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I'm curious as to how this piece of music gives this feeling of dread. It is very ominous and heavy. This is odd because it played without any distortion. I'm curious as to how the effect of heavy guitars can be gotten without down tuning significantly or adding distortion

Neil Meyer
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    I’m voting to close this question because it asks to identify effects or techniques, and talks in very subjective ways about a "feeling." (Even on musicfans, some more concrete description might be needed to get a useful answer.) – Andy Bonner Mar 22 '22 at 12:50
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    I'm sorry but the conveying of emotions or feelings is basically what music is all about. Asking how a certain emotion is evoked in a piece of music should be exactly what a site on music should allow questions on – Neil Meyer Mar 22 '22 at 12:56
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    @NeilMeyer Whether a certain piece of music evokes a particular emotion is a matter of opinion. – PiedPiper Mar 22 '22 at 13:18
  • You have a lot more experience and reputation here than I, so I'd certainly defer to your input on meta. But I am suggesting that any attempt to give a musical explanation for a certain sound might need a much clearer explanation of what's being heard. – Andy Bonner Mar 22 '22 at 13:27
  • I suspect that you're looking for a music-theory analysis (it has a bit to do with "open," no-3rd, chords, but also with the drop D and other expressive choices like tempo and of course a background wind sound effect). But as it stands, the question, talking about "heavy guitars," doesn't make that clear, and sounds like it's looking for an answer about effects or recording techniques, which would be totally off-topic. And no, I don't get "ominous" or "dread," I get "badass." – Andy Bonner Mar 22 '22 at 13:30
  • I'm not prepared (and probably not qualified) to answer with a thorough theoretical analysis, but that minor 9th (or is it an augmented octave?) in the third bar helps. (cf. Ron Grainer's "Doctor Who" theme). – Theodore Mar 22 '22 at 14:00
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    At core there's a good, analytical question here regarding how this music achieves its effect. But as currently written, it runs into the problems already outlined in the comments, plus requiring transcription. I am voting to close, but would also vote to reopen after a solid revision. Please consider reworking the question to better fit site guidelines. – Aaron Mar 22 '22 at 14:54
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    Perfectly fine question closed?!? IMO the first example has a feel that could be called dread, but not the second. The first achieves this through the combination of: minor key, accented dissonance, slow tempo, and I feel most importantly the sustained bass notes which create a sense of anticipation. Perhaps you could say minor key dissonance evoking 'fear' with slow and unchanging evoking 'suspense' provides: fear + suspense = dread. – Michael Curtis Mar 24 '22 at 13:24

1 Answers1

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What this does is

  1. Play at a low register
  2. Switch between perfect 5th and augmented fifths of the chord (there is not 3rd)
  3. It uses leaps
  4. It goes upward
  5. It rhythmically anticipates the 1st beat

At least if you just cared about the intro

From here, it gets more subjective, but low registers + dissonance is a pretty easy way to make something sound spooky. The rest adds interest to a degree, but also puts the listener into an uneasy state using leaps and rhythmic anticipation.

Brian Towers
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Sean G
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