What are some unusual musical instruments used in the dub of horror
Earlier we wrote about musical instruments that sound unusual and look interesting, but do not become popular . They are, as they say, “known in certain circles” - for example, among fans of ethnic music or in a subculture.
They also use unusual instruments to solve unusual creative tasks, experiment and create a new interpretation of traditional melodies.
One of these areas where unusual musical instruments are used quite often is the voice of horror films. We understand the features of this genre and the tools that are used in it (or could be used).
Photo of Slippy Rande Archer / CC BY-ND
The sound is important for pumping the suspense and creating an atmosphere. Even the most monstrous monsters do not inspire a proper level of fear and horror, if they remain silent idols - especially in our culture, where silent films can only be carried away as a subject of nostalgia.
Moreover, the opposite is also true - the sound can turn the most ordinary scenes into scary, and realistic characters without disgusting makeup - into monsters.
The goal of traditional musical instruments is to create a harmonious sound that is pleasing to the human ear. But in horror films (and, by the way, games- horrors), the sound and musical accompaniment performs the opposite function - it should scare, cause horror, discomfort and unpleasant sensations.
Therefore, instruments that produce unusual sounds are honored by sound engineers and composers of horror films - they allow you to go beyond the comfortable tone for the ear and create unusual and frightening sounds.
In the digital libraries of sound effects, you can find a lot of relevant samples, but they are not diverse enough, often repeated and lose their effectiveness. To create a truly uncomfortable atmosphere, composers need to look for new and unexpected combinations of sounds. We have already written about the theremin - the regular "guest" of frightening and annoying soundtracks. But there are other tools that seem to be specially created for recording horror music.
A tool that is mainly used to record movie soundtracks, where it creates an unusual, unearthly or piercingly sharp sound. It was invented in 1968 by Richard Waters (Richard A. Waters). It can be heard in the soundtracks to the films "The Matrix" and "Poltergeist."
Waterphone is a round bowl with monolithic rods of bronze of different lengths along the edges. The bowl is filled with water and serves as a resonator. Because of the water, the sound comes out as if vibrating . Usually they play a bow on a water microphone, but sometimes unusual sounds are extracted with the help of strikes with a rod or a rubber hammer. The sound depends on the length of the rods or the position of the water in the bowl.
Waterphone allows you to extract microtones (musical intervals less than a semitone), so the sound of the waterphone is so unlike other musical instruments in a standard 12-tone tempered structure.
Richard Waters himself explained that the popularity of water with sound designers and sound engineers is due to the fact that “its sound is a reflection of the Weird and Unknown: aliens, ghosts, unusual states of consciousness and narcotic effects, death - water sounds are often used to illustrate everything this".
Only one company in America has the right to manufacture real voterphones - one tool costs from $ 1,100. Interestingly, the waterphone sometimes resembles the song of whales - there have been cases when, with the help of this tool, researchers managed to attract orcas.
Here is an example of how the voterphone sounds in one of the songs of the musical Dreaming Howard Goodall.
This musical instrument is a recent invention of a Turkish musician named Görkem en. By sounding it resembles electronic music from old horror films, although the yabahar is an acoustic instrument that does not contain anything electronic.
The main components of the бabahar are a long neck (like a guitar) with two strings and a membrane (large and small). The membranes are connected to the neck with two long springs that begin to vibrate with each touch. The musician extracts the sound with a bow, and the vibration of the strings, reflected from the membranes, is fancifully refracted, creating an echo effect. More on the membranes can be beat, as the elements of the drum set.
By the way, the yabahar quickly found fans - some of them create their own tools of this kind. For example, in this blog one of the enthusiasts tells in detail about how and from what he made his own yabahar.
Shen plays the igabahar and his own improvisations, and music written for other instruments - for example, the piano works of the French composer Eric Satie . But, most likely, composers of horror films will also discover this instrument with its alien sound very soon.
This "factory" for the production of sound effects for horror movies.
This instrument (or, more precisely, the whole system of instruments) was created by guitar master Tony Duggan-Smith ( Tony Duggan-Smith ) by order of composer Mark Korven ( Mark Korven ). The very essence of this instrument is to make sounds that scare and cause horror.
The instrument consists of several iron bars, spring reverbs, metal rods and strings. You can play as a bow (for example, extracting monstrous sounds from metal spirals), and hands.
"The engine of perception" creates a bizarre and completely unmelodious, disturbing sound, and always different - to extract two absolutely identical sounds from it is quite difficult. Perhaps soon The Apprehension Engine of Mark Korven will not be the only one - apparently, the creators are planning at some point to release the tool into a mass sale.
Interesting about the sound - what else do we suggest reading on the topic this weekend:
They also use unusual instruments to solve unusual creative tasks, experiment and create a new interpretation of traditional melodies.
