Drone of Dread: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

- "''See? The longer the note, the more dread.''"|[[Giftedly Bad|Super Hans]], [[Peep Show]]}}

 

 

In music, a drone is a sustained, continuous sound, note or tone-cluster. Music based around drones will emphasize minimalism and texture, timbre, eventually harmony, with less concern over rhythm and melody.

Frequently used in [[Horror]] stories (particularly [[Psychological Horror]] ones), but can show up in other genres as well (generally as a way to highligh that, whatever the appearances are, something very wrong/unusual is going on under the fragile surface of reality).

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Advertising]] ==

 

* ''[[Mononoke]]'': When the [[Kabuki Sounds]] are replaced by low droning brass instruments, you know something creepy is about to happen.

 

* ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'': Whenever the Monolith is involved, drony contemporary classical music composed by György Ligeti (see below) is heard.

* ''[[Alien]]''

* In [[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight]], the Joker's [[Leitmotif]] is a dissonant droning sound.

* ''[[The Shining]]''

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* For some reason, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has seen fit to accompany the rating cards before each movie they show with one. The effect is unintentionally unnerving.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* György Ligeti's compositions spanned a large array of different styles, but some of them featured really prominent drones, notably the pieces ''Requiem'' and ''Atmospheres'' (both heard in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''). The former combines drones with [[Ominous Latin Chanting]], and the latter features the largest cluster chord ever written, with every note in the chromatic scale over a range of five octaves being played at once — that's ''60'' different notes.

* ''[http://www.archive.org/details/ac036 L'Étoile du Matin Noir]'', an EP of dark ambient and noise music featuring many drones, released for free under Creative Commons.

** Ditto [[Woven Hand]], Edwards' followup music project. He frequently plays drones underneath the main melody, to make these already-menacing songs even more so.

* Calibretto's "American Psycho" uses a sustained organ drone for an effective [[Last-Note Nightmare]].

* John Cale tends to carry this with him wherever he goes.

* Some ambient music is based around sounds like this.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Heard in multiple locations in ''[[Blood]]''.

* [[Fallout]] Epically with the songs composed by Mark Morgan chiefly in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxdODzKtCVc City of the Dead]

* This is the entire basis of the award-winning sound design in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series. When there isn't all that scraping crashing metal or absolute silence, there's usually low drones of things along the lines of, for example, deepened breathing sounds on the streets of the fog town in the original game.

* ''[[STALKER|S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]''

* Used for macabre effect during the first couple of blocks of [[Eldritch Location]] Tartarus in ''[[Persona 3]]'', since you're venturing into the unknown in a place crawling with metaphysical manifestations of the human psyche. The effect goes away as you climb more floors and more and more instruments are added to the piece, and by the time you reach block 6 it's a complete composition.

** The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjXutKsizE8 Day 3 Clock Town theme] also has ominous low tones, which makes the cheerful melody from Days 1 and 2 sound pretty darn creepy.

* The ''[[Resident Evil]]'' games like to use this, e.g. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBqPnAU-H2A "The Second Floor"], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9iB1BaRkcU "Wandering Alone"], and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xe0qPBAJkA "The Underground Laboratory"] in ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B30yfyfr0y8 "Feel The Tense"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOLiohZMzf4 "Never Give Up The Escape"] from the third installment, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlomKOtqTZU&feature=channel_video_title "Deathtrap"], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-L9b-5SWYY "Lost in Darkness], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXsOk9-OCdw "Narrow and Close], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2bOoIdHF9M "Rush of Fear"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwEWMbAbVUc "Rush of Horror"] from the ''[[Resident Evil 1]]'' remake. ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', while more actionized, still has a plethora of scary drone pieces, especially [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uyBy8_QeMU Ruined Village], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhdzNj9Ja_k Noche](heard when first encountering a Plaga), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XeBKPYFWCI Bitores Mendez](combined with [[Psycho Strings]]), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXp3vlp7tDo Cold Sweat](combined with [[Heartbeat Soundtrack]]), and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS8DWlbaRZM Novistadors].

* Most of the ambience in ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Black'' fits this trope, but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_GqM98ymcg Snowy Fields] is the epitome of terrifying drone.

** Also, the meteorites Mario/Luigi uses to fight [[Big Bad|Bowser.]]

* The [[Big Boo's Haunt]] theme from ''[[Super Mario 64]]''.

* ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' gives the Reapers a chilling BWWOOOAAARRMM when they arrive. It's part of the soundtrack too.

* An unintentional example due to [[Idiot Programming]] is the Level 3 music in "Lollipops" from ''[[Action 52]]''. Listening to it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHMOorKpIKM in a ROM utility] is scary enough, but that's nothing compared to how it sounds in-game ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx6UdhbDKTc skip to 3:17]).

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKJRLA1aKAo first level] of ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]'' use creepy sitar-like drones, which adds to the desolate feeling.

* The Mars Underground and Shield Generator ambient sounds in ''[[The Journeyman Project]]'' have this effect, and to a lesser extent the background hum in the TSA.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==