Asbjoern Andersen

Posted by Asbjoern Andersen in New sound effects libraries


Halloween is just around the corner, and the days are getting colder and darker here in Denmark.

So I dimmed the lights, sat down with a cup of the blackest coffee we have in the studio and picked out some of the libraries that would work particularly well for horror projects.

They’re great for those of you working on projects where you want to give your audience the chills – and perhaps make them jump a bit.

Oh, and at the end of this guide, I’ll tell you how you can make eight creepy horror sound effects yourself. But let’s start out with the 13 libraries first – here we go:

Eerie atmospheres
 
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    Drones & Moods Drones Play Track 40 sounds included $20
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    40 Two Minute Long Drones

    Drones are essential for every sound designer and composer. Combine and layer Drones to add more depth, tension, and suspense to your track. Drones can act as a great background to any sci-fi scene and make your music more interesting.

    Bonus:
    This library includes the Suburb Rain SFX collection at no extra cost - featuring almost 50 minutes of rain recordings
    Add to cart
When you want to create an unsettling atmosphere, this library of 40 2-minute drones will come in handy – check out the demo and hear for yourself.

 

Shock Effects
 
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    Destruction & Impact Impact Collection Play Track 304 sounds included $40
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    The Impact Collection is a library of 304 impacts, whooshes, swells, static, rises and zaps all designed with Trailers and Promos in mind.

    These sounds were designed using anything I could hit, bang, rumble and smash. In the process I destroyed a couple tools and put a healthy dent in a spare refrigerator, not to mention the smashing of dozens of plates as well as my neighbor’s leftover ceramic tiles.

    After recording all of my source material I got to work on building pre-made impacts in various ways as well as adding a healthy dose of plug-in abuse. My Genelecs may never be the same! Thanks for listening.

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Want to shock your audience? This collection features more than 300 sounds that will help you do just that.

 

Creatures
 

When you need some otherworldly creature sounds, Russell Gorsky’s aptly titled ‘Creatures’ library could be just the ticket. It features a total of 242 growls, hisses, roars, screeches.

 

Gore
 
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    Destruction & Impact Gore Toolkit HD Play Track 798 sounds included $95
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    A collection of over 530 96k/24bit HD Gore sound effects that comes with an additional 262 48k/24bit sounds FREE!  Come and get your body damage galore.  Punches, bone, blood, intestines, goops, splats, flesh movement, chewing, tearing, snapping, breaking, blade sounds… It’s BLOODY CARNAGE!

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Need blood-dripping sounds? The Gore Toolkit HD gives you almost 800 sounds total to work with – including sounds of punches, bone, blood, intestines, goops, splats, flesh movement, chewing, tearing, snapping and breaking.

 

Strange sounds
 
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    Drones & Moods LiquidMetal – Waterphone Play Track 263 sounds included $71 $42.60
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    The LiquidMetal – Waterphone SFX pack contains a lot of great material for your next deep impact horror project, when you need eerie, suspenseful and deep sounds that bring the fear out in you and your audience.

    We hit, rattled, bowed, snaped and swashed the real Waterphone – a unique instrument – for really formidable sounds.

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The Waterphone is a unique instrument – and it emits some very eerie and unsettling sounds. The Soundcatcher managed to record the original Waterphone in this library featuring 263 sounds.

 

Alone in the dark
 
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    Drones & Moods Kyma Ambiences – vol.1 Play Track 56 sounds included, 112 mins total From: $49
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    Kyma Ambiences [USO003] is the third sound effects bundle created by Matteo Milani.

    The generation of these “Artificial Reality Ambiences” starts entirely in Symbolic Sound Kyma from the processing of white and pink noise by filtering – in the time/spectral domains – and convolving these sources with custom FM, additive, formant and granular synthesis.

 The composition’s resource of sound material is drawn solely from these processed stochastic sound elements: coloured noise is a raw material already full of life and can be sculpted into a variety of temporal forms, movements and textures.

