All the previous examples has used ascending Shepard Tone but the dead flag blues uses a slide guitar to create a descending Shepard Tone . Godspeed you Black Emperor – The Dead Flag BluesĪ band know for dark and epic sound track fitting music, making use of a variety of instruments, effects and techniques. Used at the very end of the song but matches the songs rising chord progression and out of this world themed lyrics. The track then uses the effect throughout the track to match the appropriately themed song. You can hear the Shepard Tone from the very start of the song with an ascending rising effect which continues to rise throughout the intro. Of course this effect can also be powerful in music especially where the composer, songwriter or producer wants to create an out of world or hyper real experience. I’m sure, now you can recognize the effect, you will notice this in many other film scores due to its power to create panic, anxiety or never ending suspense. The Shepard Tone is used to give the impression the motor bike is going forever faster. Perhaps the more talked about scene which makes use of the Shepard Tone, is the Batpod scene. Hans Zimmer uses the Shepard Tone before the Joker is introduced, giving the viewer a feeling of anxiety and the belief that something is going to happen. The Shepard Tone combined with the sound of ticking makes it very clear on the emotions Hans Zimmer was aiming to induce.īatman Dark Night uses the Shepard Tone in multiple places, less musically than Dun Kirk, but used more as a sound design piece. In the Film Dun Kirk, the Shepard tone is used as part of the musical arrangement. Han Zimmer makes great use of the Shepard Tone in many of his film scores, creating intense build ups and feelings of panic or intense anxiety. The music is played in a musical scale which is simply repeated and creates the illusion the notes are constantly increasing in pitch. The soundtrack to the endless stairs scene on Super Mario 64 wisely uses the endless Shepard tone. Some great examples of an ascending Shepard Tone being used in sound design It can create hyper realism, and it works great in a surreal or mysterious environment. The Shepard Tone is an extremely powerful illusion which has been successfully adopted in film soundtracks and film sound design where suspense is created and sustained for long periods of time. Shepard Tone examples in music and sound design I have also included some tutorial videos made by some of my favorite youtube educators, Will from EDM Tips and Oscar from Underdog. The following examples demonstrate the Shepard Tone played on a variety of instruments including an Orchestra in the soundtrack to Dunkirk, Guitar FX used by Franz Ferdinand, Slide Guitar from Godspeed you Black Emperor and Sound Effects such as an forever accelerating Batpod. The Shepard tone is used today in different genres of music, film soundtracks and game design. The illusion can create great suspense as the listener is always waiting for it to reach its peak, but it never does. Since the 1960’s the audio illusion has been used in multiple ways, adopting the concept in rhythm (Risset Rhythm) to more common pitch risers. I’m sure you recognize the corkscrew effect in the image below. The visual illusion is still used today, typically by barber shops. Named after cognitive scientist Roger Shepard who demonstrated forever ascending or descending visual and auditory illusions. In audio, the Shepard tone describes a constant sound which has an illusion of a forever rising or falling pitch.
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