Alan Wake 2 • The Watchers • The Exorcist: Believer • Trap • True Detective: Night Country • Saw X • Talk to Me • Evil Dead Rise • Scorn • Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey • Knock at the Cabin • M3GAN • The Dark Pictures Anthology • The Black Phone • Bodies Bodies Bodies • Speak No Evil • The Quarry • Archive 81 • Master • Prey • Midnight Mass • Candyman • Halloween Kills • Demonic • Contagion • The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It • The Haunting of Bly Manor • Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me • The Third Day • Lovecraft Country • Halloween • The Haunting of Hill House • Hereditary • The Nun • A Quiet Place • Annabelle: Creation • It Comes At Night • Alien: Covenant • Blair Witch • The Mist • Penny Dreadful • Lights Out • The Conjuring 2
How to make your own horror sound effects:
9 brutally-effective horror sound design techniques – by horror master Alessandro Romeo
Alessandro Romeo shares 9 of his favorite horror sound design methods:
Sound designer Joe Dzuban worked on five films with horror director James Wan, starting with Insidious in 2010. Since then, he’s designed and/or mixed the sound for a dozen top horror films including The Conjuring, Annabelle, Malignant, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Crimson Peak. Here, Dzuban shares his insights and tips on how to design amazing horror sounds:
In this A Sound Effect interview for AirCon, 2 x Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall, Gladiator, Braveheart) talks about creating cringe-inducing horror sound, how to use subtle environmental sounds to express a character’s emotional state – and she shares her secret for creating Oscar-winning sound:
Dehumaniser 2 by Krotos is an excellent vocal sound design system – and Michał Pukała from Krotos has provided this helpful guide featuring 5 tips on how you can make the most of it:
How do you create your own horror and gore sound effects? Saro Sahihi from SoundBits has a lot of experience with that, having done both a full-on gore sound library, as well as some SFX libraries with really creepy, ghostly sounds and shocking transitions. And in this special A Sound Effect guide, he shares his tips on how to make those horrific sounds. Here’s Saro with his tips for horror sound effects creation:
Horror Sound Effect Highlights:
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Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Four Elements – Elemental Magic Play Track 3050 sounds included, 251 mins total $149
Master the Art of Bending the Elemental Forces
Unleash the raw power of fire, water, earth, and air with this comprehensive 9 GB sound library featuring 3050 high-quality sound effects across 630 files. Whether you’re designing cinematic soundscapes or enhancing video games Four Elements delivers the tools you need to harness the energy of the natural world.
Construction Kit – 2443 Sounds
A treasure trove of raw, organic, and processed sounds including seamless loops divided into Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Explosion categories. Customize every detail with an extensive selection of sound components.
- Organic Fire: Campfire sizzles, torch whooshes, and flame bursts.
- Processed Fire: Distorted impacts and unique crackles.
- Organic Earth: Rock crashes, gravel scrapes, and heavy stone hits.
- Processed Earth: Stylized rumbles and granular textures.
- Organic Water: Ocean waves, hydrophone bubbles, and fluid splashes.
- Processed Water: Underwater whooshes and stylized liquid smashes.
- Organic Air: Bamboo swishes, cloth movements, and pressure bursts.
- Processed Air: Filtered gusts and dynamic noise sweeps.
- Explosion: Firework detonations, Butane bursts, and cinematic impacts.
Building Blocks – 416 Sounds
Game-ready sound layers featuring Impacts, Whooshes, and Textures as seamless loops. Elevate transitions and enhance atmospheres with loops and pre-designed sound layers.
- Fire: Explosive bursts, blazing infernos, and warm embers.
- Earth: Ground-shaking impacts, crumbling terrain, and heavy collisions.
- Water: Cascading waves, serene rivers, and underwater ambiences.
- Air: Whispering breezes, stormy turbulence, and slicing gusts.
Design Kit – 192 Sounds
A collection of ready-to-use sound effects divided into Attack, Bend, and Explosion categories for quick integration into your projects. Perfect for high-energy scenes and immersive storytelling.
