How to make the "suspense" sfx?

-Tom-

-Tom-

Active member
Sorry guys for the pathetic description. I'll explain, since words have no place in the audio part of the forum - here is the sound of what I mean by "suspense" sound effect;


What kind of instrument is this, since I would like to recreate it. It leaves me in suspense of "somethings bout to happen" but not in a cheesy way...
 
It sounds like brakes squeeling, I did a drama a few years ago and the musician used the sound of some rail car brakes squeeling I recorded to add to his score, he also copied the sound style by using a bow on his double bass.
 
I agree it really resembles the squeal of the train brake, distorted and prolonged...but I also hear some strings beneath, am I right?
 
Other things that may ahve been added with the same kind of sound are cymbal scrapes ( if you can get a percussionist to do them or show you how, it's a bit like a cross between bowed cymbal and fingernails on a chalk board), and metal pressed against dry ice (you just have to try different things, silverware is good, metal bird feeders, aluminum ladders, hunks of pipe). Just watch out because dry ice can give you a nasty burn (and it will stick to anything wet) so wear thick gloves when handling.

Also slowed down squeaky hinges work well.

But I agree it sounds mostly like train/ subway breaks.
 
sounds like squeaky brakes to me. I've also used cymbal scrapes/squeals. I am a drummer and have an arsenal of cymbals and did scrapes on all of them. If you want a deeper sound, then get a big gong. You can also use a bass bow on a vibraphone. I spent a day with few people in the percussion studio back in college putting a bow on all kinds of stuff like a marimba, xylophone, music stand, glockenspiel, crotales, and a whole slew of other things. Really neat sounds.
 
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