horror sound stories Asbjoern Andersen


It's Halloween, and to get you in that spooky mood, here are 11 A Sound Effect stories behind the sound for some of the scariest horror movies and series out there. Hope you enjoy the reads - Happy Halloween from all of us at A Sound Effect!
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Halloween:


The original Halloween is one of my favorite horror movies, and the 2018 version of Halloween (a direct sequel to the original movie) just premiered to great reviews, and is number one at the US box office right now.

This interview gets you the story on how sound supervisors Will Files and P.K. Hooker found brutal sonic inspiration in Michael Myers’ no-frills method of murder – and used that to create a soundscape that’s equally simple yet savage.
 

Read the in-depth interview

The Haunting of Hill House:


Audience reactions to Netflix’ new horror series The Haunting of Hill House have been strong, with horror legend Stephen King hailing it as close to a work of genius.

Many reviewers are particularly praising the sound design for the series – and it’s a great pleasure to present this interview on how its powerful sound was made, as told by Emmy-award winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Trevor Gates.

 

Read the in-depth interview

Hereditary:


Hereditary Sound

Hereditary is being hailed as one of the best horror movies in recent years, and it sounds fantastic.

Here’s the in-depth story on how the sound team at Parabolic NY carefully controlled the tension in Hereditary with sound.

They also discuss the finer points of the sounds of gore, how you make a room tone sound evil – and a sinister sonic element heard throughout the film that you probably haven’t noticed.

Read the in-depth interview

The Nun


The nun soundThe Nun is the latest installment in The Conjuring’s horror universe, and it was a huge hit at the box office.

In this exclusive interview, supervising sound editors Bill R. Dean and Ron Eng tell the story about its scary sound – covering everything from recording bells and homemade crosses, designing demon vocals, how they used the Dolby Atmos surround field, to how the jump-scare scenes never got old (especially for one re-recording mixer).

Read the in-depth interview

A Quiet Place:


A Quiet Place Sound

Sound and silence are key elements in A Quiet Place, and for sound designers Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl it was an incredibly thrilling – and challenging – project to work on. Here’s how they created the crucial sound of A Quiet Place:

Read the in-depth interview


Popular on A Sound Effect right now - article continues below:


Trending right now:

  • THE ULTIMATE WATER SOUND RESOURCE
    Discover the versatile world of aquatic audio with WATER IN MOTION, a sound library designed to provide sound designers and game audio professionals with an extensive array of water sounds. This library equips you with the tools to create your very own sound effects and design water foley scenes right out of the box.

    Putting sound quality and versatility at the forefront we captured every detail of the water sounds with highest precision. The result is a collection of extremely clean sounding water recordings that let you shape the sonic character to your specific needs! Every sound was recorded with a mono center microphone (MKH 8050 or Sanken co-100k) and a matched stereo pair of MKH 8040s by Sennheiser (note: only the nature-sounds and the designed tools have no mono file).

    DIVE INTO THE WORLD OF WATER SOUND DESIGN
    The library is split into two main sections: RECORDINGS and DESIGNED TOOLS. The RECORDING folder has every water sound you need ranging from simple bubbles to roaring waterfalls, rain, ocean waves, tons of everyday sounds, experimental water recordings, various movements and tiny to huge splashes. The DESIGNED TOOLS section comes with a vast array of pre-designed water sounds from big splashes, liquid whooshes, magic spell elements and morphing sounds to underwater ambiences and short textures.

    Watch the walkthrough video to dive deeper into the world of WATER IN MOTION!

    WHAT’S INSIDE (FILES / SOUNDS)

    • Bubbles (84 / 440+)
    • Everyday (172 / 830+)
    • Experimental (77 / 370+)
    • Movements (60 / 420+)
    • Nature (46 / 55)
    • Splashes (36 / 310+)
    • Tools – Ambiences (21 / 21)
    • Tools – Impacts / Hits / Splashes (21 / 190+)
    • Tools – Movement / Whooshes (40 / 320+)
    • Tools – Short Textures (48 / 48)
  • Elevated and Designed FIRE sounds


    Welcome to the first in our new Element Series: FIRE. The Element series will feature highly designed sounds as well as expertly recorded raw source recordings. With FIRE we spared no expense to experiment with tons of different props and sources. From a double ended fire staff all the way to a “plasma gun” fire tube. Can you ever have enough FIRE? We don’t think so. FIRE is a collaboration between SoundMorph, Jason Cushing, Tibo Csuko & Boris Karekine. FIre contains more than 3.4GB / 675+ files.