- Fire: Crackling flames, fiery bursts, and roaring infernos.
- Earth: Crushing impacts, shifting ground, and massive land eruptions.
- Water: Splashes, fluid manipulations, and crashing tidal waves.
- Air: Slicing winds, swirling currents, and thunderous gusts.
Four Elements gives you complete creative control, blending organic recordings with processed sound layers to meet the demands of any project. Master the forces of nature with Four Elements. Let your creativity ignite.
Keywords:
Elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Wave, Water, Liquid, Rock, Cast, Stone, Pebble, Torch, Gas, Flame, Campfire, Sizzle, Burst, Scrape, Whoosh, Impact, Texture, Attack, Bend, Bending, Explosion, Processed, Surge, Quake, Hit, Flow, Burn, Ignite, Drop, Smack, Destruction, Rumble, Hiss, Blow, Wind, Cloth, Movement, Underwater, Bubble, Ocean, River, Lake, Firework, Firecracker, Bang, Blast, Detonation, Magic, Fantasy, Forces, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Air, Fire Effect, Fire Whoosh, Water Whoosh, Seamless Loop, Loop, Fire Cast, Water Cast, Earth Cast, Air Cast
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Game Audio Packs - Game Sound Effects Libraries Spells Variations Vol 4 Play Track 255 sounds included $17
Spell Variations Vol. 4 marks the grand finale of our magical sound series, delivering a diverse and powerful collection of spell effects. Inside, you’ll find summonings, blood spells, petrifications, healing spells, dark incantations, and much more!
This volume includes 255 high-quality sound effects, organized into 27 distinct spell types, each with multiple variations (3 to 17) to ensure no spell sounds the same, even when reused across your project.
Each spell type is carefully named and sorted into individual folders, giving you intuitive navigation and maximum flexibility for magical scenes, game effects, or cinematic transitions.
Recorded, edited, and mastered in 192 kHz / 24-bit, these sounds deliver exceptional clarity and full adaptability for pitching, layering, or creative processing.
A must-have library for professional sound designers seeking drag-and-drop magical sounds for video games, trailers, animations, or any audiovisual production.
More about the pack
– Intuitive file naming
– All you’ll ever need regarding magical sounds [Use them again & again
Use the sound effects over and over, in any of your projects or productions, forever without any additional fees or royalties. Use the SFX in your game, in your trailer, in a Kickstarter campaign, wherever you need to, as much as you want to.
– Totally mono compatibility
– All sounds have several variations.
– Use your imagination and feel free to use any sound for a creature other than the one described, remember that the world of sound is totally subjective.
– For any questions or problems: khronstudio@gmail.comFeatures
– 255 spell sounds
– Number of Audio Waves: 255
– Format: 192KHz / 24 bits
– Win/Mac: Yes
– Minutes of audio provided: 19:21
The most popular horror sound effects libraries out there:
↑ back to the horror sound overview
Behind the sound for scary horror movies, series and games
– Exclusive A Sound Effect interviews:
NEW ADDITIONS:
Sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Luciano Vignola and sound designer/re-recording mixer Filipe Messeder share their experience of creating realistic, disturbing sound for director Zach Cregger’s hit horror film ‘Weapons.’ Vignola and Messeder talk about their unique ‘contraption’ (called the Rumbler), which was used to create rattle layers for the end chase scene. They talk about their approach to panning foley, designing intricate reverbs to highlight the emptiness of spaces, working with the foley team to create believable gore, and much more:
Oscar-winning Sound Supervisor/Re-Recording Mixer Johnnie Burn at Wave Studios talks about crafting a post-apocalyptic world ruled by nature for director Danny Boyle’s ’28 Years Later’ — from recording his metal vocalist/mix tech for the Alpha infected’s scream, recording rural locations in England and Wales for authentic ambiences, and designing the sound of wind through skulls by (poorly) playing recorders and flutes, to shaping the overall mix during sound editorial, and much more:
The SINNERS post sound team dives deep into their approach of capturing live on-set musical performances, worldizing music stems in the Juke Joint filming location, building believably massive Juke Joint crowds using production recordings, foley, and loop group, crafting experiential musical moments, creating a realistic day to night transition using specific insect and bird recordings, designing natural-sounding vampires, perfecting the immersive Dolby Atmos and IMAX mixes, and much, much more:
Explore the disquieting sound for ‘Black Mirror’ Season 7 with sound supervisor/sound designer Tom Jenkins, sound designer James Hayday, re-recording mixer James Ridgway, music editor Poppy Kavanagh, and supervising dialogue editor Alex Sawyer, who dive into their sound work on “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” “Eulogy,” “Hotel Reverie,” and “Plaything.”:
Sound supervisor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Eugenio Battaglia talks about bringing a feeling of fun to the mayhem in horror film ‘The Monkey’:
Survios’s action-horror VR game ‘Alien: Rogue Incursion’ puts the player into the ‘Alien’ universe. Instead of just watching characters in the ‘Alien’ films face off against facehuggers and Xenomorphs, players get to enter a virtual, immersive environment and fight these terrifying attackers. Here, Survios’s Head of Audio Department Chris Dang and Senior Technical Sound Designer Tim Schumann discuss their approach to creating sounds that fit the Alien films’ aesthetic yet work for a VR game, designing spatially realistic environments, using sound to up the fear factor, mixing for action and exploration, and much more!
Go behind the haunting sound of Nosferatu, with director Robert Eggers and sound artist Damian Volpe:
Award-winning supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Dan Kenyon shares details of his sound work on ‘Smile 2’ – discussing his collaboration with director Parker Finn, working with composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s unique score, designing demon vocal processing, and he shares details for his sound work on specific scenes.
Director Coralie Fargeat takes on toxic beauty culture in her film ‘The Substance’. Here, sound designers Valérie Deloof and Victor Fleurant, and foley artist Gregory Vincent, talk about their approach to the film’s body horror, their recording techniques for creating internal POVs, how they used sound to reinforce personalities, to humanize or dehumanize characters, and much more!
‘Terrifier 3’ is now the highest-grossing unrated film of all time. Here, award-winning sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Martín Hernandez talks sonic collaborations, crafting ultra-gory moments like the chainsaw shower massacre, designing Victoria’s vocals, and much, much more:
Sound supervisor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Sean Garnhart talks about taking a nature-based approach to the supernatural sound of director/writer Gary Dauberman’s ‘Salem’s Lot’, now streaming on Max:
Gamers are thrilled with Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2. This long-anticipated sequel to Alan Wake (2010) deviates from the original action-adventure game by leaning into the darker aspects as a survival horror game. In this massive interview, the Alan Wake 2 sound team discusses their aesthetic inspirations for the game, how they created new vocals for the ‘Taken’ and ‘Fade Outs,’ how they designed Washington State and the Dark Place like two different games, how they used music to support gameplay and misdirect the player, how they designed immersive environments, how they handled the sound for teleporting, and much, much more:
Director Ishana Shyamalan’s debut feature The Watchers is a supernatural horror film that blends elements of Irish folklore like faeries and changelings with natural elements that have a dark twist, like an enchanted forest that traps visitors inside and flocks of birds (called devil birds) that panic and flee as the sun sets. For the sound team, this created a fun opportunity to explore nature sounds in a new way, to create unique vocalizations for ‘The Watchers’ and design how they’d sound when mimicking humans. Here, sound supervisors Jill Purdy and Sylvain Bellemare talk about working with director Ishana Shyamalan, finding the sound of the magical forest and the wildlife within, designing sounds for the folklore-inspired ‘Watchers,’ and so much more:
Director David Gordon Green’s new Exorcist trilogy has kicked off with The Exorcist: Believer – in theaters now. The film follows two young girls who are possessed by the same demon.
Here, sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Rich Bologna – who previously worked with Dir. Gordon Green on his Halloween retcon trilogy – talks about the collaborative use of sound design and music to create an unsettling atmosphere/mood leading up to the chaotic, multi-phase exorcism.