    The interaction with Kyma was typical of a composer who explored a device’s potential for sound transformation like a musical instrument. The goal was to obtain an organic and acoustic quality using only a restricted sound source, in order to evoke real spatial characteristics attached to each invented sound.

    The “Kyma Ambiences vol.1” sound effects collection is published @ 96kHz (native) – and is also available as dual-layer separated “Elements”, suitable for recombinant stratification, varispeed and spatial positioning in the surround field (for a total of 112 files @ 96kHz).

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If you’re looking to instill a feeling of desolation and loneliness, Matteo Milani has generated some truly strange soundscapes for you in his Kyma Ambiences library – check out the demo.

 

Screams
 
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    Horror Scream Collection Play Track 441 sounds included $25
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    Introducing the Scream Collection (A Tribute To Wilhelm). This library pays homage to the infamous Wilhelm Scream first heard in the film Distant Drums as well as dozens, if not hundreds, of other films. This compilation includes 441 vocal effects ranging from startled gasps to all out screams.

    Add to cart
Blood-curdling screams are of course a vital part of any horror project.

And in Bruce Bueckert’s Scream library, you get no fewer than 441 vocal sound recordings (screams + many other strange vocal sounds) to work with.

 

Blades
 
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    Destruction & Impact Blades Play Track 260 sounds included $30
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    Blades is a collection of 54 audio files containing a whopping 260 individual audio clips. This collection gives you sheath sounds, blade scrapes, clanks, hits, schings, and yes, even scissors snipping. Best of all, if you need 10 sword hits in the scene, you only have to import one or two tracks.

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When your project calls for a bit of knife-wielding, David Fienup’s library has you covered.
His Blades library gives you sheath sounds, blade scrapes, clanks, hits, schings, and yes, even scissors snipping (!). A total of 260 sounds are included.

 

Smashing and breaking
 
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    Destruction & Impact The Abandoned School Play Track 172 sounds included $52 $31.20
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    We recorded an old abandoned school and gained a lot of nice and very unique sound fx for your next sounddesign project. You’ll get up to 1.26 GB / 172 mono & stereo files, tagged (for trouble free use in your loved data base program) and carefully mastered in 24Bit/96kHz.

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Chances are that there’ll be some destruction going on in your project – and this library features 172 audio recordings of things breaking, recorded with natural ambiences at an abandoned school.

 

Odd strings
 
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    Drones & Moods Desolated Strings & Wood Play Track 272 sounds included $79 $47.40
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    The Soundcatcher is proud to announce a new sound design library called “Desolated Strings & Wood“. The found Markneunkirchen Zither from Wernitzgruen was in a very poor condition. I collected it and wrecked it like there was no tomorrow.

    You´ll get 272 stereo files (1.48GB total), tagged for trouble-free use in your favorite database program and carefully mastered in 24Bit/96kHz.

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The zither is capable of making some really odd noises – and this library features 800+ sounds in 88 files of stringy weirdness. Hear some of the examples in the demo above.

 

Creepy resonances
 
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    Horror The Metal Shelf Play Track 134 sounds included $20
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    This library features recordings of a metal shelf being shaken, slammed, scraped, and other torturous things.

    In this library, you’ll find metal slams, moans, squeals, shakes, taps, and sounds of rocks being poured over it.

    There are lots of nice resonant sounds filled clangorous textures. Great for creating creepy tones for suspense and tension.

    This library was recorded with a Barcus Berry Contact Mic going into a Barcus Berry 4000 preamp and a Sound Devices 702.

    Bonus:
    This library includes the Suburb Rain SFX collection at no extra cost - featuring almost 50 minutes of rain recordings
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Sound designer Russell Gorsky managed to get a surprising number of creepy, resonant noises out of an old metal shelf. It sounds a lot scarier than it looks!

