Make your VO scary as hell… Andre’s Production Diary Part…

Hi guys, it’s Andre.

It’s now my 29th week here at Benztown Studios in Stuttgart and I’m still learning (and sharing) imaging tricks from the Benztown crew.

Often you have to create a certain mood in a Promo to deliver the right message. You can do this with music, FX, SFX, Samples and your VO. It’s the goal to make the listener concentrate and not to bore him, so it’s hard to create the right mood without sounding cheesy (unless you want to sound cheesy ;)). We had the same task when we talked about scary mood and how to achieve it the best way.

Today I’m gonna show you how to express a scary mood through your VO with some simple tricks and Plugins, you already have.

Here’s the voice sample, I want to make scary, plus the screenshot.

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977608″]

Not scary at all, what? Now, let’s change this. I’ll show you how…

I’m gonna concentrate on the second part. By using a Reverse Reverb, I add that mysterious note to my VO (Click here for the matching video tutorial).

Duplicate the audio to another track and reverse it

Add a Reverb to the reversed audio (I prefer plate Reverbs, but that decision is up to you).

Now reverse the audio again.

The audio with Reverse Reverb looks like that (I moved the audio to another tracks, before taking that pic. The color might be different, but the files are still the same).

Now, the VO sounds like that.

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977631″]

A short tip: Use a High-Pass Filter on your Reverse Reverb. In my opinion it sounds better without the lower frequencies.

By using volume automation, you can let the reverse reverb float in or out.

And that’s what it sounds like:

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977659″]

Now it’s getting scary. Duplicate the part from the original file, you want to sound extra scary to two panned mono tracks. One left and one right. Now pitch down these two files to create a demonic stereo effect.

Listen to the new effect:

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977702″]

We’re getting closer… to add a bit more horror, duplicate the part, you’ve added to the both mono tracks, in another track and add a Delay. In this case, I used a simple Ping Pong Delay

Here’s the result:

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977726″]

For the final, I added a Drone and soundeffects for the right atmosphere.

Listen to the final audio:

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977761″]

Of course, that’s not the only way of creating a scary VO. There are tons of ways and Plugins to create scary effects. I’ve just showed you a simple way to begin with. Play around with Pitch, Delay & Reverb Plugins and you’ll receive scary results soon.

As a little inspiration, listen to a scary Promo, Fabi created for our Rock Imaging Library:

[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”” url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20977773″]

Cheers and have a nice weekend.