Life of a Nomadic Recordist Asbjoern Andersen


Packing up the essentials and going to wherever your ears take you sounds like a dreamlife, but is it sustainable? Nomadic recordist Stephane Fufa Dufour decided to find out the hard way. Here, he talks about how his life led him to make that bold decision, what it's actually like to travel all the time, and how he handles the work/life/travel balance. He also talks about creating sound libraries, his newest libraries, and what's coming up next. For those who'd rather stay put, he also shares ways of following along on his adventures virtually.
Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of Stephane Fufa Dufour
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  • Animal Sound Effects Animal Hyperrealism Vol III Play Track 1711 sounds included $136

    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.

    The sounds were recorded in zoos and wildlife centers. The asset list includes but is not limited to: european red deers, monkeys, reindeers, hornbills camels, crickets, tamarins, boars, frogs, red ruffed lemurs, parrots, and many more.

    The content has been recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K plus a Sennheiser 8050 for center image and a couple of Sennheiser MKH8040 for stereo image.
    Part of the cheats section of the library features samples recorded at 384KHz. For these sounds an additional microphone was employed, specifically the CMPA by Avisoft-Bioacoustics which records up to 200 KHz. This microphone was used to record most of the library but the 384KHz format was preserved only where energy was found beyond 96KHz not to occupy unnecessary disk space.
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Ever return home from a vacation feeling like you need a vacation? For nomadic recordist Stephane Fufa Dufour – creator of independent sound libraries and owner of Articulated Sounds – ‘home’ is wherever he is. For years, Dufour traveled light, taking only the essentials for living and recording, and has made a career of capturing sounds from around the world and creating libraries. He’s learned a lot the hard way – like prioritizing his health when traveling, staying in one place longer than just a few days, finding the lightest-weight gear (for traveling and recording), balancing work/life/travel, and so on – and shares his insights on how to truly make this lifestyle a success.

He talks about his adventures in recording sounds, about creating a Sound Map, Daily Journal, Instagram stories, and blog posts so others can follow along on his journey. He discusses his newest sound libraries, plans for future libraries, and so much more!

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How did you get started in sound? And what types of experiences did you have in the industry before you decided to embrace the nomadic life and record sounds around the world?

Stephane Fufa Dufour (SF): Well, if we want to go back in time, I got a cassette recorder when I was four and started playing with it. I was doing my own show, actually. That was really funny. I was banging on all the stuff in the house, making some type of musique concrète.

Growing up, I had access to a computer at a time when there weren’t many home computers because my father was a researcher/professor at the University of Mathematic in Montpellier (France). He was doing research and had access to a computer, so I got my hands on a computer at an early age. I was able to manipulate media and see all the possibilities with computers. It ignited a passion in me.

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When I was a teenager, I went to a school for music. My teenage years weren’t a great time for me, so I found refuge in music. I listened a lot to music and I started to create my own using a DAW on the computer. I produced some crazy stuff. At that time, I didn’t know anything. I was just doing it by myself. Looking back, it was funny. Then, I played in a band and recorded other people’s bands. My first business was a recording studio that I started myself. And it was a real laboratory of sounds. For five years, I did a lot of editing, mastering, and recording voices and bands. I was an autodidact; I learned a lot by myself. My brother is a sound engineer and he also helped me a lot.

After five years of doing that, I decided I needed to learn more about life, to have a bigger aspiration, so I moved from France to Canada. I wanted to learn English, learn multimedia, visual animation, and programming. I was really motivated and had so many interests.

I attended the university in Montreal and studied Computation Arts (a mix between computer science and fine arts). This was really interesting with a lot of interactive art installations. (It was taught in English, so I could learn English because my English was really bad before.) During that time, I worked in web development. I started as an integrator, then went to digital artist, and then technical artist and animator. I was a jack of all trades. In the meantime, I was still creating my own projects in music and learning more about sound design.

At that time, I was still working in the studio, sitting all day long, and I developed an allergy to staying indoors.

After graduation, I worked in video games. This was really fun. In Montreal, they have great game studios. I started as a technical artist – not very related to sound – but I found that my passion for sound was too great and so I started to get into sound design. I got a position as a sound designer. I did that for a little while. Around that same time, I started to get inspired by the community of independent sound libraries — places like A Sound Effect. I thought it was really nice. So, I started to record and create my own sound library. I released my library and it was kind of a revelation – I discovered my new true identity. This was something that I was meant to do.

I started by recording sounds around Montreal, where I was based at that time. I tried small field recording travels to Central America. I visited there and came back to Montreal. At that time, I was still working in the studio, sitting all day long, and I developed an allergy to staying indoors. I had to do something.

Before that, I had not traveled much in my life. I didn’t have this chance because I was too busy working, but I had the urge to discover the world, and so it became a life goal.

…I had the urge to discover the world, and so it became a life goal.

I was really looking into people who were traveling and lived a nomadic lifestyle. And this was something I wanted to do. So, after my contract with the game studio ended, I decided to leverage my sound library, Articulated Sounds.

I laid my ambitious project on the table and got accepted to an entrepreneur startup program that helped me to quick-start my journey. Thankfully, I had the help of Vincent Fliniaux, a wonderful sound artist. He’s a great guy. I also collaborated with various professionals and was lucky to be able to bring my project to life.

After more than a year, I felt Articulated Sounds was strong enough to be my main source of revenue. I decided to jump into the adventure of travel and recording. So I left everything behind me and I was ready to explore the world. That was a big decision.

 

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That’s a pretty tough decision to make – to just pack all the essentials into a backpack and go wherever your ears take you. Can you talk about that decision? What was the hardest part? Scariest part? The most rewarding part of that decision?

SF: The hardest part was the logistics of it — decluttering what I owned and amassed for years, making the selection of what to bring with me. I left with just a backpack so I had to carefully select what to bring with me.

