{"id":6628,"date":"2023-10-31T01:42:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T01:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2023-10-31T02:26:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T02:26:43","slug":"designing-scary-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/2023\/10\/31\/designing-scary-sounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing Scary Sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Halloween is upon us and it is time for some spooky procedural sound design in <a href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/web\/en\/products-gamesynth.html\">GameSynth<\/a>! This post will cover a wide range of sounds for all your scary projects, from slightly unsettling ambiences to downright horrific events. Disturbing soundscapes, bloody impacts and ghostly creatures, the many sound generators of GameSynth will help you create the creepiest of sounds\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"litymp3\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_website.mp4\" data-lity=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_website.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"tsugiblog-blackheader\" style=\"margin-top: 40px; padding: 22px 18px; max-width: 670px; background-position: right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; letter-spacing: 0.05em; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000; background-image: url('https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/header-bg1.png');\">Impacts \/ Friction<\/h2>\n<p>In the context of a horror game or movie, impacts and friction sounds are often more cinematic than realistic. Here are some tips to design them in GameSynth\u2019s modular environment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A single <strong>Clang<\/strong> module can already generate deep and dark impacts. Adding a <strong>Spectral Delay<\/strong> will produce more imposing sounds.<\/li>\n<li>For resonant impacts, the <strong>Modes<\/strong> and <strong>Impact<\/strong> modules can also be used. They should be filtered and combined with <strong>Noise<\/strong> or <strong>Noise Bands<\/strong> modules to convey a more cinematic feeling. Sending the result through <strong>Reverb<\/strong> or <strong>Spectral Delay<\/strong> modules will also add presence to the sound.<\/li>\n<li>Daunting rhythms can be produced by retriggering the impacts with a slow <strong>Clock<\/strong>; a great way to add tension to a scene. This can be complemented with a slow <strong>Gear<\/strong> module to generate spooky mechanical sounds.<\/li>\n<li>Using a <strong>Friction<\/strong> module (configured for <em>metal<\/em>) and a <strong>Noise Bands<\/strong> module with narrow <em>bands<\/em> will produce strange and creepy scrapes. Once again, adding <strong>Reverb<\/strong> and <strong>Spectral<\/strong> <strong>Delay<\/strong> modules will make for a larger and more ethereal sound.<\/li>\n<li>Should you need to add a gory layer with some blood, a <strong>Goo<\/strong> module with a low <em>density<\/em> or a <strong>Rain<\/strong> module &#8211; with only the <em>drip<\/em> layers enabled &#8211; will do the trick. To stimulate a stab, a short amplitude <strong>Envelope<\/strong> should drive the generators, while for a continuous oozing wound, it should be controlled by a <strong>Perlin Noise<\/strong>. Add a <strong>Chorus<\/strong> module to adjust the viscosity!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"litymp3\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_01_Impact.mp4\" data-lity=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_01_Impact.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"tsugiblog-blackheader\" style=\"margin-top: 40px; padding: 22px 18px; max-width: 670px; background-position: right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; letter-spacing: 0.05em; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000; background-image: url('https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/header-bg2.png');\">Creatures<\/h2>\n<p>From realistic animals to ethereal entities, GameSynth offers many modules dedicated to creature sound design:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On the realistic side, the <em>Wolf<\/em> and <em>Bat<\/em> <em>types<\/em> of the <strong>Animals<\/strong> module will come in handy for Halloween!<\/li>\n<li>By adding some processors &#8211; such as a <strong>Chorus<\/strong>, <strong>Frequency<\/strong> <strong>Shifter<\/strong><strong>, Cross Synthetis<\/strong> or a <strong>Reverb<\/strong> &#8211; far stranger creatures can be designed.<\/li>\n<li>Alternatively, combining the <strong>Glottis<\/strong> and <strong>Formant Filter<\/strong> modules as a source \/resonator pair will generate basic vocalizations you can then control and process as you wish.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Noise<\/strong> and <strong>Noise Bands<\/strong> can also be used to create breathy or clicky sounds, depending on whether you drive them with a long or short <strong>Envelope<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>For more convincing sounds, do not forget to gently modulate the <em>pitch<\/em> of your generators with an <strong>Envelope<\/strong> or an <strong>Automation Curve<\/strong>. These curves can be imported from a game engine or animation software, for perfectly matching sounds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"litymp3\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_03_Creature.mp4\" data-lity=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_03_Creature.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"tsugiblog-blackheader\" style=\"margin-top: 40px; padding: 22px 18px; max-width: 670px; background-position: right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; letter-spacing: 0.05em; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000; background-image: url('https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/header-bg3.png');\">Ambiences<\/h2>\n<p>We recently saw how the GameSynth modular environment can produce a large variety of <a href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/02\/designing-drones-in-gamesynth\/\">drone sounds<\/a> thanks to its 130+ modules. The techniques described in that post will indubitably be very useful for creating spooky soundscapes, although we will aim for even darker tones.