The Haunting Sounds of Stranger Things
We've already talked about the good news brought to us by Netflix and Sennheiser: Netflix is releasing the spatial audio feature to all subscribers of the platform, and with new content, after being available on Apple devices for a year. Fans of Stranger Things will be able to feel the whole horror of the upside-down. The spatial audio is designed to provide a sound similar to that of a movie or TV show. A more immersive way to receive the sound created for each scene where different objects, dialogue, and music float around the viewer to give the feeling of being inside the story. This was key in the making of this last season, a trip back to the eighties and its incredible soundscape. It is as simple as searching on the platform, typing "spatial audio", those contents that include that surround sound quality.
This system can deliver spatial audio through any stereo hardware with two channels, and create a three-dimensional positional sound without relying on surround speakers or home theater equipment, only with those of the TV, mobile, or tablet. Sennheiser indicates that their audio experience enhances the quality of any stereo equipment, whether on normal TVs, stereos, headphones, tablets, or laptops.
However, here's the most interesting thing about this: an immersive sound as enabled by this technology designed by Sennheiser goes far beyond mere sophistication. Although it is a privilege to have such sound quality, the implementation of this technology seems a matter of scripting, precisely because the story of this season seems to have required the possibility of flawless audio. As noted in this Netflix article, without its excellent sound design, would the final fight scene in The Adam Project be as electric? Would Eddie Munson's epic guitar scene in Stranger Things 4 bring the ǝpᴉsdn uʍop to life the same way?
The series has grown a lot as a work of art, and sound plays a major role here. This fourth season seems to have been the best thing that has happened to the fans of this series and it was well worth the three years of waiting they had to live to be able to see the continuation of this story and the adventures of an adorable team of teens fighting monsters. The characters have grown over the years on Netflix, and they continue to challenge viewers to decipher the hints they leave in each episode. For instance, there is a quite significant connection between the first three seasons of Stranger Things that fans initially failed to notice - and now they are simply crazy about it. This connection is only now becoming apparent, so you either missed it or assumed it was your imagination. We still need to know how this last season will conclude, but there is a crucial element that links the four seasons. The first time we can see it is when Will falls off his bike in Season one. The second time, when Hopper encounters the dark dimension. The third time, when the Mind Flayer takes control of Billy, and the fourth time… Well, it is still to come in this fourth season, as fans of Stranger Things have found out.
Everyone has their mouths open and is curious to figure out how they will relate that sound with this fourth season of Netflix's Stranger Things. That sound is the sound of a clock, and it plays at each of those critical times. Even Craig Henighan, the Vecna soundtrack's team leader and sound effects editor from season one, was unaware that he had previously produced the opening of the gong sound that would have such a resounding effect in season four.
The clock ultimately plays a crucial part since it announces Vecna's arrival and the passing of time. The Upside Down monster, who is later revealed to be Eleven, the first patient with telekinetic abilities in Dr. Brenner's Hawkins Lab program, develops into the slithering psychological demon that viewers encounter in this season after Eleven, as a younger child, defeats him and banishes him to Hawkins, where he would continue to hone his abilities in season four, and he makes a comeback by penetrating his victims' brains and then exploiting their trauma.
They say that this is the season of Stranger Things that has included the most sound effects of the entire series. This is a great example of how sound becomes a fundamental element in the very narrative of the story, hence the need to invest in technology to make it possible.
If you are interested in creating a work like this, in which you need phenomenal sound effects without which the story would lose all meaning, do not hesitate to contact Enhanced Media Sound Studio.
*The images used on this post are taken from Pexels.com