    WHAT’S INSIDE

    All files are 24bit/96khz .WAV stereo files, all meticulously embedded with Soundminer & Basehead metadata. FIRE contains the following folder categories:

    • Designed Sounds
    • Blasts
    • Burning
    • Fire Ball
    • Fire Staff
    • Ignition
    • Matches
    • Plasma Gun
    • Textures
    • Torch
    • Whoosh
  • Need the sound of utter destruction, debris, bomb blasts, and chaos – recorded in high definition sound, with multiple perspectives and tons of different materials? That's what you get right here:

    As sound designers, we always need these types of highly useable sounds, and with the creation of Matter Mayhem, we've gone above and beyond. Spanning 5 months of recording out in the field and designing in the studio, SoundMorph is very proud to bring you one of our largest produced libraries ever! If you need debris and destruction, Matter Mayhem is a solid choice to add to your collection!

    Matter Mayhem was created in collaboration with Frederic Devanlay (Sinematic, Solar Sky) and Cedric Denooz (Future Weapons), and contains 1,500+ sounds / 5.75Gb of 24bit/96khz .WAV files, all meticulously embedded with Soundminer & Basehead metadata.

    The library includes sounds like Big Blow Ups – Stoney Structures • Big Blow Ups – Wood Structures • Near, Mid, and Far Perspectives • Bomb Blasts • Blow Ups – Stone, Pebble, Metal, Wood • Debris – Stone, Wood, Glass, Plastic • Collapses • Scaffold Impacts • Whoosh Objects • Designed Debris • First Person Debris • Metal Objects.

    So if you're looking for the sound of destruction, this one delivers!

  • Creature Sound Effects WINGS Play Track 1444+ sounds included From: $99

    We are extremely proud to present our first library, WINGS – a one-of-a-kind sound library.

    From tiny insects to small birds, from fairies to dragons, WINGS offers a creative palette with a diverse range of sounds to choose from.

    With over 1400 files (more than 4 GB for the 192 kHz version ) we’re confident you will find the perfect sound.

    When purchasing WINGS you get 2 packs, our Design category that includes 180 files and the Source category that offers more than 1200 sounds. Featuring the very best of our foley sessions.

    All single flaps have been careful edited, allowing for unique speed or rate adjustments.

    Pick your preferred version at the introductory prices below:


Latest releases:

  • City Life Sound Effects City Ambiences 2 Play Track 30 sounds included, 180 mins total $14.99

    Immerse your players in the sounds of the city with our 30 City Ambience Sound Recordings pack. Featuring a rich variety of urban soundscapes, this collection includes recordings of city traffic from both the street and rooftop perspectives, the calming patter of rain falling in the city, lively playground sounds, birds singing in the morning. Perfect for adding authentic, atmospheric depth to any game environment, these versatile sound effects are ideal for creating dynamic cityscapes and enhancing the realism of urban settings. Whether you’re building bustling streets or quiet, rainy corners, this pack provides the perfect backdrop for your game world.

    Features:

    • City Streets
    • Rooftop Ambiences
    • Morning and Evening Ambiences
    • Traffic and Motorcycles
    • Kids Playgrounds
    • Raining in the City
    • Birds in the City
  • All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1 and FEL Clippy XLR EM272 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II recorder. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.

  • Animal Sound Effects Baby Birds Play Track 71 sounds included $7.99

    This is a sound library containing some extremely close up recordings of nesting Great Tits, from a few hours after hatching through to fledging.

    Features:

    • 71 audio files in 24 bit 96kHz quality WAV format
    • All files have UCS compliant metadata and naming, allowing for easy searching in sound library management tools
    • Available for commercial or personal use without attribution
    43 %
    OFF
  • Step into the shadows with Dark Dungeon Soundscapes Pt. 2, the soundscapes collection for game developers, filmmakers, and creators seeking spine-chilling atmosphere. This second edition brings you even deeper into the abyss with haunting ambient textures, eerie whispers, unsettling drips, distant screams, and the deep echoes of forgotten catacombs.

    Designed for horror and cinematic projects, these soundscapes will set the perfect tone for dark fantasy, gothic horror, or deep dungeon-crawling adventures. Whether you’re unveiling an ancient crypt, leading players into a cursed temple, or orchestrating a demonic ritual, these immersive sounds will pull your audience into the darkness.

    🔥 Features:

    ✅ Diverse environments, from eerie ruins to underground horrors

    ✅ Seamless looping for extended play sessions

     

  • Car Sound Effects Speed Engines Play Track 102 sounds included, 15 mins total $10

    Rev up your creativity with Speed Engines Sound Effects, a collection of roaring, revving, and accelerating engine sounds. Perfect for game developers, filmmakers, and content creators, this pack features a variety of engine types, from thunderous muscle cars to high-speed motorcycles.

    Each sound is recorded to deliver crisp, immersive audio that brings speed and power to life. Whether you’re working on a racing game, an action-packed movie, or a thrilling YouTube video, these sound effects will add adrenaline-pumping realism to your project.

