What would be a good way to create horror ambience? Im still learning about sound and everything, but is ambience the background noise in a shot? If so is it better to shoot the shot and record background and then also mix that with ambience? or is it better to just do no sound and create the background ambience in post? thanks!
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creating ambience
- Thread starter peter917
- Start date
Do not confuse ambience with room-tone. Room-tone is the sound of the set when no one is speaking. Even when shooting out-doors it's called room tone. If there is a distinctive ambient sound make copious recordings to blend in with the room-tone. For example, when I worked on "Trailerpark" the trailer park was near a lake that had frogs chirping all night from July through September. Fortunately the production sound mixer recorded a solid 20 minutes worth for me.
Ambient background sound is constructed of multiple layers of sound so it can be controlled. With most sound design there must be visual cues so there is a reference. When it comes to ambient BGs however, you can reverse this; the sounds themselves can create the illusion you want. Grasshoppers, locusts and tweeting birds easily convey an afternoon in late summer. Slow traffic, honking horns, a few voices and maybe a distant siren suggest a city. Whistling wind can suggest cold, but add thunder and rain and it can suggest a hurricane, which only takes place during warm months.
Going back to "Trailerpark" I used the frog sounds and mixed in some crickets as well. The location was actually fairly close to a busy highway, but I stripped all the traffic noise out and by doing so kept the location more remote as the director wanted the trailer park to be an isolated semi-enclosed world. I leaned very heavily on water fowl sounds (ducks and geese) for the autumn, and lots of birds for spring. The summer was heavy on grasshoppers and locusts (but no birds) during the day and, as I mentioned, frogs and crickets for summer evenings. The winter had lots of cold wind and cracking ice (the Foleyed footsteps were crunchy snow) - we wanted it to be very cold all the time. It was not unusual for me to have 20 layers for the ambient BGs.
For horror it's going to depend upon you setting. You may want a very "empty" ambience to isolate your characters. The "emptiness" magnifies small sounds - creaking floors, skittering rodents and the like. If it's out doors you may want a normal ambient BG for the situation and then eliminate it all as the danger approaches.
This is the essence of sound design, creating a complete sonic world that communicates to the character and the audience.
Ambient background sound is constructed of multiple layers of sound so it can be controlled. With most sound design there must be visual cues so there is a reference. When it comes to ambient BGs however, you can reverse this; the sounds themselves can create the illusion you want. Grasshoppers, locusts and tweeting birds easily convey an afternoon in late summer. Slow traffic, honking horns, a few voices and maybe a distant siren suggest a city. Whistling wind can suggest cold, but add thunder and rain and it can suggest a hurricane, which only takes place during warm months.
Going back to "Trailerpark" I used the frog sounds and mixed in some crickets as well. The location was actually fairly close to a busy highway, but I stripped all the traffic noise out and by doing so kept the location more remote as the director wanted the trailer park to be an isolated semi-enclosed world. I leaned very heavily on water fowl sounds (ducks and geese) for the autumn, and lots of birds for spring. The summer was heavy on grasshoppers and locusts (but no birds) during the day and, as I mentioned, frogs and crickets for summer evenings. The winter had lots of cold wind and cracking ice (the Foleyed footsteps were crunchy snow) - we wanted it to be very cold all the time. It was not unusual for me to have 20 layers for the ambient BGs.
For horror it's going to depend upon you setting. You may want a very "empty" ambience to isolate your characters. The "emptiness" magnifies small sounds - creaking floors, skittering rodents and the like. If it's out doors you may want a normal ambient BG for the situation and then eliminate it all as the danger approaches.
This is the essence of sound design, creating a complete sonic world that communicates to the character and the audience.
yeah i understand a lot better now, some ambience i was going for is stuff like the strangers how when they investigate the house its so dead quiet but theres that kind of hiss but its very faint, that gives it that more alone feeling? if you know what I'm talking about.
Much of the affect of the scariness can be created by music, sudden clanging hits etc, and the clever use of reverbs and delays to carry small sounds at times too. As far as recording of the ambience goes, it is pretty important to have good mics and preamps too if you want it to sound the part. If you don't, then particularly the quieter sounds that you try to add in will have a noticeable noise floor that you won't want.
You are confusing AMBIENT sound with ambience. Two different things.
In order to get quality AMBIENT sound, I record with audio equipment and good microphones the sound of the environment I am shooting in. No voices. Just the room sound. No music. I do that at every shoot. It is a must have for later editing purposes and possible reshooting. All locations have a different 'ambient' sound.
Ambience -- can mean, background noise ADDED to a give an impression. Such as adding the sounds of chains, sound FX, or even (non-music) music (not the soundtrack) to create a horror or thriller mood within the audio. There are a lot of musicians or sound FX people (such as Foley artists) that do such. Royalty free music abbounds in this. Your creativity might be enough. Have fun with it and experiment.
Here for more info.
In order to get quality AMBIENT sound, I record with audio equipment and good microphones the sound of the environment I am shooting in. No voices. Just the room sound. No music. I do that at every shoot. It is a must have for later editing purposes and possible reshooting. All locations have a different 'ambient' sound.
Ambience -- can mean, background noise ADDED to a give an impression. Such as adding the sounds of chains, sound FX, or even (non-music) music (not the soundtrack) to create a horror or thriller mood within the audio. There are a lot of musicians or sound FX people (such as Foley artists) that do such. Royalty free music abbounds in this. Your creativity might be enough. Have fun with it and experiment.
Here for more info.
It's a lot better to call it room tone (even out-doors) for simplicities sake and to avoid the confusion of "Ambient" versus "Ambience."
Alcove Audio
I agree with "room tone". But I did not make up the word or the way it is used in the English (or American) language.
I agree with "room tone". But I did not make up the word or the way it is used in the English (or American) language.