Knightmare.com

Was just wondering today whilst watching barrys quest, does anyone know if the tension building music can be heard by the team at the time or was it dubbed on top in the edit? For example, when barry needed to get to the water drops before the lifeforce drained, that was such a simple action but the sounds really made it edge of the seat stuff for the audiene! Was curious as to what could be heard on set though when it was played as live.

I'm very sure it was added afterwards. It never seems to distract any of the team when it starts up, and it often seems to have been timed to end as the scene ends, and the production team wouldn't have known exactly when that would have been.

A very obvious example happens in Series 1, when the "Knightmare Haunt" music comes in immediately after a dungeoneer's death (although it was played later on as incidental music in Level 3). That can't have been timed exactly to start in sync with the life force running out.

The atmospheric incidental music of Series 6 - 8 was, as HS says, evidently dubbed in due to the timing. The advisors would have reacted otherwise... and almost certainly sent their dungeoneer to their doom with the resulting panic!

All sound effects and music were absent for us.