Creating fear through sound is a difficult task. When dealing with evoking an emotion so complex as fear, it would be logical to assume that the work is spontaneously created. People who create brilliant horror soundtracks must simply have a gift. The reality is that science is deeply interwoven with horror music. For example, let’s analyze “Brother & Sister” by Colin Stetson.
Starting at the very beginning, we hear this deep droning synth. Its pattern begins rhythmically for about four beats, before making a quick shift to a faster tempo. In this way, it mimics a heartbeat. Our bodies find the structure of the music, before it is quickly ripped away. This displays the first key principle of making terrifying audio: creating comfort, and then turning it into discomfort. It’s like that feeling you get when you listen to a really good song. Our hearts, and our entire physiology, are implicitly linked to music. Provide that link, and then break it.
As the song builds, different orchestral pieces begin to layer in. Dynamically, the different elements of the orchestra build and build, until they pull back and disappear. The heartbeat remains, but different layers of new sounds fill that previous space. Music follows a rule of tension and release. Our response to fear is the same way. Anxiety builds and builds, until the fear comes true. What follows is the release. Our second principle of creating fear through sound: use the structure of tension and release.
Finally, there are lots of mixing techniques that can be used to boost the fear factor in your work. My personal favorite, which is used in this piece as well, is playing with panning. Panning is shifting the strength of the left and right audio channels, placing a sound in space. Stetson uses panning in this track with the droning synths, shifting them from left to right. Stetson doesn’t place the sound in space; he actually does the opposite. The effect creates a ringing sensation. To me it kind of feels like vertigo. Other effects like distortion and echo are also commonly used.