He talks about designing a lush and inviting opening to the film, which plays in contrast to where the film leads. He talks about how they handled the sound of the demon, the subjective psychological POV moments, and more!
Director M. Night Shyamalan’s film Trap mainly unfolds at a pop concert. To make the performance feel ‘live’ and to keep it going throughout all locations in the stadium, the sound team – led by sound supervisors Dashen Naidoo and Jill Purdy – needed to craft reactive concert crowds, create a unique sonic perspective of the concert for the different locations in stadium, and then shift to the killer’s POV (and incorporate the film’s score) to portray his anxiety and to tell the story Shyamalan intended for the film. Here, Naidoo and Purdy detail their approach to achieving a convincing concert sound, using sound to build tension, and so much more:
HBO’s hit series True Detective is back with Season 4. This time around the show is helmed by Writer/Director/Exec. Producer Issa López, who chose a sound team led by co-supervising sound editors Martín Hernández and Stephen Griffiths.
True Detective: Night Country is set in Alaska during the sunless winter season. The unforgiving environment and persistent darkness act as an antagonistic character working against the detectives who are trying to untangle the events that led to the mysterious deaths of a team of research scientists. Here, Hernández, Griffiths, and sound editor Jake Fielding talk about building the environment’s character using expressive wind sounds, evocative vocal elements, and descriptive sound design, effects and foley to add an additional dimension to the story:
Saw X is the 10th installment of the Saw franchise, which began nearly two decades ago. These horror films are known for Jigsaw’s death traps, which require the victims to physically harm themselves in order to save their own lives.
The traps are inventive, and brutal, and offer extraordinary opportunities for sound!
Here, supervising sound editor/sound designer Adam Stein and sound designer David Rose talk about creating the sound of the death traps (and the resulting gore) in Saw X:
Horror film Talk to Me is the debut feature film from directors Danny and Michael Philippou. It first premiered at Sundance 2023 in the Midnight category and was later picked up by A24 for a wide theatrical release over the summer. The imaginative Australian film follows a group of young friends who mess around with a mysterious embalmed hand that lets them contact (and become briefly possessed by) the dead.
Here, award-winning sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Emma Bortignon talks about creating unique sounds for each possession and designing tense, tonal ambiences, what went into the sound of a dying kangaroo, how the mix evolved during the post process, how she mixed sounds into the surrounds to keep the audience on edge, and so much more:
Horror film Evil Dead Rise is a cinematic experience that makes full use of the Dolby Atmos surround format – with action sounds happening in the overheads, demonic vocals swirling around the theater, and music stems intermingling with sound design that’s panned around the room. Fans of the Evil Dead films will not be disappointed.
Here, sound designer/supervising sound editor Peter Albrechtsen, dialogue editor/re-recording mixer Garret Farrell, and re-recording mixer Gabriel Gutiérrez talk about paying homage to the original films, exploring new sounds for this film (like unique vocal processing for the Deadites), and experimenting with the design and mix to make Evil Dead Rise a fun horror adventure:
Ebb Software’s disquieting horror/survival game Scorn takes players to a desolate alien planet filled with organic-metallic machines that offer a means of protection against combatants by adding ‘enhancements’ to the player and they provide a possible means of escape but at a devastating cost to the player’s humanity.
The visual design is reminiscent of H.R. Giger’s art and the sound of the game (which is devoid of dialogue) is dark, foreboding, and slimy yet sharp and resonant.
Here, lead sound designer Koca Kastavarac talks about how they created the heavy atmospheres/environmental sounds, the diegetic sounds of the machines, the sounds of enemies such as the Parasite, Cyborg, Workers, etc., how they overcame technical challenges like adding an occlusion system, and much more:
Author A. A. Milne’s beloved children’s book bear Winnie-the-Pooh has taken on a new persona: cold-hearted killer. Since the character is now part of the public domain, director/writer Rhys Frake-Waterfield saw his opportunity to tell a very different story set in Hundred Acre Wood.
His horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey – in select theaters – catches up with a grown-up Christopher Robin, who went off to college and abandoned his long-time woodland pals. Left to fend for themselves, Pooh and Piglet have gone feral, as Christopher finds out upon his return to the woods.
Here, supervising sound designer Ryan Hatton talks about creating creepy, uninviting ambience for Pooh’s stomping ground, how he created some of the film’s gory scenes, how he used sound as a cost-effective storytelling tool for the low-budget film, how they made the mix more impactful, and much more:
Director M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin tells the unsettling story of a family who encounters of group of strangers in a remote cabin, forcing them to make an unthinkable choice to avert the ultimate disaster. Since the story mainly unfolds in one location, sound played a crucial role in defining the character of the space and helping the audience to clue into what’s happening off-screen.
Here, supervising sound editor David Forshee talks about building up the insect sounds in the woods using custom recordings from recordist Colin Hart as the base, working with the Alchemy Post foley team to help emphasize each character’s personal traits and helping to add weight and texture to the handcrafted weapons, designing apocalyptic events (like a tsunami) yet making it feel like it was captured using a smartphone camera, working sounds against the score, and more:
Director Gerard Johnstone’s horror-comedy M3GAN is a fun and frightening trip into the near-future where robotics and artificial intelligence have progressed enough to be used in a life-like doll, named M3GAN, that not only interacts with a child but is able to learn, process that information, and reprogram itself to become better suited to the child’s needs – even (over)protect the child from harm.
Here, supervising sound editor/sound designer P.K. Hooker talks about creating the mechanical, vocal, and electrical/digital sounds for M3GAN, and how those sounds change over the course of the movie to reflect M3GAN’s evolution from caring companion to evil robot. He also goes into detail about specific attack scenes, like M3GAN’s encounter with the neighbor, the scene in the elevator & much more:
Supermassive Games has released four games in their narrative-drive horror/survival series The Dark Pictures Anthology, one game per year since the first installment Man of Medan in 2019.
Each game is a different sub-genre of horror, has a unique score, and hosts a new cast of characters. And since the creative cycles for two games overlapped every year, Audio Director Barney Pratt had to do a lot of project juggling to keep them on schedule.
Here, he compares their approach to sound on each release, talks about how advancements in technology (like spatial audio) influenced their approach, what went into creating each game’s unique score, the character sound design, and several creatures featured in the games. He also shares details on the sound of the latest installment, The Devil in Me , such as recording custom sound, mixing in real-time, and more:
Director Scott Derrickson’s horror film The Black Phone is set in the ’70s, and the culture of that era influenced supervising sound editor Paul Hackner’s approach to sound editing and mix on the film. Here, he talks about using the song structure of Pink Floyd and other ’70s bands as a guide to designing the stylized dream sequences, how they created the balloon-filled chaos of Finn’s abduction, how to create the perfect jump scare, and more!
Director Halina Reijn’s horror-comedy film Bodies Bodies Bodies (distributed by A24) follows a group of rich 20-somethings who throw a hurricane party at a remote family mansion. As their party game goes awry, snarky backstabbing takes front stage. The hurricane rages outside and the fake friends find their party going from bad to deadly.
Award-winning sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Luciano Vignola and sound designer Mariusz Glabinski talk about creating a long-lasting hurricane that is interesting and dynamic, building intense dialogue scenes, using foley to heighten the chaos and flesh out quiet scenes, and much more!
Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s disturbing film Speak No Evil – which premiered in the Sundance 2022 Midnight category – tells the tale of a mild-mannered Danish family who visits an offbeat Dutch family they had recently met on vacation. The houseguests’ stay turns from friendly to frightening, with an ending that’s dubbed ‘shocking’ by Sundance audiences. Here, sound designer/re-recording mixer Marco Vermaas talks about building intensity through the film’s soundscape and what it was like to sound design that vivid ending.
Here, Soundcuts Audio Director Adele Cutting talks about the all-important dialogue (voiced in 8 different languages), their approach to creating cinematic sound that nods to classic horror films, crafting responsive ambiences using open-world game techniques, scoring interactive music and working with licensend music, designing the werewolf sounds, and so much more!