The scariest part was the fear of the unknown because I just decided to leave. I bought a one-way plane ticket to Iceland. That’s it. I didn’t know what came next. This was it.

The scariest part was the fear of the unknown because I just decided to leave.

Also, leaving my friends and family was hard. But because I already had this experience leaving France, it wasn’t as hard this time. I know I still can connect with people through technology.

The most rewarding part is the feeling of freedom. You’re free to go wherever, whenever. It’s just nice. Also, because I choose to be minimalistic and travel light and not have many belongings, for me that’s freeing. I’m more productive and happier. It’s a dream life. I think many people are envious of my lifestyle, but it’s taken a lot of serious thought and planning to arrive at this decision, and a lot of work to make it possible.

For me, traveling is a great fit for my endeavor to create sound libraries. I can explore new cultures, new landscapes, and it coincides very well with the mission of Articulated Sounds to provide rare and highly valuable sounds that can inspire people, and be used in movies and games. So, I believe all the roads came together to make this possible.

 

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What are some of your favorite places that you visited? What did you record there?

SF: There are so many places I like. It’s very difficult to choose favorites. I’ve just created a Sound Map for my website Sound Xplorer. It’s an interactive map of some of my favorite sounds and where they were recorded. For example, I recorded a hot air balloon in Luxor, Egypt. So on the Sound Map, you can click on the soundwave icon in Egypt and it will play that sound.

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Deciding on my favorite sounds is very subjective. Sometimes it’s related to emotion and my own feelings. Everywhere I’ve recorded had some good and some bad experiences. I wouldn’t say that one place is better than another because when I travel, I explore many aspects other than sound. I discover culture, language, food, etc. There’s so much to take into account; sound is just one part of the experience.

In recording sound, there are a lot of technical aspects to take into consideration. Sometimes my approach to recording was technically bad, so that’s why I don’t like the recordings. I did too much trial and error.

I believe the most interesting opportunities are extreme situations or locations – for example, the extreme south, the extreme hot, the extreme tropical, extreme elevation, extremely remote, or the extreme desert. This is where we can sense the boundary of the planet and understand it better. This is where you can capture the wildest sounds, the wildest wind, the richest soundscape, the quietest ambience, and the weirdest animals. For example, I was in Tierra del Fuego (they call it the End of the World) in the south of Argentina and it was really interesting. I went to the desert of Morocco, to the ancient tropical forest in Malaysia, to the lush, high forested area in Kenya, to the quiet soundscape of Canadian wilderness. I captured the crazy energy and cacophony of densely populated areas such as Cairo, Bangkok, and New York.

The extremes are really interesting. Iceland has a really alien landscape; it’s so weird. It looks like Mars. It’s very, very interesting for sound.

 

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What was the most challenging location you visited, and would you go back? What did you record while there, and did the recordings make the trip worthwhile?

SF: The most challenging places were probably Brazil and Morocco, mainly because I did not plan correctly. Usually, when I go to a place, I try to plan ahead of time. Also, I felt sick while visiting Brazil. I arrived there in transit between Paraguay and Bolivia, and I wanted to record The Pantanal – a natural region encompassing the world’s largest tropical wetland area. I didn’t plan correctly for that because this was a last-minute decision.

I didn’t plan correctly for that because this was a last-minute decision.

In Brazil, they speak Portuguese, and I don’t speak Portuguese. The barrier language can be really troublesome when traveling. This part of Brazil, Mato Grosso do Sul, is a remote area, so they do not speak English. Hence, it was very difficult for me.

I was also sick while in Morocco. But it was a different situation because I understood the language but I would have preferred not to. I didn’t really like how intrusive people were. It was really difficult in Morocco because people were very curious and very inquisitive. So, this was not the best place for me to record. I liked it; it was interesting, but it was a challenging place to record.

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I plan on going back to Brazil, to The Pantanal, because it was very promising. The circumstances of my first trip were very bad. There were a lot of mosquitoes and insects. It was terrible. I have to be prepared for that.

I decided health should be my number one priority now, above everything else, thus allowing me to travel smoothly long-term.

I want to point out that health is actually very important, and can really impact the overall trip. In Morocco, which was one of my first destinations, I was feeling very sick for a couple of weeks. It was really bad. Because I travel alone, it was really difficult.

So because of that, I decided health should be my number one priority now, above everything else, thus allowing me to travel smoothly long-term. I’m alone, so if something goes wrong, I’m by myself. That’s very difficult mentally, and physically. So I really take great care of my health. I put in place a daily routine for me to be 100% operational. It has become a pillar of my lifestyle.

 

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Do you typically learn a language (or some of the language) before you visit a place?

SF: I think it’s very important to know at least a little of the language in most places. So, I started to learn different languages. And personally, I like it. It’s an introduction to the culture, and it’s important to be able to communicate with locals. So, right now I’m learning Bahasa, which is the main language in Malaysia and Indonesia. It’s actually the same language but with some differences. I’ve been learning Spanish also. I tried to learn Russian but Russian is very difficult.

Fruits of the labor:

 
Want to hear some of Stephane Fufa Dufour’s sound libraries? Check out a selection of his work below:

  • Bundles Articulated – Master Bundle Play Track 22000+ sounds included $2,393

    The MASTER BUNDLE is the ultimate Articulated collection.

    A unique tool for high-caliber sound artists!
    The culmination of 7 years of passionate labor, an invaluable amount of sound curation, thousands of hours of editing and designing sounds, and more than 100,000 km traveled recording unique and rare sounds.

    Get a fresh new supercharge!
    The Articulated Master Bundle is one of the most inspiring sound collections on earth. It is a comprehensive tool to help you deliver incredible sound for all your projects, quickly and easily. It includes sounds used in Hollywood blockbusters such as Frozen 2, the series Archer, and other notorious productions.

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  • Animal Sound Effects Born Wild Play Track 2000+ sounds included $449

    What is this?

