Customer Reviews

Martha Stewart Living: Spooky Scary Sounds For Halloween

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm a fan of Martha, and I *love* Halloween music. When I heard she made a halloween album it was "get out the credit card and call Amazon" time. But this album was a disappointment--I'm going to assume Martha didn't actually design this, but just signed off on it, to maintain my faith in her.

The sound quality is good--very crisp recording of ambient halloween noise. It's fine for background music for the trick-or-treaters. But for any other use it's flawed. There's only a single, album-length track, so no putting this one on "shuffle" for your Halloween party. The sounds repeat, so after 20 minutes of this, you start getting deja vu. And there aren't even "themes" in the album--no plots, which some of the more elaborate halloween SFX albums have (this is the "torture chamber piece," this is "Alone by gaslight stalked by Jack the Ripper..."

I'm going to wait for an apology from Martha on this one.

I had hoped this CD would contain the great sound clips I've heard on Martha's show during the Halloween projects, but I was not disappointed. The sound effects are elegant and eerie, not gory and stomach churning as so often is the case. My favorites are owls hooting accompanied by far off thunder, and an old clock chiming. There are plenty of cackles and chains. The combined effect is of walking through the scariest forest imaginable on the scariest night (Halloween, of course!). My only complaint is that it contains the same 5 minutes repeated over and over.

This 40 minute CD is a single track with various witch cackles, laughs, owls, clock tickings and heartbeats. The sounds are original and not ripped from other sources, and they are good.
The sound mixing is also well done. But what you get is the same 5 minutes looped over and over and over again. If this CD makes you feel like you're walking in a dark forest alone, you must be
walking in circles. Make that *small circles*. Given the price of about ..., you'd expect a lot more.
Another problem with the CD is that some sections have thumping heartbeats for 30 seconds (not in ... sound sample). If you play this on a boombox it will sound awful. Don't buy this CD unless you plan to put it on a full home stereo with big woofers.
Since trick-or-treaters will only be passing by for a moment or
two, this CD is adequate for most home Halloween needs. But given
the stiff price and what else exists out there, it is not a good
value.

First, let me say that I'm a big fan of both Martha's halloween ideas and Rhino Records (the label that released this CD). I was Very eager to hear what both of these talents combined could come up with. Sadly, both Martha & Rhino (names I Trusted) let me down. My two main complaints? 1. It's just a 5 minute loop!
and 2. as another reviewer pointed out, this CD doesn't tell a story and take you from one scene to the next (because it's ONLY ONE SCENE- over & over). The reason I'm writing this review is in hopes that Martha with try again with a Vol.2. Martha, if you're out there: 60 minutes of many individual themes seemlessly segued (no looping!)

What I like about this CD is that the sounds are spooky, not scary. I have a young child with young friends and this is great for parties because it's very Halloween-ish without being frightening. I also play it out the window while the trick-or-treaters come and we hear a lot of the kids saying, "Cool!" when they hear it. It's spooky and yet doesn't freak anybody out.

This one definitely fights off the cheese! The sounds are believable, spooky, and well-produced. Additionally, the one-long-track format is perfect for looping during Trick-or-Treat or an outdoor haunt. While some may find the repetetiveness of the various sounds detrimental, I thought it worked fine! This is because it allows you to pack the punch of an assortment of sounds over short periods of time, without the pressure of having to cater to a specific timeline or story that short-term visitors won't be able to appreciate. Hallowe'en makes us totally subject to en masse memory rushes, and so it's probably a good thing that this mix is dense!

In keeping with Cuban tradition, my family likes to have a very spooky halloween on october 31. We didn't know how to make it very spooky, so we borrowed this cd from a friend who doesn't like halloween. We played it at our halloween party and everyone was so SCARED. It was as though we were in a real haunted house with ghosts and spooky things. I reccomend this to anyone who wants a VERY spooky halloween.

My family and I have played this CD almost every Halloween since it came out back in 2000 and we love it. It works great both inside the house and out, and is a great thing to play in the background at parties or when trick-or-treaters come to your door. The sound quality is nice and crisp, and unlike most Halloween sound-effect albums, it doesn't sound cheap or tinny, because the sounds are actually recorded live in foley, and are not midi- or synthesizer-generated.

The ambiance created by this disc is amazing; just hearing a few seconds of it makes me feel like I'm in a haunted house. There is a nice mix of sounds, from shrieks and moans to howling wolves, sharpening knives, maniacal laughter, growling beasts, pounding hearts, cackling witches, ticking clocks, thunder-claps, falling rain, rattling chains, along with many other weird and spine-tingling effects.

Unlike CDs from companies like Midnight Syndicate, there is no music, just effects; and there is no "storyline", which makes Martha's album much more versatile than others. You also get a lot of bang for your buck: 40 minutes on a single track; which makes it easy to keep the creepiness going all night long if you put your player on repeat.

We used to live in New England, so whenever I listen to this and hear some of the natural, outdoor sounds, like the crowing of a jay, the hooting of owls, or the chirping of bats, I feel like I'm sitting in a deep, dark woods on a chilly October evening....Happy Haunting!

After reading her excellent Halloween book, I figured her Halloween CD would be worth owning. I always search for "different" Halloween CDs, but this was filled with the same old stuff.
Chains, moans, and spooky laughs... then more chains, moans and spooky laughs. Very dissapointing.

The first question anyone buying a Haloween sound effects CD needs to ask is "Is it scary?" With this CD the answer is - well sorta. If you play this CD on a continous loop at your front door on Haloween, you'll create a creepy atmosphere, but nothing that will startle or scare anyone over 5. I was hoping for a bit of originality from Martha, but there's nothing presented here that you haven't heard many times over on countless other sound effects CDs. It would have been better if in additoin to the 45 minute sound effects track there was a second track with more of a story element. That way you could play it at parties as well. But as it stands, it's only good for playing at your front door on Halloween.