    🔥 Features:
    ✅25 – Engine SFX / 77 – Pass By
    ✅ Variety of engine types and variations
    ✅ Royalty-free – use in commercial & personal projects with no extra fees
    ✅ Ready for use in games, films, and multimedia projects

Need specific sound effects? Try a search below:


Annabelle: Creation


annabelle creation soundIt’s a great pleasure to share the story behind the sound for Annabelle: Creation, which went straight to the top at the US box office.

In this in-depth interview, supervising sound editor/sound designer Bill R. Dean shares how they used sound to really ramp up the fear factor in the movie – and what it took to create that sound.

You also get an exclusive video clip with Bill R. Dean, on a rather novel sound design approach for the movie (involving light bulbs, filament and synth sounds).

Read the in-depth interview

It Comes At Night



Psychological horror movie It Comes at Night is proving very popular with both critics and moviegoers – and below, supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Damian Volpe and re-recording mixer Robert Fernandez share the full story behind the film’s tense and unnerving sound:

Read the in-depth interview

Alien: Covenant


alien covenant sound designRidley Scott’s Alien: Covenant is the latest installment in the legendary, genre-defining sci-fi franchise.
And this interview gets you the inside-story behind the sound for the much-awaited movie, as told by Oscar-nominated supervising sound editor/sound designer Oliver Tarney and sound designer Michael Fentum.

Here, they discuss their approach to sound design on Alien: Covenant, from building on original Alien sound concepts to creating new sounds for the Neomorph, the Covenant ship, the radio transmissions from the Prometheus, and more.

Read the in-depth interview

Blair Witch


Blair Witch sound
The original Blair Witch Project movie made a huge splash when it premiered back in 1999, and now there’s a sequel out, simply entitled Blair Witch.

I’m very excited to be able to share the inside-story behind the sound for the new film – and without further ado, here’s the interview with Blair Witch supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Andy Hay:

Read the in-depth interview

Lights Out


Lights out sound
Lights Out by David F. Sandberg has received lots of praise for its great scares – and a truly unsettling story, too. Here, Jennifer Walden speaks with Lights Out’s award-winning sound designer and supervising sound editor Bill R. Dean. He shares the team’s approach to horror sound, how they used dynamics to create some very effective scares, the surprising sources for some of the movie’s signature sounds – and much more:

Read the in-depth interview

The Conjuring 2


The Conjuring 2 sound
James Wan’s spine-chilling horror movie The Conjuring 2 went straight to number 1 at the box office. And here, supervising sound editor/sound designer Joe Dzuban shares the story behind the creative sound work, the value of temp mixes – and how the right talents (and tools) can take horror sound to the next level:

Read the in-depth interview

 

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:
 
A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

  • THE ULTIMATE WATER SOUND RESOURCE
    Discover the versatile world of aquatic audio with WATER IN MOTION, a sound library designed to provide sound designers and game audio professionals with an extensive array of water sounds. This library equips you with the tools to create your very own sound effects and design water foley scenes right out of the box.

    Putting sound quality and versatility at the forefront we captured every detail of the water sounds with highest precision. The result is a collection of extremely clean sounding water recordings that let you shape the sonic character to your specific needs! Every sound was recorded with a mono center microphone (MKH 8050 or Sanken co-100k) and a matched stereo pair of MKH 8040s by Sennheiser (note: only the nature-sounds and the designed tools have no mono file).

    DIVE INTO THE WORLD OF WATER SOUND DESIGN
    The library is split into two main sections: RECORDINGS and DESIGNED TOOLS. The RECORDING folder has every water sound you need ranging from simple bubbles to roaring waterfalls, rain, ocean waves, tons of everyday sounds, experimental water recordings, various movements and tiny to huge splashes. The DESIGNED TOOLS section comes with a vast array of pre-designed water sounds from big splashes, liquid whooshes, magic spell elements and morphing sounds to underwater ambiences and short textures.

    Watch the walkthrough video to dive deeper into the world of WATER IN MOTION!

    WHAT’S INSIDE (FILES / SOUNDS)

    • Bubbles (84 / 440+)
    • Everyday (172 / 830+)
    • Experimental (77 / 370+)
    • Movements (60 / 420+)
    • Nature (46 / 55)
    • Splashes (36 / 310+)
    • Tools – Ambiences (21 / 21)
    • Tools – Impacts / Hits / Splashes (21 / 190+)
    • Tools – Movement / Whooshes (40 / 320+)
    • Tools – Short Textures (48 / 48)
  • Need the sound of utter destruction, debris, bomb blasts, and chaos – recorded in high definition sound, with multiple perspectives and tons of different materials? That's what you get right here:

    As sound designers, we always need these types of highly useable sounds, and with the creation of Matter Mayhem, we've gone above and beyond. Spanning 5 months of recording out in the field and designing in the studio, SoundMorph is very proud to bring you one of our largest produced libraries ever! If you need debris and destruction, Matter Mayhem is a solid choice to add to your collection!