    BORN WILD is a massive collection of wild animals sounds and wild sounds of animals, highly focused, from a large panel of species, recorded thoroughly through 40 various National Parks, reserves, wildlife centers, and sanctuaries on all continents.


     

    We ‘domesticated’ planet earth and shaped it to our ideal human imaginary needs. Before that, the world belonged to nobody, wilderness was the norm! Powerful, wild and sometimes weird animals ruled the world.

    Despite the current accelerating extinction of biodiversity, wildlife still exists in small pockets, and many animals are still alive and have a voice!

    Naturally wild animals became the backbone of our project, but also wild sounds of animals in general. We thus literally went hunting for sounds. Though this kind of hunt gratefully does not harm Nature or animals.

     

    With this library, we really went above and beyond. We explored all 4 corners of the world in places we wouldn’t have expected. Similar to wildlife photography, we sharpened our tools and methods to get the correct zoom with the right focus on the sounds of these animals. Along the way, we got some mishaps and misadventures which are part of the process. We thankfully are still alive; hence we can now today offer you the fruit of our quest.

    Born Wild is now becoming the pinnacle of our Articulated sound journey, and we are proud to present it to you. We believe this library will give instant gratification as the content is so unique, rich, and meticulously curated.

    We also hope that this library can sensitize and leverage efforts in protecting the planet where we all come from. This is why we are giving 3% of all sale revenue to ONG caring about wilderness and conservation.

    Let’s keep our wild instinct alive!

  • From a real chocolate factory, we recorded specific sounds and ambiences.

    Included different mechanical sounds and manipulation, captured through various perspectives.

  • In 1979, bells from more than 100 countries were brought together for a communist event which had the purpose to promote world peace.
    Kids from most countries gathered for the occasion bringing along with them bells from each of their respective country.
    A monument was built for this occasion which is still standing nowadays, situated in the suburb of Sofia.
    This monument encompasses what is known to be the largest drum instrument in the world, as it contains hundreds of bells from all over the world.
    We meticulously recorded each of those bells.
    We were blessed to get clean close sounds of these bells with some variations, isolated takes but also sequence of ringing.
    In this library. you’ll find a selection of 30 of these countries which have bells that have “church-like” sonic characteristics.

    Learn more about these recordings: https://soundxplorer.com/sound-of-bells-around-the-world

  • Animal Sound Effects Creature Bundle Play Track 7435+ sounds included $589

    This bundle includes 8 libraries of animals and monsters from Articulated Sounds:


    Born Wild is a massive collection of wild animals sounds and wild sounds of animals, highly focused, from a large panel of species, recorded thoroughly through 40 various National Parks, reserves, wildlife centers, and sanctuaries on all continents.


    Extinct Animals – the Jurassic is a new series of Sound Effects Library by Articulated; aspiring to bring back to life creatures from the past which were never recorded before.


    Yeti Monster is an extensive collection of rare humanoid creature sounds. They were carefully recorded, edited, classified, thoroughly metatagged. It comprises expressive cinematic designed sounds with over 25 different type of articulations, actions and reactions; as well as cartoon-like interpretations.


    Nature in the City is a collection that depicts a wide spectrum of natural sounds existing in cities. With many isolated animals, ambiences, and weather, water elements. Inside you’ll find high quality content from Articulated, well edited and instantly useable sounds.


    Camel Growl Vocalizations is a library containing very useful source material of animal growls, recorded in Morocco in a very dry acoustic environment (the desert). These sounds will prove to be a very good source for creating your own monster, creature sounds.


    Pig Farm Animal Groan is a library in which you will find various close-up of single pigs grunts recorded in different farms, well edited, ready to use in your projects. Files includes glued, and separated version.


    Humanimal Mimicry is a handy collection of human vocalizations mimicking the sound of animals.

    These naturally-sounding samples are useful for shaping expressive creature sounds.

    Fun Monsters is a vocal collection of 18 cute little monsters. It comprises 2000+ non-textual vocalizations with variations of actions and emotions recorded by voice actors – all carefully edited, classified & metatagged.

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  • Here are diffused soundscapes of one of the largest and fastest-growing city on the planet: Dubai. The traffic and activity level is constant in this metropolis.

    There are ambiences recorded at ground floor, and traffic tones recorded from high-rise buildings, at the 38th floor, from indoor and outdoor. One bonus included: a Bangkok traffic ambience from 25th floor.

  • City Life Sound Effects Quiet Streets 2 Play Track 62+ sounds included, 275 mins total $95

    We present here the latest installment in our ongoing effort to curate unique ambiences tailored to urban and suburban scenes in movies and video games.

    Subtle & Flavorful

    This collection of ambiences is intended to set the mood against the backdrop of any city scenario and act as a subtle accompaniment to dialogue lines.

    Unlike the previous volume, the sounds in this library were recorded worldwide over a period of 5 years.
    We have taken great care in selecting and editing them to ensure they carry evocative and rich ‘airtones’.
    In fact, they go beyond simple outdoor roomtones, often incorporating sounds of fauna, insects, local culture, and delicate flavorful sonic indications of time and location.
    They, however, always stay low-profile and never presents intrusive noise that would interfere unless specified as a marker.

    Dress the Silence

    In addition to being a great filler for urban and suburban scenes, this collection will be a great companion when attempting to convey various feelings and moods such as quietude, post-apocalyptic, romanticism, mystery, depression, calmness, poetic, abandonment, nostalgia, freedom,….

    For this volume, we have specifically chosen a diverse mixture of recordings from numerous countries across all continents broadening the palette of sounds delivered. These additions will enrich your main sound library and prove useful for a wide range of future projects.

    All sounds in this library are in stereo. As extensive travels were involved in capturing these sounds, we decided to focus only on stereophonic capture instead of multichannel, making it more manageable throughout our journey. Nonetheless, these atmospheres embody a great sense of space and can be easily layered and spatialized in a surround space if needed.