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Noise,<\/strong> <strong>Noise Bands, <\/strong>or <strong>Wind<\/strong> generators are a good starting point for realistic ambiences, while <strong>Chaos<\/strong> or <strong>Sine Bank<\/strong> are preferable for more designed sounds.<\/li>\n<li>Adding resonances is an excellent way to create haunting atmospheres. The <strong>Resonator<\/strong>, <strong>Tube<\/strong>, <strong>Cabinet<\/strong>, <strong>Comb Filter<\/strong>, and <strong>Ring Modulator<\/strong> modules will help you tailor the sound to your needs.<\/li>\n<li>To add scattered events to your ambience, making it livelier, drive the amplitude of <strong>Modes<\/strong> or <strong>Friction<\/strong> modules with an <strong>LFO<\/strong> or a <strong>Perlin Noise<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>An <strong>LFO<\/strong> can also be used to slightly modulate the <em>frequency<\/em> of an <strong>EQ Filter<\/strong> (with a bit of <em>resonance<\/em>), adding more movement to the sound.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, broader spaces \u2013 from realistic to otherworldly &#8211; can be designed with the <strong>Reverb<\/strong>, <strong>Delay<\/strong> and <strong>Spectral Delay<\/strong> modules. Use two slightly different instances of these modules before a <strong>Stereo<\/strong> output for more convincing spatial effects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"litymp3\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_02_Ambience.mp4\" data-lity=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_02_Ambience.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"tsugiblog-blackheader\" style=\"margin-top: 40px; padding: 22px 18px; max-width: 670px; background-position: right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; letter-spacing: 0.05em; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000; background-image: url('https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/header-bg4.png');\">Particles<\/h2>\n<p>The Particles model can also be used to add tension to your ambiences. As any granular synthesizer, it excels at creating intricate textures by itself, but it can also generate layers of scattered sounds that will perfectly complement your spooky atmospheres!<\/p>\n<p>In most cases, the <em>Delay<\/em> of the model will help you glue the sound together, creating an ethereal effect perfect for suspenseful sounds. Unless you want to create bloody or gooey textures, the <em>Rate<\/em> of the <em>Emitter<\/em> should not be too high to prevent the sound from becoming too overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>On vocal samples, disable the <em>Pitch<\/em> modulation on the Sketch Pad &#8211; or limit it to small ranges (no more than 100 cents) &#8211; to avoid radical effects. It is also better to provide either a lot of variations or longer files, in order to produce sounds as organic as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, here is a non-exhaustive list of simple sounds you can record yourself (with your phone or a hand-held recorder) to create scary effects in the Particles model:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Slow exhalation<\/b>: with a lot of <em>Delay<\/em>, a low <em>Rate<\/em>, and a long <em>Lifetime<\/em> this is usually perfect for ghosts and other ethereal beings.<\/li>\n<li><b>Evil\/snarky laugh<\/b>: from mocking witch to demonic being, you can easily generate a lot of laughing variation.<\/li>\n<li><b>Gloves flap<\/b>: with a high <em>Pitch<\/em> modulation this is perfect to recreate a swarm of bats. A higher value for the emitting <em>Rate<\/em> is recommended.<\/li>\n<li><b>Shaker<\/b>: with a lot of <em>Delay,<\/em> it will add suspenseful accents.<\/li>\n<li><b>Wood\/Metal creaks<\/b>: If you have a creaky chair or door, record it and use it in the Particles model to create more expressive sounds with <em>Pitch<\/em> modulation.<\/li>\n<li><b>Smashed vegetables<\/b>: this Foley classic is used for all gory and bloody textures, and the Particles model makes it easy to produce many variations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"litymp3\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_04_Particles.mp4\" data-lity=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ccc;\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Blog_04_Particles.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px;\"><\/div>\n<p>Whether you generate fully procedural sounds in its Modular patching environment or mix them with your samples in the Particles model, GameSynth offers many ways to create spooky sounds. Happy Halloween everybody!<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"download-patches\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scary_sound\/GameSynth_Scary_Patches.zip\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/download-patches2023.png\" alt=\"download-patches\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gs-learn-more\" href=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/web\/en\/products-gamesynth.html\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2020_06_Introducing-Modular-Weapons-Modules-banner-1.png\" alt=\"GameSynth\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gs-learn-more\" href=\"https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/hacFY2EmgF\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/discord.png\" alt=\"discord\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Halloween is upon us and it is time for some spooky procedural sound design in GameSynth! This post will cover a wide range of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procedural-audio","category-tutorial","category-gamesynth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6659,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/6659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsugi-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}