Home Environments & Ambiences City Life Sound Effects Page 29
City and urban sound effects & recordings – including crowds, walla, traffic and other city activity
Field Recording Library proudly presents Vol. 2 – a sound library entirely dedicated to the autumn soundscapes of St. Petersburg and its surroundings. From the golden warmth of early September to the damp chill of late November, this collection captures the full spectrum of autumn’s auditory landscapes.
The library includes urban soundscapes recorded in diverse conditions: bustling streets under the rain, quiet parks with the rustle of fallen leaves, echoes of conversations in autumn courtyards, and much more. Each recording immerses you in the heart of the moment, bringing the character of the season to life.
What sets Vol. 2 apart are the unique recordings that didn’t make it into the first two libraries. These exclusive materials enrich and expand the collection, making it even more versatile and inspiring.
The main microphone, the Nevaton MC50, ensures pristine and detailed sound quality, while the recordings’ 96kHz and 24Bit format meet the highest professional standards.
A major innovation in Vol. 2 is the addition of extra channels. These synchronized recordings provide new dimensions to the sound. For example, alongside the sound of river waves, you can hear their underwater counterpart captured with a hydrophone or feel the earth’s subtle vibrations through a geophone. Contact microphones and other specialized devices reveal hidden textures and details that were previously inaudible.
Vol. 2 is more than a sound library – it’s a tool for creating atmospheres that truly come alive, drawing you into every sound. Perfect for films, games, sound design, and any project that requires rich, immersive audio. New horizons of autumn sound are here!
Here’s another micro library giving you a Sonic Snapshot into the ambiences of Sultan Ahmed in Istanbul. Hear sounds from the tram that passes through town, large crowd walla inside the Blue Mosque and the call to prayer inside the Grand Bazaar. We only had an 11-hour layover to explore, but we hope to come back this beautiful city and record more sounds!
Gear used in this library:
Zoom F6
LOM Uši Pro
Blacktone Studio is a boutique post-production studio and a leader in sound design for film and television, with a track record of over ten years dedicated to creating soundscapes that enrich the narrative of the stories we work on.
Based in Madrid, our studio features advanced facilities, including a Dolby Atmos mixing stage equipped for cutting-edge post-production, designed to deliver the highest quality in every project. From our earliest productions to our work on major international films and series, our passion for sound, pursuit of technical perfection, and commitment to storytelling have established us as one of the most prominent studios in the industry.
“Blacktone Studio Master Collection Vol. 1” marks this decade of excellence in sound design and field recording by the Blacktone team, representing our sonic legacy—a collection that encapsulates the essence of our work over the years. This generalist library, with over 250 GB and more than 5,000 high-quality files, offers an immense variety of sounds, organized into more than 300 categories and subcategories under the international UCS classification system. Each file is meticulously cataloged and includes metadata in both English and Spanish, optimized for seamless integration into international projects and aligned with industry standards.
For the release of this library, Blacktone Studio has partnered with Surround Sound Lab, our label specializing in field recordings and sound library distribution, to ensure that every file is fully prepared for professional use. With over 50 sound libraries already in its catalog, Surround Sound Lab brings not only experience in editing, mastering, and distribution but also a shared commitment to quality and innovation. This collaboration allows the “Blacktone Studio Master Collection Vol. 1” to reach the market through Surround Sound Lab’s infrastructure, offering professionals a unique, trusted tool used daily in our own studio.
This collection is a unique and special collaboration, created specifically to capture and share the essence and legacy of our sonic work over the past ten years.
Although it is not part of the “SSL Complete Collection” bundle, which includes the full catalog of SSL series libraries, current bundle users will receive access to this exclusive edition at a special price as a token of our appreciation for their continued support.
“Blacktone Studio Master Collection Vol. 1” is a sonic celebration combining the best of Blacktone Studio with Surround Sound Lab’s expertise in distribution, available to those seeking quality and authenticity in their sound design.
This sound bank captures all facets of London, from its quiet neighborhoods to its dense, bustling areas. Traversing the city from east to west and north to south, it documents a diversity of ambiances: vibrant markets, sirens piercing the streets, the flow of public transport, tranquil parks, and busy traffic-filled streets.
The 84 recordings are offered in binaural format for immersive listening, as well as stereo mixes for speaker playback, suitable for post-production needs. Each recording faithfully reflects the unique atmosphere of each location, providing an authentic dive into the sonic landscape of the English capital.
