Ringing rocks sound effects Asbjoern Andersen


The ringing rocks in Pennsylvania are a mysterious natural phenomenon, and no-one can explain exactly what causes these boulders to ring when you hit them. But they do ring for sure, producing chime-like tones – and now recordist Thomas Rex Beverly has created a new SFX library with these sounds. Here’s how he captured the sounds of these strange rocks:



Ringing Rocks | Musical Rocks Sound Library - How It's Made


The trailer for the Ringing Rocks SFX library

My name is Thomas Rex Beverly and I am a field recordist based in Philadelphia. I love to travel the world searching for new sounds and experiences to explore. One of the places I was lucky to visit this past year was Ringing Rocks County Park in Pennsylvania. The park contains a field of ancient boulders that produce a uniquely resonant, chiming tone when struck.

A few years ago, my sister Emily, who now has a Ph.D. in geology, visited the park as part of a geology class field trip. She invited me to explore the park with her, but under one condition: I needed to bring my Zoom portable digital recorder along. As we walked around the field, I noticed little worn spots on the rocks where previous visitors had hit them. So, I took Emily’s rock hammer and hit one of these spots, not expecting much more than a dull thud. What I got was a pure chime-like tone that resonated with the rocks around it. I was captivated for hours – I went around to each boulder to find the rock’s sweet spot and made hundreds of recordings.

Ringing Rocks has the chiming, beautiful tones of an ancient boulder field

According to Emily, the rocks are a particular type of igneous rock called diabase, which formed as molten rock (magma) intruded between other sedimentary rocks and then cooled during the Early Jurassic epoch (~200 million years ago). This created a tabular body known as a sill, which was tilted slightly and exposed at the surface millions of years later. These unique boulder fields form because diabase is very resistant to erosion and on a slight slope. Repeated freezing and thawing during the ice ages that our planet has experienced over the past million years broke the diabase sill into large boulders through a process known as frost wedging. Water gets into cracks, freezes, and expands, and over time, this wedges the rock further and further apart and breaks it into boulders. The slope is very important though because too shallow of a slope and the boulders will be become part of the soil, rather than forming these ringing boulder fields.
Ringing rocks sound effects 4
The size, shape, and the boulder’s contact with the other rocks affect the type of sound generated, but something about the rocks is also unique. There are several theories about what causes the rocks to ring. One is that the iron content gives the rock its metallic resonance, but the diabase does not have a unique chemistry. If this were true, ringing rocks would be much more common. Many other theories exist, but none have been sufficiently tested to know for sure. The ringing rocks remain a mystery to geologists.

After my initial visit with Emily 4 years ago, I did a scouting trip to find the time of day with the lowest ambient noise levels and least airplane traffic. There was a lot of air traffic from New York City and Philadelphia but I was still able find many 5 – 10 minute gaps between planes where I could bang on the rocks to my heart’s content. I decided I wanted to go with a Mid-Side microphone setup and record on early winter mornings to avoid tourists, insects, and birds.

The ringing rocks remain a mystery to geologists

I recorded the library with a Sennheiser MKH 50 and 30 Mid-Side pair and a Sound Devices 702. I was thrilled to hear these rocks through these amazing microphones for the first time. I did my first recording session right after I purchased the Sennheiser microphones and was very pleased when these microphones sounded better than real life and captured the wild frequencies that are produced by striking these rocks.

I must have hit most of the thousands of rocks in the field trying to find the best ones. I ended up finding about 30 rocks that were particularly interesting. I proceeded to experiment by hitting each of those rocks in every way I could. I hit them on all sides with many different small hammers, crowbars, and sledgehammers. I found the rocks also make resonant sounds when you drag the head of the hammer or crowbar across its surface. This scraping brings out rich shimmering and sparkling harmonics and incredible textures of metal clattering on rock.

I was surprised at how the resonance and harmonics of certain rocks fluctuates with the amount of snow in the boulder field. On my second trip, there was more snow around the rocks so the pitch of certain boulders was significantly different.
Ringing rocks sound effects 3The whole rock field tends to have similar resonant frequencies. There is a lot of pitch variety in the recordings but there are definitely certain pitches (lots of D♭ and G♭) that resonate the same way in multiple rocks. Some rocks have a very bright quality, while others have a distinctly dark sound, and occasionally I would find a wild inharmonic clang unlike anything I’d heard before.

There was a wonderful little moment during one of my winter recording sessions. As I was recording some repetitive hits on a beautiful minor-toned rock, a distant woodpecker joined in from the nearby forest. I would bang away at the rock for a few seconds and then I would hear the woodpecker. He would start his tapping, I would pause until he stopped, and then I would start banging again. We kept this little rhythmic counterpoint going back and forth for about 15 minutes.

