Here, Dzuban shares his insights and tips on how to design amazing horror sounds!
Interview by Jennifer Walden
Sound designer/re-recording mixer Joe Dzuban (at Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services in Burbank) is an undeniable authority on designing and mixing sound for horror films.
Sound designer & Re-Recording Mixer Joe Dzuban
Dzuban was sound designer and re-recording mixer on two films from director John R. Leonetti: Annabelle and Wish Upon, and sound designer on director André Øvredal’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and director Jacob Chase’s Come Play. He also mixed Paranormal Activity 3 (directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman) and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (directed Christopher Landon).
Get ready for some great tips on designing horror sounds, courtesy of Joe Dzuban!
What are five essential tips you’d share on how to design gory/scary/cringe-inducing horror sounds?
1. Record something! Find something unusual and unique to record for your gore. Try various things you can tear and destroy to get a variety of interesting textures. Take a trip to the grocery store!
2. Don’t over-do it: As sound editors, we love to layer our sounds. But when it comes to gore, fewer layers are better. Give the audience something strong to hold onto. Don’t clutter the moment.
Evocative sounds will make the picture all the more squeamish.
3. Sync is optional: Don’t get too tied to picture. Make a sound that works and tells a story, and 9/10 it’ll work to picture. Evocative sounds will make the picture all the more squeamish.
4. Don’t stack all your sounds: Think of moments in terms of double or triple events. So a stab isn’t just a single sword ‘shing;’ it might be a tear followed by a thrust, followed by a juice splat.
5. Try, try, and try again: Try your sounds to picture, live with them for a few days, revisit them, and then try new sounds. Experiment with different types of sounds and rhythms until you get to that ‘moment’ where it works!
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Popular horror sound libraries:
What’s your approach to creating effective jump scares? (Any tips to offer on how to make the best/most effective jump scares?)
Jump scares work best when the audience least expects them. Much of the success of a scare comes from picture editing. But as sound folks, we can help those moments by trying to ‘lull’ the audience before the big jump. We want them to lean in a bit. Getting into that lull is the creative challenge and is different for every film. Sometimes the lull lives for say 15 seconds before the scare, other times it’s a brief pause just before the action.
Take the transient ‘edges’ off of door closes or footsteps, or EQ them a bit so they are tucked into the mix…
I make sure all the sounds preceding scares are ‘rounded’ and less staccato. Take the transient ‘edges’ off of door closes or footsteps, or EQ them a bit so they are tucked into the mix – we don’t want any sounds capturing the audience’s attention.
Also, try to find a way out of music so that we really minimize the soundtrack.
For the sting itself, use sharp, strident sounds and play them ‘loud and proud.’
Bonus: Download 13 free horror / gore sound effects from Soundbits:
Anything that sound designers should avoid when creating sounds for a horror film?
Avoid excessive sounds in horror films. Don’t overdo the soundtrack with a classic ‘Hollywood’ feel. We don’t need to hear EVERY footstep, EVERY hand-pat, or 30 layers of BGs!
Find those few sound elements in a scene that tell the story and make them come to life.
Horror soundtracks tend to be concise, compact, and incorporate only the bare essentials of what is needed to tell the story. Find those few sound elements in a scene that tell the story and make them come to life.
A big thanks to Joe Dzuban for sharing excellent tips on designing horror sounds and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!
Want to learn more about horror sound?
Check out the Ultimate Horror Sound Guide below:
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Forest and Mountains features nature and wildlife sounds from California, Washington, and Oregon. Included are a number of bird recordings and forest ambiences, along with some insects, winds, rivers, and rain. Â
These were recorded over the past three years in various forests, foothills, and mountain environments.  A lot of these took place in or near Southern California’s Angeles Forest and San Gabriel Mountains, an area that spans 1200 Square Miles and varies vastly in terrain.
Also included are some sounds from Northern California, along with recordings from the Pacific Northwest.
The recording techniques for this varied as sometimes I went with the recorders running unattended to capture night, dawn and early morning. Other times I’d record while being close by.
Working as a Sound Effects Editor I’ve curated this collection with Editors in mind. Background Ambiences and Spotted FX can really bring a location to life and give it so much story and character and that was a lot of the inspiration behind putting this all together.Â
The Locations
California (61 Files) – This is where a majority of the sounds from this library were recorded and specifically Southern California. Variety of areas and different environments, mostly around Angeles Forest, from Lower Elevation Foothills to more rugged mid-elevation Mountain Canyons and then much Higher Elevation and more remote terrain. Also included are a few recordings from the Eastern Sierras and Northern California.
Washington (19 Files) – Southern WA in Gifford Pinchot Forest and various Northwest Forest areas near Puget Sound.
Oregon (16 Files) – Lakeside Recordings in forest and marsh at Klamath Lake in SE Oregon.Â
The BirdsÂ
Prominent / Specific Birds (36) (Closer Mic Perspective and more detailed) (* denotes multiple versions)
Acorn Woodpecker, Barred Owl, Black-headed Grosbeak, California Towhee, *Canadian Geese, *Fox Sparrow, *Great Horned Owl, *House Wren, Northern Flicker, Oak Titmouse, Pacific Wren, Pileated Woodpecker, *Raven, Robin, *Song Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Swainson’s Thrush
Other Birds Featured (17) (Mixed together from various perspectives, calm to busy depending on time of day, and then closer to more medium and distant sounds.)
Acorn Woodpecker, American Coot, California Quail, California Towhee, Cassin’s Finch, Fox Sparrow, Great Horned Owl, Hose Wren, Mallard, Mountain Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Poorwill, Raven, Red-tailed Hawk, Spotted Towhee, Steller’s Jay, Western Tanager, Western Wood-Pewee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Wilson’s Warbler, Wrentit, Yellow-throated Blackbird, Zone-tailed Hawk
General Forest (9) – A mix of some wildlife (Chipmunk, Deer, Bullfrogs), and more general lighter forest ambiences.
Insects (7) – Crickets from various perspectives and different forests along with some Grasshoppers.
Rain (4) Light to heavier in a canyon with dense vegetation, some with distant birds.
Rivers (5) Smaller detailed creeks to faster moving rivers.
Wind (11)Â A mix of calm to heavier with gusts, vegetation, and tree creaks.Metadata
Detailed with descriptions and markers and photos to easily navigate and allow for options when searching. UCS was used to categorize and various bird species are identified. I’ve also labeled the metadata with what I consider Lower Elevation (up to 1500 feet), Middle Elevation (2000-5000 feet), and Higher Elevation (above 5000 feet).  Included are the season of the year which was mostly Spring and Summer. Using Open-Tier in Soundminer you can use these to help get a bit more specific to particular environments.The Gear
Sound Devices MixPre-3 & 6 | Zoom F3 & 6 | Sony PCM-D100
Mics
Sennheiser MKH 8020 | Sennheiser MKH 8040 |
Sennheiser MKH 30 | Clippy EM 272
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Game Audio Packs - Game Sound Effects Libraries General UI Sounds Play Track 136 sounds included $10Hello Creators!
Here’s my new pack: “General UI Sounds“
I wanted to create a sound pack to cover different situations in an user interface.
I hope you enjoy implementing this sounds in your project!Making-Off
All this sounds were originally recorded with a Zoom H6 (cardiod microphone), and were processed in Logic Pro X, mainly editing the recorded material but also I used the Logix Pro X sampler.
Some considerations
1. Keep in mind this sounds can be used in a variety of situations, I put a name to the SFX but this doesn’t mean it can’t be used in other contexts.
2. The sounds are in 44.1Khz/16 bit format. I have the original files at 96khz/24bit also, if you need this format, please contact me.
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