In this edition of Sunday Sound Effects Round Up we look at new sound effects libraries from Soundmind, Sonic Salute, HISSandaROAR, and Arrowhead Audio SFX. Airborne Sounds announce some price drops, and we some very interesting articles from the blogs of A Sound Effect and Pro Sound Effects.

Two New Libraries From Michal Fojcik At Soundmind

Michal is a sound designer / supervising sound editor based in Krakow, Poland and he has released his first two libraries Castles and Old Cottages and they are available on Sonic Salute, Sonniss and A Sound Effect. At first, both libraries were planned to create one big old stuff library. But he soon realised that the topic is too wide for one thematic library and sounds recorded in cottages have different character.

Castles

The Castles library were recorded in four castles – museums (medieval, renaissance and baroque) in southern Poland. The intention was to record sounds of old doors, furniture and every interesting prop around, in an authentic acoustic environment. Some of the spaces were very reverberant, some just have a bit of ambience, but all are authentic and add specific colouration to sounds and some of the sounds were recorded outside.

Michal also did not neglect backgrounds as having isolated background activities recorded in real spaces adds another level of realism. So wherever he found interesting spaces, they took the opportunity to record activities and movements on old stone or wooden floors.

The intent is not to substitute foley, syncing it step by step. But it will help to create separate layers of atmospheres.

They also found a medieval Torture Chamber, which inspired them to record some of the tools, distant movements of chains etc. as well as some screams, all with real dungeon reverb.

• Total amount of files: 243 (7,48GB)
• Total run time: 3hrs, 33mins
• Price $136.00
• Categories:
  • Doors – 145 files
  • BG Activities – 49 files
  • Props – 20 files
  • Furniture – 16 files
  • Screams – 12 files

Old Cottages

The Old Cottages library was recorded in old cottage houses in outdoor museums and in a remote mountain cottage during quiet winter.

It’s dominated by old creaky wood. And the same as in Castles library, I treated specific ambience of wooden cottages as a part of the sound.

So again, lots of old wooden doors, with metal bolts. Starting from small to large heavy barn doors, both interior and exterior. Picking up the backgrounds theme he also recorded activities on different kinds of wooden floors, recorded from different POVs, like one floor below, or next door. 

They also recorded some of the objects (like doors), creating rhythmic sounds which could work well for any antique rotating, whirling machines.

We also recorded old machines with gears, which could be very useful for sound design. Using some pitch shifting changes them into another palette of antique sounds.

• Total amount of files: 375 (some categories might overlap) (8,9GB)
• Total run time: 5hrs, 32mins
• Price: $136.00
  • Categories
  • Doors: 258 files
  • Window: 10 files
  • BG Activities: 37 files
  • Furniture: 10 files
  • Mechanism: 73 files

Airborne Sounds Announce Some Price Drops

Half & Half Sound FX Pack 1 is a mix of specific clips like body damage, crowd, phones, human sound effects and more, balanced with ambiences of air tones, room tones, crowds, and others. 

• 100 sound clips.
• 4.39 gigabytes.
• Was $29 now $19.

Half & Half Sound FX Pack 2 is a balance of 50 atmospheres (military, museum, construction, and more) and 50 specific sound fx (technology, vocal, machinery, vehicle, and others).

• 100 sound clips.
• 4.2 gigabytes.
• Was $29 now $19.

Variety 1 Sound FX Collection includes a jumble of popular sounds: military jets, belches, babies, boats, and others.

• 150 sound clips.
• 1.9 gigabytes.
• Was $27 now $17.

Variety 2 Sound FX Collection offers 150 more mixed, popular clips: thunder, coffee makers, human, train, construction, hand cuffs, and many more.

• 150 sound clips.
• 2.1 gigabytes.
• Was $27 now $17.

Sonic Salute Release Motors SFX

We featured a tease from Mikkel Nielsen from Sonic Salute in the last Sunday Sound Effects Round Up and now we can tell the full story.

Motors SFX is packed with recordings of gadgets, which can add some cool and unusual textured motor sounds to your sound design process.

Sounds include antique, vintage and just plain old machines and motors, many of them half broken and busted, small plastic wind up toys, newer motors, tools, calculators, a 198x fax machine, a screaming Powerball, a massage tripod, and toys running, turning, getting stuck, lifting, driving and screwing.

As a unique set of tracks in this pack, one of the oldest Danish cars was recorded and included in this collection. The Hammel car was built back in 1888. It has 2,5 horsepower, and a top speed of 9 Kilometres an hour. The startup process is done with matches and a lot of patience. Once this beast starts up, the sound is among one of the funniest and weirdest sounds ever. The library has a dual perspective recording of this car and covers the entire startup, going (idling), and shutting down sequence.

