Sound Effects Monkey 35% Discount Sale Finishes 22nd August 2016

Sound Effects Monkey (formerly known as Chuck Russom FX) was founded in 2010 with the goal of bringing high quality sound effects to the masses. Our Sounds have been featured in numerous films, television shows, and AAA video games and Chuck's sale ends tomorrow so if you would like to snap up any of his sound libraries then get over to Sound Effects Monkey, load up your virtual shopping cart and use the coupon code MONKEYSALE when you check out to get 35% off your entire purchase.

Red Libraries 50% Discount Sale Finishes 31st August 2016

Frederic Devanlay - CEO, sound designer, musician Field recordist at Red libraries and has 20+ year experience in video game, sound libraries, TV and film as sound designer. Being trained musician, sound design has naturally become the next step for him. His video game and cinema culture allow him to collaborate to a large variety of projects.

The other half of Red Libraries is Cedric Denooz who is a sound editor, field recordist, sound designer at Red libraries. Working for sound in cinema and advertising has brought him experience which allows him to work on projects involving field recording or sound shaping.

If you would like to buy any of Frederic's sound effects collections then you have until the end of August 2016 to go over to Red Libraries and pick what you want from the libraries on sale.

Mindful Audio Release Release Metal Atmosphere

Metal Atmosphere is a collection of contact microphone recordings of wire fences vibrating in the wind. The library consists of 29 recordings ranging from 1 minute to over 10 minutes in length. These have been recorded by taping JrF contact microphones to wire fences and other structures through which sound travels easily. Most of the sounds are made by the wind "playing" the wires as a huge stringed instrument, while a few others are recordings of submerged wooden fences. The tone is generally dark, even menacing, bringing desolate spaces to mind.

The sounds can be used as backgrounds even if they technically aren't proper ambiences, as there is a certain degree of similarity between the two channels which creates a fake stereo field. About half of the files also include wind gusts and wind-specific dynamics which renders them easily identifiable as wind sounds, only with extra metal elements added. Additionally there are countless impacts, risers and swells included which can easily be cut out and used as spot effects. All files are recorded and mastered at 24/96 quality which makes them excellent sound design elements ripe for serious processing.

• 29 .wav files
• Recorded and presented as 24 bit/96 kHz stereo files
• More than 2 hours of content
• 4.3 GB uncompressed size - 3.9 GB zip archive
• Recorded on Sound Devices 633 with JrF contact microphones
• Comprehensive metadata compatible with Basehead and Soundminer
• Price: Normally $70.80 but fro a limited period $58.80 incl. vat from A Sound Effect

Undertone Release Cathedral Concert Audience

Cathedral Concert Audience is a new little library from a Music Concert they recorded and mixed from a local Cathedral with 2500 people in attendance. They lifted the gathering crowd milling about talking laughing and filing in, as well as the applause (so you get varying lengths) including the final applause after which the crowd gets up to exit.  But the gold for them is in the in-between.  After the performer announces the tune and before the music starts there are moments of quiet, of shuffling in the seats, the isolated cough, etc.  These can be used for church scenes, concert scenes, or any roomtone in a large reverberant space where some minimal movement is needed. 

Cathedral Concert Audience has been recorded at 24bit 48k sample rate and all files are optimised for Soundminer integration, with comprehensive metadata embedded and the price is just $15.

How The Outstanding Sound For Stranger Things Was Made From The A Sound Effect Blog

Stranger Things is a smash hit on Netflix, and it’s one of those shows that gets everybody talking, especially Russ Hughes who is constantly raving about this series. It captures that ’80s atmosphere and blends it with a cocktail of adventure, mystery and horror.

The sound on the show has been done by supervising sound editor Brad North and sound designer Craig Henighan together with the team at Technicolor and in the full article, written by Jennifer Walden for the A Sound Effect blog, they give the full in-depth story on how the Stranger Things sound was done. They cover everything from how they recreated the signature sound of the 80s, to designing strange(r), mysterious, otherworldly sounds – and some very clever sound effects tricks:

In the interview Jennifer asked them what are some tools you used for your sound design on the show?

Craig Henighan: I was able to run sounds through my sampler, to change the pitch and edit them differently. Tenderize them, shake them, and stir them with the different plug-ins to come up with unique sounds. The biggest challenge was making things fit into that 80s timeframe, which has a very analog feel but it’s also the beginning stages of digital. I didn’t want the sound to have too much high fidelity.

The biggest challenge was making things fit into that 80s timeframe, which has a very analog feel but it’s also the beginning stages of digital If sounds didn’t have a really wide frequency range or maybe if they were a little distorted, I could make those fit in better. Those were the ones that inspired me the most. I like using Native Instruments Kontakt as my sampler. In Pro Tools, I like using Waves GTR Stomp to set up two or four or six different types of stomp boxes. I’ve been using Excalibur from Exponential Audio. I used Slapper from The Cargo Cult a fair bit. I’m a big fan of Soundtoys and GRM Tools.

I have this chain set up in Pro Tools so when I record in from Kontakt I can turn on and off different plug-ins and that gets me inspired. I tend to use iZotope’s Stutter Edit to break up common sounds. That gives me these jagged chunks to pull from. I use SoundMorph’s TimeFlux and Wave Warper. I like to record for a long time and just explore. Then I go back and cherry pick out certain things. That’s really how a lot of the electrical ideas came about for this series. I’ll take those pieces and further manipulate them. I equate it to taking a hammer and smashing the sound and going through all the pieces. A lot of stuff gets discarded but I’m just looking for little things that I can apply or that inspire me.

I would strongly recommend that you read the full interview on the A Sound Effect Blog.

The Quick-Start Guide To Adding Sound FX Library Metadata By Paul Virostek

Any independent Sound Effects producer and users know the important of good metadata. Without it there is a good chance you won't find the killer sound you are looking for. Paul has written this article as a cheat sheet to help you write metadata with minimal time and effort. It will introduce the broad strokes of sound fx library metadata. It will share the easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to begin writing the bonus text to your sound fx libraries.

What is the simplest way to go about writing it to a sound library collection? You’ll need software to get this done. It must:

• Write in a common format. Not every sound pro will use the same metadata app as you. So, the app must write metadata in a non-proprietary, common format such as BWAV or iXML that can be read by pro apps such as Basehead and Soundminer, and editing apps such as Pro Tools. Avoid non-professional formats such as MP3 ID3 tags.
• Batch edit. You probably have a large collection of sounds. Writing unique metadata for each clip will take eons. So, it’s best if the software can write data to batches of files at once.
• Embed metadata. Since you plan to share your sounds, the text must be attached to each clip and travel with it.
• You will need a metadata app to do this. There are many options ranging from free of charge to $1,000. Let’s focus on the simplest, most accessible apps: free ones.

Currently the only metadata app that ticks all of these boxes is Soundly, which I reviewed in a previous article.

You can read Paul's detailed and comprehensive article and tutorial on the Creative Field Recording site.

I made Soundly my Find Of The Week in Podcast 186 and also wrote about it in a previous Sunday Sound Effects Round Up too.

No Sunday Sound Effects Round Up Next Week

There won't be a Sunday Sound Effects Round Up next week as I will be on holiday. But normal service will be resumed the week after.