I’ve come to the realization that I really like writing for horror projects. I’m not really sure why, I don’t really like horror films that much. It’s fascinating to use music as sound when describing the onscreen drama or action.

The Pope’s Exorcist is a streaming experience, so there is probably less of a need for a 5.1 surround sound mix than a regular stereo mix. But as with all 5.1 mixing, there were many cool effects to bring the story to life through sound and music. There are a lot of panned elements from from side to side, and some of the weirder, more obscure sounds had an impact when pushed to the rear speakers and the subwoofer. It truly is a fun immersive experience to mix for it and experience it.

I borrowed a little from the original Exorcist films, although I’m pretty sure this film is not associated. That original Exorcist film score is unforgettable, though.

On the sound design side, I scraped the dialogue from the original trailer using an audio tool, but it came out a touch warbly in parts. Unfortunately, when audio is pulled from a mixed session, the tools have a tendency to cut frequencies from the sound you want in separating it from the other background sounds. There is almost nothing that can be done to fix it, but I thought it sounded good enough for this sound demo. It had to go through a few rigorous mixing passes to make it sit in the mix correctly.

Below, you’ll find a button to the 5.1 mix. If you have 5.1 capabilities where you’ll listen to it, give it a whirl and -as always- let me know what you think.