Certain sounds evoke memories of our childhood homes. By listening to them again, whether by chance or intentionally, we can magically be transported back to that time and place. For me, one sound that is forever engrained into my memory is that of an old vacuum cleaner. Vacuum Cleaners is my attempt at rediscovering the unique sound of the machine I remember from when I was a kid. To my imaginative, adolescent ears, it sounded like a rocket ship, a blimp and a race car. I couldn’t get enough of it.
Included are 35 machines: stick, canister, upright, robot, handheld, hand pump, industrial and central vacuum cleaners, plus antique and modern sweepers, a steam mop, carpet cleaner and shampoo polisher. To my ears, each motor’s unique voice sounds like something way beyond a simple vacuum cleaner. Vintage uprights howl and roar like rocket ships, classic space-age canister vacuums whine like futuristic hovercraft. There’s a central vacuum that can suck the life out of you and an antique pump vacuum that gives off eerie breath-like sounds.
I recorded some machines while sweeping back and forth in front of my microphones. For others, I captured them in place, in line with my belief that these motors sound more like rocket engines than vacuum cleaners. I created loops when a file allowed for it. To record a wooden Adler-Royal sweeper at an antique store, I asked the owner if I could walk around the store and sweep the aisles. She said yes, so I slung a Domke bag over my shoulder and gaffer taped a pair of contact mics to the sweeper. The result sounds like a muffled boulder going down a hill.
Machines Recorded
• Adler Royal Zephyr wooden sweeper
• Bissell ProHeat upright carpet cleaner
• Craftsman 9-gallon Shop vac
• Dirt Devil Plus handheld vacuum
• Dust Care sweeper (the non-motorized kind you see in restaurants)
• Dyson DC 25 upright vacuum
• Dyson DC 41 upright vacuum
• Electrolux Diamond Jubilee 1521 canister Vacuum (1984)
• Electrolux Sanitaire upright vacuum
• Eureka Airspeed One Turbo upright vacuum
• Fairfax Fax-O-Matic canister vacuum (circa 1992)
• Filter Queen Model 200 canister vacuum (circa 1939)
• Hoover Constellation model 842 canister vacuum
• Hoover Constellation model 858 canister vacuum
• Hoover shampoo polisher
• hydro vacuum excavator pushing out 62000 cubic feet of air per minute (current)
• Jaeger Jr. hand pump vacuum (1913)
• Kenmore 10341 stick vacuum (current)
• Kenmore 31140 upright vacuum
• Kirby Dual Sanitronic 80 upright vacuum (1967-1970)
• Kirby Heritage II upright vacuum (1984-1989)
• Kirby Sentria upright vacuum (2006-2012)
• Miele C3 Cat and Dog canister vacuum (current)
• Miele Dynamic U1 Twist upright vacuum
• Miele Powerplus upright vacuum
• Miele Quickstep stick vacuum (current)
• Riccar handheld vacuum (current)
• robot vacuum (current)
• Royal 501 Prince handheld vacuum (circa 1980s)
• Sebo Airbelt D4 canister vacuum (current)
• Sebo Automatic X4 upright vacuum
• Shark Navigator upright vacuum
• Shark steam mop
• Simplicity multi-use stick vacuum (current)
• Vacuflo Acclaim 12 Electric Powerhead central vacuum (current)
Discover the serene and relaxed life of rural Kerala with ‘Ambiences from Suburban India’. Captured in the picturesque backwaters, this collection showcases the quiet, idyllic lifestyle of Kerala’s rural areas, providing an authentic auditory experience of the region’s natural beauty and peaceful ambience.
Start your day with the gentle symphony of nature at a Kerala Backwaters resort, where the sounds of frogs, crickets, and birds fill the air. Stroll through the resort’s gardens accompanied by a soft breeze and the calls of exotic birds. As night falls, experience the soothing nocturnal life by the river, with distant dogs barking and the continuous chorus of frogs and crickets, creating a tranquil atmosphere.
Explore the backwaters by boat, where the harmony of nature sounds, bird calls, and village life blend seamlessly. Experience the peacefulness and the calm flow of the river.
Each recording transports you to the heart of Kerala’s beautiful backwaters, perfect for adding an authentic touch of rural India to your projects.
This library was recorded in conjunction with the ‘Ambiences from Urban India’ sound library, recorded in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Indian busiest cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur) – available on asoundeffects.com
Experience the tranquillity and luxury of the Maldives with this carefully curated sound library. Immerse yourself in the idyllic sounds of an island resort, capturing the essence of serene beachfronts, lush holiday life, and the soothing rhythm of the ocean.
