How To... Create the Sound of Horror

Sound is an integral part of any production. It's hard to build tension or create any kind of atmosphere without it, which is why it is so important in films intended to scare.  

There is a running theme of simplicity in the early horror films. They tend to use very minimal atmospheric soundscapes and near silence to set the scene. This instantly creates tension, not only in the film, but in the viewing environment, the theatre or at home. It can be very uncomfortable to sit in silence – you will notice this in all genres of classic horror films from the intense like The Shining [below] and Alien, to the far subtler and psychological Rosemary’s Baby.

This technique progressed through the '90s with the new genre of found footage films, such as Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity. In these, the soundtrack is stripped of all musical composition and in the case of Paranormal Activity, virtually all production audio and the remaining sound design is heavily filtered through the lo-fi perspective of the CCTV or handheld camcorder. The finished product was something pretty unpolished, which still had the ability to send a real shiver down your spine.

Stripping sound back to what is absolutely necessary also means those tiny sound effects designed to make you the most uncomfortable are not lost in any other commotion.  This year’s A Quiet Place took this to the extreme, with absolutely no sound, resulting in the unplanned sound effect of cinema goer’s popcorn being eaten particularly loudly.

I used similar techniques in a short film with Reece Sheersmith where the camera’s point of view focuses on a completely inert environment, and the audio concentrates entirely on the distant ‘off screen’ action of our perpetrator to created the ‘WTF’ audience reaction.

At GCRS, we’ve worked on many films in this genre, most recently Perfect Skin; a psychological horror film about a young woman’s relationship with a mysterious tattoo artist. The magic is generally in the moments which are the least obvious, so the sound has to work harder to focus the viewer’s attention on the most important parts of the story.

Thanks to technology, things are set to take an even more terrifying turn. Imagining something creeping up from behind you will become a lot easier thanks to VR and systems like Dolby Atmos, and it is something we are already experimenting with in our studios. This year we worked with Sennheiser to create a thrilling VR experience. The tension was built through heavy breaths, footsteps, and other everyday sounds. 

Wait, what was that noise?