 

Scary squeals
 
  • Pig sound effects
    Pig sound effects
    Animals & Creatures Pigs FX Play Track 246 sounds included $54
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    Terrifying squeals, grunts, barks, and sneeze from adult pigs weighing up to 400 lbs, and ambiences from the stables. The second part is recordings of smaller pigs (80 lbs) on the day they were picked up by truck to go you know where! The pigs knew exactly what was going on, which is represented in the sounds recorded.

    Needless to say, this library has been ear wrecking to put together, but the reward is 246 single files of pure pigs.

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Ah, pigs – these creatures can emit some pretty horrific sounds indeed. Sound designer Mikkel Nielsen spent days on a farm recording terrifying squeals and grunts + ambience from the stables. Check out the demo to hear what he brought back with him.

Need more sounds?

If you need more sounds for your project, be sure to check out the many other sound libraries on A Sound Effect – click below to continue exploring:

View all libraries

 

Hope you found something useful above! If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also create your own horrifying sound effects from scratch. Here are some ideas for doing just that, courtesy of David Filskov’s great list of sound effect ideas, and some clever sound designers:

How to create your own horror sounds

Bats flying

I used an umbrella opening and closing rapidly for the sound of bats flying one time… turned out great. I think I had to filter out some of the low frequency material, though.
-Tim Clarke

A pair of leather gloves flapped about is a good substitute for wings flapping when a bat takes off.
– Garry Taylor

Blood and guts being torn out

I know how to make a nice sound of blood and guts being torn out. Just make a milk pulp, put it into your mouth, and then try to say “Ghhhh”. Mix it with the end section of any water splash sample or add a sample where you’re moving out your hand from a bucket of water.
– Adam

Gore and squidge

Wet wash leather – fantastic for gore and squidge.
– Mark Estdale

Fruits! Especially tomatoes (for splatters) and potatoes (for wet crunchy sounds). Another classic is making a goo with eggs and dip rags and paper towels into them and play.
– Gustaf Grefberg

Rat shrieks

Pitched-up chickens.
– Ben Burtt

Up-pitched kittens. Especially the screechy ones.
– Gustaf Grefberg

Stone coffin opening

Slide off the top of a toilet tank.
– Ben Burtt

Spirits screaming

Dolphin and sea-lion cries, other animal screams and human vocalizations.
– Ben Burtt

Tentacles, sliding

Get a few day’s worth of stubble on your face. Go somewhere real quiet and record running your hand and arm under your chin – it mixes in nice with the hairs on your arm. Or as I just found out, get a mouse mat with a rubberized or cloth surface and rub that under your chin :-) To further this idea maybe put some shaving gel on and take a credit card and lightly rub it across? That way you get bristly with a bit of slime.
– Dave Sullivan

Having just eaten a bowl of macaroni and cheese shells, I have to say it’s the most convincing tentacle sound I’ve ever heard. It also made the bowl harder to finish :-)
– Jay Semerad

Vocalization of monster

Metal pressed against dry ice.
– Paul Arnold

Slide a straw up or down in a McDonald’s large drink plastic lid. Try pitching it down and stretching it – and voilá! McZilla.
– Max Hodges

 

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:
 
A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:
 
 
  • Ice Frozen Play Track 809 sounds included $45 $23
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    Frozen is a collection of ice impacts, scrapes, debris, slides and more taken during a miserably cold winter in the arctic tundra of Massachusetts. These recordings were meticulously recorded, edited, named, renamed, edited again, re recorded, then re-renamed (you get the point) to give you the best quality ice library you can get.

    The library roughly is broken into two sections, raw and processed. Raw is designed for sound designers to go wild with: stretch, distort, compress, and more to your hearts content. The processed section is for designers and content creators on the go. If you’re on a tight deadline, pulling some sounds that are already going to get you close to where you need to be is imperative. These processed versions play very nicely even when not designing ice.