Netflix’s Archive 81 horror series – executive produced by James Wan – follows video archivist Dan Turner, who takes a job restoring and logging tapes that were damaged in a fire. As Dan watches the disturbing footage, he uncovers a sinister cult that’s involved in the disappearance of Melody (the woman who shot the footage).
Here, supervising sound editor Mark Relyea and sound designer Daisuke Sawa talk about designing scary sounds using static, building a supernatural portal, creating the voice of the demon Kaelego, and enhancing the ritual chanting of the cult followers.
Re-recording mixers Alexandra Fehrman and Richard Weingart discuss the use of the Dolby Atmos surround field, and the processing chains used to create different perspectives in the series.
For director Mariama Diallo’s feature film debut Master – in US Dramatic Competition at Sundance – she tells a supernatural story that leans on social isolation, exclusion, and racism. Here, sound supervisor/sound designer Robert Hein and re-recording mixer Robert Fernandez talk about using sound to support these feelings and to add a sense of darkness and horror.
Director Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator prequel Prey (distributed by Disney+, Hulu) is set in 1719, so the sound team – led by supervising sound editors Chris Terhune and Will Files – got to reimagine the advanced weaponry and armor known from previous Predator films in a more primitive form.
In turn, the Predator in Prey faces off with humans who are also less technologically advanced – a tribe of Comanche with stone and wood weapons and a roaming pack of French fur traders, who have black powder muskets and pistols.
Here, Terhune talks about redesigning iconic Predator sounds to fit the more primitive time, Dialogue/ADR Supervisor Jessie Anne Spence discusses the unique opportunity to record and edit Comanche dialogue and group, and re-recording mixer Craig Henighan (who co-mixed with Terhune) talks about finding the emotion for the mix in Dolby Atmos.
In celebration of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’s 30-year anniversary: Sound supervisor Doug Murray shares lots of fascinating sound stories behind the haunting film and the Twin Peaks series, the creative joys of “sound painting” with David Lynch, channeling Alan Splet’s sensibilities, its impact on film sound today, the sound for signature scenes – and how it transformed him as a sound designer. Hear the full interview below:
Mike Flanagan, known for The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, has a new series on Netflix — Midnight Mass. Here, supervising sound editors Trevor Gates and Jonathan Wales (also re-recording mixer) talk about location building, creating the show’s choir, designing disturbing sequences, and so much more!
Halloween is the longest-running horror film franchise to date. Beginning in 1978, there have been 13 Michael Myers films including the latest Halloween Kills in theaters now. Here, supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Rich Bologna at WB Sound in NYC shares his tale of designing and mixing Halloween Kills, his collaboration with director David Gordon Green, and his sonic contributions to this legendary film franchise:
Director Nia DaCosta’s horror film Candyman — in theaters now — takes a unique approach to storytelling, using both unique visual elements and important social issues to explain the existence of Candyman. Here, sound supervisor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Michael Babcock talks about the role of sound as a storytelling tool, and how he created the sonic vocabulary of this film.
Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Demonic’ is an interesting blend of high-tech virtual reality and ancient demonic folklore. Here, sound team members Jo Rossi (sound supervisor/re-recording mixer), Vince Renaud (sound supervisor/re-recording mixer), and Nolan McNaughton (sound designer/effects editor) dive into details of designing the simulated world, demons, dream sequences, and more:
There’s been a resurgence in the popularity of director Steven Soderbergh’s film Contagion due to its realistic and mostly-accurate portrayal of a global pandemic. Here, Soderbergh’s longtime-collaborator supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Larry Blake looks back to how they crafted its sound.