Designed to enhance audiovisual post-production projects, sound design, or radio creations, this sound bank accurately captures London’s rich sonic diversity. Metadata is included for easier use, and the binaural version, especially suited for immersive creations, provides an enhanced sense of immersion in the city’s soundscapes.
Experience the sounds of the daily life in Japan, captured discreetly with a pocket recorder. A sonic journey from spring to summer across diverse cities.
All files are embedded with extensive UCS compliant metadata.
While on a family trip to the beautiful island of Crete in 2022, I couldn’t resist grabbing a bunch of recordings of the local vibe (like I always do, of course!!). These recordings wonderfully capture the lively atmosphere of Hersonissos, with its bustling roads full of energetic crowds, the serene and relaxing sounds of the waves gently hitting the shore, and the unmistakable, classic chorus of cicadas that add an authentic touch to the environment. These effects can effortlessly blend these rich, genuine, and vibrant sounds into your film, enhancing its overall sensory experience. Let Luminol Audio bring your project to life by skilfully turning your AAF files into final WAVs with incredible depth, unparalleled clarity, and vivid realism that will truly resonate with your audience.
GEAR
Zoom F3 with Audio Technica SP4025 Stereo mic
Zoom F3 with Sonorous SO.103 Stereo mics (for covert recordings)
Zoom H6 built in mics / Audio Technica SP4025 Stereo mic
Zoom H1n built in mics
Field Recording Library presents its new sound library – Vol. 1. This collection continues the tradition of high-quality field recordings, now with even higher standards and a focus on the unique sounds of Russia, particularly St. Petersburg.
All materials were recorded using 96kHz, 24Bit parameters, meeting global standards for professional sound libraries. This ensures maximum detail and clarity, capturing every nuance and texture of the environment.
The collection is entirely dedicated to the sounds of Russia and St. Petersburg. It includes both urban and natural ambient recordings, allowing users to convey the unique atmosphere of Russian life.
Another significant addition is the longer ambient recordings, which now reach up to 20 minutes. This enables users to find the best fragments and create more complex sound combinations for their projects.
Vol. 1 was developed with feedback from the first library, Kaleidoscope, in mind. This allowed for improved structure and content, making the library even more convenient and valuable for professional use.
All recordings were made between early spring and late summer 2023, making Vol. 1 especially suited for projects set in these seasons and currently in post-production.
Additionally, the sounds from this library can be used as layers to create custom atmospheres that aren’t tied to Russia specifically. These versatile recordings are ideal for blending into various soundscapes and crafting unique audio environments.
This library is an excellent tool for creating vivid and immersive soundscapes in film, games, television, and other media formats, bringing audiences into the unique sonic world of Russia while offering the flexibility to shape your own sound environments.
Introducing a dynamic sound effects library that captures the intense atmosphere of urban protests.
This collection features 14 high-quality recordings, including the raw, organic sounds of people whistling and using actual protest whistles to express dissent. You’ll also find powerful boos and chants, applause and cheers echoing through city streets, perfect for creating an immersive protest scene.
The sounds are rich in detail, with varying crowd sizes and intensities, offering versatile options for your projects with the authentic sounds of civil unrest and public outcry.
100% royalty-free – comes with intuitive naming and detailed descriptions – UCS compatible.
Find the true sound of it with Vadi Sound Library.
City Life: Los Angeles is a collection of Sounds recorded in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach, and some of the surrounding areas around LA. The focus was Ambiences, Vehicles, Horns, Sirens, and more of the grittier / vibey sounds that can really add to a Soundscape when working with Backgrounds in Film Projects. This library consists mostly of Exterior locations and with Vehicles and sounds without People , but there’s some Interior / Exterior Public Places mixed in with Walla and more Movement.
The idea for this library started a couple years ago. I thought it’d be cool to take the recording gear and really explore the Downtown LA area. There’s quite a lot going on from a sound perspective, whether you’re on a busy Street in the Historic Core with Cars and Motorcyles revving away, or hanging out above the City on Bunker Hill, on a Parking Garage Rooftop with the constant City Fill, or roaming the streets of Chinatown. The idea was to try to capture some of the sounds in spaces that are particular to not only LA, but also a lot of busier Cities.
25 miles South of LA is Long Beach. It’s a smaller Big City, but one that has a lot of character sonically. For those recordings I mostly recorded in a neighborhood on a rooftop just outside of Downtown. With these you get more of a distant perspective. A few of the other recordings took place in some of the surrounding Cities.