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  • Mattia Cellotto Animal Hyperrealism 2 Animal Sound Effects Library
    Mattia Cellotto Animal Hyperrealism 2 Animal Sound Effects Library
    Animals & Creatures Animal Hyperrealism Vol II Play Track Over 2000 sounds included $170
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    Animal Hyperrealism Vol II is a library containing sounds themed animal vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 2000 individual sounds in 283 files.

    The sounds were partly recorded with animals trained for media production, partly recorded in zoos and wildlife centers. The asset list includes but is not limited to: amur leopards, bottlenose dolphins, californian sealions, pacific walruses, red ruffed lemurs, owls, parrots, dwarf little fruit bats, hamsters, guinea pigs and many more.

    The content has been recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K plus a Sennheiser 8050 for center image and a couple of Sennheiser MKH8040 for stereo image.
    A special section of the library features samples recorded at 384KHz. For these sounds an additional microphone was employed, specifically the CMPA by Avisoft-Bioacoustics which records up to 200 KHz. This microphone was actually used to record most of the library but the 384KHz format was preserved only where energy was found beyond 96KHz not to occupy unnecessary disk space.
    All files are delivered as stereo bounce of these for mics, though in some instances an additional couple of CO100K was added to the sides.
    The resulting ultrasonic spectrum is rich and allows for truly extreme manipulation of the content.

    Bonus: Two extra libraries included for free:
     This library also includes two additional releases from Mattia Cellotto - for free: Crunch Mode delivers 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust and a selection of frozen goods. The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy and gooey sounds.
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  • Foley Gateway – Part 1, 2 & 3 Play Track 600-3200+ sounds included From: $30
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    Tired of those same old door knobs and hinge squeaks that you hear in every single game, film and TV show? Well, Gateway aims to remedy that issue while providing you with a brand new palette of sounds.

    Gateway comes packed with doors, doors and more doors! Low end, high end, slow horror creaks and squeaks, huge slams and impacts, tiny compartment doors.

    The Gateway family now includes the just-released Gateway Part 3, with more than 1400 new sounds.

    Doors, gates, overhead rollups, cabinets, closets, drawers, garage doors, fireplaces, sheds, you name it!

    Latches and knobs, wrought iron and chain link! Metal, wood, glass and MORE! All of these doors were acoustically captured in the real world. You won’t find anything synthesized here!

    Did we mention doors? Yeah, Gateway has those too.

    Gateway Part 1 features 675 files, 1200+ sounds

    Gateway Part 2 features 365 files, 600+ sounds

    Gateway Part 3 features 772 files, 1400+ sounds

    The Gateway 1-3 Bundle features 1812 files, 3200+ sounds

    Special offer:Do you already have Gateway Part 1 or 2? Send a message here for a special upgrade offer for part 3.

    Choose your preferred version below – or land some great savings by getting all three in one handy package!

    Select options
 
Explore the full, unique collection here
Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • Ambisonics Immersive Crowds in Motion 7.1.2 / O2A / Stereo Play Track 58 sounds included, 141 mins total From: $89 From: $69
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    From 24/96 Sound Effects. Immersive Crowds in Motion features 58 HD 24 Bit / 96 kHz Surround Sound Effects with a large selection of Interior and Exterior moving crowds. Train stations, conventions, sporting events and more. Recorded with a Voyage Audio 2nd Order Spatial Microphone. Recording locations were centrally located within the crowd for better immersion. Intelligible words have been reduced or removed when possible.

    Mastered with ProTools Ultimate in 3 configurations: Ambisonic (Ambix 2nd Order (Wyzxrstuv), Atmos™ 7.1.2 Surround Sound (LRCLfeLssRssLrsRrsLtsRts) and Stereo (L-R). Most tracks are 2-3 minutes in length with embedded metadata. All-new, original recordings.

    Want a taste of what’s included? Download the O2A and 7.1.2 Surround Demo files here: https://tinyurl.com/ImmersiveCrowdDemo and try it out on your own system!

