I sat down and set myself a task last night.

To ‘compose’ a short horror track using as few instruments, sounds and musical phrases as possible and in a short amount of time.

There was no intended use for the piece, it was simply an exercise in creating. I often do this although without the limitations of time and instruments. What comes out of the process often surprises me. It’s all a learning curve.

I had intended as with several recent ‘experiments’ to upload the finished piece to Soundcloud for free use. That was to change today after the original upload yesterday.

Over the last few months, I have been re-evaluating what Black Creek Podcasts is. I have been spending numerous hours, days, weeks and months in learning new skills, honing old ones and building a production suite capable of the production of high-quality sound design and music. This is an ongoing process and investment both in time and financially. While working on current projects I started to consider what I wanted to do moving forward.

A video by Venus Theory – a musician and sound designer and about limiting the number of plugins you use to create and just keeping those that you actually ‘can’t do without’, made me think. I don’t use a massive number of effect plugins. Yes, there are a reasonable number, but they are already limited to those I find useful and use. However, I looked at some of the soundbed tracks I have created and the are a multitude of instruments from different sources. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact I would say the opposite. It did spark an idea though - what if I used just one source and a limited number of instruments to create a tension / suspense soundbed and to keep that selection minimalistic.

The focus the last couple of evenings has been on coming up with the opening theme for the Paranormal Nation ‘Shorts’ which is a separate intro to the main Series full episodes, and the creation of two outro pieces for scripts already out to VA. The ‘Shorts’ all have a very different tone to them, and each will have an outro especially produced to fit that theme.

So for tonight for the first time since the announcement of the Paranormal Nation project I have included an example of the main theme and outro for the first two episodes along with a second file that is just my exploring ‘sounds’ and using instruments that I don’t really get to use with current projects.

The focus the last couple of evenings has been on coming up with the opening theme for the Paranormal Nation ‘Shorts’ which is a separate intro to the main Series full episodes, and the creation of two outro pieces for scripts already out to VA. The ‘Shorts’ all have a very different tone to them, and each will have an outro especially produced to fit that theme.

So for tonight for the first time since the announcement of the Paranormal Nation project I have included an example of the main theme and outro for the first two episodes along with a second file that is just my exploring ‘sounds’ and using instruments that I don’t really get to use with current projects.

Ideas are always buzzing around in my head. Forming and solidifying. Knowing that Paranormal Nation was some way off release I started to think a little wider. I realised I wanted something a little quicker to create but that was also something that would link in and as it turns out support the main project. This wasn’t about creating some totally separate, it was about something complementary to the main idea.

The idea that took shape was one of five-minute audio shorts.

Everything is about an emotion or feeling. Sadness, fear, regret, hope, anticipation, trepidation. Emotion and feelings are what drives a story and in an audio drama both voice and sounds have equally important parts to play.

This is the first piece of writing for weeks that isn’t a script.

My free time is and has been for some months now filled with either script writing or, sound design, editing, or production.

New Dawn – which is still very much alive, was and is really a forerunner to creating a full audio drama. I had an inkling of this when I conceived of New Dawn. It was to be a hybrid bridging the gap between actual play and full audio drama; however, its real purpose was to see if I could write and create audio drama.

The Ephemeral nature of everything.

Why do we spend so much time creating something that is ephemeral? OK, films and books can go out of popularity, circulation or print – but there still will be physical copies somewhere in someone’s collection or in a library. A podcast? Well, you could argue that maybe it is in someone’s downloaded playlist, possibly, maybe.

Sound Design for New Dawn Mini Season 2

When I originally conceived the idea of New Dawn, I knew that one of my primary aims was to create something with attention to detail in terms of music and the soundscape.

Mini Season1 tested the idea and I am not unhappy with the results. With mini season 2 I tend to take raise those aims.

In the beginning.

How New Dawn happens. The process.

It all starts with writing a scenario. It may be entirely original, or it might take inspiration from something existing. But either way it starts here with an actual play scenario.

That scenario forms as a cinematic piece in my head. It takes on a vibe and a theme. The first New Dawn case was very ‘spacious’. There were lots of locations and movement over distance.

The second is very different. Confined, Personal, Faster Paced.

So how does it take shape?

Recording your Voice.

I was recently asked to think of some tips for anyone involved in recording during an actual play and this is just as valid for anyone generally recording voice.

So here are a few general hints and tips that I would suggest are worth the time to read if you are recording your voice live or on your own to be sent to someone.

Great Horror.

‘how does a person fall in love with horror?’

It’s an interesting question especially as someone who plays a lot of Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green which fall into the Cosmic Horror genre of tabletop role playing games.

The art of sound design

When film and TV present a scene it provides a complete ‘picture’, it is a picture painted in full with very little left to the viewer imagination. When a radio drama paints a picture, it is filled out just enough to set the scene, the place, the atmosphere but then it leaves the listener to fill in the details from their own experience or imagination.

Creativity is the spark of life…

I have just spent over the last four days - 40 plus hours scripting, editing, sound designing and producing episodes of New Dawn.
Why?

Since conception I have known that New Dawn has the potential to be somewhat of a ‘marmite’ creation. As a fusion between actual play with table discussion and roles removed, and tight editing and fully scripted audio drama inserts it is very much a fusion.

Meet the Cast - Skip Morton.

Skip is a 15 year Commercial Radio Veteran having worked in the Roanoke and New River Valley VA Markets. Skip has been playing RPG's since 1978 and lists Delta Green and Call of C'thulhu as his favorites but is always seeking to learn different systems.

What is, Was, and Why ‘The Pitch’.
It’s a good question.

If this was a proposal to a network for a radio or TV series then you would need a pitch. However, it would be me writing, running, creating, producing and releasing this New Dawn series of podcasts – so why write one.

Voices in my Head.
It’s March 2025 and somewhere in a leafy, green part of England sits a rather disgruntled man. A recent missed promotion and a looming major birthday has him in somewhat of a dour mood, feeling as though life is passing by.

Beginnings
You may or very possibly may not have asked yourself ‘I wonder what happens behind the scenes at New Dawn’.

If you have you may be delighted to find these ‘behind the scenes’ pieces, if not – well, don’t worry, there won’t be questions afterwards. If you have… then read on.