Vehicles (These are Singular Individual Sound Files)
Bus (9 Files) – Close, Bys, Away, Brake Squeaks
Cars (19 Files) – Close, Medium, Distant, Bys, Revs (Think less generic and more Engines with a lot of character)
Freight (8 Files) – Close, Rattle Bys, Garbage Trucks
Motorcycles (10 Files) – Close, Distant, Revs, Bys, Aways
Truck (6 Files) – Low Bys, Aways
Sirens (9 Files) – Close Medium, Wailers, some Fast Doppler Bys
Horns (16 Files) – Close Medium
Ambiences
Birds (2 Files) – Seagulls, Crows
Construction (5 Files) – Larger Busy Worksites
Public Places / Walla (9 Files) – Mostly Interior, Chinese Cafe, Library, Park, Street Vendors
Traffic / Transportation / Urban (15 Files) – Parking Garage, City Fill, Traffic Bys, Under Bridge, Industrial
Miscellaneous
Helicopter (5 Files) – Circling and Bys
Recording perspectives varied throughout this library. Sometimes I had a full rig set up and other times I opted for the more stealth route with hidden mics attached to a backpack.
The Gear
Sound Devices MixPre-6
Sony PCM D-100
Mics
Sennheiser MKH 8040 and MKH 30 (Decoded to MS)
Sennheiser MKH 8040
Sennheiser MKH 8020
DPA 4060
Sony PCM D-100
Metadata
All the files have detailed Descriptions, along with UCS. For some of the files I’ve included the words Downtown and Rooftop along with city locations so with a quick search it’s easy to navigate to the different perspectives and areas. Photos are included to give a bit of a sense of where they were recorded.
An entire hour of fireworks recordings from various urban locations. These recordings were captured using the Sony PCM-D100 and Zoom H3-VR, offering two distinct audio perspectives. The directionality of the recorded content can be modified using ambisonic signals.
For convenience, 59 edited files were created from the raw recordings.
I recommend using the DearVR Ambi Micro ambisonic decoder for the H3-VR files.
This 1964 Rambler was your typical family car back in the 60’s. A mid-sized 4-door sedan with a V8 engine. All the performances and perspectives you’ll need to fill out your edit. Includes a stereo mix down of the onboard engine/tailpipe mics. As well a full compliment of doors, gearshift, switches, windows, leather seat moves and the horn (dopplers too).
A Uniquely South African Bundle with a mixture of exterior and interior ambiences, crowds, protests, soccer games, bars, sirens and other authentic South African Sounds. It’s a great collection for anyone looking to add a South African flavour to their productions.
Vienna Ambiences sound library brings you ambient sounds recorded in various locations all over the city of Vienna — Austrian capital and one of the most beautiful European cities!
From restaurants, cafes, stores, busy city streets and city parks, all the way to the airport, subway stations, trains, buses, and more, this sound library will help you to bring your production to life. Perfect for movies, television, games, and other productions this sound library will provide you with plenty of authentic sounds from one of the most popular European cities!
Vienna City Ambiences sound library contains 50 sound effects (8.8GB) recorded in high definition 24bit/96khz Stereo WAV format, and embedded with metadata to speed up your workflow.
Low-price. High-quality. Essential.
An essential collection of 100 background ambience sounds, including dawn choruses, machine factories, deserts, day & night wildlife, spaceship interiors, train stations, city streets, storms, wind, as well as seamless loops!
Each sound was created at 96kHz / 24-bit stereo and is fully compatible with the Universal Category System (UCS) – a public domain initiative establishing a standardized category list for the classification of sound effects.
Note: All of these sounds (and more!) are included in the 96 General Library (get 3,000+ SFX for FREE!)
Trains of LA: Subways is an extensive collection of high-quality recordings capturing the wide variety of sound in the Los Angeles Metro subway system.
Available in both Stereo and Immersive versions. All recorded at 24Bit 48kHz on Los Angeles Metro’s B (red) and D (purple) subway lines.
This library includes a huge variety of subterranean transportation related sounds including but not limited to clicks of fare gates, crowd walla and ambience at Union Station, echoes of crowded underground platforms, roaring and screeching subway train arrivals and departures, announcements, elevators, long recordings of train interiors during rides with and without chatter, an end to end ride of the D line from Union Station to Wilshire Western, doors opening and closing, lights humming and buzzing in walkways, escalators, and more!
Recorded mostly on the Rode NT-SF1 ambisonic microphone and Tascam X8, with a few sounds from the Rode NTG5/Zoom H5 and Zoom H3-VR.
