The Apprehension Engine: why this horror instrument sounds so wrong
What the Apprehension Engine is, why its bowed rulers, slack string and spring reverb sound so unsettling, and how to get similar horror sounds without one.
Guides
Guides & tutorials
Techniques for writing tension, atmosphere and fear.
How to build horror atmosphere with reverb, echo and portamento
How I build horror atmosphere with reverb, echoes, portamento, my own voice and drones, plus a step-by-step track made with almost nothing but reverb.
DIY horror sound design: make your own signature sounds, hits and drones
Record your voice or any instrument you can bend, then reverse, pitch and space it into horror signature sounds, three-layer hits and living drones.
How to make ghost sounds with a theremin-style sine wave and whistling
Make spooky ghost sounds without a theremin. Build a sine wave patch with slow attack, glide and vibrato, then turn your own whistling into eerie textures.
Horror music theory made simple with X, Y and Z cells, 12-tone rows and polytonality
You don't need much theory for horror. Learn X, Y and Z cells, 12-tone rows, polytonality, key shifts and odd time signatures, with steps for your DAW.
How horror trailer music is built, act by act
How I structure a horror trailer cue in four acts, keep the impact big but the sound minimal, and build pace with my own recordings, drums and risers.
How to create tension in horror music with drones, risers, clusters and clocks
How I build unresolved tension in horror music, from beating sine waves and moving drones to root-to-fifth risers, tone clusters and 60 BPM clocks.
How to make ambient horror music in four layers
Build an ambient horror track step by step, from a living drone to bending layers, long reverb tails and distant echoes, with the intervals and settings I use.
Organs, voices, toys and found sounds in horror music, and why they scare us
Why the organ, the human voice, toy instruments and found sounds make music sound like horror, and how to use each one to build your own horror arsenal.
A short history of horror music, from silent films to today
How horror music grew from the classical canon and silent-film mood books to Herrmann, 70s and 80s synth scores and today, and what each era teaches you.