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You know what I'm talking about- it's in literally Every Single Show now (movie, TV, game, whatever) & it's the new go-to audio cue for "something dangerous is happening". It's a spacey metallic scraping noise that sounds kind of like a giant, pitched-down electric razor or something, usually with a bit of a reverb tail on it, usually lasting for between 2-4 seconds.

I've been driving myself insane trying to find it, or at least find a reference to it online, but nobody seems to know what I'm talking about even though it's Everywhere these days. You can hear it most often in thrillers & horror-type movies, but like I said, it's like the new go-to audio cue for ratcheting up tension so you even hear it on children's cartoons now. PLEASE- does ANYBODY out there know what I'm talking about, & if so, do you know what it is or how to make it?

There are many different versions of it out there (brighter, darker, etc), but all essentially similar, so I'm assuming it's not an individual sample that's being re-used, but one that is created new each time using the same process/technique- but I could be wrong.

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You seem to be generalising about something very specific - if its used so much, could you point to a few specific examples eg its in Movie X @ab.cd time and Movie Z @gh.ij? – tim prebble Jan 21 at 20:11

3 Answers

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Bowed metal and Waterphones are very a-typical of the sound you are describing. Go and demo some of the many great Cinematic trailer SFX libraries from people Like Time Prebble (Hiss and Roar), Frank Bry (The Recordist), Boob Library and the like. You will find that man of them sell amazing libraries with cinematic stingers for reasonable prices. Some of those helped me figure out how to create my own. Almost as important is that they helped me look good to me clients! :-)

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Boob Library? Wahahahaha... We all gotta have that one on our wish list. :P – Tak Jan 21 at 4:10
bowed waterphone? youtube.com/watch?v=q0PZyZtbRBM – tim prebble Jan 21 at 4:38
bowed cymbal? youtube.com/watch?v=Z63PqMreRGs – tim prebble Jan 21 at 4:40
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Bowed glass?

I recommend you keep watching TV and watching movies and note down when you hear it and telling us so we can hear it and give further advice.

My money is on bowed glass effects, though. That seems to be the cliche trailer sting (along with that anvil hit).

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Scraping cymbals with another object, pitch up or down. Wash rinse repeat.

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