Writer/director Mike Flanagan brings back his composing and post sound team for his second Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor. Here, The Newton Brothers composing duo, supervising sound editor Trevor Gates, and re-recording mixer Jonathan Wales discuss the sonic differences between Hill House and Bly Manor and how they helped support this slow-burn story through sound:
Writer/director Mike Flanagan brings back his composing and post sound team for his second Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor. Here, The Newton Brothers composing duo, supervising sound editor Trevor Gates, and re-recording mixer Jonathan Wales discuss the sonic differences between Hill House and Bly Manor and how they helped support this slow-burn story through sound:
HBO Max’s new limited series The Third Day — starring Jude Law and Naomie Harris — is a feast of sound that adds a sense of unease and uncertainty to mirror the characters’ experiences. Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Niv Adiri talks about his cinematic approach to designing and mixing the disturbing sound of the show:
HBO’s Lovecraft Country series is an interesting mix of historical-drama and horror elements that have given the sound team lots of avenues to explore. Here, sound supervisor Tim Kimmel and sound designer Paula Fairfield talk about their approach to world-building and monster making.
The original Halloween is one of my favorite horror movies, and the 2018 version of Halloween (a direct sequel to the original movie) has premiered to great reviews.
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.
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.
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.
The 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).
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:
Popular on A Sound Effect right now - article continues below:
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Mattia Cellotto’s extraordinary sound libraries are some of the most popular releases in independent sound effects – and here’s your chance to get them all at a nice discount. Here’s what’s you get:
NEW: ANIMAL HYPERREALISM IV contains animal vocalisations – from hippos, hyenas, vultures, dwarf mongooses, elephants, African cranes, parrots, tigers, pigmy hippos, rhea ostriches, to brown bears, pheasants, wildebeests, African wild dogs and many more. Features 2000 individual sounds in 294 files.
CATACLYSM is a collection more than 1400 sounds in 400+ files of recorded, synthesized and designed sounds created to support important destructive moments and add a stronger sense of extreme consequence to any sound.
ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL I is a library containing themed animal vocalisations & sounds, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 1300 individual sounds in 290 files.
ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL II is a library containing themed animal sounds & vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 2000 individual sounds in 283 files.
ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL III is a library containing sounds themed animal vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 1700 individual sounds in 279 files.
METAMORPHOSIS is a huge collection of recorded source, synthesized material and hybrid sounds – more than 2300 sounds total.
GLACIER ICE is a library containing over 300 high quality sounds of ice cracking, breaking, shattering in various sizes of blocks – recorded entirely in the Italian Alps over the course of two winters.
POLARITY delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs.
ULTRASONIC DRY ICE is a library containing over 600 sounds themed metal resonances, scrapes and all sorts of weird.
ROCKS MOMENTUM gets you more than 1100 sounds of rocks, bricks, wood logs, stones, impacting on different surfaces, rolling, being scraped one against the other and so on. The library was recorded in the Italian alps, and in Inverness, Scotland.
WATER VOLUMES delivers you over 300 sounds of natural hot-springs, bubbles, and liquids of various densities boiling under the effect of dry ice.
METAL GROANS AND SLAMS is a library for which metal was kicked, hammered, bowed and… induced to vibrate through feedback loops?! The collection features 346 unique sounds recorded through field trips in US, UK and Italy.
CRUNCH MODE & THE BORAX EXPERIMENT are also included as a bonus: Crunch Mode features 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust & frozen goods, and The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy, gooey SFX.
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Bundles The Vault – The Ultimate RTSB Bundle Play Track 29683 sounds included, 2459 mins total $1,159The whole 9 yards.
Comprised of 11 heavy hitting libraries, this bundle includes SEISMIC CORE, OVERKILL, 4 ELEMENTS, COLLISION, INTERACTIVE, SCI FI, GEARBOX, SORCERY, HERO, BROKEN, and MELEE. Save by bundling all ELEVEN in a single library.GEARBOX:
Boutique analog mechanical contraptions, steampunk gadgetry, gizmos and machines big and small.
SORCERY:
Spells, deflects, casts, blocks, beams, and more. Unrivaled wizardry at your fingertips.
BROKEN
Car crashes, explosions, crumbling buildings, earthquakes, ripping earth and metal, to debris, and more.
HERO:
HERO – Sword fights, stabbing, guillotines, impaling, battle cries, shields, drawbridges, armor, foley and more.
