Trying to create that horror scream

ryandeean

ryandeean

Member
Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out. I am trying to create a moment where an unexpected scream startles the audience. My actress screamed on the day but it doesn't really shock or scare. The scene is a head popping onto camera from out of nowhere accompanied by a scream.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how best to go about doing this? Should I try to mess around with her voice or should I just insert a different scream?

Cheers
Ryan
 
If you're certain that a scream is the way you want to punctuate the scare, then perhaps start by using a compressor to beef up the scream. Adjust the attack and threshold to give the scream a faster, more percussive attack. Alternately, you could manually trim the front end of the scream to tighten the attack, just be careful that the edit doesn't draw attention to itself. When used sparingly, an analogue distortion or guitar amp modelling plugin (eg. Amplitube or Digi's Eleven) can add a bit of extra bite and crunch to the scream.

If you find that the production scream still isn't working for you (which is entirely possible), then you may want to re-record it in a more controlled ADR situation. You may wish to use more than one mic, since you're dealing with some pretty loud vocals. The transients of a scream will grind and sizzle in a `416, so that old standby won't quite cut it. I rather like the Senn' MD421 for screams, although it may be a bit dark for some women's voices. Perhaps other forumgoers can recommend other mics?

Additionally, you could punctuate the scare using a musical "stab". The most famous example of this is probably Bernard Hermann's iconic "skree-skree-skree" strings from Psycho. Recent horror films are rife with examples of this technique, and a skilled composer can really make the audience jump. Of course, this strategy occasionally just comes across as cheesy.
 
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Just to add to SMuir,

Consider the sounds other than the scream. If you want an audience to really jump, then make it very quiet just before the scream. I'm sure you've noticed that when the movie in a movie theater gets quiet, so does the audience.

Additionally, you can make it "sound" quiet by doing things like adding a small floor creak and/or the sound of the actor breathing.

As for a mic, a trusty SM58 may be worth a try.
 
Gohanto said:
As for a mic, a trusty SM58 may be worth a try.
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Definitely have an SM58 in there. A good condensor will tend to give you more of those high frequencies that'll really sell the scream, but double-tracking with an SM58 will ensure that you get the take even if the condensor bottoms out.
 
To add, make sure it's not too loud BEFORE the scream. If you really want it to punch I would even lower all the sounds leading up to the scream. Loudness has a lot to do with relative loudness.
 
Noiz2 said:
To add, make sure it's not too loud BEFORE the scream. If you really want it to punch I would even lower all the sounds leading up to the scream. Loudness has a lot to do with relative loudness.
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This is not an advertisement...

But in a recent radio ad for "Tecate Lite", a beer, the first version of the ad, had the
words 'Tecate Lite' done by a very masculine, deep, resonant voice. A second generation of the ad, sounds like the ad company went out on the street, and had 'ordinary' people utter the brand name... and for many it sounds like the mic was 'distant' from the speaker in many cases... and some voices just were not up to even remotely getting the bass going enough at all... (should have been contra tenors...).

Anyway, on reading on 'mic techniques', there was described how getting one's mouth close to the mic to reenforce the bass resonance to give a 'richer' deep voice.

Is there something similar for female high tones, or do they just end up being clipped... or even with a bit of bass resonance, does a female 'scream' come out more effectively a Wilhelm than Wilhelmina...
 
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Just have a gal try a bunch of screams. Coach her as to what you want exactly. Or try it yourself and pitch shift it. But make sure that scream does not distort the mic, preamp, or recorder. It must be clean.

And yes, as another sound - like a fast beginning to the scary music that will play through the whole scene the scream kicks off. Or something odd like a cat hissing or screaming - along with the human scream but mixed down so as to add an unsettling element. Pig squeal? Horse whinny? Low synth note bending down as if the bottom is dropping out. Get creative with it!
 
Just use a Wilhelm scream. Come on, everybody does it. George Lucas, Spileberg, Tarantino... You'll acquire some street cred if you do. :beer:
 
One thing that I have found when it comes to really great screams is some "friendly" distortion. Back in the day it was by "saturating" the tape on the good ol' Nagra. I've accomplished the same thing by re-amping the digital recording - putting it through a tube guitar amp (no actual distortion, just pushing the tubes really hard) and rerecording the result. I've also tried the tape saturation plug-ins that are available, but they don't sound quite the same as the real thing.
 
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