A specific 'horror' sound effect

[stuart]

Hi,

I am after a specific kind of horror music / sound effect, but I am unsure of what it's called so I haven't been able to search for it effectively. I can think what it sounds like but can't think of a specific film I've seen it in to use as a reference. It sounds like the plucking of one violin string, that is then followed by more and more pucks, up to a kind of crescendo. Is there a generic description for this kind of thing I can use to try and search for it?

Apologies for the description and thanks for any help offered!

 

[Gohanto]

I'm not familiar with what you're refering to, but more than likely it'll be copyrighted if you do find it. What I'd suggest is try to create a similar sounding effect yourself if you can (i.e. try recording plucks on a violin, play with layering and reverb, and see what works).

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Hi,

I am after a specific kind of horror music / sound effect, but I am unsure of what it's called so I haven't been able to search for it effectively. I can think what it sounds like but can't think of a specific film I've seen it in to use as a reference. It sounds like the plucking of one violin string, that is then followed by more and more pucks, up to a kind of crescendo. Is there a generic description for this kind of thing I can use to try and search for it?

Apologies for the description and thanks for any help offered!

The musical term is pizzicato, but when I did a search on "pizzicato violin horror film" there were not too many examples.

One here:
http://www.stockmusicsite.com/stockmusic/archive/Dramatic/Production---Dark-Music/Gothic-Horror-Theme/320063

Has violins in their more usual legato with bow (smooth transitions...) but the bass is pizzicato... plucked...

 

[Noiz2]

What you describe sounds like a single pluck run into a delay line with a lot of feedback. You can do that with any sharp sound.