The Most Popular Sound Effects Libraries of 2021

'Quantum – ElectroMagnetic Field Library' by Spectravelers is an electromagnetic field sound effect library delivering over 3,450 sounds, with sounds of UI, impacts, whooshes, ambiences, energy, retro machines and more! It has all you need to create an exciting, modern, hard-scifi audio experience and a NEW retro scifi sounds with a creation tool process of presets for famous Reaktor ensembles like S-Layer, Dron-e and Whoosh, combining several dedicated Reaktor maps directly linked to the Toolkit samples.

'Cracks' by Sound of Italy is a large exploration of different cracking sound sources – cracking, crunching, breaking and creaking. It features a number of different materials, designed and processed to create some more aggressive, powerful and ready-to-use destruction sounds like bread, cardboard, celery, ceramic, chips, glass, ice, icy vegetables, leather, paper, pasta, plastic, polystyrene, rocks, snow, and wood. It contains over 444 sound files – around 2.5 hours of sounds included in total - and was originally recorded at 192 kHz with two Sennheiser MKH8040 and a Sound devices 702.

'Rustle Tones' by Articulated Sounds is the result of several months investigation in the realm of rustling matters. It features fragile and delicate elements in motion producing soft crackling and rubbing sounds. It was recorded outdoors and in studio, capturing sounds of light breeze and heavy wind gusts in forests, near shrubs, tall grass, corn fields, and in streets, as well as foliage and vegetation fluttering, whirling and dancing on the ground.

'Doors' by Just Sound Effects was designed to cover any kind of everyday door sound in different perspectives and performances to give you huge flexibility with your sound design. It has 2,000+ sounds of doors from apartments, hotels, garages, elevators, cars, corridors, gates, bars, and trains, as well as sounds bells, knocks, creaks, and antique, thin and heavy doors. All sounds were recorded with close and distant perspective both in mono and ORTF stereo.

'Metamorphosis' by Mattia Cellotto is a huge collection of source, synthesized and hybrid sounds. It covers a wide range of themes with rich textures, aggressive impacts, pass-bys, bass drops, pyrotechnics and many more types of material. The recorded section was captured at 384KHz with microphones capable of recording up to 200KHz, resulting in sounds that can be stretched to new extremes.

'Vintage Anime SFX' by Moon Echo Audio continues to be a community favorite for its authenticity and playful nostalgia. Inspired by classic '80s and '90s Japanese cartoons, this collection will no doubt bring life to your anime with sounds of auras, beams, mecha blasters, atmospheres, magic spells, guns, sonic blasts and explosives. Library creator Cooper Skinner gives you the the story behind the library here.

'Mobile Game' by Epic Stock Media was inspired by app market hits like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush. It is a truly fun and genuinely gameplay-inspired sound library filled with a thorough selection of popular game-ready audio assets that you can quickly implement inside any game to give it a familiar “hit app” game feel. Unlock a lovable mixture of musical stabs, modern & retro pickups, crafting essentials, tonal and organic game trinkets, upgrades, power-ups, a variety of coins, bubbles, UI and much more mobile game fun.

'Airy Whooshes' by Airborne Sound has over 400 accents of airy swooshes, subtle swipes, thin whooshes, and breathy fly-ins. It features swipes from nine families such as thin, diffuse, breathy, and whistling swooshes, and has smooth and light swooshes designed to support martial arts punches and kicks, arrow passes, sword swings, and other movements where a lighter touch is required. Each clip is on its own file and is available in multiple pitches and speeds with 18+ fields of professional Soundminer, BWAV, and MacOS Finder metadata.

'Foley – Clothes Movement' by Nox Sound includes 87 files (789 individual sounds) of 8 different types of clothes, like winter coats, hoodies, t-shirts, casual jackets, casual pants, denim pants, ski pants and shorts. You can also find sounds of crumpling, impacts, short and long movements, picking up and throwing. Sounds were recorded with a RØDE NT4 and Zoom H5 in 96 kHz.

'Debris & Rubble' by Eneas Mentzel – Sound Recording & Sound Design contains debris and rubble sounds recorded during the renovation of our home. Hear sounds of sand, stones, and wood falling and get "inside" perspectives recorded with a lavalier mic inside rubble piles (for very in-your-face sounds), as well as standard perspective that give you fresh and creative recordings.

'Wings' by Bonson was their first library, and since its release, it's been a consistent hit with the community, year after year. It has everything from insects and birds to fairies and dragons, and with over 1,400 192kHz/24-bit files that make up its designed and source libraries, it will be a long time before you ever need another wing sound. This one definitely sets itself above the rest!

The Dark Ages are calling! With 'Medieval' by SmartSoundFX, everything in your medieval world is brought to life. From objects like doors, chests and fire - to Foley of steps, chains and gore - to weapons such as the crossbow, sword, hammer and axe, you'll be covered for any battle or woodland face off. This compilation provides a solid foundation of ready-to-use sound effects to give your project an authentic medieval feeling.

Ringtones and notifications for movies, games or TV production are tricky things. You have to think of manufacturer copyrights, strong harmonies can clash with background music, and many library ringtones are just overused. There is a way out! 'Cinemaphone: Ringtones & Notifications' by KEDR Audio consists of 1,600+ sounds, divided into categories like ringtones, alarms, notifications, UI, lock-unlock, and Foley, as well as vibrations, mechanical buttons, tone dials, and more!

'Sci-Fi Weapons (Principle Sound)' by Principle Sound Design delivers 2,600+ futuristic weapon shots, charges, ricochets and other related sounds. All of them were designed using exclusively recorded Foley sounds, synthetic layers, various sound manipulation and morphing techniques. Single shots and automatic fire, reloading ammo, energy blasts, impacts and explosions, surface hits – it’s all there, ready to be used in your sci-fi projects! In v1.5 update we add 11 new weapons and two new reloads/ricochets packs.

'Animal Hyperrealism Vol I' by Mattia Cellotto contains real and designed creatures totaling more than 1,300 individual sounds in 290 files. The sounds were partly recorded with animals trained for media production and partly recorded in zoos and wildlife centers. The asset list includes but is not limited to: African lions, Bengal tigers, horses, donkeys, cows, exotic birds, owls, bobcats, pumas, dromedaries, wolves, dogs, geese, lemurs, gibbons and more.

'Submersion - Underwater Library' by Spectravelers is such a realistic sub-aquatic library that it will have you gasping for breath. This collection has over 1,800 sounds and covers diverse elements like bubbles, impacts, watery whooshes, ambiences, propellers sounds, lava, explosions and more! It was all captured with an Aquarians H2a Hydrophone in pools, rivers and from within props, and it includes a raw section as well as ready-to-use sounds that will add spectacle to your cinematics. If you are working on anything that involves water, you won't be disappointed with this purchase.