Stereo Version Includes: All Stereo and Mono Files and Stereo Files Decoded from AmbiX
Immersive Version Includes: All Files, AmbiX, 5.1, 7.1.4, Stereo
Produced by Cheviot Sound
Recorded by Jack Weiss and Roy Berardo
Edited by Jack Weiss
Dazzle your audience in an immersive Christmas wonderland with this giant set of world-class produced audio for any winter holiday theme! Mixed and mastered to industry-standard perfection, this library is packed with the magic of SLEIGH BELLS, CAROL SINGING, children playing in SNOW, PRESENTS under the CHRISTMAS TREE, and jolly greetings from a chuckling SANTA.
Don’t get put on his ‘bad’ list! Leave your users deeply nostalgic for their favorite childhood winter holiday memories with this Christmas-themed premium sound effects library — the perfect present!
So, are you naughty or nice?
DOWNLOAD NOW to warm your players’ hearts!
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, ALL AROUND
This library covers all Christmas themed environments, situations, and more, and it is the only audio library you’ll need to give your winter holiday game that special sparkle your users will never forget. Bustling SHOPPING MALLS, warm COFFEE SHOPS, Christmas HOUSE PARTIES, and CITY STREETS filled with warm chatter, Christmas CAROLING, and CHURCH BELLS are all at your fingertips!
Your characters can play in the SNOW, listen to warm SANTA GREETINGS, watch FIREWORKS displays, wrap and unwrap PRESENTS, play with wind-up MUSIC BOXES, and even be swept away by the magical Christmas spirit with time travel!
SO MANY CHIMNEYS, SO LITTLE TIME…
Included is a staggering amount of audio with countless versions, variations, and recording takes! The variety will leave you feeling like Santa, wondering how you could ever get to it all! Offering large selections of sounds for PRESENT WRAPPING and UNWRAPPING, CHRISTMAS JINGLES, SNOWBALL THROWS and slushy IMPACT HITS, explosions from FIREWORKS, church bell RINGS and CHIMES, and multiple variations of children’s voices while playing in the snow, each asset is carefully edited, mixed, and mastered to beautifully fit any project.
With multiple AMBIENCES, VARIATIONS, and LOOPS, you’ll be hard pressed to choose which sounds to use!
SPECIAL GIFT FROM THE NORTH POLE!
As an extra Christmas present to you, we’re offering an entire Santa Claus voice pack for FREE! From commanding reindeer to responding to children’s present requests, from checking his gift list to giving thanks for milk and cookies, and — of course — countless “HO HO HO” and “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!” variations, you’ll have plenty to choose from to recreate your perfect Santa Claus character to delight your players.
Don’t get put on Santa’s ‘bad’ list!
BUY NOW to warm your players’ hearts!
PERFECT FOR:
…and all other audio-visual productions!
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
DOWNLOAD NOW to give your audience the perfect present!
A collection of sounds from the year 2019
Some highlights from this collection include: An elevator from the 1890s, various recordings of New York City, drones made from a 1970s synth, and very crunchy bread sounds!
Download includes the following:
27 Audio Files / 1.19 Gb / 59 minutes
24 bit / 48 kHz
UCS Compliant Meta-data (with Artwork included)
True Channel Integrity (Actual Mono/Stereo/Multi-Channel)
QCed Editorial
In this library you will find ambient sounds at day in a urban town.
The sounds were recorded on urban town of Tavira at day in different locations.
In these sounds you will find pedestrians, cars, motorcycles passing by among others.
We wanted to record the sound of a city, the hustle and bustle, the noise, the traffic so what better place than Manchester
We recorded multiple types of ambiences in different parts of Manchester through out the day, this includes:
Crowds of people shopping, commuting and passing by
Different Languages from the Crowds
Various transportations including cars, busses, Trucks, bikes and trams with their high pitched squeaks and horns
Police sirens in the distance and up close
Car Horns
Pedestrian crossing Beeps
Distant Protesting
and
Some quieter areas of Manchester where you can hear the traffic but less crowds for a different perspective of Manchester
Manchester Ambience will give you enough audio to give your project the authentic sound of a UK City boosting your project to the next level. Manchester Ambience has been edited to allow a drop in ready and Royalty Free sample pack. These Samples can be used in a variety of projects from Sound Designing for TV, Film, Documentaries and Video Games. UCS Compliant and Metadata is attached to the samples
50 exterior ambiances from varios places and environments. All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with FEL Clippy XLR EM272, FEL Pluggy XLR EM272, Sonorous Objects SO.3 and Shure VP88 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II and Zoom F3 recorders. The library is also available in UCS.
