Horror violin sounds?

Ocho88

New member
I'm looking to make one of those violin-notes that kinda stretches into an eerie-sound that's typically found in horror movies.

I also want to try and make one of those orchestral hits that happen in horror movies whenever something surprising happens. Y'know, that loud note that happens when a monster pops out.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks. :)
 
On the violin sound - you want to cross fade from a note to a harmonic - this is what the real violin sections do. It could be an artificial harmonic or it could be a natural harmonic. In either case you need to have a library that allows you to play violin harmonics.

there are some other techniques in the modern composers repertoire and therefore in the violin players arsenal of playing techniques that are more indeterminate and require the real deal to pull off - things like the seagull screach (for want of better descriptive term) - the sound you associate with the "shower scene" from "psycho", which start relatively high on the string and are then played with a a hard down-bow while the player moves their finger up the string to an indeterminate high note.

I suggest that you check out this for more ideas on how to create the sounds you want - Principles of Orchestration On-line ~ Garritan Interactive PRINCIPLES OF ORCHESTRATION by Rimsky-Korsakov

there are some sister forums which cover writing for big band and various aspects of working with virtual isntruments

Northern Sounds Sample Libraries VST VSTi Melody Orchestration Lessons DirectX DXi Audio Units AU Music Audio EM Home Film Recording Movie Sounds Orchestral Sample forums-Northern Sound Source

you might also invest in a few books about film score technique for composers and some texts on orchestrating
 
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If you're looking for pretty good free Violin Sounds, google "aaviolin soundfont". It's in standard .sf2 format (you need a soundfont player, there are many free vst's out there). Other good free samples are packed in the "Bellatrix Orchestra Soundfont" (400+MB) or SGM. Just google that, there are many download links.
I used these librarys, too. If you're going some more advanced, the Miroslav Philharmonik VST is pretty good at it's cost.

---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

If you're looking for the right harmonic and melodic choice, I'd recommend putting the violin on the 7th or 5th of the chord. Gives the right dissonance.
 
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