  • Environments & Ambiences Rare Winds Play Track 102 sounds included, 233 mins total $149

    From all 4 earth’s corners, air streamlines the environment and shapes our stories. Discover the cinematic world of rare winds!


    This sound library is the ultimate achievement of a really ambitious project of recording winds from very remote places across the world.

    Included are authentic recordings from the Boreal region (North hemisphere: in Canada and Iceland), from the Austral region (South hemisphere: Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and the Last Hope province in Chile), on Islands in Mediterranean region (Thira in Greece), in the Sahara desert (Marocco), Isle-aux-Grues (Canadian winter), and more (see file list for more details)


    These were recorded either in urban settings, countryside, or complete wilderness.

    Included is a set of useful synthesized, tonal, and designed winds.

    The sounds are categorized into 3 folders: Designed, Indoor & Outdoor.

    WHAT’S INSIDE:

    • 102 stereo files
    • Highly focused and meticulously edited sounds
    • Ready to use Loop
    • Urban area and Wild area
    • Useful Designed & Synthesized Wind Sounds
    • Recordings from the Boreal region (North) in Iceland & Canada
    • Recordings from the Austral region (South) in Argentina & Chile
    • Recordings from Islands in Greece & Canada
    • Recordings from the desert in Marocco
    • Abandonned houses and shelters
    • Marina, lake, forest, car, flags, arctic, metal pole, prairie, street, mountain, grass, …
  • Environments & Ambiences Soundscape Odyssey 1 Play Track 60+ sounds included, 268 mins total $108

    Get ready to dive into one of the most authentic and evocative sound libraries we ever created. Take a transcendent journey across 28 countries, spanning the last 7 years.

    Unreleased Auditory Treasures

    In this exclusive library, we have meticulously curated the most enthralling and previously unreleased ambient sounds we’ve ever recorded. It showcases a diverse collection of 60 unique ambiences, spanning various locations and time periods.

    These files are not in any other of our library, they are totally new releases.

    A kaleidoscope of worldwide sounds, all in one library

    With ‘Soundscape Odyssey 1,’ you’ll gain access to a truly distinctive and immersive collection of global ambiance. Experience the world through our unique perspective and discover soundscapes like never before.

    Categories/Subcategories

    Forest, Town, Swamp, Grassland, Suburb, Urban, Underground, Transportation, Tropical, Park, Lakeside, Misc, Market, Celebration, Alpine, Public Space, Seaside, Sport, Protest, Restaurant, Water,…

    behind the sounds

    Stephane Fufa Dufour  has been recording and traveling for the past eight years, with the last five years devoted to intense “field recording” as a digital nomad on all continents. Along the way, he has collected precious sonic gems, exploring unique, unusual, and diverse soundscapes that span a wide variety of cultures and locations, from anthropophony to pure biophony.

  • This sound library features typical soundscapes from Switzerland, cow herds, pasture valley, sheep herds, cowbells, forest, mountain, tractors, … fresh air.

    Inside this library is 11 stereo ambiences. Great immersion in Switzerland Countryside Soundscapes!
  • These sounds were recorded in 2018, throughout the Swiss cities of Geneva, Zurich, Basel, & Bern.

    Some of these sounds are recorded an delivered in Surround Quad format, while the others are Stereo. Recorded ORTF or Double ORTF.
  • Worldwide Rivers & Waterfalls is a thorough collection of 99 sound recordings made around the world. It comprises ‘loopeable’ sounds of a wide variety of water streams from tiny small to broad wide rivers.

    They were recorded in mountains, countryside, on bridges, under bridges, in caves, in tunnel, underwater (hydrophones), and throughout various geological features, as narrow canyon, mighty rivers, shallow streams running on Pebbles, Icy cold flow from melted snow, or hot boiling streams from active geothermal terrains.

    Most of the captures are declined with various perspectives and distances from the sound source, allowing better integration in movie scenes or games. The library was recorded in these countries: Spain, Switzerland, Iceland, Georgia, France, Canada, Thailand, Ecuador, and Slovakia.


    WHAT’S INSIDE:

    – Diverse Geological Features: boiling hot spring, icy cold stream, narrow canyon, wide, shallow,…
    – Various Distances & Perspectives
    – Highly focused and meticulously edited sounds
    – Ready to use Loop

Discover more sound effects from Articulated Sounds here

One thing that works for me is to listen to media – like the news.

I’m bad at learning quickly. It took me five or six years to learn English. I’m really slow at learning languages. I think the best time to learn is when you’re young. But I’m 40 now, so my brain doesn’t want to learn new words. I learn something and the next day it’s gone. It’s difficult.

One thing that works for me is to listen to media – like the news. When I was learning English, I would listen to the news every morning. That makes you aware of the sound of the words. The best thing to do is to be immersed in the language and to speak the language. If you’re obliged to use it, you learn it faster. If you meet someone who speaks the language, make friends with them, and they will teach you everything.

 

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Do you have a bucket list of places to visit and sounds to record?

SF: I have a list of projects – ideas for sound libraries – and I have a list of things I want to record. But I never know for sure if I will be able to capture those specific sounds when I get to a location. It’s very unpredictable.

Sometimes I have a mission – my own mission or a contract to record specific sounds. I do all I can to record those specific sounds. Typically, I give myself some leeway to be able to record any kind of sounds that I find in that location. It’s surprising what you can find in different locations. You never know.

So I have a bucket list of places. And, I have a bucket list of sounds. But the two lists don’t necessarily coincide.

 

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What advice would give to someone thinking about taking on a nomadic recordist lifestyle?

SF: I would say the most important thing is to know the purpose of your choices, traveling and recording without purpose will rapidly become meaningless and the energy and ambition will vanish. The more defined and focused your purpose is, the more gratifying this lifestyle will be.

There are so many ways sounds can play a role in a project; so it is important to extra-define: why you are doing this, for whom, and how it will be used.