I also created a map with all recorded locations: www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1KJ80IzKE7r7dllCZclECwbk9N8rz3wTa
We came across some Local Construction/Repair work being done, to which we were able to capture the general sound of construction work being done
You can hear heavy machinery, engines powering up and powering down whilst remaining constant and Idle, as well as various bang and knocks from completing the construction. We also managed to record the sound of a truck reversing, Workers shouting and a Saw and Drill being used.
UK Construction Ambience will give you enough audio to give your project the authentic sound of a small Construction site boosting your project to the next level. UK Construction Ambience has been edited to allow a drop in ready and Royalty Free sample pack. These Samples can be used in a variety of projects from Sound Designing/Compositions for TV, Film, Documentaries and Video Games. UCS Compliant and Metadata is attached to the samples
These samples were recorded using the H4N Pro and the NTG4 from several of the finest bridges that the North West has to offer, capturing several different points of the M6 and M61 during the day and yes at stupid o’clock at night as well
The sample pack contains a massive range of Car’s, Van’s, Lorry’s and Motorbike bypass sounds, each vehicle with its own unique distinctive sound going at high pace on a UK Motorway.
We were able to capture cars crossing lanes, driving over cat eyes, carrying heavy loads and traffic that was both on coming and departing.
UK Motorway will give you enough audio to give your project the authentic sound of a UK Motorway boosting your project to the next level. UK Motorway has been edited to allow a drop in ready and Royalty Free sample pack. These Samples can be used in a variety of projects from Sound Designing/Compositions for TV, Film, Documentaries and Video Games. UCS Compliant and Metadata is attached to the samples
UK Train Bundle
We’ve bundled together Train Station Ambience and UK Train Interior Ambience to give you a good all rounder for your all your Train project needs
We recorded:
General Train station ambience
General Train Interior Ambience
Ticket Booth ambience
Train’s Arriving, Departing and Idle
Train Creaks
Train Movement
Passengers boarding and debarking and sounds of the commuter
Various beeps
Doors Noises
Train’s preparing to depart (Whistles/Door Alarms etc)
Crowds and Crowd movement with plenty of Northern Voices
Tannoy Calls (Calling such places as Manchester, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, as well as general warnings, pending trains and the usual cancellation ones)
The UK Train Bundle Sample Pack will give you enough audio to give your project the authentic sound of a UK train station and train interior boosting your project to the next level. UK Train Bundle has been edited to allow a drop in ready and Royalty Free sample pack. These Samples can be used in a variety of projects from Sound Designing/Compositions for TV, Film, Documentaries and Video Games. UCS Compliant and Metadata is attached to the samples
Midwestern America Vol. 1 features recordings captured in a variety of locations around Chicago, Indianapolis and Nashville.
Journey through cities bustling with pedestrians and vehicles, take a ride on the icon Chicago CTA trainlines, and relax in the blissful surroundings of rural Indiana. This varied collection of ambiences will allow you to build immersive soundscapes that transport audiences to a range of American settings.
All sounds are delivered in 24Bit 96kHz format allowing further sonic manipulation and have been meticulously edited and tagged with extensive UCS compliant metadata for ease of use.
With A Sound Effect, Asbjoern has created a web site where our international community can browse, learn, and share the vast fruits of our labors. Together we are accelerating the very real potential power of sound design as a recognized art form.
A Sound Effect is an excellent resource for us to keep our animated films sounding unique and exciting.
A Sound Effect is a great asset to have discovered.
We found the site very easy to navigate, purchasing and downloads were effortless and the effects themselves are awesome! Asbjoern has done us all a great service.
We’ll definitely be back!
There are many great independent sound effect libraries available these days. The main problem with having so many, is keeping track of them!
A Sound Effect is a great hub, and is one of the first places I visit to look for sounds by category or genre. I started coming here to see if I could find libraries that I knew I had heard, but forgot WHERE I had heard them.
And in the process discovered libraries I never would have found otherwise. Great work! Keep it up!
We're always looking for new sounds to mangle, so when A Sound Effect had a holiday sale, I tried them out.
The purchase experience is really smooth and quick, and delivery is almost instant.
I'll definitely come back to them again in the future!
A Sound Effect is a wonderful resource for indie sound effects libraries. On top of that, it has some of the finest sound design, film and game audio interviews!
I often need very specific types of sounds so I've become a big supporter of independent recorders.
Until now I've always had to go to their individual websites. Now I can find them all in one place.
And, Asbjoern is great to work with!
A Sound Effect is a well curated boutique sound effects shop and a great place to find industry interviews and learning resources.