(eerie music) - Yes, this is the same intro from the previous video on sound design. So, If you've seen that,
you've probably seen this, but we're using it as an
example in this video, 'cause I figured a
refresher wouldn't hurt. - [Man 1] Have you
heard of the gray witch? - [Female] Who hasn't? Locals have been going on about her since those hikers disappeared last month. - [Man 2] I heard she stays in the forest, floats through the trees
looking for people to pick on. [Man 1] No, not at night. She only comes out on foggy days. - [Man 2] Well, why's that? - [Man 1] So you can't see her, but you can still hear her whispering through the mist. (birds tweeting)
(eerie music) (woman whispers)
(eerie music) (trees creaking)
(eerie music) - [Female] No, you've got it all wrong. She lives in a cabin at
the foot of the mountain. She doesn't chase you, she lures you in. You have to go to her. - [Man 2] Well, someone
ought to go out there and find her then. See what all the fuss is about, you know? - [Man 1] Cass, I'm good. - [Man 2] Then I guess we'll never know. - [Female] Fine by me. So, what other spooky stuff
did they tell you about? - If you've ever been really unnerved by a scene in a horror film, there's a good chance that it actually had more to do with the sound design than with the visuals. Sound has a way of talking to your brain and creating, like, a
feeling or an atmosphere in a way that visuals
just can't quite match. So, in this video I wanna
dive into some techniques that can help you to use sound design to create tone and atmosphere, to make the viewer feel a certain way. And I'm gonna be using the intro that you just saw as an example, and showing you how I
use sound design there to create, like, a
spooky, eerie atmosphere. But these techniques can be applied to any kind of atmosphere in any project. And, of course, before we get into that, I wanna take a brief minute to talk to you about the sponsor of this video, which is of course Epidemic Sound. Epidemic Sound is, without a doubt, the best place to get sound
effects for your videos. It's a seemingly endless library of high quality sound effects that you can use in your projects. Everything from basic sounds, like footsteps, or wood
creaking, branches rustling, to more atmospheric sounds, like the ones we're talking
about in this video - drones, whooshes, impacts. And even though it's a massive library, with tens and thousands of
different sound effects, it's still very easy to
use their tagging system and find exactly what you're looking for. So, when I'm looking for
the perfect sound effects to create this eerie, spooky atmosphere, I can easily sort out
by these different kinds of atmospheric sounds, like drones, and whooshes, and impacts, or I can sort just to sound effects that are associated with horror. It's very easy to find
the perfect sound effect for whatever you need it for. I've been using Epidemic
for a few years now, and they've been my go-to source for all of my sound effects since then, and I cannot recommend them enough. So, if you're interested in
trying it out for yourself, there's a personal plan
and a commercial plan, and you can get a free trial of either one by using the link in the
description of this video. All that being said, let's now move on and first talk about planning. So, it's important to sit down before you actually get to the
sound design process and think all of this through, right? Like, write down how you
want the viewer to feel and how you're going to
use sound to achieve that. So, very simple things, like what location does this take place in,
and how are you going to authentically recreate that location, but also more broad questions, right? Like, are you emphasizing silence or creating a more noisy,
over-powering, chaotic atmosphere? You don't have to come up with
anything groundbreaking here, it's just important to do this
because, with sound design, you really have unlimited
options going in. So, it's important to
sit down and make sure you have an idea of the
route you're going to take before you start. But don't worry, I'll
shut up about planning now and we can move on to the
actual sound design process, starting out with ambience. Ambience is just the background
noise from the location or environment your story takes place in, and it tends to, kind of, sink away into the background and
go rather on noticed. So, it's a very good tool
for creating an atmosphere, or a feeling without calling
too much attention to it. So, in the intro to this video there's a hilltop sequence
about halfway through, and in that sequence,
I've used this, kind of, creepy, howling wind sound
effect in the background as the ambience for that location, and that not only aids to that, kind of, spooky, eerie atmosphere, but also conveys the desolation and
remoteness of that location. In the sequence leading up to that, which takes place in a forest, I've taken this audio of, kind of, birds and insects, just
typical forest ambiance, but slowed it down in post to make it sound a little
more ethereal and mysterious. And that actually brings me
to the next technique here, which is to change the
speed of your sound effects. I use this technique all the
time for just that reason, to create an eerie, atmospheric
vibe with my sounds, or just to suspend reality a little bit and make it sound a little less natural. So, that forest ambiance, for example, is slowed down to 60%,
which distorts those sounds of birds and insects that we're used to and makes them sound
just a little weirder, a little more atmospheric and eerie. Another great technique
for easily, kind of, amplifying a sound effect in post is to try panning some
of your sound effects So, if I pan this audio right now, I can easily, kind of, move
over into your left ear and I can move over into your right ear. And if you're wearing
headphones right now, it probably sounds pretty weird. And that's why this is such a useful technique for creating atmosphere, because there's something