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Also, I truly believe there is no right or wrong. The possibilities are infinite, in my opinion. It is great to try something different and to be curious. However, if you do something too different you may garner criticism. So it’s great to be able to filter the opinions of others. There is a ton of bullshit out there, so it is a good virtue to be skeptical and question the validity of any affirmation. The most important is to listen to your own voice and follow your ambition.

Another suggestion, on a more ‘situational’ scale, is: if you’re doing stealth recording (capturing the natural, casual sounds of crowded places), you can attach a small mic to your backpack. No one will notice. What they’ll notice is you. So, if you are in a crowd in a foreign country and you don’t look like the local people, they’ll behave differently. That’s something to take into account. You have to blend in. During Covid, everyone was wearing a mask, so I could wear a mask and a hat, and I felt like a local everywhere I went. Now, I feel weird wearing a mask because not many people are doing that anymore.

A lot of blending in comes from body language. Someone who is not used to a place has a different body posture and a different behavior. I try to imitate the body language of people in particular places. I try to imitate the flow and the energy of people. There’s a different energy in different places and people behave differently. I try to blend in just by the way I move. It works. People can very quickly pick out someone who doesn’t fit in. I had one of those experiences in Morocco. I was imitating the way people walk and someone came up to me and asked, “Are you from here?”

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-13

Let’s talk about your recording gear. What are your must-haves for living a sonic nomad lifestyle?

SF: Wherever I go, I have a computer with me at all times. This is for editing sounds, or listening to/reviewing recordings, or uploading/downloading. So it’s nice to have an internet connection, but that can be difficult to access in many places. That’s another story!

As far as recording gear, that has always been a puzzle. I’m still researching. I try to choose versatile mics, so I can record many different types of sounds. For me, it’s really important to capture the highest quality recordings that I can.

SFufaNomadic_sound-14

After the first year of travel, I learned so much. I redid my backpack because I found that I needed to travel lighter; I needed my gear to be more lightweight. I had too many things, even though I lost some gear and broke some. I found it really cumbersome to have a surround kit for recording ambisonic tracks. It was just too much gear and I needed to pare it down. I thought about it a lot and tried different setups. At that time, there wasn’t a small device that worked well and provided phantom power. I hate cables. XLR connectors are so heavy. I get it; they were made for live performances and so need to be durable. Performers are singing and dancing while holding the mic. I don’t dance with my microphone, so I don’t need a big XLR connector. I need something small and light.
I’m really frustrated about this aspect of recording, so when I redid my backpack, I made my own stereo custom kit, which I talk about on my blog. I used it for 2-3 years along with another Sony A10 and external, small omni-type Mikrousi or Clippys.

In the end, my main custom kit was a little too custom. It sounded really great but I had some trouble because it was fragile. So, I don’t use it anymore. The Zoom F3 is now more suited and robust for the same kind of configuration.

Lately, I decided to come back to surround recordings. For this, I am using the Zoom F8n Pro and Schoeps surround ORTF-3D. It has 8 channels, the same number of channels as ambisonic, but the way the mics are placed, they’re spaced apart from each other. It creates a better image, and a more aesthetically pleasing sound.

The F8n has a double SD card, so I can record on two SD cards and I copy those to an external drive. Yes, it is kind of a big setup, but only in size; the weight is very manageable.

SFufaNomadic_sound-15

I am still a big user of the Sony A10 (with or sometimes without external mics). It happens that I use the Zoom F3 with the small shotgun Sennheiser MKH 8070 and Ambient Emesser ATE 308 for specific missions, or still again using my favorite Sennheiser MKH 8090 at times. I also tried various hydrophones. Now, I keep the Ambient ASF-2-MKII in my bag along with a contact mic. I like to record with the Metal Marshmallow Pro contact mic, allowing me to find hidden sounds. I tried some ultrasonics solutions in the past, but it is not easy to incorporate them in a traditional kit, so now I am trying the Sonorous Objects mic for this purpose.

I’m really obsessed with the weight of everything. I weigh every single piece of gear that I bring with me. I want it to be as lightweight as possible. One piece of gear that is important is the bag itself. I had trouble with the airline companies. Sometimes they want to check my bag in the cargo hold of the airplane, even if it’s small. I always try to avoid that and keep all my gear with me in the cabin as I had bad experiences whenever I have checked bags. Sometimes it’s not small enough for them, and also it’s too heavy. I tried different possibilities. At one point, I had a hard suitcase but it was not the right size.

The solution I use now is a super-lightweight small suitcase (which can convert to a backpack using shoulder straps), and I also pack another ultra-lightweight trekking backpack inside of it so if I want to trek out to a remote place, I can leave the suitcase at the place I’m staying and just use the backpack. It’s more comfortable.
But the suitcase is great for protecting the gear while traveling because it’s a semi-hard shell case. It’s important to protect your gear while traveling. The luggage gets piled on top of each other when you take a bus, or a van out to a location. They just cram it all in there and they don’t really care.

SFufaNomadic_sound-16

As for my ‘go-to’ gear, I really love the color the the Sennheiser MKH-8000 series. Those mics just sound great and are immune to humidity. Another go-to is the Sony A-10; it is so small that I can always keep it with me at all times, even when jogging. The quality is not on par with premium gear, but it is quite acceptable. It makes a perfect on-the-go solution when you stumble on interesting sounds by surprise and need a super-quick, easy capture.

Also, it is important to note that even though I am still traveling/nomading, last year I started using a ‘semi-temporary base’ in Asia. I am renting a place there for 2 years, so I can come back and store some of my stuff. In fact, after five years of wandering around with no home at all, I needed to have this solution, at least to breathe a little and plan better for the future. It allowed me to redefine the gear I use and the way I travel, so I could work out my new carrying solution too. It was something that was much needed because I found myself throwing things out and then buying them again just because I wanted to travel light. That was stupid. So, now with this temporary base, I can at least store some of my gear. That gives me more possibilities. I can adapt my kit. I am planning on continuing to have a temporary base in the future, something like 6 months to 1 year at each base. And from each base, I can explore around. I really feel this way of traveling works better for me.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-18

Let’s talk about creating your sound libraries. This is a time-intensive venture; you have to go through all your recordings, find the best ones to curate into a library, and then master them. How do you find time and space to do that – by staying in one place longer?