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  • Game Audio Packs & Bundles Sci-Fi Gunnery Play Track 580 sounds included $49.99 $39.99
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    SCI-FI GUNNERY is a collection of high-quality futuristic gunshot sound effects.

    It features 330 sounds of anything from big artillery hydraulic guns to small ray blaster and handguns.

    Collection consists of 105 different weapons.
    Every weapon comes with 5-6 variations that have slightly different pitch (+/-0.4 semitones) and time alignment
    (+/- 15ms) for maximum realism.
    All SFX have baked-in Soundminer’s meta data.

    Download includes:
    96-192KHZ 24BIT version
    44.1KHZ 16BIT MONO version for Unreal Engine
    44.1KHZ 16BIT STEREO version for Unreal Engine

    RECORDED WITH: Sound Devices MixPre 6 + Sennheiser MKH8060 + ATE208 + DPA4060, PCM D100

    EDITED AND MASTERED WITH: RX, Pro Tools, Brufri, DMGAudio, Reaktor, Massive, Serum, Monark, Alto, Soundtoys, Live.

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  • Environments Spring Waterfalls Play Track 17 sounds included, 83 mins total $15
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    Several waterfalls and rivers recorded in the Vosges Mountains in France.
    It tooks place in three different location: Cascade Charlemagne, Pont des Fées, Saut des Cuves.
    For almost every place, several microphones placements were used at close, medium and far distance.
    In addition to the 2 stereo microphone pairs, a hydrophone track is also available to allow you to modulate the low end and to add more movement.

    Gear used:
    Sound Devices 788T
    MKH8020 stereo pair
    MKH8040 stereo pair
    JRF hydrophone
  •
    Cars Porsche Macan S 3.0 V6 Play Track 200+ sounds included, 354 mins total $150 $130
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    The Porsche Macan S 3.0 V6 sound library features 198 high-quality files recorded with a multi-mic setup. The Engine was recorded in sync with interior cabin ambient, and you can expect different styles of driving. From casual city driving, through accelerations on a highway up to rpm ramps and constant rpm loops for game audio.

    In addition to engine recordings, this sound effects library features exterior passes, whooshes and other road-related sounds recorded in mono and stereo on dry asphalt.

    Last but not least, different foley were recorded to cover exterior and interior activities. In addition to designed onboard recordings, there are also premixed stems for the engine, intake and exhaust and RAW files, of each microphone without any post-processing.

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  • Electricity Sound of Sci-Fi: Electromagnetic Fields Play Track 134 sounds included, 228 mins total $25 $12
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    Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are all around us, they are everywhere and each electronic device produces them. Imagine a whole new world hidden from us. It is time to lift the veil of secrecy and look into it.

    This library contains raw electronic sounds – a perfect source for sci-fi movies, trailers, games, computer interfaces, experimental music or whatever you can think of. The frequency range of these sounds is impressive, it reaches 48 kHz allowing you to effectively manipulate their pitch and spectrum.

    All sounds are sorted into categories, such as: Glitch, Hum, Click, Movement, Distortion, Beep and many others, which makes it easy to navigate and choose not only by the recorded object but by the type of sound it generates. And last, but not least: this library was recorded with high-quality 96KHz/24bit.

    Equipment used:

    • LOM Audio Elektrosluch Mini City
    • Sound Devices MixPre 6

    Main features:

    • 134 raw electronic sounds with variations
    • Perfect source for all kinds of harsh noises, glitches, drones, movements, whooshes, beeps, hum, clicks, buzz, nasty distortions etc
    • Astonishing frequency range up to 48KHz
    • Created for further manipulation with spectrum and pitch
    • Recorded with high quality 96Khz/24bit
    • Categorized by types: Glitch, Hum, Click, Movement, Distortion, Beep and so on
    • Contains metadata for search engines

     

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