Inception Trailer Sound Effect
Helen Drewski
BRAAAM (sometimes uncapitalized, or with varying numbers of repeated letters)[1] is an onomatopoeia used to describe a loud, low sound that became popular in trailers for action films in the 2010s. It is commonly associated with the 2010 film Inception, but the origin of the sound as it appeared in the film is disputed. The sound and its variants are often referred to as the "Inception sound", the "Inception noise" or the "Inception horn".[2]
The sound, really, is that I put a piano in the middle of a church and I put a book on the pedal, and these brass players would basically play into the resonance of the piano. And then I added a bit of electronic nonsense.
The origin of the sound is disputed. It is frequently associated with the 2010 film Inception, although multiple people associated with the film have taken credit for it. Hans Zimmer, who composed the score for Inception, said in an interview with Vulture that he created the sound to satisfy the screenplay's description of "massive, low-end musical tones, sounding like distant horns". He arranged for brass instruments to be played into a piano, which was positioned in a church with a pedal held down, to which sound he later added "a bit of electronic nonsense".[7]
Mike Zarin worked with Dave Rosenthal and Lauri Brown on the first Inception teaser trailer, working with a variety of subway and foley sounds to fit with the only scene which was available to him at the time. He was also told to create a sound for a visual: "if you imagined your hand was buried in sand, and you're slowly lifting it up, and you see something is starting to appear, and then all of a sudden the hand appears, and so then it's very clear". Rosenthal encouraged him to turn it into "a sound that cleared the room", and Brown suggested adding "a brass edge to it".[8] Zarin claimed that the sound that emerged began with the sound effect that others had used in the second trailer. While the sound used in the eventual score was Zimmer's (based on a slowed down version of dith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien", which also plays an important role in the plot), Zarin accused Zimmer of improperly taking credit in his Vulture interview.[6][9][8] Zimmer later told filmmakers of the documentary Score that "people were just sort of using them as transitional pieces" and that the innovation in the Inception score was to use them to "tell a story".[5]
Zack Hemsey wrote the music for the film's third trailer, which included a likely synthesized horn BRAAAM sound that became popular on the internet for its volume. Hemsey did not claim credit for inventing the sound, but believed that it was his innovation to include the sound as part of the music rather than as an effect.[3]
Since the popularization of BRAAAM, and its parody in popular culture, filmmakers and studio executives have tried to innovate by using different kinds of sounds to create the same effect. For example, the teaser for Jurassic World (2015) included a BRAAAM-like dinosaur roar.[3]
Apparently others have too--hear a montage of similar sounds (collected by Gregory Porter). I found some info on Wired about Inception's other (crash) sounds, but nothing about the bwaah sound, specifically.
However, this kinda pissed off Mike Zarin who details how the development of the sound was a team effort involving many people in this article that shows the evolution of the sound over the various trailers and score pieces, including trailers that Hans Zimmer wasn't involved in.
For quite a few years, sound design for trailers has become increasingly creative and interesting. For blockbusters in Hollywood, an imaginative trailer campaign seems to be more and more important and sound is quite often utilized in inspired and inspiring ways.
One of the top sound designers of Hollywood trailers is Bryan Jerden who has worked on prominent movie trailers such as Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, Harry Potter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Inception, among many others. Bryan has also done a large amount of game trailers including titles like Hitman, Syndicate and Dragons Dogma. In this interview, he talks about his background, creative methods, the interplay between music and sound and why silence is such an important tool for sound designers.
Bryan Jerden: My work in the trailer world came as result from working for Tim Gedemer who is now the owner of Source Sound Inc. A little more than 10 years ago I started working with Tim as a sound editor and studio technician. It was a great match for me because I had spent almost 10 years prior to that as a sound engineer and music mixer recording rock bands. Tim is an accomplished guitar player as well as a real music guy so we hit it off in a way I could not have done with someone who was purely a post sound personality.
Right away I was attracted to trailers because I saw it as a mixed skill set. I liked the fact that it involved working directly with music. I loved that it had opportunities for designing sound, that it involved skillful sound editing, working with feature film tracks, dialogue and other disciplines all in the same package.
In the last several years creating sound design and cutting sound effects for trailers and even video game cinematics have become my life, but with that there is always the inevitable music editorial and dialogue work.
BJ: Different trailers from different studios have different protocols. The process of getting feature film trailers out into the public is really a collaborative effort involving everything from movie directors, studio creatives, video editors, picture finishers and a sound team. Pulling a trailer together and being a part of the sound finishing is very much a client service.
It is generally the job of the studios to map out the concepts of the trailer. Once the studio has constructed a cut, I use it as a kind of road map on where to work with the music and how to take it to the theatrical realm.
DS: To me, it seems like sound design for trailers nowadays is often more playful than in feature films. Do you feel that the way sound is utilized in trailers has changed during the years?
BJ: Trailers have become a distinct form of media and really have come quite a long way. Today we have itunes, youtube, websites dedicated to video game trailers, venues like Comicon and E3 and they are all packed with trailers and featurettes and I am constantly amazed on how many hits some trailers get on the web. There are just so many avenues for viewers now. No longer are the days when trailers are just shoved in front of a movie at a low level and mixed in stereo (although that still happens) but with all the other places to experience trailers in full volume, it is no wonder that they have taken on a whole new life. As a result trailers have definitely changed in terms of how much care gets put into them and by what the public expects to see and hear in a good trailer.
BJ: In some instances the feature film audio plays a huge role in the final trailer. Prometheus is a prime example of that. We had the pleasure of using the feature film audio in many of the signature sound effect moments. In that instance you have to be well versed in working with feature film audio and that part of the job comes down to just being a good editor.
Often trailers are constructed without feature film sound effects and you literally have to make everything. One of the big reasons for this is the duration and tempo of trailers. They are normally under 2:30 with lots of picture cuts that are all dictated by the rhythm and tempo of a score or piece of music. Movies are long and have plenty of time to tell their sonic story, but trailers have to get that point across quickly, so the audio in a movie and the audio in a trailer may be totally different.
BJ: It may seem odd but all trailers big and small have no real standard on a timescale. I have worked on some very big and complex trailers that had to be delivered to the mix stage with in a 24 hour time frame and I have worked on some smaller trailers where I am given a week. In general most trailers can be mixed within a day or two. I am lucky in the sense that most of the mixers that pull these trailers together are the very best in the business. It is extremely important to delivery a highly organized session that is laid out in a way that mixers like to see. Having a background in mixing I work with them closely through out the entire process to ensure everyone is comfortable and that there is zero confusion.
The over all goal to getting a trailer done is to get it approved by those that are creatively in charge, after all it is their trailer and it is my job to make them happy. Sometimes there are quite a few people in the kitchen and it takes time, but ultimately that is the goal.
The use of sub is another dimension to the soundscape you cannot ignore. You can use it to add impact, or you can use it to create suspense or even just give body and weight to the other sound effects.
DS: Trailers seem to be very much about the rhythm, tonality and musicality of the effect sounds. Do you use a more musical approach when doing sound design on a trailer than on a feature film?
BJ: Absolutely! Making your sound effects work with the score is key. Trailers are like a machine all with parts that have to work together. There is the picture and the visual content and it is edited to the rhythm of the music. There is the dialogue, which tells the story and is backed up by the tonality and the feeling that the music provides. There are sound designed music effects, which are meant to add to and enhance the music. Finally the you have the sound effects and they too have to work with the music. Everything has to work with the music and if any one part of it gets in the way of that, the trailer falls apart.
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