releases.
Few recent games illustrate that evolution better than the 2025 release, Dune, by Barrels of Fun. While its cinematic audio package was strong from release, it took a big new step forward over the summer as the Barrels team started working with Jeff Dodson, a sound designer better known in the community as streamer and podcaster Dirty Pool Pinball.
In the tradition of some of the best pinball sound designers of years past, Jeff’s goal with Dune was to create a sound package fully in tune with the ambiance and world of the two Denis Villeneuve-helmed films released by the time the table was announced. Balancing out the desolate and dramatic aural world of the Dune films with sound design in a product category that is generally not associated with such layered nuance was a challenging feat, with the final product being unlike any pinball sound package I’ve heard in recent memory, including some of the best spinner sounds I’ve heard in a minute!
Earlier this year, I had a chance to review a couple of before-and-after videos of Dune’s sound design and then have a conversation with Jeff about his work. With that said, here’s our conversation, including a couple of compilations of the before/after videos.
A Conversation with Jeff Dodson about Dune's Sound Design
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Noah Crable: What motivated you to take up this position for Barrels of Fun? I’ve known of your love of pinball art, but never pinned you down as a sound designer.
Jeff Dodson: Haha, well, surprise! I've worked as a composer and sound designer professionally for just over 20 years now. I wasn't really advertising my profession when doing the channel, as it didn't seem relevant. With the recent changes of working in the pinball ecosystem, I’ve been a lot more open about my job. I have a post-production company now, but back in the day, I was a freelance composer for a number of early 2000s video games, like X-Men and Neverwinter Nights. My sound design experience got me into the advertising world, which pushed me down the road of music and sound design for film trailers and commercials. I’ve had the privilege of working on some really huge jobs and franchises. I spent a week at Skywalker Ranch on a project… a sound designer’s dream, but I’m so much happier working on Pins. This is a dream landscape for composing and audio design.
Noah: What experience have you had with the Dune franchise up to this point? The pinball machine was my first exposure to the series (a surprisingly common story for me).
Jeff: I love Dune. I played the hell out of the ’90s RTS Dune and the adventure game that came out for PC. I've read the first book, and as a kid, loved the Lynch film. I just really love the universe, it’s scifi but not in a boring or traditional sense. I pre-ordered my Dune well before working with Barrels, but Dune was something I thought I'd never see as a pinball machine. To me, it was a no-brainer to pick one up.
Noah: What are your “dos” and “don'ts” for pinball sound design? A lot of sound designers have their own distinct styles; some make their audio easily distinguished and recognizable, while others simply use them as background music to fill up space. What do you plan to bring to the table?
Jeff: Creating the audio landscape of any project means putting it in the universe. For me, I pursued making the coolest sounds that fit with the theme. From a technical angle, sounds shouldn't clash, which means putting them in the same key or sharing appropriate tones and tonics with what the music is doing. You wouldn't put DJ airhorns in Dune. Creating a palette of sounds that works and sucks you into the project is my design goal. When you’re so absorbed, having fun and feeling that rush, it’s mission accomplished. I don’t think designers should bring a signature sound to a game. The game dictates what it needs. I had some of my work used on the film trailers for Dune, so I had a bit of a head start on the direction of sounds. Taking that as a launch platform helped for sure.
Noah: One aspect of pinball sound design I admire is creating “moments” with the audio and making the shots feel like they have some weight to them. Comparing the two videos, it felt easier to indicate that the target hits you were making during the day or night were adding spice/water, respectively. What would you say the appropriate balance would be in making these sound effects recognizable but not overpowering to the experience?
Jeff: Having the audio be able to tell you information about what's occurring is critical. It's the job of the pinball machine to help illustrate what you should be doing in real-time. As a simple example, insert flash for what shots you need to hit… That's visual feedback that you experience while playing. The audio is no different; you should be able to tell what’s happening without looking. We added audio cues so you know what items are collected from hitting drop targets, audio cues so you know when resources are being collected. Even the day and night changes adjust some sounds. Spinners have a different collection spin effect, so that subconsciously you'll know that you're building water vs spice. My job is to help narrate the experience as much as possible while making it sound cool as shit. You shouldn’t need to look at a shot to know what’s occurring. Hearing feedback that paints a mental picture of what's going on is, first and foremost, making that sound fit the timing and flow of the shot, and having weight, like you said, is the other half.
Noah: David Kaye and Tara Strong are excellent voice actors. I was very happy to see they were attached to this game. As the sound designer, you were put in charge of making sure that their voice lines play at appropriate times. Things have changed since the Data East days of recording only a few quotes and using them as a major part of the game’s sound package. What was it like figuring out what quotes to use, and what are your favorite quotes in the game? (I’m partial to “the button, it does nothing!” myself.)
Jeff: 2 legendary voice actors indeed. Years ago, I was cutting dialogue for games that used their talents, and seeing that they were on Dune when brought on board was kind of a full-circle moment. Eric [Priepke], the programming wizard, is responsible for syncing audio takes to the appropriate pinball moment, but I take every audio file and make sure that it goes from raw vocal booth recording to shaped to match the movie assets so they don’t stand out in a bad way. Mixing and mastering 100’s of assets to maximize the impact. I’m partial to “Fear is the mind killer” and Tara shouting “RESSURRECT” when the ball is saved.
