Horror Trailers – feedback and suggestions …

[TechNoiZ]

Hi,

I spent the tail end of last year finishing a project I have been thinking of doing for some time now. It is a set of musically related horror trailers. The trouble is that now they are almost ready to do a final mix, polish up and master I have no idea what to do with them. They may well be a little too ‘self-indulgent’ and not really compatible with what else is around in a lot of the libraries I have listened to. It may well be a case of, having taken my eye off the ball in regards to where they were most likely to be placed, I might have to go back to drawing board and rebuild them in a less characterful but ultimately more saleable way.

Any suggestion with regards likely destination – or whether they are suitable at all for the RF market would be greatly appreciated.

https://soundcloud.com/thirteen21/vespera

Best,
Dominic

[cozyhand3]

Hey Dominic!

Self-indulgent? I don’t know. This is not my world, but having said that, I like what you’re doing:) My overall impression… and I could be very wrong here, is that on Vespera, the piece seems to stop and start a lot and take a while to get to the strings. Maybe the end could be more dramatic? I don’t know. However, having said that, it almost sounds as though it was written around a particular scene in a horror production. That’s good!

I’ll be curious to see what other’s in your world have to say about it. I rather enjoyed it:)
Good luck my friend!!

[BEATSLINGER]

Self Indulgent, not at all. Needing to get to the meat of things earlier? Yes. Once the music kicks in it goes well.

Believe it or not, I would try it with some Trap Drums..

[Kery Michael]

That was nice! With a lot of tracks, I’ll get a little bored a minute in or so, but this really held my attention. Not by being big and epic (that’s what self-indulgent means to me) but rather by building tension, being under-stated and telling a musical story.

[Dannyc]

hey man i’d be very careful with the tracks you’re referencing. i could be wrong but it sounds to me that you were referencing the trailer for Hereditary which is of course an awesome cue but maybe yours is possibly too similar? i’m not sure check for yourself here.

but if your client is ok with yours then thats good i guess 😉

[Kery Michael]

I liked it. Wonderfully under stated, could fit into the background of a scene well. There’s a tension and suspense, like someone hiding from some monster or danger. And then at around 1:50 the music picks up, a little percussion, I can picture them taking off and running.

When you said self-indulgent, I was expecting giant epic strings and effects and heavy blasts of brass. That could be beautiful on its own but useless for placement anywhere. So, I don’t think self-indulgent is the word here.

[TechNoiZ]

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking the time to listen and reply.

@cozyhand3
I think thats the difficult part, for me anyway, about writing something that, when used with picture, has these stops and starts edited in – how many do you put in yourself to suggest that the track is a trailer track and not a continuous underscore which needs to be rebuilt in order to add those specific edits. Creating and telling a story without the story actually being there in pictures is something I find quite tricky. Maybe I should run the sections together for the initial piece and leave editing up to those who need to do it? I did an album last year like that for a trailer house and the tracks, to my mind, were much more suggestive of underscore rather than trailer edits. Perhaps in the end a better way to go.

@BEATSLINGER
Yes … I think I’ll give that a whirl and see how it sounds 🙂 Dirty (sampled) beats at the back somewhere would fit the palette here.

@Dannyc
Definitely more Hereditary than the ‘more overused horror sound palette’, but I think I’d rather go down that route – even if it does skirt a bit close to that sound as I develop my own palette – as I feel that I’d rather try to do something which is a little different than squeeze into an already over-filled stock cupboard. The overall production feel might be reminiscent at the moment but the music itself is not based in any way on that track. I probably won’t change the basic strings bias, but taking out things like the finger-snaps would definitely help. I do have a couple of solo brass and low woodwind lines that would also take it away from that reference. There is no client here at the moment – just me.

@RoboKirk
Thanks for that. I think by self-indulgent I mean writing for myself rather than a client although NOT having a client – especially for something sooo tied to the picture and the story rather than a musical form – means I am essentially writing in the dark as it were – I have to imagine my own trailer.

I’m grateful for your time and input. You’ve all given me good food for thought here and I’m going to take that all in and keep working on these.

Dominic

[cozyhand3]

“how many do you put in yourself to suggest that the track is a trailer track and not a continuous underscore which needs to be rebuilt in order to add those specific edits.”

I don’t. Like I said, this is not my world. I write songs. Just offering my impressions:) I really like what you’re doing though:) Again, love to hear what you finally end up doing with it!

[TechNoiZ]

Hi Guys,

A quick update.

I have managed to find a good home for the entire set – we are planning to do something a bit different with marketing these… Ill let you know as things progress.

Thanks for all your replies.

Dominic

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