    Matter Mayhem was created in collaboration with Frederic Devanlay (Sinematic, Solar Sky) and Cedric Denooz (Future Weapons), and contains 1,500+ sounds / 5.75Gb of 24bit/96khz .WAV files, all meticulously embedded with Soundminer & Basehead metadata.

    The library includes sounds like Big Blow Ups – Stoney Structures • Big Blow Ups – Wood Structures • Near, Mid, and Far Perspectives • Bomb Blasts • Blow Ups – Stone, Pebble, Metal, Wood • Debris – Stone, Wood, Glass, Plastic • Collapses • Scaffold Impacts • Whoosh Objects • Designed Debris • First Person Debris • Metal Objects.

    So if you're looking for the sound of destruction, this one delivers!

  • Creature Sound Effects WINGS Play Track 1444+ sounds included From: $99

    We are extremely proud to present our first library, WINGS – a one-of-a-kind sound library.

    From tiny insects to small birds, from fairies to dragons, WINGS offers a creative palette with a diverse range of sounds to choose from.

    With over 1400 files (more than 4 GB for the 192 kHz version ) we’re confident you will find the perfect sound.

    When purchasing WINGS you get 2 packs, our Design category that includes 180 files and the Source category that offers more than 1200 sounds. Featuring the very best of our foley sessions.

    All single flaps have been careful edited, allowing for unique speed or rate adjustments.

    Pick your preferred version at the introductory prices below:

Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • City Life Sound Effects City Ambiences 2 Play Track 30 sounds included, 180 mins total $14.99

    Immerse your players in the sounds of the city with our 30 City Ambience Sound Recordings pack. Featuring a rich variety of urban soundscapes, this collection includes recordings of city traffic from both the street and rooftop perspectives, the calming patter of rain falling in the city, lively playground sounds, birds singing in the morning. Perfect for adding authentic, atmospheric depth to any game environment, these versatile sound effects are ideal for creating dynamic cityscapes and enhancing the realism of urban settings. Whether you’re building bustling streets or quiet, rainy corners, this pack provides the perfect backdrop for your game world.

    Features:

    • City Streets
    • Rooftop Ambiences
    • Morning and Evening Ambiences
    • Traffic and Motorcycles
    • Kids Playgrounds
    • Raining in the City
    • Birds in the City
  • All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1 and FEL Clippy XLR EM272 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II recorder. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.

  • Animal Sound Effects Baby Birds Play Track 71 sounds included $7.99

    This is a sound library containing some extremely close up recordings of nesting Great Tits, from a few hours after hatching through to fledging.

    Features:

    • 71 audio files in 24 bit 96kHz quality WAV format
    • All files have UCS compliant metadata and naming, allowing for easy searching in sound library management tools
    • Available for commercial or personal use without attribution
    43 %
    OFF
  • Step into the shadows with Dark Dungeon Soundscapes Pt. 2, the soundscapes collection for game developers, filmmakers, and creators seeking spine-chilling atmosphere. This second edition brings you even deeper into the abyss with haunting ambient textures, eerie whispers, unsettling drips, distant screams, and the deep echoes of forgotten catacombs.

    Designed for horror and cinematic projects, these soundscapes will set the perfect tone for dark fantasy, gothic horror, or deep dungeon-crawling adventures. Whether you’re unveiling an ancient crypt, leading players into a cursed temple, or orchestrating a demonic ritual, these immersive sounds will pull your audience into the darkness.

    🔥 Features:

    ✅ Diverse environments, from eerie ruins to underground horrors

    ✅ Seamless looping for extended play sessions

     

  • Car Sound Effects Speed Engines Play Track 102 sounds included, 15 mins total $10

    Rev up your creativity with Speed Engines Sound Effects, a collection of roaring, revving, and accelerating engine sounds. Perfect for game developers, filmmakers, and content creators, this pack features a variety of engine types, from thunderous muscle cars to high-speed motorcycles.

    Each sound is recorded to deliver crisp, immersive audio that brings speed and power to life. Whether you’re working on a racing game, an action-packed movie, or a thrilling YouTube video, these sound effects will add adrenaline-pumping realism to your project.

    🔥 Features:
    ✅25 – Engine SFX / 77 – Pass By
    ✅ Variety of engine types and variations
    ✅ Royalty-free – use in commercial & personal projects with no extra fees
    ✅ Ready for use in games, films, and multimedia projects


   

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