SF: This is related to the work/life balance. It’s one of my biggest struggles. It’s difficult to find time when you’re traveling to do something that is not related to travel.

And you are right, I found time by staying in places longer! This was something I discovered the hard way. I am still experimenting with the schedule to find the most optimized planning. I am still trying to understand myself and how I function the best.

In the beginning, I was traveling so often – staying in places for only a few days. After a while, I just got so tired. It was impossible to do it all while on the go. I was oversaturated. So, I decided to stay an entire month or two in one place, just to be able to get into a routine, maintain my health, and be productive professionally by editing sounds and releasing new libraries.

In the beginning, I was traveling so often – staying in places for only a few days. After a while, I just got so tired.

This lifestyle was new for me and I think each person is different, as well as each place, and each project. They all have their particularities that will affect the schedule. Hence, honing the skill of adapting is primordial in my opinion.

Working involves more than just editing sounds. I’d say 40% of my work time is spent on planning new travel. It’s very time-consuming to plan all these trips. But I believe it is part of the work. It’s enjoyable though, but it requires time. So, I have to find the time to do this, plus the time to curate a library.

I have subcontractors who help with the work. That’s difficult – giving your sounds to someone else – because they didn’t record the sounds themselves and it takes time to explain what you did, and what you want. Honestly, in the end, I’m never truly satisfied. Some people do this work very well, but I can’t afford them, unfortunately. I wish I could afford to pay someone to work. So, for now, I’ve decided to do it by myself. I have collaborated with other people in the past, and it was enjoyable, so maybe I’ll explore that again in the future.


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It must be challenging for the subcontractors to receive this huge collection of recordings, go through it, figure out what exactly they’re listening to and listening for, and then decide what the best chunks are to turn into tracks. If you’re recording a bird in the rainforest, they have to figure out what bird that is. Or, if it’s actually a monkey but it sounds like a bird, they have to figure that out somehow…

SF: Identifying wildlife is another world. I’m not qualified for it. You need the help of a biologist or someone who knows the local wildlife because it’s always different from one place to another.

Whenever I give sounds to the subcontractors, I usually take time to identify what’s in the recordings as much as possible. So, I do a pre-identification pass before I hand the recordings over, even though I usually slate each recording with my voice at the beginning, but it happens sometimes I speak in French, other times in English; if the subcontractor does not speak one of these languages it makes it complicated.

So each time I hand over recordings, I also have to review the work afterward and resend for any modification inquiries. All of this back and forth is very time-consuming in fact.

And even though I do all that pre-identification, the sounds might not be understood correctly. For example, I remember one recording had really specific frogs from a night Buddhist temple recording, and my subcontractor thought they were hearing dogs, but it was not dogs.

So each time I hand over recordings, I also have to review the work afterward and resend for any modification inquiries. All of this back and forth is very time-consuming in fact. So, for now, I prefer to just do all the work myself. But from time to time, I like to get others to test/preview the library and assess the quality.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-19

What library are you most proud of so far? Why?

SF: The sound library I’m most proud of might be one of the latest I released, it’s called Born Wild. It’s a massive library of wild animals. The recordings span seven years, but I’ve done the most recordings for this library in the past two years.

SFufaNomadic_sound-20

It’s a very unique yet very useful library. It’s probably one of the largest libraries of elephant sounds and hippo sounds. It also has very good lion sounds. I’m so proud of this library, probably because it’s the newest one. It’s very personal because of the sounds I tried to record. They were recorded in wild environments so I spent a lot of time editing and cleaning them because there were so many birds, and so much noise. I tried to just deliver really interesting wild animal sounds.

I’m also proud of the Rare Winds library – a library of winds. It’s very intriguing and very special. It’s a very well-done library. I did this one in collaboration with Vincent Fliniaux, which includes some of his recordings. You can get a good result by creating a library with two people.

There’s also Traffic Tones, which I released last year. It’s not the most glamorous library, but it’s very useful. It’s a library of tones and backgrounds for cityscapes. You can layer the sounds. They’re not intrusive. It’s very easy to use in a project, so it’s very useful. It didn’t have a great impact. I didn’t see a lot of people buying this one, but I think it’s a great one.

The traffic sounds are from different cities in different parts of the world. There are sounds from Cairo, which is chaotic. There are motorcycles from Bangkok. There are city sounds with rain, with snow, and with gravel roads. The traffic speeds vary, from fast highways to small streets. In addition to those backgrounds, I included specific sounds, isolated sounds of horns, brake squeals, and other sounds you can layer on top of the backgrounds to make a unique cityscape.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-21

What are some of the sounds that you’re grateful to have captured?

SF: I’m grateful for all the sounds I captured because I don’t own the sounds, actually. I feel like I’m taking the sounds from somewhere else, and so I’m very grateful for all the places I’ve visited, and all the people I met.

The sounds I’m most grateful for are the ones that other people found useful. When someone reaches out to say that they’ve used a sound I recorded in their project, it makes me feel like I have a purpose. It inspires me to keep going. It’s the best feedback I can get.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-22

Are you working on a library now?

SF: I’m always capturing sounds for potential future libraries all the time. It’s such a coincidence that you’re interviewing me about my travels because I’ve just released a collection of ambiences from around the world, called Soundscape Odyssey 1. It’s a new collection of new sounds that I’ve never released before, and it brings together a lot of great ambiences. Instead of focusing on a particular location, as I have often done in the past with Morocco or Ecuador, this new one is more like a melting pot of sounds.

I am working on future releases that include surround ambiences. One future project is about pipes. I also have a room tones library that will be released soon.

