Hello everyone. I am interesting in your opinion about how to compose sounds, Rhythm and harmonies for horror. Would you prefer special libraries? But I also consider the suppositions of such a composition: Tempo, Time signature and so on. Are there any don´ts ? Maybe you have some recommendations for me regarding a channel, a composer or some guide lines?
Thank you in advance for your comments.
Greetings
Klaus Ferretti
hello Klauss
the horror theme is really hard to approach because it depend on a lot of parameters
i have to write and compose a little track for an horror scene in a short film
my composition has a duration of 30 seconds it is very short and the producer ask me to compose in a metal style !!! wow how to compose an horror melody in a metal style
i have made a lot of mockup and finaly the producer said the eigth mockup is very good go for it and improve it
you can listen to it in this video
my composition start at 2’23
i have also done a lot of composition in thriller or horror style
when i do that i use a lot of dissonance, strange chord and also strange sound like water phone, bowed cymball, slience bring a lot of tension in horror more than a complex chord
the piano could be used, i have used in my cover of annabelle
there are some libraryr great for this kind of music
in orchestral essential 2 you have the bowed cymbal, samplehero have a great library for water phone, zero G has also a great library for scary ambiance
for me the music must not cover the scene in the movie but amplify the tension and the thrill
i am not sure that there is tuto on the web that can bring you some idea on how to compsoe for horror theme, but you can make a search in this way
good luck Klauss
2 Likes
Thanks a lot for your great comment. I will try out some of things you mentioned here. And then
I will see which one works best for me.
Thank you
Klaus
2 Likes
thanks a lot
i am sure that you are able to compose a great track in a horror mood with a lot variation and tension
hope to hear your composition soon
2 Likes
Hi Klaus ,
I am not expert
But I listen and read a lot from the net
and try to experiment
What I would do
But for me I would also record some live sounds with either my iPhone or if you have a hand held recorder
Note: always try to keep this in mind when recording live sounds take many takes of the same different sounds but just slight variation so you will have a lot of audio resources to take from
But the same different sound with just a slight variation
Off the wall thought
I Think about this sort of like 4 part writing but for sounds the outside voices Soprano and Bass and the inner voices Tenor and Alto
Each sounds will have its own place in the mix and all the different sounds will interweave into each other
Possible Record ideas I might do
Record things like different sounds of scratching
Scratches with bass frequencies in them like a large Boulder being drag across your living room floor
Scratches of medium frequencies such nails been crawled in a wood door
Or Scratches with high frequencies such
as screams of a high pitch animal
Etc…
Ideas of using the sounds
when recording think before hand where you might want to use those all those sounds
And use your music to either work with those sounds or maybe use those sound to lay in the back ground to create that unsettling feeling
I hope this might of giving you some ideas
1 Like