loading . . . How a Composer Turned iPhone Voice Recordings Into the Creepiest Horror Score of the Year
While horror scores often lean on orchestration or synth design to generate tension, some composers push further by experimenting with found objects or unconventional techniques.
Recent standouts include Colin Stetsonâs __Hereditary__ and Mark Korvenâs __The Witch__ , both of which used unusual sound sources to heighten unease.
For Gravitas Venturesâ __The Demon Detective__ , composer _Barry J. Neely_ took a different pathâtreating voices as instruments. âThe route I did go was âhaunted,â and I heard that as voices,â Barry recalls. âI texted my friend Morla Gorrondona, whoâs not only a professional voice actor but always up for vocal experimentation. She recorded some scratch takes on her iPhone, and I sampled and played with those. When she later sent me a cleaner version, I realized I actually preferred the rough iPhone recordingsâtheir limited frequency range fit the mix in a way that was even creepier.â
The result is a score that feels both technically inventive and deeply unsettling, proving how the human voice, when manipulated, can redefine the language of horror scoring. Barry discusses this topic and much more in the conversation below.
Barryâs __The Demon Detective__ score is now available _digitally_.
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**No Film School: First off, what led you into the composing world?**
**Barry J. Neely:** I always played and wrote music, even from an early age. I played in bands and various ensembles in high school, and was also part of an amazing, local music conservatory. But I really enjoyed being at home, alone, writing these long, drawn-out, solo piano pieces. And to me, these pieces worked like character studies, though they didnât have any visuals that went along with them. But that led me down the path to film music composing.
**NFS: When you first came on board** _**_The Demon Detective_**_**, what were your initial musical ideas or instincts for the score?**
**BJN:** The main character, Miles Mako, is tormented by his ability to see and sense demons. After the first cut of the film that I saw, I couldnât ignore that these demons were INTENSE, even if Miles seemed unconcerned with their dangers (he plays it cool a lot of the time).
I understand that subtlety has its power, but I felt that the themes then had to go hard. For the initial theme, I heard this tremolo cello essentially âfightingâ with a synth sound that I had yet to make. And when I created that synth sound - after many, many attempts and through experimentation - and matched it with the gritty cello, I just went from there.
Composer Barry J. NeelyCredit: Projection PR
**NFS: How did you balance the noir âdetectiveâ aspect of the story with the supernatural horror elements?**
****BJN** :** Yes, itâs a detective tale helping the character Clara, but it ultimately centers around Milesâs torment. And that, to me, outweighed any classic, noir feel.
The route I did go was âhaunted,â and I heard that as voices. I texted my friend Morla Gorrondona because not only is she a professional VO actor, but she is always up for vocal experimentation. And Iâll let you in on a secret: she recorded some fun scratch voices on her iPhone, and I sampled those and played around with them. But when she got home and sent me a âbetterâ recording, I already had so much fun with the iPhone recordings, and felt their frequency range - or lack thereof! - fit better in my mixes.
Morlaâs voices - along with Zehra Fazal and Victoria Foxâs vocals - are strewn about the whole movie, highlighting the supernatural themes of Miles himself.
**NFS: Were there scenes in** _**_The Demon Detective_**_**where silence was as important as the score itself?**
****BJN** :** I will always argue for opportunities of silence. But the director, T.C., wanted me to experiment with frequencies outside normal hearing. I created this super, super high-pitched âscreechâ on a beat-up violin. And with some processing, we added that barely-noticeable sound, low in the mix, to some key moments that otherwise may have had no music at all.
You might not hear anything, but youâre going to FEEL that something is not right. And that might be scarier than silence.
**NFS: Can you talk about your collaboration with the filmâs director, T.C. De Witt? How involved was he with the scoring process?**
****BJN** :** More often, I sort of went with an idea and bounced those rough mixes off of him to see what he thought. But a large part of our collaboration was discussing his deep understanding of demons in general. The characters in this movie are based on real stories, real fables, to the point where he was even praised by a rep at St. Finbar, a church in Burbank where they filmed. I wanted to honor that intense character study with some strong themes.
**NFS: How was** _**_The Demon Detective_**_**different from some of your other projects you have worked on?**
****BJN** :** Story-wise, this movie traverses some heavy topics, from demons to possession, from sex to suicide, from guilt to desperation. So, it runs the gamut of human trauma. Thatâs a lot to tackle.
Music-wise, I sometimes have âmusical agendasâ when I write a score, to make sure I donât write something too similar to what Iâve done before. This score features a string trio, which, to me, sounds very, very intense, and matches the intensity that I saw on screen. And there are a lot of those strings in this score.
**NFS: What was the most difficult scene to score in** _**_The Demon Detective_**_**? Why?**
**Neely:** Absolutely, the gym scene with the demon, Illizod. Itâs such a long scene, and itâs sort of a âfightâ scene. I struggled a bit trying to keep it a horror feel and not âadventure.â It wasnât until late in the game, after I submitted most of my cues, that I asked one of the producers to come over and work on the scene with me. We dulled the drums, sort of âsmoothedâ out some of the rhythms, and distorted the choral vocals I recorded. Fear needs to be the name of the game, and we were able to make it more horror-like, but what I had at the beginning was at least a good start.
'The Demon Detective'Credit: Gravitas Pictures
**NFS: How have you seen the composing industry change since your first project many years ago?**
****BJN** :** Budgets are definitely getting smaller, and virtual instruments are getting way better. I still hope those two arenât linked, since collaboration with other musicians is monumentally important to this process.
But filmmakers are still finding their one-of-a-kind voices, and Iâm so impressed that these new, unique stories are still being created.
**NFS: Do you think AI will affect your industry at all?**
****BJN** :** Oh, absolutely, it will. I will lose jobs for sure because of AI. But I know and trust that the true artists and filmmakers - and the ones that I want to work with - will want a human touch.
AI will inevitably start to sound the same, no matter how many prompts you give it.
To be perfectly clear, other than occasionally using noise-reduction plug-ins that claim to use AI, I do not use AI to compose or produce my music. https://nofilmschool.com/composer-barry-j-neely-demon-detective