• 1.9Gb when unzipped. 96/24.
• 101 tracks, mono and stereo.
• All files metadata tagged.
• Price: $47.00

HISSandaROAR Release Two New Libraries

You might think you know what a gong sounds like - so did Tim until he started recording Gongs.... But after experimenting with new techniques, the sounds reminded him less of a gong, and more of a bear with a sore head or a whale with indigestion! He was not expecting creature vocal elements from these sessions but that's exactly what appeared in front of his contact mics

Along with contact mic recording he also captured a huge range of percussive articulations using a total of 14 gongs, ranging in scale from 3 massive TAMTAMS, 4 beautifully pitched Thai Gongs, 4 Chinese Opera Gongs, 2 Vietnamese Gongs, 1 Mini Gong and a Crotale...

• 10.3GB download, 18.25GB when unzipped
• 251 stereo 24bit 96kHz .WAV files
• Price: $179, but you might just catch the early bird price of $119.

The Body Hits MiniFX Library has over 1,600 body hits, smacks, grabs & doofs! From slappy hits onto bare shoulder, thigh & gut, to thuddy hits on Mr Lumpy (vegetable stuffed overalls) a roll of carpet, cushion and a duvet. Also included are a range of subby sweeteners created with a Roland SH101, Korg Volca Kick and Buchla Music Easel. The perfect addition to Vegetable Violence!

The bruises are almost gone now, but this library will keep delivering a smack in the guts to anyone you need it to, forever more! Along with body hits, we also recorded a range of grabs (single & double) plus leather jacket ‘wumps’ and body (Mr Lumpy) drops.

• 618MB download, 1.99GB when unzipped
• 102 24bit 96kHz .WAV files
• Price $29, but you might just catch the early bird price of $19.

Arrowhead Audio SFX Release Narrowboat Library

Narrowboats consists of 322 beautifully recorded and edited sounds, tagged with rich metadata. From entire journeys and ambiences to every knob, switch and door and more.

• Type: Boat sound effects / recordings
• Specs: 322 files • 322 sounds • 24 Bit / 96 kHz • 8.78 GB • Includes metadata 
• Duration: Approx. 240 minutes total
• Price: $30

Interesting Articles From A Sound Effect And Pro Sound Effects

Award-winning supervising sound editor & sound designer Wayne Pashley takes you behind the scenes on the sound for The LEGO Batman Movie:

On the A Sound Effect blog, he shares the details on how he and his team brought the animated Batman, Batman’s frenemies, and Batman’s wonderful toys to life through sound - and how that signature ‘LEGO quick brick build’ sound was created.

Mobile gaming is booming, but it’s not everyday you see a sound effects library specifically dedicated to mobile projects. The team at Epic Stock Media just released one, so Asbjoern at A Sound Effect wanted to hear what makes a SFX library particularly suited for mobile games and you can find the article from library sound designer Marty Meinerz on the A Sound Effect blog.

Behind the Subtle, Powerful Sound of Oscar Winner 'The Salesman'

Much like the atmosphere surrounding its success, 'The Salesman' is an emotional film steeped in sobering realism. In an exclusive Pro Sound Effects interview, the film's sound team - sound designer/mixer Mohammad Reza Delpak and sound editor Reza Narimizadeh - offer an in-studio look at their approach for establishing the anxious, chaotic themes in the opening scene.

Learn how to design sci-fi UI sounds in this new, in-depth guide by sound designer Ruslan Nesteruk on the A Sound Effect blog, covering everything from conceptualising, design insights and ideas, tools to real-life examples.

And not only that: Veteran sound designers Mark Camperell, Jason Cushing and Ivo Ivanov also share their key advice on what makes for great sci-fi UI sound design, their favourite design techniques, and go-to tools. 

In this exclusive A Sound Effect interview, Audio Director Ghislain Soufflet shares the team’s sound design approach to the weapons and combat, and to creating the massive open-world game environment — from building realistic biotopes for the different regions to linking those environments to players’ actions.

Find Inspiration for Your Next Sound Design Project

Feeling inspired can be a serious obstacle for sound designers – especially when you’re on tight deadlines, tiny budgets, and juggling multiple projects. In this Pro Sound Effects story, they have talked to dozens of successful sound designers, sound editors and sound mixers about what inspires them and how they get work done day to day. Read the full story to learn some of their best recommendations and tips for finding inspiration and getting those creative juices flowing again.

Recording Weapons for ‘Rising Storm 2: Vietnam’ – A Q&A with Watson Wu and Mark Muraski

Ever wonder what goes into recording weapons for a game? In this exclusive A Sound Effect Q&A, weapons sound recording supervisor Watson Wu and audio director Mark Muraski share what it took to record a huge range of weapons for ‘Rising Storm 2: Vietnam’, an upcoming title by Tripwire Interactive.