Begin your journey at Maldives Velana International Airport, where the blend of passenger chatter and distant public announcements sets the stage for your exotic getaway. Transition seamlessly to the outdoor waiting lounge of the Maldives Velana Domestic Airport, where the hum of seaplanes and the gentle breeze create a prelude to relaxation. Experience the excitement of boarding a seaplane, transporting you to the heart of a luxurious Maldivian resort.
Upon arrival, let the calming waves and sounds of the open water villa envelop you in a sense of peace. Stroll along the sandy beaches with the gentle lapping of long waves and the distant hum of arriving seaplanes. As you explore the resort, the melodic sounds of nature, from the soothing breeze to the enchanting calls of nocturnal animals, provide a soundtrack of pure relaxation. Capture the ultimate essence of a Maldivian escape with this sound library, designed to evoke the serene, luxurious, and idyllic atmosphere of this tropical paradise.
Perfect for creating relaxation apps, immersive videos, games, films or calming audio experiences, these recordings provide an authentic backdrop of paradise.
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.
Enlist a new male police officer voice in your next game audio production with AAA Game Character Police Officer. This comprehensive, game-ready collection of human voice-over sound files is tailored for scenarios where an authoritative and dynamic police officer’s voice is essential, perfect for crime, action, simulation game genres & situations like chase sequences, interrogations, emergency responses, crime scenes and many more.
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.
All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with Shure KSM 137, Line Audio Omni1 and FEL Clippy XLR EM272 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II recorder. Library contains wav files of driving, foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.
Evocative Sound and Visuals is pleased to announce the release of Electromagnetic Fields. This library contains 163 meticulously crafted and mastered sounds from 68 devices and structures captured in high-quality stereo with a Sony PCM D100 recorder and two small induction coil microphones. Included are hums, drones, beeps, bleeps, buzzes, glitches, pulses, static and more strange sounds I cannot describe.
With few exceptions, we mere mortals can’t hear the electromagnetic fields (EMF) surrounding us. If we could, we’d go crazy, especially in our ever-expanding electronic environment. We can tune our ears into this other sonic world using induction coil microphones. I never knew quite what to expect when placing mics on an object. Having two microphones with fairly long cables allowed me to find the most sonically interesting parts of an object to focus on. Two mics spaced apart also allow for a nice stereo spread.
Have fun experimenting with and inserting these hi-tech sounds (some captured in 96kHz/24-bit and others in 192kHz/24-bit) into your next science fiction and otherworldly creations. Please don’t take the device’s sound literally. That SLR’s motor drive may just be your next rapid-fire laser cannon.
All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with Shure KSM 137, Line Audio Omni1, FEL Clippy XLR EM272, Sonorous Objects SO.3 and JrF C-Series Pro+ microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.
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!)
Low-price. High-quality. Essential.
An essential collection of 200 tool sounds, including chainsaws, circular saws, drills, trimmers, lawn mowers, strimmers and more!
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!)
Low-price. High-quality. Essential.
An essential collection of 100 loopable background ambience sounds, including theme parks, dawn choruses, fireworks, alien worlds, deserts, day & night wildlife, offices, zoos, public pools, food courts, swamps, traffic, sewers and more!
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
This soundlibrary arises from recordings with plugins and effects.
In these sounds you will find whooshes with air, fire, animal and cloth sounds.
After working these sounds in post production, this library comes with 52 incredible whoosh sounds that will bring your vídeo, trailer or movie to life.
This collection features an assortment of mechanical button and switch sounds, sourced from various equipment: power supplies, light switches, tv remotes, analog recording gear, guitars, foot pedals and others. A variety of clicks, ticks and toggle sounds are included from metallic, plastic, and rubber materials. Whether you’re creating sound design for interactive elements, or the boot-up sequence for an aircraft, these sounds will enhance your project.
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
It’s A Plain Phone_Pack 06 is sixth installment in the It’s A Plain Phone_Collection. This pack includes recordings of a ClearSounds 40XLC Amplified Telephone pressing buttons, pick up, hang ups, slams, detach and reattach cable to both phone and base, switches, and more! This specific phone is designed for those hard of hearing, thus multiple additional switches and settings. 7358+ sounds over two microphone setups, or 3679+ sounds with 1 microphone set up; all packed in 670 sound files. These sound files were recorded at 24 bit, 192kHz using the Sennheiser MKH8050/30 and Sanken CO-100K/ Sennheiser MKH30 microphones into a Sound Devices Mix Pre-6.
All are metadata tagged using the Universal Category System in Soundminer, and also searchable in Soundly and Basehead.
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.
All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with RØDE NTG1, Line Audio Omni1, Shure KSM 137, FEL Pluggy XLR EM272, FEL Clippy XLR EM272 and Sonorous Objects SO.3 microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds.It is also available in UCS.
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.