about panning a sound, like, just into one ear,
or just into the other that can create such a strange, intense feeling for the listener. So, I used this a few different times in the intro to this video, but probably the most notable example is the creepy, whispering sounds. So, I've taken that
sound and I've panned it to move gradually over to the right ear, and then over to the left, and to just keep going back and forth. And that creates this
feeling that that sound is just constantly moving around you, moving to different parts of the scene, and it reflects the way
the character in the scene is, kind of, chasing that sound around different parts of the forest, and also just makes it that much creepier. To give you a more subtle example, in the cabin sequence toward the end, I've taken several different, like, wood creaking sound effects and panned them to different
parts of the scene. So, you really feel like you're hearing the different walls of this
cabin creaking all around you and, once again, it just
makes it that much eerier. So, we've talked about changing the speed, we've talked about panning
your sound effects. Now let's talk about a third and final way that you can easily distort
and modify your sounds in post, which is by using filters. And there are a bunch of options here that you can use to distort
your sounds in different ways, but there are three
that I use all the time. The first is reverb, or basically the amount of echo that
you hear in the sound. And this is really important
for creating atmosphere, because reverb is the
way our brains identify certain types of, like,
acoustic environments. So, being in a small room
versus being in, like, a massive cathedral, or standing
on the edge of a canyon. So, making sure your sound
design reflects the way the sound would actually
feel in that environment is essential for immersing the
viewer in that environment. Most of the time I'm using this to convey scale and the isolation. So, to show how massive the landscape is and how alone the character is in it. I also find myself using the highpass and lowpass filters all the time to create different
atmosphere in my sound design. I talked about these in the
previous sound design video, so, you can go watch that for a little more
information on these filters, but just to breeze over it, lowpass will cut out the
higher frequencies, like this, and highpass will cut out
your lower frequencies. But let's move on from
filters and talk about drones. Not those kinds of drones,
but droning, ambient sounds. These are long, very abstract soundtracks intended to really just create atmosphere. So, Epidemic has an entire category just of drones in their
sound effects library, so I'm frequently digging through there looking for new sound effects to use. I didn't actually use any
in the intro to this video, but that's because the music itself, in this case, acts as a drone. So, it's a long, kind
of, abstract soundtrack that really just sets out to create this unnerving atmosphere. And while we're on the topic, this video is about sound design, but I can't neglect to mention that music is actually very important for creating an atmosphere and a
feeling for your viewer. Music has a really unique way of connecting with people
and creating emotion, and the right track can
honestly make or break a scene. And obviously sometimes the right answer for creating an atmosphere in a scene is to not use any music at all, but if you are using music in your films make sure it's the perfect spot-on track for the vibe you wanna create. And this is also a good
time to throw out there that, while I'm focusing on
sound design in these videos, Epidemic does also have a
massive library of music tracks that you can use for your videos as well. One final technique that, kind of, loops into music a bit is rhythm. Having sound design that creates an intentional rhythm in the scene can really pull the viewer in and help create that unique atmosphere. For me, this typically means coordinating some of the more notable
sound effects in the edit with notable parts of the
music so that the two, kind of, lineup, flow together and
compliment each other. And this is something you
really have to just get used to and decide how to do based
on the music you're using, the sounds you're using, the
footage you're working with. And it also takes a lot of,
kind of, pre-planning, like, making sure while you're editing, before the sound design, that you know what sounds you're going to be adding in and making sure you line up the footage in such a way that it
can coordinate its sounds with the music. Out of everything we've
talked about in this video, this aspect is probably the most nuanced and really just depends entirely on your individual project, like, there are absolutely no hard
and fast rules for this, but just to give you an idea
of what I'm talking about, here are a few examples from
the intro to this video. - [Man 2] I heard she stays in the forest, floats through the trees
looking for people to pick on. (birds tweeting)
(eerie music) (wood creaking)
(eerie music) - [Female] No, you've got it all wrong. She lives in a cabin at
the foot of the mountain. - So, whether you're
creating a horror film or an upbeat client video for Instagram, I hope this video gave you
some ideas and techniques for using sound designed with intention in your next project. Once again, a big thank
you to Epidemic Sound for sponsoring this video. If you wanna try out either personal or commercial plan for yourself, there'll be that link in the description that you can use to get 30 days for free. It's a great resource. I use it all the time,
as you've in this video, and I can't recommend it enough. If you enjoyed this video, or
learned something new from it, feel free to show your support by giving me a like on the video or sharing it with your friends. And remember that there's a third part of this series coming in a few weeks, so, subscribe to make
sure you don't miss that. I'll see you then. (upbeat music)
