In this segment, the presenter explains what a tension cue is and why it is a staple in horror and suspense scoring. He describes tension cues as generally quiet, low‑frequency, and dissonant passages that build a feeling of dread through very slow pacing that mirrors a character’s breath before a scary event. The speaker highlights the use of isolated, sudden outbursts (e.g., a sharp “bah”) to punctuate the quiet, and stresses the importance of dissonance and careful mixing of sounds to heighten unease. He connects these musical choices to the psychological experience of the audience, likening the pacing to a person’s heartbeat and breath. An example from the film The Ring is mentioned to illustrate a slow‑evolving tension cue that relies on low, growly strings rather than a jump‑scare. The segment ends with a promise to show video examples and to break down the components that go into creating a tension cue, including the presenter’s own work.
Chapters
Okay, next, let's talk about another popular type of cue that you come across. And this is the tension cue. These are fun. I love writing tension cues because you can put in a lot of nonsense. And as long as you pace it correctly, then you have something really dramatic and scary, basically. So what are we talking about with tension cues? We're kind of talking about suspense building. A lot of suspense. And most commonly used in, like, a horror movie, but also a lot in television stuff. If you imagine a television show in which something scary is about to happen, the lead up to that, the quiet before the big scary thing, is attention cue. So tension cues are typically pretty quiet. We typically use a lot of low stuff because low stuff builds tension. We typically have a couple things that jump out. So in attention cue, you might have, like, a lot of low, growly sounds. And then out of nowhere, just like a bah, you know, kind of thing. And then. But it being really isolated. We also use a lot of dissonance in tension cues. This is another reason that they're fun to write because you can just kind of throw some notes, even samples. You can just kind of throw samples together. And if you mix it right, then it'll be a lot of tension because you want a lot of dissonance. So it's really about pacing with tension cues. You want it to be very slow. It's like somebody breathing. Like, you almost want to get in the head of the person that's about to be scared and think, okay, you know, like, this is the pulse that we're breathing. Every little thing becomes a big thing. So these, like, outbursts of sound become really pronounced. Let me look at a couple. Let me show you a couple things. One in particular, I think there's this cue from the ring that I like. It's kind of the big moment, but it's not a shocking moment. It's not like a boo scare you. It's like a slow evolution. You can hear these low, growly strings in it. So let's break to a new video. And then let's look at the ring. And then we're going to talk about what goes into making a tension cue. Then we'll look at some of my own.
