Making horror songs
 

I want to make horror songs that are somewhat similar to Silent Hill 1's songs. That creepy atmosphere and such. What do you guys recommend I do?

Research into existing pieces and take the findings into experimentation of your own work.

What kind of horror song do you mean? Like score music? or a more ambient feeling using recorded sounds?

Just find any music/sounds that sound creepy or create that sort of mysteriously creepy atmosphere and then mess around with them.

For a while, the Diablo III Overture was free on iTunes. I'm not sure if it still is, but that is a great example of music creating the sense of horror. Its not overwhelming, but it makes you feel uncomfortable and a little scared.

I put it on my playlist to wake up to. Being scared is the only thing that gets me out of bed..... :D

Many horror games make use of dark ambient or dark industrial ambient (music genres are gross), so I'd look into those.

I write horror music myself, heres a tip I learned through experimentation. Try writing a melody..drum track..whatever, then slowing it way down. Cymbals tend to sound like gunshots, bass hits like plodding foot steps..

Another tip. Good horror music often seems like its missing elements-like something should be there but isn't. Write a full symphony peice and then cut out half the instruments. Which insturments you might have to figure out (strings often are used to soften a peice-loose em), but its a good approach. That and slow it down to a minor key.

Playing instruments the wrong way is a wonderful thing. Play piano strings with an ice scraper, the guitar with chopsticks through a ring modulator (or anything through a ring modulator, for that matter...), weird vocal sounds slowed down and put in the background or used in place of any bass instruments, recording something being played from one room in the shower your bathroom (mic in bathtub and instrument in another room) and other bizarre mic techniques, the sound of shoveling dirt, banging metal, all juxtaposed by the use of very clean and delicate passages.

Hope these help point you in the right direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-heTeF_ljoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEKtDxpjsmk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mZ2qOPiQug

These are just few simple songs I made. I was hoping for feedback on them if you wouldn't mind.