Pain hits me in flashes whenever I here that some poor haunter has solved his sound problem with a boom box, ahhhhhh!!!!
OK, I feel better. True I started with boom boxes and little cassette players. I even had an eight track reel to reel. Gosh, I even used eight-ohm stereo speakers and drove them with mighty amps to blast sound through my haunt. But I have grown up now, I am no longer in my parent's living room and the customers are paying me for something a little more than a sheet and peeled grape. The next most unamusing thing I have found is the banter over the constant search for the best sound track (similar response as noted in opening paragraph). The reality is that unless you are using a motion picture soundtrack theme from a successful movie, customers do not notice, nor do they care. But wait you say, customers tell you how great the sound track was/is, it must matter. I dare say that the number who say anything about sound are few and far between. I have taken several approaches to "house sound". House sound is the major sound track that is heard throughout the haunt. This sound would act as masking for scene sound and effects as well as actor dialogue and customer reaction within the scene. This is not to be confused with entry area sound. A mistake most haunts make is that the same track used as house sound is used in the entry, bad idea. House sound is that, used in the house only. Do not prepare your customers by giving away one of your best distractions before they enter the actual haunt. Distraction? Yes, Distraction. 1993 was a fun year for me. I attacked haunting with a passion and left common sense behind. I realized customers were not only to be scared; they were also to be entertained. Sound was my weakest area. I examined the customer and experimented on them in '93. Walls were moved, effects added, removed, modified and some customers swore off haunts. But I learned. '93 through '98 I used a house sound track designed by me and produced by my son. The track contained driving base and piercing treble. But, its main attribute was an every changing beat. Its tempo was not sacred; it would gradually change then dramatically change. Did customers notice the sound track? No, since day one in this biz no one ever (other than employees, who hated the new track) mentioned the track. And for this I am grateful. The point is that customers do not notice sound, other than effects used to enhance a visual effect. Well, OK that is not entirely true. '93 did have a unique sound effect, that of a chain saw. I was poor that year and could not afford a chain saw, so I recorded one. Customers did notice it. The offbeat sound track was one more distraction. It was not a conscious one, but a background variation. Distractions create the atmosphere necessary to provide a great customer scare. A distraction need not be obvious to work. Scene sounds were masked by house sound. Proper placement of house sound speakers before and after each scene kept customers from learning what was ahead. The actors did not worry about their scene being revealed and the customer received a better show. Sound design did not stop there. Each scene with its own track (not all my scenes have their own track) was carefully designed. Skull cavern was four tracks, cemetery two tracks and the pendulum scene a unique variation of recorded and sequenced live sounds. Speaker placement is as important as what the speaker is spitting out. Another consideration is frequency response and to tweet or not to tweet (er). And lets not forget the power that drives our sound, the amplifier. The scare is what drives most of us. And it is difficult to stop building cool props and think about sound design. It is more difficult to purchase proper sound equipment instead of another five-gallon bucket of latex. However, you will be pleased to discover that properly designed sound will enhance your creative latex creations and may even require an additional investment in a professional mop and bucket.Mad Hatter
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