Creating a underlying soundtrack

[robhall3192]

the sinario is,

the drama studio is to be converted to whitechapel for a performance of a devised piece.

 

in loads of films you get the soundtrack running underneath the action and creating mood and tension in parts.

As the audience comes in I want to use a track like this just to set the scene and create a tense atmosphere, making the audience on edge.

 

I've tryed slowing down songs and adding a few different effects on audacity, as that is all avaliable at the moment to me.

 

How would you recomend making a track like this ?

also there are no subs in the studio to get the real rumbling.

[Crystaljuggler]

If you have some kind of basic recording facility, even if it's just a mobile phone, try recording three or four different sounds, like a car going past, yourself singing or making a strange sound, birds, hitting a vacuum cleaner pipe, that sort of thing. Then stretch them and loop them to make your soundtrack. I'd say the first thing to do is set up your underlying rhythm, and then add other sounds on top. Lots of reverb and delay to make it weird and spacy.

 

Depeche Mode made an entire career out of doing just that :)

[charl.ie]

Kevin Macleod has loads of great music compositions here, which might be of use. The license is the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License, which basically means you can do what you want with it, providing you credit the original author.

 

Try the "eerie" feel.

[Jivemaster]

Sound effects are rarely recordings of what they say they are! SO get any sound effects disc -possibly your library can help- and listen to what each effect really contains, then try to emulate the audio colours that you need for your effect using other sounds with basic FX echo reverb etc. Go for several layers that way you can keep the basic bed running as you move through other layers according to the time you need and the progress of the action vs the progress of the clock!

[Guest lightnix]

Just a quick idea: How about looking for a free VST host and using it to run play with some of the myriads of free soft synths, samplers, FX, etc. that are out there?

 

They can be a bit laggy on slower / older machines; but if it's an ambient piece you're after, rather than quarter beat accuracy, it might be a way of adding a useful weapon or two to your sound generating arsenal :huh:

 

A pre-loved MIDI keyboard might help, too - you can pick them up in charity shops and on eBay for pocket money these days.

[paulears]

I agree with Lightnix. You want something that can produce sounds. You can easily grab loads of tracks and fx but how many times do you hear soundtracks for theatre,TV or film that are just effects? You want to create atmosphere and tension? Does your school have a music department? If they have then they'll probably have computers that already have software synths installed. As an example, there's a fairly common softsynth called Hypersonic - it can produce with no musical playing ability loads of really decent atmos sounds - some even evolve and change, others have built in rhythmic elements.

 

Creating music is all about feel and having a decent ear. Sound effects could be added to it, but rarely instead of something 'proper'.

 

You don't need subs, you don't need volume, you need atmosphere - and sometimes low volume does the trick.

[robhall3192]

Cheers guys,

I realised about the whole subs, and volume the other day, I took a track from Kevin Macleod website and once I had set the speakers up behind the curtains, played it quietly too see how many of the group would hear it and get creeped. Instead the drama secatery was tidying up and doing some displays and turns to me and started to get very unnerved by the sounds.

I will certainly investigate into the synths in the music dept, although I know that this is limited in our school as neither of the teachers are especially music tech based.

[Chubbs the Techie]

How about looking for a free VST host

 

Reaper is brilliant for this. Simple to use, and if I'm looking for doing some simple effect creating (what you're trying to do), it's nice and simple. Comes with some nice VST effects as well, including a massive reverb. Very spooktastic.

 

I don't wish to start an argument about whether you should buy a license if you use it for a a production. Just an idea.

[revbobuk]

Those Kevin Macleod tracks are superb - thanks for pointing them out.