How do you make scary music for horror movies, dark soundtracks and tension thrillers?
Music is a language of many dimensions, first you have the melodic and harmonic dimension with all the intervals, harmonies and chords you use.
Using dissonant intervals is the best way to achieve a “scary” mood, because of the high tension and dissonant harmonies it creates. Minor harmonies work well, as well as the tritone interval.
The minor 2nd is the go to interval for scary music, both for melodic movement, as well as harmonic movement and the bass line.
Then you have the rhythmic dimension, with percussion, pulses, and driving energy. This rhythmic dimension can add a sense of urgency and stressfulness to the music.
Dark droning pulses work very well, but also high ticking and clicking sounds because they sound very stressful.
Finally you have the sound character and texture, which actually extremely important in scary music. You can either use special instrument techniques that have a high tension sound in their very core character. Things like tremolos on strings, bowing cymbals, scraping metal etc.
But you can also use synthesizers or record any audio sources, to create creepy sound textures and atmospheres that work great in scary music. So let’s sum it all up.
5 Tricks to Make Scary Music
- Focus on Minor Chords and Dissonant Harmonies
- Use a lot of Minor 2nd movements for melodies and bass lines
- Add Driving Pulses for a stressful scary vibe
- Play Instrument Techniques that sound Scary
- Use Sound Textures and Atmospheres with tension