One of these areas where unusual musical instruments are used quite often is the voice of horror films. We understand the features of this genre and the tools that are used in it (or could be used).
Photo of Slippy Rande Archer / CC BY-ND
About the importance of sound and the difference of approaches
The sound is important for pumping the suspense and creating an atmosphere. Even the most monstrous monsters do not inspire a proper level of fear and horror, if they remain silent idols - especially in our culture, where silent films can only be carried away as a subject of nostalgia.
Moreover, the opposite is also true - the sound can turn the most ordinary scenes into scary, and realistic characters without disgusting makeup - into monsters.
The goal of traditional musical instruments is to create a harmonious sound that is pleasing to the human ear. But in horror films (and, by the way, games- horrors), the sound and musical accompaniment performs the opposite function - it should scare, cause horror, discomfort and unpleasant sensations.
Therefore, instruments that produce unusual sounds are honored by sound engineers and composers of horror films - they allow you to go beyond the comfortable tone for the ear and create unusual and frightening sounds.
In the digital libraries of sound effects, you can find a lot of relevant samples, but they are not diverse enough, often repeated and lose their effectiveness. To create a truly uncomfortable atmosphere, composers need to look for new and unexpected combinations of sounds. We have already written about the theremin - the regular "guest" of frightening and annoying soundtracks. But there are other tools that seem to be specially created for recording horror music.
Waterphone
A tool that is mainly used to record movie soundtracks, where it creates an unusual, unearthly or piercingly sharp sound. It was invented in 1968 by Richard Waters (Richard A. Waters). It can be heard in the soundtracks to the films "The Matrix" and "Poltergeist."
Waterphone is a round bowl with monolithic rods of bronze of different lengths along the edges. The bowl is filled with water and serves as a resonator. Because of the water, the sound comes out as if vibrating . Usually they play a bow on a water microphone, but sometimes unusual sounds are extracted with the help of strikes with a rod or a rubber hammer. The sound depends on the length of the rods or the position of the water in the bowl.
Waterphone allows you to extract microtones (musical intervals less than a semitone), so the sound of the waterphone is so unlike other musical instruments in a standard 12-tone tempered structure.
Richard Waters himself explained that the popularity of water with sound designers and sound engineers is due to the fact that “its sound is a reflection of the Weird and Unknown: aliens, ghosts, unusual states of consciousness and narcotic effects, death - water sounds are often used to illustrate everything this".
Only one company in America has the right to manufacture real voterphones - one tool costs from $ 1,100. Interestingly, the waterphone sometimes resembles the song of whales - there have been cases when, with the help of this tool, researchers managed to attract orcas.
Here is an example of how the voterphone sounds in one of the songs of the musical Dreaming Howard Goodall.
Yaibahar
This musical instrument is a recent invention of a Turkish musician named Görkem en. By sounding it resembles electronic music from old horror films, although the yabahar is an acoustic instrument that does not contain anything electronic.
The main components of the бabahar are a long neck (like a guitar) with two strings and a membrane (large and small). The membranes are connected to the neck with two long springs that begin to vibrate with each touch. The musician extracts the sound with a bow, and the vibration of the strings, reflected from the membranes, is fancifully refracted, creating an echo effect. More on the membranes can be beat, as the elements of the drum set.
By the way, the yabahar quickly found fans - some of them create their own tools of this kind. For example, in this blog one of the enthusiasts tells in detail about how and from what he made his own yabahar.
Shen plays the igabahar and his own improvisations, and music written for other instruments - for example, the piano works of the French composer Eric Satie . But, most likely, composers of horror films will also discover this instrument with its alien sound very soon.
The apprehension engine
This "factory" for the production of sound effects for horror movies.
This instrument (or, more precisely, the whole system of instruments) was created by guitar master Tony Duggan-Smith ( Tony Duggan-Smith ) by order of composer Mark Korven ( Mark Korven ). The very essence of this instrument is to make sounds that scare and cause horror.
The instrument consists of several iron bars, spring reverbs, metal rods and strings. You can play as a bow (for example, extracting monstrous sounds from metal spirals), and hands.
"The engine of perception" creates a bizarre and completely unmelodious, disturbing sound, and always different - to extract two absolutely identical sounds from it is quite difficult. Perhaps soon The Apprehension Engine of Mark Korven will not be the only one - apparently, the creators are planning at some point to release the tool into a mass sale.
Interesting about the sound - what else do we suggest reading on the topic this weekend:
- "I do not see, but I hear": about the role of sound in horror movies
- “Sounds that annoy us”: why it happens
- “Rain, clank armor and liquid metal”: how to create sound for the movie
- "Go to the sound": about games that you want to play just for the sake of audio
- "Put on headphones and become more efficient": how music affects productivity
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/410271/