As hammers strike stone, the powerful clangs resonate like church bells and bring to life a natural sonic wonder

By far, my favorite sounds were created by scraping my hammers and crowbars against the stone. I already knew that the single strikes were stunning but once I started experimenting with other ways to play the rocks I was captivated by the richness and variety of the drones brought out by scraping.
Sometimes I wish I was born in an earlier time when there were still uncharted places to explore. One way we can still explore in our completely mapped world is to find and preserve stunning natural sounds. I believe the best sounds are the ones you can’t imagine and don’t yet know exist, like the ringing rocks in Pennsylvania. I encourage you to go exploring to find some new sounds too!

 

A big thanks to Thomas Rex Beverly for sharing his interesting story about the ringing rocks! Check out the full library below:

 

 
  • Rock / Stone Sound Effects Ringing Rocks Play Track 500+ sounds included, 27 mins total $90

    Ringing Rocks has the chiming, beautiful tones of an ancient boulder field. As hammers strike stone, the powerful clangs resonate like church bells and bring to life a natural sonic wonder. Plus, you receive many types of melodic tones, hammering rhythms, grinding metallic stone, resonant scrapes, and much more. If you need rocks unlike any you’ve heard before, listen to Ringing Rocks.

    2% for the Planet:
    Two percent of the price of this library is donated to an environmental cause. I view it as an “artist royalty” for the planet!

    Key Features:
    • Featured on Designing Sound: “Our Favorite Sounds of 2016
    • 237 files, 500+ natural chime and bell-like rock sounds
    • Captured in 192 kHz for exquisite detail and sound designing potential
    • Location: Near Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania
    • A small hammer, medium sledgehammer, and crowbar were used to create a variety of timbres
    • Audio files with single rock strikes alone
    • Audio files with many sequential, varying strikes
    • Resonant scraping of hammers on rock for tactile textures that are perfect source material for rich metallic drones
    How It’s Made
    Read the full story of these mysterious rocks on the – A Sound Effect Blog!
    Gear Used:
    Sennheiser MKH 50/30 MS pair
    Mid/Side recordings decoded to LR stereo
    Sound Devices 702
    Rycote AG MS Blimp
 
 

Please share this:


 



 
 
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:

  • Bundles Mattia Cellotto – Complete Bundle Play Track 13100+ sounds included $1,162

    Mattia Cellotto’s extraordinary sound libraries are some of the most popular releases in independent sound effects – and here’s your chance to get them all at a nice discount. Here’s what’s you get:

    NEW: ANIMAL HYPERREALISM IV contains animal vocalisations – from hippos, hyenas, vultures, dwarf mongooses, elephants, African cranes, parrots, tigers, pigmy hippos, rhea ostriches, to brown bears, pheasants, wildebeests, African wild dogs and many more. Features 2000 individual sounds in 294 files.
     

    CATACLYSM is a collection more than 1400 sounds in 400+ files of recorded, synthesized and designed sounds created to support important destructive moments and add a stronger sense of extreme consequence to any sound.
     

    ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL I is a library containing themed animal vocalisations & sounds, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 1300 individual sounds in 290 files.
     

    ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL II is a library containing themed animal sounds & vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 2000 individual sounds in 283 files.
     

    ANIMAL HYPERREALISM VOL III is a library containing sounds themed animal vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 1700 individual sounds in 279 files.
     

    METAMORPHOSIS is a huge collection of recorded source, synthesized material and hybrid sounds – more than 2300 sounds total.
     

    GLACIER ICE is a library containing over 300 high quality sounds of ice cracking, breaking, shattering in various sizes of blocks – recorded entirely in the Italian Alps over the course of two winters.
     

    POLARITY delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs.
     

    ULTRASONIC DRY ICE is a library containing over 600 sounds themed metal resonances, scrapes and all sorts of weird.
     

    ROCKS MOMENTUM gets you more than 1100 sounds of rocks, bricks, wood logs, stones, impacting on different surfaces, rolling, being scraped one against the other and so on. The library was recorded in the Italian alps, and in Inverness, Scotland.
     

    WATER VOLUMES delivers you over 300 sounds of natural hot-springs, bubbles, and liquids of various densities boiling under the effect of dry ice.
     

    METAL GROANS AND SLAMS is a library for which metal was kicked, hammered, bowed and… induced to vibrate through feedback loops?! The collection features 346 unique sounds recorded through field trips in US, UK and Italy.
     

    CRUNCH MODE & THE BORAX EXPERIMENT are also included as a bonus: Crunch Mode features 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust & frozen goods, and The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy, gooey SFX.
     

    15 %
    OFF
    Ends 1759874399
  • Bundles The Vault – The Ultimate RTSB Bundle Play Track 29683 sounds included, 2459 mins total $1,159

    The whole 9 yards.
    Comprised of 11 heavy hitting libraries, this bundle includes SEISMIC CORE, OVERKILL, 4 ELEMENTS, COLLISION, INTERACTIVE, SCI FI, GEARBOX, SORCERY, HERO, BROKEN, and MELEE. Save by bundling all ELEVEN in a single library.

