Trailers are the first point of call for advertising and selling a film. “Many viewers assume trailers are made in-house by the film's director, editors or studio, but separate agencies are in fact competing to produce them” (Hooton, 2017). Within these trailers, impact sounds are used to “make a trailer track stand out” (Andersen, 2016) and grab the viewer's attention. One of the more recognizable sounds is the “bwam” from the Inception trailer. It adds tension, suspense and excitement.
As a massive fan of horror films (The Thing, Halloween, It Follows and The Shining are all classics), I often look up the trailers with the volume turned loud to see if the upcoming film is worth my time. The impact sounds within these trailers always stand out to me. Screeching violins, backwards voices and pulsing synths can all be heard, leaving an unsettling effect upon me.
Below is the latest Halloween movies trailer. Do me a favour and watch and listen to first, then play it again this time with the browser closed. You’ll naturally focus on the elements of the sounds and how they build and release tension.
(Universal Pictures, 2018)
I thought I would try my hand at making a couple of impact sounds. Click on the links below to have a listen.
My particular favorite was the horror sting. I could imagine it in a trailer for films like The Conjuring where something scary is about to be revealed, maybe whilst lights are flashing on and off? It also has that classic dark string section feel, a classic staple of the horror genre.
How did I achieve these sounds?
In all honesty it was pretty simple. Firstly, my DAW of choice for any sound design is Ableton Live 10. Ableton has a great library of samples, effects, plug ins etc. that make sound design a lot of fun. I searched through the string section of the sample library until I found one that I liked.
Have a listen below.
You can hear that it's not too different from the final sound. All the existing elements are there, it's just shorter. What I did was drag the sample into the DAW and have warp mode selected on the sample. This allowed the sample to be time stretched to match my chosen BPM (50). The reason I did this is because I wanted an unnatural feel to the strings, allowing every detail to be heard.
As a bonus see below for a video on how to time warp. I recommend watching at 1.25 speed because the dude talking sounds like a robot.
(Ableton, 2018)
Following that I reversed the sample to create a groaning effect. By sheer luck, it also created this soft stutter at the start. One of those happy accidents in music production. Finally sent a little bit of the signal to the preset reverb aux, just to add some space and depth.
And that’s it! Quite a simple process. Grab a sample, stretch, reverse and add effects where desired. Hopefully this quick tutorial has removed some of the mystery of sound design, but also shown how easy it is to make something cool yourself.
Go forth and create!
Bibliography
Ableton. (2018, Feb 6). Learn Live 10: Warping clips. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlsRVC72hx4
Andersen, A. (2016, April 5). THE 10 SIGNATURE SOUND ELEMENTS OF MODERN MOVIE TRAILERS:. Retrieved from asoundeffect: https://www.asoundeffect.com/modern-trailer-sound/
Hooton, C. (2017, January 17). We spoke to the people who make film trailers. Retrieved from Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/film-trailers-editors-interview-create-teasers-tv-spots-a7531076.html
Universal Pictures. (2018, June 8). Halloween - Official Trailer (HD). Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1ePFp-nBI
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