MELEE:
Punches, kicks, blocks, bodyfalls, grabs, slaps, bone breaks, blood splatters, and more.
SCI FI:
Spaceships, machines, mechanicals, weapons and more. Technologies exceeding your boldest visions of the future.
INTERACTIVE:
The ultimate Game UI SFX library including clicks, pops, whooshes, musical and tonal elements, and ready to use designs for every UI action and game style.
COLLISION:
The ultimate sound effects library for massive impact sounds. Stingers, crashes, hits, whooshes and fully designed impact effects.
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It’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).
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:
Ridley 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.
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:
‘The Mist’ is an interesting series based on a Stephen King story – and here, supervising sound editor Bryan Parker & Emmy-award winning sound designer Paula Fairfield take you behind the scenes on its creepy sound:
Sound Supervisor Jane Tattersall takes you behind the scenes on the sound for the show, shares her favorite sound moments – and what it takes to make sound that is well and truly scary:
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:
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:
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• Exploring the Haunting Sound of ‘Enys Men’– with director/sound designer Mark Jenkin
• Inside the Intense Sound of ‘Infinity Pool’ – with Jill Purdy and Alex Bullick
• How realistic sound heightens the horror in ‘birth/rebirth’
• How Jeff Schmidt created the terrifying sound for hit podcast series Inside The Exorcist
• Behind The Callisto Protocol’s Terrifying, Immersive Sound:
• Capturing the Sound of Horror for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game – with Watson Wu & team:
• Designing the sound of Darq – an indie game audio deep-dive
• Why Game Audio is Vital in Through The Woods from Antagonist
• Sound for Scarehouses – A Q&A with Marc Straight
• The (surprisingly filling) approach to horror sound design for The Evil Within
• Game audio: Highlighting the horror sounds of Outlast
• Video: Creating the chilling sound for Colina: Legacy
If you want to have a go at creating your horror sounds, here are some DIY ideas from sound designer David Filskov’s excellent Guide to Sound Effects:
Bats flying
I used an umbrella opening and closing rapidly for the sound of bats flying one time… turned out great. I think I had to filter out some of the low frequency material, though.
-Tim Clarke
A pair of leather gloves flapped about is a good substitute for wings flapping when a bat takes off.
– Garry Taylor
Blood and guts being torn out
I know how to make a nice sound of blood and guts being torn out. Just make a milk pulp, put it into your mouth, and then try to say “Ghhhh”. Mix it with the end section of any water splash sample or add a sample where you’re moving out your hand from a bucket of water.
– Adam
Gore and squidge
Wet wash leather – fantastic for gore and squidge.
– Mark Estdale
Fruits! Especially tomatoes (for splatters) and potatoes (for wet crunchy sounds). Another classic is making a goo with eggs and dip rags and paper towels into them and play.
– Gustaf Grefberg
Rat shrieks
Pitched-up chickens.
– Ben Burtt
Up-pitched kittens. Especially the screechy ones.
– Gustaf Grefberg
Stone coffin opening
Slide off the top of a toilet tank.
– Ben Burtt
Spirits screaming
Dolphin and sea-lion cries, other animal screams and human vocalizations.
– Ben Burtt
Tentacles, sliding
Get a few day’s worth of stubble on your face. Go somewhere real quiet and record running your hand and arm under your chin – it mixes in nice with the hairs on your arm. Or as I just found out, get a mouse mat with a rubberized or cloth surface and rub that under your chin :-) To further this idea maybe put some shaving gel on and take a credit card and lightly rub it across? That way you get bristly with a bit of slime.
– Dave Sullivan
Having just eaten a bowl of macaroni and cheese shells, I have to say it’s the most convincing tentacle sound I’ve ever heard. It also made the bowl harder to finish :-)
– Jay Semerad
Vocalization of monster
Metal pressed against dry ice.
– Paul Arnold
Slide a straw up or down in a McDonald’s large drink plastic lid. Try pitching it down and stretching it – and voilá! McZilla.
– Max Hodges
↑ back to the horror sound overview
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