This week on A Sound Effect, we have new libraries that focus on the elements – both as the essentials you need and the physical makeup of our world. You can hear ocean waves from the shores of Taveuni and Northern California, crunchy, twisted ice blocks and ice cubes, and hot and cold combining for some sizzling goodness. You can also find rifles and pistols itemized for your game audio needs, in-depth coverage of amusement park rides, all the pieces of a carpenter’s workshop, and residential ambiences that show daily life from morning to night. If you are working on an interactive project, this is definitely your week!
'Thermal Flux' by Collected Transients discovers extreme temperatures for an interesting collection of elemental sounds. Ranging from -119°F to 1900°F, you’ll hear molten metal and glass being poured into water, water beads falling on hot pans, dry ice interacting with coins, white hot sand hitting liquid, and more. Captured with multiple microphones, this library also gives you the perspectives you need from the designers’ curious minds and ears. For a thermodynamic library with plenty of experimental sounds to play with, check this one out.
Watson Wu and Nick Dixon, both of AAA fame, know their way around gun foley for games, and their new library 'Battle Rifles and Pistols' brings it all to you. Featuring 17 rifles and pistols, casings falling on various surfaces, foley, stairwell and underground carpark impulse responses, and multiple firing modes and perspectives, this library is the holy grail of ballistic game audio. You can also read about the making of this library, too, in their latest guest post! If you need an all-in-one gun library, this one will make you drool.
'Residential Ambiences' by GainWalkers gets you a series of 10-minute residential ambiences that contain all the signifiers of a passing day. You will hear sounds of evening birds, morning choruses, night traffic, dogs barking, retirees mowing their lawns in the afternoon, and more. Plus, the notable features in the tracks have been marked for Izotope RX, Reaper, and Soundminer to help you find what you’re looking for. For a cleverly organized library that will give your background the right amount of towniness, this is one to hear.
'Complete Amusement Park Sound Bundle' is fantastic, expertly-recorded library by the guys of Effect Sense. This collection is not made up of your typical guerilla recordings: the team shut down a park to record clean takes of the machines themselves - though they knew how much we need those audience screams, too! The collection comes in three versions, plus you can read all about in their recording adventures in their Q&A with us. If you need sounds from an amusement park, this collection is a godsend.
The sound designers at West Wolf decided to take a break from recording rural and urban ambiences to stay inside their workshop. In their new library 'Carpenter’s Tools' you’ll hear a variety of machines and tools like saws, planers, grinders, jigsaws, drills, vacuums, sanders, and more for the sounds that some of the craftier of us live for. These tools were also recorded from beginning to end with a Neumann KM184 Stereo Pair in XY configuration at 192 kHz. Whether you needs sounds of carpentry or you are creating new weapons and machines, check this one out.
'Ice Blocks and Ice Cubes' by Kevin Durr is a quick pack of ice sounds that cover a wide variety of needs. In its 48 files, you will hear sounds of ice blocks and ice cubes being cracked, twisted, shaken, and chipped with knives, hammers, mallets, and ice picks. You’ll also hear the sizzling sounds of melting ice and the twisting swirls of cubes as they are slowly thawed in a cup of water. If you’re looking for an ice library that will make a dent on your timeline but not your wallet, check this one out.
'Binaural Beaches of Northern California' by Kevin Durr has nearly an hour of lush waves as they creep upon the shores of Northern California. Recorded at Black Sand Beach, Stinson Beach, Muir Beach, and Bodega Bay, this library contains ambiences that last from three to seven minutes and capture peaceful, ever-changing whooshes that might just lull you to sleep. It also has different perspectives that capture close-up drips and hisses on the sand, as well as the low, engulfing rumble of waves charging toward the shore. For a solid collection of waves, give this one a listen
Sometimes sound designers are drawn to capture the same types of sources, and this week is proof. 'Wave Break Vol. 2' is another new wave library and Alexander Gastrell’s next installment in his collection of both soothing and intense waves. Recorded on Taveuni Island, one of the Fiji islands, this collection captures this remote location with nearly five hours of tranquil laps and terrifying crashes. To help you navigate all it has to offer, Alexander also included helpful metadata with words like ‘pebbles’, ‘sand’, ‘rough water’, ‘low rumble’ and more. If you need waves, you have some good options this week!
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