Haunted House Tips Archives - Page 3 of 6 - HaunTopic: Haunted House & Attraction Podcast

Scare Acting Stories and Managing The Dead Factory Haunted House

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:04 — 76.1MB)

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In this one hour audio podcast episode, you will learn haunted house scare acting ideas from Darryl Plunkie (my co-host and scare actor at Dedmonton House) and pick up a few tips from (me) Brian Foreman on Managing the Dead Factory Haunted House in Mexico, Missouri.

Scare Acting Stories and Ideas from Deadmonton House

Darryl Plunkie, co-host of HaunTopic Radio and Haunted House Scare Actor at Deadmonton House-Canada, knows his way around a Haunted Attraction. Passionate about Horror and Halloween most of his life, he has helped many themed events prepare before the big show by decorating and filling the rooms with a warm body whenever Scare Acting duty calls.

Darryl believes in not just scaring the patron walking through the Haunt but to ENTERTAIN the patron. “People are either paying with their money or their time….sometimes making them laugh can get them off guard just enough and sets them up for the next scare. If you can’t scare them, make them at least remember you.”

Darryl also throws in Things to Say as a Scare Actor, What to do in an Emergency, and Scare Tactics You Can Try.

Managing the Dead Factory Haunted House

I have been doing this thing called ‘Haunting’ since I was a teenager but didn’t really know it was a thing until around 2004. I started out as a volunteer Scare Actor helping my brother at a local area Haunted House. When that place closed down, we decided to build an outdoor haunt behind my brother’s property called Backwoods Terror. That lasted a few years until circumstances led for us to shut the doors on that haunt venture. I moved on to decorating my garage for trick-or-treaters (called Home Haunting) and practiced my decorating and scaring techniques for a few more years.

This all led up to The Dead Factory in Mexico, Missouri. This is where I am Co-owner, manager, decorator, and wear many other hats as a Hauntrepreneur.

I go over Staying Flexible as a Haunt Manager, Where we are spending our budget next year, and a peek behind the doors of my Haunted Attraction- The Dead Factory.

Bonus Material in this podcast

Marketing ideas from Tyler Barnett and Phillip Hernandez (Marketing Monday-Haunted Attraction Network)
A sample soundtrack from inside The Dead Factory Haunted House.
3 NEW Haunt Happenings from within the Haunted Attraction Industry

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Soundproof your Haunt and Create Your Own Sound Effects with Sinful Audio

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:25 — 48.0MB)

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Keeping the sound contained in the rooms of your Haunt is a challenge. But with one simple material and a few tweaks to your layout, you can almost soundproof your haunt by absorbing lots of the noise. We say ‘almost’ because it’s impossible to seal in all the sound but you can reduce noise overflow between areas. Listen to this podcast episode to learn more.

We all want our customers and attendees to experience an immersive environment when they walk through the mazes and rooms in our attractions and haunted houses but getting the atmospheres from blending together is a skill. We either use one soundtrack through the entire haunt and use smaller noises within each room or we try to create unique sounds for each area without blending the noises.

Ken Webster, from Sinful Audio (a sound design studio for haunts), explains that with a few simple design principles you can improve the sound experience in each of your rooms. And not spend much money doing it.

Here are 5 things you can try to help soundproof your Haunt:

Position your speakers up high and pointed down toward the center of your area. This helps shoot the noise to the center away from your exits.
Design your haunted attraction with angled walls. 90 degree angle walls are the worst for sound bouncing off of them. If possible, design walls or just one wall at an angle to deflect sound.
Hang pictures and add furniture. The more soft objects to absorb the sound the better.
Create sound absorbing panels with a fireproof insulation like Roxul or other sound deadening materials.
Add solid ceilings where possible. Without blocking sprinkler systems and still staying code compliant.

Listen to this episode where Ken explains ways to help soundproof your haunt.

Roxul Panels built by Ken to help soundproof any room.

Creating Low Frequencies that you can feel.

You can also use audio in your attraction that is such a low frequency that it can be felt and give your customers an eerie experience that they won’t forget. This is called “Infrasound”: which is sometimes categorized as low-frequency sound or signals that are lower than 20Hz in frequency. This also means that it is below the standard threshold of human hearing which is 20Hz – 20kHz. Read Ken’s article on Infrasound here.

Final Thoughts:

Experiment with different layouts with your rooms and areas. Set up your speakers, add furniture and sound panels, and test. Reposition walls if you need to. Set up your speakers a different way. Add more soundproofing panels. Maybe just turn down the volume while leaving the sound still effective.

We’re pretty sure your attendees will still have a great show.

