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Environment recordings, ambiences and soundscapes – from all over the world, and beyond
Second episode of our journey to Moscow, Russia, but this time – during summer and autumn
We recorded the most interesting sonic atmospheres, such as wet and dry traffic, streets, singing birds, wind in the endless parks, fountains, construction work, yelling children, rain and thunder, suburban villages, crowds and many more.
To capture this sound palette I made another stealth recording kit, but now, using LDC (large diaphragm condenser) microphones. This has improved the sound quality and made the recordings even more detailed, to continue creating the largest sound library series about Russia.
KEY POINTS:
Moscow, Russia in winter and spring time
Streets, covered with melting snow; people, hurrying with their business; street, cleaning from ice; whistling wet traffic; quiet and loud residential neighborhoods; children playing in the snow; windy parks; cold nights and, then, saving spring; water, dropping from the roofs; singing birds and babbling brooks.
How to convey these things without violating their nature?
One of the ways is a stealth binaural recording using miniature microphones DPA 4060. It gave the sense of naturalness and created a presence effect, that you wouldn’t find in any other library about Russia.
KEY POINTS:
New Zealand’s North Island is shaped by intense volcanic activity, where the earth constantly moves, steams, and boils.
This library captures the raw sounds of its geothermal landscapes – scalding steam vents, bubbling mud pools, splashing geysers and gurgling hot springs. From the thick, bubbling pops of volcanic mud to the roaring breath of fumaroles, these recordings immerse you in the dynamic sounds of geothermal activity.
Each sound is available in two distinct versions. The SOURCE version features the raw, unprocessed recordings, capturing the authentic ambience along with the rich fauna of New Zealand. The DESIGNED version has been meticulously edited, with all wildlife removed and enhanced through stereo image and EQ tweaks.
Recorded Locations
Tokaanu Thermal Pools • Waimangu Volcanic Valley • Waiotapu Mud Pool • Waiotapu Thermal Reserve • Wairakei Craters of the Moon
Gear used
Zoom F3 • Usi Pro
Metadata
This sound library is UCS compliant and comes with fully embedded metadata compatible with Soundly, Soundminer and Basehead.
This library contains dynamic, harsh, aggressive and sometimes mysterious wind sounds and strong and heavy gusts.
I took bike trips around World War II sites on the shores of France and the Netherlands. The winds on the steep rocky cliffs as well as on the long sandy beaches are one of a kind. Especially the resonances of rumbling bonkers and swirling winds inside hides and on the concrete edges of munition depots create an atmosphere of terror, that allowed me to took a glimpse inside the soundscapes of these horrific times.
The cliffs with the old war stuctures, the dunes, the swapping sand, the storms in the forests behind the shoreline all have a unique character and texture.
I picked the recordings, which created images of the battlefield inside my head and described these images in the meta data. But of course this wind library can be used for any scene, that contains a strong blow of air.
Most sounds are recorded in ORTF stereo, some were better captured in mono or with a contact mic.
If you need more specific wind sounds, my library “Tonal Wind” and this library are complementing each other to a versatile tool for a broad use of wind sounds. Contact me for bundle prices.
The Traffic Pass Bys Bundle is an extensive collection of vehicles passing on wet and dry British roads. These dynamic sounds are perfect for incorporating movement into your projects; twist them into sci-fi engines, designed whooshes, developing ambiences, unique transitions and realistic soundscapes.
To optimise the usability of these sounds, a range of vehicles passing at varying speeds and locations were recorded. Cars, vans, motorcycles, lorries, trucks, bicycles and ambulances were captured passing, stopping, idling and setting off.
The bundle comprises both single and continuous pass bys, giving you the ability to focus on one-off sounds, or build up convincing roadside backgrounds.
Each library is delivered at 24Bit. Traffic Pass Bys Vol. 2 is delivered at 96kHz, while Vols. 1 and 3 are delivered at 192kHz. The entire bundle is tagged with extensive Metadata for ease of use.
This collaboration of the sound designers Bony Stoev and Saro Sahihi is the long awaited successor and main chapter of “Surrounding Horror – Prologue”.
It brings you a comprehensive collection of thrilling, abstract horror ambience sound effects in 5.1 surround.
Each soundscape was painstakingly handcrafted to 2:30 minute length with lots of frightening and terrifying sonic events.
It gives your horror-related production just the right amount of heart-stopping texture, leaving your audience with fear crawling up their spines to hold ’em tight.
Also available: the “ANGST | Surrounding Horror – Construction Kit” (or get the Bundle).
Abstract Aqua sound effects library is a result of different field recording sessions with more experimental approach.
It features 208 192kHz WAV files, 92 designed sound effects and 116 RAW recordings. It was recorded with a Sound Devices 702 and Sony PCM-D100, Sennheiser MKH 8040 microphones, Rode NTG3 and Aquarian Audio hydrophone. Total length of the files is 334 minutes.