I’ve also just released Quiet Streets 2. This is a follow-up to the first library, Quiet Streets. Vol. 2 features quiet streets from around the world.

Furthermore, I am working on future releases that include surround ambiences. One future project is about pipes. I also have a room tones library that will be released soon.

Additionally, I have this big project I’ve been working on for years. It’s a collection of bells and gongs. I am creating this along with a virtual instrument library, so this library will also cater to musicians. It’s a massive project, and a little different from the others but so interesting.

And there are many, many, many more libraries in the making.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-23

So what’s next for you? Where are you off to? And what do you hope (or plan) to record?

SF: As I’ve said, I now have a ‘temporary base’ in Asia. So I travel from there to many places in Asia, capturing sounds around this area. My travel plan right now is to stay in this region. I love it. It’s really rich and there is so much to explore here – culture-wise, and nature-wise. Since I learned the Bahasa Melayu/Indonesia language, I can go to more remote places. So, I’m going to a small island that is very remote. It’s very adventurous, but I love it. The people here are very friendly, just beautiful.

I’m getting back now to recording in surround sound. I’d done a lot of stereo recording lately because I wanted to be lightweight, as I said. But I put together this new kit so I can get back to surround recordings.

SFufaNomadic_sound-24

This is actually my first love – my primary passion with sound effects – to record immersive sound, particularly nature sounds. I see so much destruction right now. It’s heartbreaking. Nature is being destroyed by human development. It’s terrible. I want to work more on capturing nature sounds, to preserve sounds that might not exist in one or two years. You look at the map and see so many mining sites and other projects that are destroying the forests everywhere. In this region, in particular, they’re creating plantations of palm trees.

So, I hope I can do what I can to have a positive impact. Beyond capturing sounds, I’d like to help make people aware of what’s happening, and maybe sound can be used for this purpose. People everywhere are concerned about this and aren’t sure what to do about it. I don’t know the best plan for the future either, but we need to talk more about it. We need to do more. We don’t have a second planet. In the virtual world, it’s easy to ‘undo’ an action. But in the real world, in reality, that’s not easy to do. The planet is not a computer program.

I also have more bell sound recordings coming up, some other projects are also based on designed sounds, and so more work in-the-box. I have also some specific objects and actions I am keen to record, sounds that would be interesting for sound designers.

 

SFufaNomadic_sound-25

What are the best ways for people to follow you on your journey?

SF: You can go to my blog: Soundxplorer.com. I have a Sound Map there. I have articles and I share my thoughts in a Daily Journal that I started last year. You can follow my Instagram. I post short videos so you can follow exactly what I’m doing on my stories. On SoundCloud, I post some of my sounds – not all. You can check out and purchase my sound libraries on my website, Articulated Sounds or on A Sound Effect. You can find my contact information on the contact page too. I am open to chat with anyone interested; it is always great to share ideas and feedback.

 

A big thanks to Stephane Fufa Dufour for sharing insight on the nomadic recording lifestyle and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!

 

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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:

  • Magic & Fantasy Sound Effects Sorcery Play Track 2196 sounds included, 337 mins total $119.99

    Rock The Speakerbox presents Sorcery, the ultimate sound design toolkit for magic and enchantment.

    Harness the forces of light with white magic. Ignite the night with the unbridled power of fire and flame.Summon the darkest of evil with black magic and necromancy. Release the fury of a million volts by mastering the electron. Lay waste to your foes with the sheer might of water and acid. Conjure the frigid and unleash the frost with the power of ice.

    Recorded on stage and in the field, and designed by award winning sound designers, SORCERY contains 11.7 GB of HD quality content spread across 1992 construction kit sounds and 204 designed sounds. With spells, deflects, casts, blocks, beams and more, SORCERY provides sound designers and media content creators unrivaled wizardry at their fingertips.

    The extraordinary awaits within.

     

    KEYWORDS:

    Magic sounds, Spell sounds, Fantasy effects, Enchantment FX, Magical FX, Sorcery sounds, Fantasy spells, Enchanted sounds, Wizard SFX, Magic aura, Spell casting, Magical elements, Fantasy ambience, Potion sounds, Spellbook FX, Arcane magic, Enchanted FX, Magic toolkit, Fantasy creatures, Fantasy magic, Wizard effects, Magic spells, Sorcery toolkit, Magic swirls, Fantasy sound library, Mystical sounds, Sorcerer FX, Enchantment library, Magical toolkit, Fantasy sounds, Dark magic, Magic dust, Mystical ambience, Sorcery FX, Fantasy environment, Magical vibes, Fantasy aura, Spellbinding sounds, Magic whisper, Potion brewing, Magical world, Enchanted library, Magical creatures, Fantasy realms, Magic waves, Arcane library, Wizard spells, Magical FX library, Fantasy toolkit, Magical effects pack

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  • I’ve Decided to Make This Small Instrument Free—Enjoy!
    Enjoy :)

    Snow Foley Instrument, a collection of pristine snow footsteps samples recorded with the legendary Sony PCM-D100 in the remote mountains of southern France. To enhance your sound design workflow, the samples are accompanied by user-friendly Kontakt and DSsampler instruments.

    Whether you’re crafting linear sound designs, immersive interactive experiences, or dynamic game environments, this versatile library has you covered. 

    Key Features: 

    • 8 Different Walking types
    • More than 200 unique samples
    • Recorded in real snow, in different depths
    • Stereo 96Khz 24bit
    • Kontakt & DSsampler
    • Midi Controlled Knobs
    Snow Floey Footsteps Demo

     

    *Runs in Kontakt or Free Kontakt Player version 7.7.3 or higher, and in DecentSampler 1.9.13 or higher.

  • Take a journey back in time with Ultimate Medieval SFX Bundle! Find the true sound of it with Vadi Sound Library.

    About Ultimate Medieval SFX Bundle

    With this collection you will have access to a carefully curated collection of Medieval Warfare, Medieval Town and Green Witch’s Cauldron sound effects. It covers your most essential historical needs with 1.200+ sounds, recorded and designed professionally.