    GEARBOX:
    Boutique analog mechanical contraptions, steampunk gadgetry, gizmos and machines big and small.


    SORCERY:
    Spells, deflects, casts, blocks, beams, and more. Unrivaled wizardry at your fingertips.


    BROKEN
    Car crashes, explosions, crumbling buildings, earthquakes, ripping earth and metal, to debris, and more.


    HERO:
    HERO – Sword fights, stabbing, guillotines, impaling, battle cries, shields, drawbridges, armor, foley and more.


    MELEE:
    Punches, kicks, blocks, bodyfalls, grabs, slaps, bone breaks, blood splatters, and more.


    SCI FI:
    Spaceships, machines, mechanicals, weapons and more. Technologies exceeding your boldest visions of the future.


    INTERACTIVE:
    The ultimate Game UI SFX library including clicks, pops, whooshes, musical and tonal elements, and ready to use designs for every UI action and game style.


    COLLISION:
    The ultimate sound effects library for massive impact sounds. Stingers, crashes, hits, whooshes and fully designed impact effects.


    4 ELEMENTS:
    Harness the raw power of fire, water, earth, and air with over 3000 elemental sounds crafted for limitless creativity.


    OVERKILL:
    Unleash pure audio carnage with OVERKILL – a brutally detailed 5.7 GB sound library featuring 3390 hyperreal gore sound effects across 607 files.


    SEISMIC CORE:
    Unleash raw sonic power with SEISMIC CORE – a meticulously crafted 1.62 GB sound library featuring 548 impact-driven sound effects across 108 files.


    25 %
    OFF
  • ⏰ For a very limited time:
    Add this library to the cart and enter ah4launch in the cart coupon field – to sprinkle an extra launch discount, on top of the current discount!

    Animal Hyperrealism Vol IV is a sound library containing animal vocalisations, from real to designed creatures totaling more than 2000 individual sounds in 294 files. The sounds were recorded in zoos, and wildlife centers.

    The asset list includes but is not limited to: hippos, hyenas, vultures, dwarf mongooses, elephants, African cranes, parrots, tigers, pigmy hippos, rhea ostriches, brown bears, pheasants, wildebeests, African wild dogs and many more. The content has been recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K, an Avisoft CMPA and a Sennheiser 8050 for center plus two Sennheiser MKH8040 for stereo image.

    The resulting ultrasonic spectrum is rich and allows for truly extreme manipulation of the content.

    15 %
    OFF
Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1 and FEL Clippy XLR EM272 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is only available in UCS.

  • PLANES & HELICOPTERS contains flybys, takeoffs, and landings of 13 aircraft models and 5 helicopter models, including small and medium-range passenger planes, private jets, tiny planes and firefighting aircraft. Recorded as close as possible to the aircraft, in airports. You’ll find turbojet, turboprop, and propeller-powered aircrafts. You’ll also find military and civilian helicopters sound effects.
    The sounds can be used for a realistic purpose but you can design spaceships or futuristic vehicles.

    13 %
    OFF
  • Car Sound Effects Lada Riva 1980 compact car Play Track 218 sounds included, 51 mins total $65

    All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1 and FEL Clippy XLR EM272 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II recorder. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is only available in UCS.

  • Electricity Sound Effects Fridge Hums Complete Bundle Play Track 60 sounds included, 130 mins total $24

    A comprehensive fridge hum library with 60 sounds / 2+ hours of hums, buzzes, beeps, industrial room tones, clicks, drips and more

    20 %
    OFF
  • Helicopter Sound Effects CH-47 Chinook Helicopter Play Track 40 sounds included, 46 mins total $80

    This library delivers the raw power of this legendary military transport helicopter. Originally recorded for the acclaimed Netflix series Money Heist: Part 5, this library captures every rotor, engine, and maneuver with pristine detail and fidelity—now available for your own productions.

    From the thunderous rotor blades slicing through the air, to the deep roar of its twin turbines, and the massive fly-bys that shake the ground, this collection delivers 46 minutes of sounds from one of the most iconic helicopters in history.

    Recorded using a multi-mic setup, every nuance has been preserved – from the hurricane-like rotor wash to the natural echoes bouncing across the runway and hangars. This library is a perfect fit for war films, military documentaries, AAA video games, or any production in need of authentic and cinematic helicopter power.

    What’s inside:

    • APU start ups, takeoffs, landings, and hovering sequences.
    • Close and medium imposing fly-bys
    • Interior and Exterior perspectives
    • Fully edited and UCS-compliant metadata for fast and easy search

    With CH-47 CHINOOK, you’ll have a rock-solid, versatile, and epic sound resource at your fingertips – ready to take your projects to the next level.

    Note: The SoundCloud demo contains radio communiactions and some cockpit switches. These are not included.

    20 %
    OFF

   

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags are not allowed.