Haunted House Scare Acting Ideas with Brian and Darryl

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:36 — 58.2MB)

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Scare acting in a Haunted House is a lot different than acting in a play or on television.

You have to be flexible in all areas of the haunt, work in challenging environments, and be up close to the spectators. Scare actors are one of the most valuable assets to your Haunted Attraction business. In this podcast episode of HaunTopic Radio, we discuss our adventures this past haunt season and share some scare acting ideas that you can use next season.

We also talk about Scare Acting Techniques, Switching Up Your Haunted Attraction for Next Year, and Managing Throughput & Your Queue Line.

And your co-host Darryl Plunkie is going to HAuNTcon!! Make sure to say Hello if you see him!!

Midnight Syndicate stops by this podcast and drops off some new Creepy Christmas tunes from their new CD Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering. We play their tracks Christmas Overture, Up On a Rooftop, and Into the Stillness.

We wish you Happy Holidays and may you seek comfort in those around you..and in this audio podcast. 🙂

Check out our Scare Acting Video Seminar Here.

Haunt Stories with Darryl & Brian (plus Christmas Midnight Syndicate Tunes)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:20 — 61.6MB)

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Where have we been??

Deep in Haunt madness and Halloween overload! With me (Brian Foreman) opening a new Haunted Attraction this year called The Dead Factory and Darryl Plunkie scare acting most of October…we kinda got locked into ‘Haunter Tunnel Vision’. But now we’re back. And we got some Haunt Stories to tell….

dead factory haunted house-haunt stories — (My New Haunt in Mexico, Missouri)

With many benefits to you as a HaunTopic Radio listener because we will share our experience and lessons learned along this podcast and throughout many more episodes. We even had to split this episode into two parts just to squeeze in our Haunt Stories from this Haunt Season!

In this episode, we discuss my journey on Starting a Haunted Attraction and what I learned this first year. We discuss Darryl’s Scare Acting Principles to Live By and How Not to Burn Out before October is over. And what we plan on doing at our Haunts for next Haunt season.

And we play some Christmas Tunes from Midnight Syndicate’s new CD: Christmas A Ghostly Gathering.

This new CD features the band’s unique twist on classic holiday carols blended with new and original material.

“Our goal was to treat each song in a way that would merge familiarity with originality,” said Gavin Goska. “There are definitely recognizable elements, but plenty of additional original material as well. It also incorporates the widest instrument palette we’ve used to date and represents what we consider to be the most varied collection of songs we’ve ever released. There are serenely beautiful moments along more intense, darker tracks, and the end result is a thoroughly compelling and involving listening experience.”

“With so many Christmas-themed albums out there, we wanted to make this collection uniquely our own,” added Edward Douglas. “I think we were able to do that.” (To buy this new CD go to MidnightSyndicate.com)

Listen to our podcast to hear 3 mystery tracks from Christmas A Ghostly Gathering! Listen Here.

deadmonton haunted house-haunt stories — (Darryl’s home during October. Deadmonton Haunted House.)

How To Use Sound in Your Haunt with Ken Webster from Sinful Audio

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:56 — 43.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple

Creating an immersive environment for your Haunted House is very important. Using sound and audio effects within your attraction can make your attendees feel that they are actually somewhere else. Sound taps into one of your five senses and adds to the overall impact of your show. You wouldn’t operate your haunt without lighting….you shouldn’t open your show without having a believable audio atmosphere.

Sinful Audio creates audio sound effects and custom soundtracks for Haunted Attractions and horror movies. We interview Ken Webster from Sinful Audio and get some tips on adding an audible experience to your haunted house. You can also purchase Ken’s sound effects that he has listed on his website or hire Ken to create a custom soundtrack just for your haunted event. We also play a few samples from Ken’s audio library of creepiness….so make sure you tune in.

We also have an exclusive interview with Kelsey Meeks founder of Ween Dream straight from theTransworld Halloween & Attractions Show. Ween Dream is a non-profit organization that provides costumes to children who can’t afford to go out on Halloween or who are limited by their physical and mental abilities. Yes…there are children out there that have never trick-or-treated before. Take a few of your extra costumes and donate them to a great cause!

We also throw in some twisted tunes and sound effects from Sinful Audio. A few free creepy audible environments and sound bytes that you can use in your haunt this year. Still make sure you check out Ken’s website and purchase a few compilations of your own. He has new soundtracks coming out this year.

Haunt Topics in this podcast episode:

We hope you enjoy this audio podcast of HaunTopic Radio and take advantage of all the sound resources around you. Create a great audio atmosphere for your Haunted House this year and donate some of your costumes to children who need to experience Halloween for the first time.

…..and we’ll Scare Ya Next Time!