The designed files have more abstract feel to it, so you’ll find aqua whooshes, different underwater sounds and big sounding waves. The RAW files includes different wave recordings from the Baltic Sea, water foley sounds and effects recorded with hydrophones. You can find more informations in the library sound list.
Water Flow took six months to create, and offers 90 BWAV files recorded in different locations. A huge part of this library is based on the recording sessions by (and in) rivers. Most recordings were done during the winter just before sunrise, to reduce the amount of unwanted sounds.
Almost all recordings are completely clear and free from any birds in the background.
The first location was river called Łyna, and there I’ve recorded a sound of water flowing at different speeds, along with the sound of a dam reducing the speed and height of the river’s flow. The second interesting part of this location was the amount of fallen trees in the water, causing the water to split. Because of this, there was a lot of sonically interesting places to record.
The second river is called Guber, and it’s much smaller than Łyna. I’ve picked this place because of the really subtle water streams, and something even more amazing, natural dams built by beavers. The amount of work these animals put to built those dams is incredible.
In addition to recorded rivers, this library also includes the sound of water dripping inside underground sewers. During one of my field recording trips I discovered a hatch. I could not resist to go inside, and what I discovered there was far beyond my expectations. I made a two small trips there to record it from different distances, with different microphones in mono and stereo.
The Rain & Thunder sound library features 53 files covering different types of rain, from light showers to heavy falls. Files were recorded in different locations, like open space, forest, under the plastic or metal roofs and some experiments like rain recorded inside metal grill or bucket. There are also few thunder recordings, mostly subtle and long ones. It’s 5.31 GB 96kHz pack with total length of 162 minutes.
Check out the SPACE DIVERS MINI for free!
Go on an underwater adventure with Dive Deep: This library brings all you need to ‘play’ the depth and heaviness of the underwater world.
All the sounds, having fully organic origin, were post-designed to be ready for both realistic and aesthetics-demanding applications.
Get the sounds of nature from places like forests, lakes, meadows and swamps. Many types of birds, insects, a forest during rainfall, calm and windy days. A brilliant collection of ambiences for atmospheric background sounds, and you can mix and match ambiences for an even livelier soundscape. Recorded in beautiful Masuria in Poland, a region known for its rich nature and 2000 lakes.
Recorded with Sound Devices 702, Rode NTG3, 2x Oktava MK012 in MS and stereo XY pattern.
Harbours Of Norway sound library features 25 files with ambients recorded in Myre, Sto and Nyksund, very small towns with direct access to the sea. Most of the sound effects were recorded at night, but since it’s a polar day time of the year, it was very pleasurable to walk and look for convenient places to set up my gear. Everything was recorded with an ORTF setup built from two Sennheisers MKH 8040.
Inside this library, you’ll find a lot of seagulls, waves crushing on the rocks and plants, windy ambients from the cliff, industrial sound from port in Myre with ship unloading the cargo, walla with steam engine boats and additional sounds from the boat engine market, and air cooling aggregates from food containers.
Every file was recorded in 96kHz, edited (I removed any unintentional bumps, pops and unwanted sounds). I limited EQing to removing harsh frequencies, or enhancing a little bit the good sounding ones. At the end of the chain there is a small compression, for louder sounds.
Get Recordings from the amazing Monza Rally Show, a motoring event at the Autodromo di Monza where some of the most famous rally drivers and track racing experts compete in different races:
• The R5 class rally cars
• The WRC 1.6 T.Trophy for WRC 1.6 Turbo rally cars from 2011-2016
• The Historic section for historic rally cars from 1972 to 1990.
The cars are recorded in different track locations to have the best chances to capture the right sound: Corners, straights, chicanes, as well distant and trackside perspectives. There also include pit ambiences with cars revving.
The sounds are recorded with a steady stereo XY setup (2 Sennheiser 8040), together with a Shotgun microphone (Sennheiser 8060), following the cars to capture more focused sounds.
Each file has the suffix “LR” for the XY stereo files and “SG” for the shotgun mono files.
The Eurasian Cranes sound effects library gets you the sound of almost 1500 Eurasian Cranes (Common Cranes) singing their song at the same time. It features 13 stereo wav files and nearly 70 minutes of these unique recordings.
From Farmland, Rural Forests & Mountains to the countryside of Italy, Nature’s Soundscapes – Country Mountains, Fields & Streams contains many essential habitats of real life & sound types needed for video games & movies. Experience new & exciting natural locations captured across the rolling hills of Tennessee, Cades Cove, the Smoky Mountains, Breckenridge Mountains, Natchez Trace, North Carolina, New York & the countryside of Italy. Nature’s Soundscapes brings you the sounds of the organic world in both long form & seamlessly loop-able file format giving you extended length, maximum versatility and time saving files.
Get almost 5 hours of sounds of Sicily, Italy – captured at various locations during different times of the day. The library features sounds of both empty and crowded streets. Mornings and nights sounded different from siesta time, that’s why I’ve recorded streets during all those times.
Another location was a fish market recorded in the morning, during most intense moments.
Other files covers the traffic on the streets full of honking scooters, barking dogs and just cars passing by.
