Looking for music creation advice. Thread

Hello all,

I just started getting into music making a few months back and I've always wanted to create my own ambient tracks for games or anything in general. The genre I am interested in the most is "Dark" or "Horror" ambiance. I've been toying around with various pieces of software trying to figure out which one I like the most. I have found the one I enjoy using and it seems to be making my life a little easier I am aware that the software doesn't make the creator, the creator makes the artist. Although I've run into some trouble, I've studied music theory before and I have never been able to understand what it meant to put together a digital track especially for horror ambiance.

So, I am looking for a little bit of help as to how I would go about creating some haunting music for games. Here are a few simple questions I am hoping to get answers for:

What should I use when it comes to creating this kind of music?

How should I time it and make it build up to a point of suspense?

What can anyone recommend for beats per minute?

And most of all, what kind of key and instruments would you recommend?

I think that about sums it up, thank you in advance!

What should I use when it comes to creating this kind of music?
Personally I like Pro Tools, but really whatever program you're most comfortable with is the way to go.

How should I time it and make it build up to a point of suspense?
Most games are non-linear so unless it's a cut scene you're timing for a point of suspense should be somewhat modular in the track layout.

What can anyone recommend for beats per minute?
Depends on the type of horror game and genre. There's uptempo 'omg run for your life!' kinds of horror and slow burn psychological horror.

And most of all, what kind of key and instruments would you recommend?
Violins, various synths drones, though really you can make any instrument convey the emotion you're going for.

I haven't done a ton of horror music, but here's a Castlevania style 16bit one I made
Soundcloud.com

and a general creepy ambient track
Soundcloud.com

Thank you for the response!

I aiming for a more of a slow burning psychological thriller aspect, games like Alan Wake and Amnesia. I'm looking for more of a wandering "sinister" kind of feel but not with a bunch of silly effects that some people use. Like imagine yourself entering a labyrinth where you have multiple directions you could go in. You look around unknowing about whats beyond the veil of darkness. Where you feel like something is there but you can't exactly pinpoint it's location. Nailing down the emotion for that is kind of tricky since I've played with it.

I use Magix Music Maker and I've toyed with FL Studio for a bit and I like them both, however, FL Studio has more effects that come with it such as Sytrus which is a built in collection of pre-designed synth sound effects.

I like your Castlevania track, reminds me of the classic Super Nintendo game.

Thanks!

Oh sorry, I also like your ambient track lol. Anyways, thanks for the advice! Is there anything else you can tell me?

Loopable is good, you want to make sure the heads and tails match. Once again since it's non-linear they could play for 2min or 30 so it has to be a seamless loop. Also there are a lot of good plugins you can use to make human voice drones which work well for the type of horror game you're talking about. A slow heavy drumbeat can help as well, gives it that 'beating heart' feel to it.

"Also there are a lot of good plugins you can use to make human voice drones which work well for the type of horror game you're talking about."

Can you point me in the direction of these plugins?

Looping may be a little tricky, but I will give it a shot.

Omnisphere has a lot of good choruses and a ton of synth stuff.
EastWest has a lot of great classical instruments as well as choruses.

They're both pretty affordable, and I believe they are VST in addition to RTAS/TDM/AAX. I think I got both my copies from Sweetwater but they're probably on Amazon or something as well.

Another suggestion would be to record your own sounds and manipulate them!

If you want to hear a good horror soundtrack for ideas, check out the Resident Evil soundtracks and (highly recommended) Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

Make sure to upload your doings! I know we'd love to help and offer advice, especially the composers on the forum who specialize in horror!

Edited by: M4uesviecr

Thanks for the suggestion!

I do have some of my own recording equipment and foley art is amazing when it comes to creating sounds.

I will upload what I have as far as a track goes, it's still WIP and I'll be adding little sound effects to it also!

I've done a ton of foley work, mostly for movies, and I can say that foley is the most & least fun work to do. I love making the big effects and finding creative things to make specific sounds. But then you get to the footsteps pass and the cloth pass and it's just so tedious. Fun foley tip, the best sound for breaking bones is an egg cracking, it just sounds perfect.

Foley can get a little weird for sure. I think the major thing about foley that us fellow sound and music guys need to watch out for is over using the same thing and beating it to the point to where it's no longer immersive and it just becomes annoying to the audience. Things like footsteps, heart beats, less than convincing screams etc have been used too much. There was one time I just went outside and recorded sounds for an hour straight in the winter, I brought it into my software and applied the necessary effects to make it sound ominous. Winter does provide you with a bunch of sounds and less white noise because everything is crisp and the blanket of snow muffles a lot of the audio adding that much more distance. Sure, I don't have a boom mic or anything fancy like that, I have an Olympus audio recorder that I bought during my paranormal investigation days and an omni-directional mic. Believe what you will, but I have recorded things that appear to be voices and I think that's perfect for a horror type audio track.

A shotgun mic is great for creating foley effects. It's very focused and you can crank the gain to crazy levels. I'm a big fan of the Sennheiser 416 myself

How much do shotgun mics run for?

Anywhere from $100 to $2000

Wow that's quite a bit.

But you know what they say. If you want near flawless quality, buy the best thing your money can get you.