Noah: Let me know what it’s like creating audio for a jackpot sound effect, or any sound effect designed to build hype. A lot of the speech callouts are already in Dune for the multiballs, but I think the modes excel at this the most, especially during the harvester battles, where you make the final shot for the sacrifice.
Jeff: We set up a special bus for jackpots and other high-importance audio files. Having them clear out the noise so they shine through is critical. Jackpots are also a mix of musical cue, sound effect, AND voice callout. The moment has to be huge and coordinated. Dune’s Desert Power multiball has a slew of chanting, big brass chords that are in key with the music and a number of explosive digital sounds to help make the jackpots hit huge. Eric made some excellent light shows along with that. The whole ballet of audio/visual/scoring combination is to make for that sweet pinball dopamine.
Noah: I absolutely love spinners. One of the first things I look forward to in every new game is hearing how the spinner sounds. There are some great ‘80s machines like Flash Gordon or Earthshaker that have excellent spinner sounds, and Dune is up there. I love the rumbling as you rip the spinners on this table. This sound is unlike a lot of spinners I’ve heard; what encouraged this decision?
Jeff: There are SOOO many spinner sounds in this game, and I agree every game needs spinners! Sounds that are high repetition need to be extremely interesting or signature-sounding. Spinners and the scoop are two good examples on Dune. Eric and I went through a number of iterations to find the sweet spot at retriggering the SFX (it’s 60ms btw), on top of making sure that as the sound plays longer and the spinner slows down, it reveals more of a satisfying moment. The initial 100ms of this silly little SFX have to be perfect. I set up in Bitwig, my DAW sound design platform, a set of macros that would let me workshop new sounds and then automatically retrigger them and slowly imitate the sound retriggering at longer intervals. Once that test bed was set up, dialing in the sounds was pretty straightforward. The final ones are designed to be somewhat ornithopter fluttering, with the exception of the super spinner, which is one of the most satisfying sounds in the game imo.
Noah: I enjoy seeing what sounds in a game are the most recognizable: Stern Star Trek’s alarm when you increase the bonus multiplier, Stranger Things’ bass-driven tension when the Demogorgon busts out, and the multiball hype on many 90s pinball machines help sell people on the game who otherwise might’ve lacked interest. The big sound like this from your footage was the alarm for when a ball is about to be kicked out from the scoop. What decisions led to placing this recognizable sound here?
Jeff: Exactly the reason you said. Every pin should have a memorable earworm in the form of a callout, sound effect, or music cue. In Dune, this shot fires right at you, so not only did it need to stand on its own as a warning to alert the player to pay attention, it’s also located in a spot that gets a ton of repetition. These pieces come together to set up a framework. This sound needs to be a warning that plays all the time, needs to be memorable and cool enough that repetition isn’t annoying. Many of these design goals clash, but you have to pick the best of what’s important and get to work. Even now I can hear it in my head… Byoorrrkkaaaa Chuurrrrnnnk…. Bwooooff.
Noah: What are your pet peeves when it comes to sound design? Personally, I believe that games are at their best when they use iconic aspects of their source material’s soundtrack sparingly; sure, it can be used at the beginning of a game, but otherwise save it for later, like how Stern’s Jurassic Park only uses the overture when the game starts and as wizard modes are completed. Utilizing one piece of music too much just makes the audio more intrusive than enjoyable to me.
Jeff: There’s a fine line between using a memorable asset to draw people in and maybe using it too much, where it takes away the magic and nostalgia. The Star Wars theme is amazing, but hearing it too much takes away from the magic. As I mentioned earlier, another pet peeve is when sound design isn’t on theme with the game. I think JJP makes incredible games, but the sounds try to sound like a “Jersey Jack” game instead of whatever experience they’re trying to make. You hear these signature “JJP” style sounds, and in my opinion, it pulls you out of the Pandora or Hogwarts universe. I don’t want people playing a game I worked on and think, “Oh, this sounds like Jeff’s sound.” I want them to be sucked into the experience.
Noah: Lastly, do you have a favorite example of sound design in a pinball table? This can either be the full sound package or one sound you particularly enjoy, or both. I personally love the audio on Pulp Fiction, though the quotes can be repetitive, the rest of the game’s audio more than makes up for it and gives the game an identity of its own.
Jeff: LOTR is probably a great example of my favorite iconic audio moments. The callouts from John Rhys-Davies here echo in your mind like the mines of Moria. TRIPLE JACKPOT TWO! As well as the goofy trampoline Bwooomm for the VUKs. Generationally, the sound is iconic by technology too. Paul Heitsch’s Bram Stoker's Dracula is a good example of my favorite period of audio. The Yamaha 2051 FM chip being used to make these brutal digital BWAAAMMMM and other sounds that you wouldn’t generally consider very ‘vampire’ sounding. The entire package makes a vibe that just fits the theme. Making sounds fit a game doesn’t mean playing it safe.
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