In addition to the recordings from Trapani, you’ll find sound of the airports, not only in Italy but also in Poland, which contains both Polish and Italian walla.
Walla sounds varies from ones with a lot of people talking from different directions, to more narrow ones, with small groups speaking from one place. Most of the recordings are not that easy to distinguish, but there are also files where you can hear very clearly every word.
Italy – Sicilian Ambients features 36 WAV files, recorded with two 8040s plugged into Sound Devices 702 and Sony PCM-M10 portable recorder. The total length of the files is 321 minutes.
Sound of the sea, coastline, port, small port harbor, people, ship, boats etc. Recorded during year, all seasons.
Many sound perspectives. Ambisonic or “immersive audio” approach kept in mind while recording.
24,2 GB of high quality recording of the sea environment.
Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR mic. (Rycote blimp) and Sound Devices recorder. Audio files included: B-format, Ambix and Binaural. Preview is in Binaural (stereo).
The Psychedelic Cicadas Bundle contains all three libraries of our unique cicada ambiences. Immerse your audiences in the strange, fascinating tones of this unusual insect, as captured by César Rodriguez Pulido and Guile Martins in Cerrado, Brazil. The bundle offers 165 minutes and 2.77 GB of exclusive content perfect for your natural and abstract atmosphere designs.
All sounds included were carefully captured and meticulously edited for maximum sonic quality, enabling to you drop each sample into your projects with no need for further enhancement or modification.
The entire bundle is delivered at 24Bit/48kHz, and tagged with extensive Metadata.
Wind in urban and natural environments, recorded all year round. Windy room tones, wind whistling under doors and windows, wind on the boats, in trees, in the city, windy ambiences, lakes, mountains etc. Check the list of sounds for full info. All files are metadata tagged, with detailed description of equipment, mic technique used and position of mics.
Recording equipment used: Sennheisers MKH serie mics, LOM Usi, Primo, Rode mics; Rycote blimps, Sound Devices recorder/mixer, Sony and Tascam hand recorders with LOM Usi mics (in Rycote BBG windshields); Mogami cables, tripods, etc.
Maximum peak level on all recordings is -5 dBFS (for great dynamic range, great headroom), originally recorded with great headroom keeping in mind and to maintain great dynamic range of this natural phenomena.
Recordings of rivers, lakes and streams in stereo.
250 files, long recordings. Many perspectives captured, various distances, positions, „expressions“ of water, rivers, lakes, streams…
(sound for video perspectives having in mind while recording)
River, lake and streams ambiences, some are with birds (mentioned in name)… Flows in ditches, channels, urban environment, dam, well facility, watermill and others. Recordings are from all seasons even recorded in ice covered streams. There are some recordings „loop ready“; this means they are not faded in/out but loop edited for repeating if needed (shorter ones).
Recorded in MS, XY, AB; NOS, Spaced, Parabolic (very distant flow), etc., mosty with Sennheiser and AKG microphones, Sound Devices recorder/mixer. Files are without any dynamic manipulation (compression) with max. peak around -5dBFS.
Metadata tagged with description of equipment used on each recording. Recorded with great care with pro grade equipment. Noise (pollution) free. Various perspectives and sounds, check the sound list for add. info.
Rivers, Lakes and Streams recorded in Ambisonic
Many different sound perspectives. Ambisonic or “immersive audio” approach kept in mind while recording. Ambiences as well as close up (“surrounded by medium”) recordings. Recorded in all seasons, during all year.
Clean recording without birds and other unwanted sounds and recordings (ambiences) recorded with birds and other ambient sounds intentionally. 26,5 GB or 544 mins of high quality recordings.
Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR mic. (Rycote blimp) and Sound Devices recorder. Audio files included: B-format, Ambix and Binaural. Preview is in Binaural (stereo).
This library contains an eclectic collection of sounds sourced on a recent trip to Japan. It's an auditory sampler of the beauty and stillness as well as the chaos and busyness of Japan, from elevator rides to fish markets, temples, busy streets and mountain streams.
All tracks were record with a stereo pair of Sennheiser MKH 8040's and a Sound Devices 633.
Pack your bags! This sound library has everything you need to recreate the sonic experience of flying on a commercial airline or waiting to line up at the airport!
All aircraft recordings are taken from inside the aircraft, all airport ambiences were taken from the Dallas, Chicago, or Buffalo airports. Sounds include airport ambiences, inflight cabin room tone, inflight walla, airport walla, engine sounds, flaps, take-offs, landings, runway bumps, overhead compartment opening and closing, seat belt buckles, airplane bathroom sounds, captain and flight attendant intercom correspondence and more!
You might think your ears are popping as the subtle sounds of change in altitude are captured in this library. Whether you need short wallas or ambiences or an entire recording from take-off to 10,000 feet this library’s got you covered! All sounds recorded at 24 Bit / 96 kHz.
Old Vintage Tram from these 4 european cities : Lisbon, Helsinki, Budapest and Vienna
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