Sound - Creepy Circus Music

Sound Editing Practical

As I have not really experimented with sound editing before, I decided to do a practical on this early on so I could improve my skills when it comes to making sound for the final product. To do this, I downloaded the free sound editing tool Audacity.

One theme of horror movie that intrigues me are those based around circuses and carnivals, as I feel taking something seen as so happy and exciting and turning into the complete opposite can be really effective. Examples of horrors than use clowns as their primary villains are Stephen King's 'It' and season four of 'American Horror Story'. For this reason, I decided to attempt edit traditional circus music to make it more creepy.

First, I found the piece I wanted to use. This was Entry of the Gladiators by Julius Fucik, a piece very commonly used as circus music. To make a more creepy, empty sounding track I used this version of it played on a music box:

First, I downloaded this video as an mp3 using Clip Converter and then imported it into Audacity. I then removed the parts that didn't contain the music.

I then decreased the speed by 30%, which would alter both the tempo and the pitch to make it longer and lower.

Finally, I then used the reverb tool. This makes the clip sound as though it's being played in an empty room by adding an echo.

Finally, I then used the Paulstretch tool, which while experimenting, I discovered made the track sound more ambient and creepy, and gave it almost a whistle-like sound. 

I was unsure whether I preferred the version with or without the Paulstretch applied, so I compiled both versions into a video. As I am inexperienced with sound editing software, this was purely experimental so I think I could do a lot better in the future.