Horror Music Mastery
Master the art of writing horror music.
Broad horror music composition for trailers, TV, film and video games. Taught by Richard Pryn, an award-winning trailer composer who has been writing for film trailers since 2011 and teaching since 2017.
You'll check out securely on Richard's course site, courses.richardpryn.com.
Also included in The Composer Academy subscription.
Richard's music has been used in
- The Lodge (official trailer)
- The Conjuring 2 (official trailer)
- The Nun II (official trailer)
- Truth or Dare (indie horror film score)
What's inside
11 modules and 51 lessons.
Welcome
- Meet your instructor
- What will you learn?
Understanding horror music
- What is horror music?
- What makes horror music scary?
A brief history of horror music
- Early classical pieces & silent movies
- Then there was Herrmann
- 70s/80s budget scores
- Modern scores and current trends
Tools for horror music
- Intro to horror tools
- Setting the scene
- Organs in horror music
- The voice in horror music
- Children's toys in horror music
- What was that? Found sounds in horror music
Horror music theory
- Do you need to know music theory?
- X-cells
- 12-tone rows
- Unusual time signatures
- Polytonality
- Multipolar tonality
Horror sound design
- DIY horror sound design intro
- DIY sound design tools
- Creating horror drones
- Creating horror hits
- Creating horror signature sounds
Tension: the foundation of all horror music
- A little chat about tension
- What is tension? (getting nerdy with sine waves)
- Creating tension with rising pitches
- Creating tension with close intervals/clusters
- Creating tension with ticking clocks
- Creating tension with drones
Atmosphere: tension's lesser-known counterpart
- What is atmosphere and why does it matter?
- Creating a spooky atmosphere with vocal noises
- Creating a spooky atmosphere with reverb
- Creating a spooky atmosphere with portamento
- Creating a spooky atmosphere with echoes
- Creating atmosphere with drones
How to make horror trailer music
- Trailer music structure
- Walkthrough of Blood Moon
- Analysis of The Nun II's use of my music
- How to keep it minimal and impactful
- Horror trailer playlist
How to make: ambient horror music
- What you will be creating
- Start with a living drone
- Layer with bends
- Embellish with long reverbs
- Enhance with echoes
- Ambient horror listening
How to make: spooky ghost music
- The theremin: the spooky sound of ghosts
- Making ghost sounds with a simple sine wave
- Making ghost sounds with "bad" whistling
Questions
Do I need to be able to use a DAW?
Yes. You need to be able to use a DAW so you can follow along with the videos.
Do I have to use Logic?
No. Use whichever DAW you like, as long as you know how to use it.
How much music theory do I need?
Very little. You'll be at an advantage if you can harmonise major and minor scales, but beyond that the course avoids heavy theory.
How long do I have access?
For life, including future updates and new lessons. It's a one-off purchase, not a subscription.
Can you guarantee I'll get a placement?
No. The composers who go on to get work are the ones who put the hours in.
Is there a guarantee?
Yes: a 30-day money-back guarantee, provided you haven't accessed more than 30% of the course.