    You can find rope stressing sounds, listen to the rain on a beach from a bush perspective, bottle up potions, and hear a soldier as he gets ready for a battle. Listen to barn animals, horses, weapons and tools; town ambiences, mine, blacksmith, tavern, field, church bells; dried seeds and herbs, defensive spells and transfiguration spells. Go ahead and check out the contents of these three different collections included in the Ultimate Medieval SFX Bundle one by one and start imagining a story already!

    You’ll find yourself first on a brutal battlefield, then come back to the busy town a little. Don’t be afraid to ask for some healing magic from the Green Witch! Travel back to the Middle Ages and take Ultimate Medieval SFX Bundle with you!

    These sounds are available in 24-bit / 96kHz, were recorded delicately with DPA 4060s and Neumann KM184 pairs, have clarity and room for further sound design with the flexible texture of the sounds for customization.

    About Medieval Town SFX Pack

    400+ sound effects from a simple town’s parts such as; barn, field, grassland, tavern, blacksmith, carpenter, library, church, graveyard, mine, and many more a medieval town could offer. With the Medieval Town Sound Effects Bundle you will have access to dressage sounds, kitchenware sounds, church bells, town ambiences, medieval mechanical devices, mining sounds, animals, tools, weapons and more. Medieval Town Sound Effects Bundle was recorded and designed delicately for all your historical needs.

    What’s Inside
    Medieval, Town, Ambience, Object, Church, Bell, Bird, Animal, Duck, Food and Drink, Lake, Horse, Blacksmith, Hammering, Fire, Tool, Metal, Nail, Chest, Materials Wooden Metal Iron Fire objects chest, iron bell vegetation nail tools bench firewood coin opening action closing creaking hammering breathing dropping ringing shaping picking rolling breaking church bell sunny peaceful weather with and without animals lake fire castle locations barn blacksmith church lake campsite animals actions birds chirping, flying ducks quaking cows mooing horse eating hay, from trainer’s hand, breathing, licking, chewing, bridle clicking perspective texture middle distant close very close heavy breaking pile ceramic tress rattling wallet heat blade shovel sand pebble doorbell saddle cart earthquake farrier book cough cloth cricket kitchen pottery frog mechanical winch copper lock rock axe mining pouring sailing boat rooster footstep rope tavern treasure water light.

    About Medieval Warfare SFX Pack

    Medieval Warfare Sound Effects Pack brings the most realistic 350+ medieval sound effects that you may need for your game/film/creative projects. It includes sound effects of; warriors, explosions, barn animals, horse sound effects, medieval life sound effects, weapons, and tools, human voices, and many more to find out.

    You will have access to weapon sound effects, animals, horse items, ambiences, medieval life items, sword hits, catapult, crossbow, arrow whooshes, battle cries, castle gates, foley sound effects and more. Medieval Warfare Sound Effects Pack is specifically designed for all your historical needs, with the texture of the sounds flexible for customization. Plus, you get the usual Vadi Sound craft and attention to detail!

    Great for film, video, game, advertisements, Foley and suitable further as sweeteners outside of the medieval genre as well.

    What’s Inside
    Medieval war warfare armor impact scrape leather punching footstep rattle arrow whoosh axe breaking bone gore hitting carriage castle gate chain catapult fire drag & drop ground rumble crossbow Leonardo style attack dagger sword destruction explosion flag wind flapping gate opening stabbing mechanical knife hammer hitting horse galloping concrete sand mud metal mount katana male grunt angry textile step chest inhale exhale hurt pain yell falling pushing laughter scream strong leg prisoner siege town arrow falchion buzzing shaking throwing shield clanking.

    Green Witch’s Cauldron SFX Pack

    Green Witch’s Cauldron brings you the 450+ sounds of healing white magic and spells of a playful and sometimes wicked witch. It includes collecting and drying herbs, bubbling boiling potions, bottling, casting spells with elemental magic, and many more you can find in a cauldron. With this pack, you will have access to cat sounds, witch reactions, dried seeds, dried herbs, defensive spells, attacks, transfiguration spells, whooshes and transitions and elements.

    Green Witch’s Cauldron Sound Effects Bundle was recorded and designed exquisitely for all your magical needs and covers all sound effects needs for any white magic, potion-brewing, voices and subtle sounds of a witch’s life for the relevant projects and games that you are working on.

    These meticulously recorded sounds have clarity and lots of room for further usage and sound design with the flexible texture of the sounds for further customization. With 24-bit / 96kHz Wav format and easy to navigate naming, you can now set the bar higher for all your film, game, motion and video projects, advertisement, animation and all witchy projects.

    What’s Inside
    Medieval, town, ambience, fantastic magic magicka object, witch cauldron maddening opponent laughter mind air attack destruction burst element transition whoosh crackle wall braking hiss bubbling potion zinc bowl fireplace sizzling animal cat angry reaction eating food meowing attack basket dried seed plant falling shell braking boiling metal burning chained bush rustle stone glass chemical reaction glass lid bottle coin purse crumbling lavender palm wooden finger defensive shield destructive hand dusting off sprinkles creature pass by roaring cork casting healing glittery spice earth vacuum pouring acid pebble leaves leaf shaking shiny tree branch squeezed shuffling stirring grinder water bending ladle summoning teleporting time travel transfiguration imitating groaning laughing screaming wicked giggle eerie.

    What else you may need
    You may also want to check out our Gore for warfare, Essential Magic for darker magic and spells and All About Games Master Collection for a mega collection of 23 different packs for game audio sound effects.

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Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • Bicycle Sound Effects City Bicycles – Complete Bundle Play Track 633 sounds included, 330 mins total $120

    The complete package bundles all available City Bicycles-packages and is fully UCS compliant. The ‘Various Passbys + Bicycle Handling’ package is added as a free bonus!

    This is a unique bicycle library that captures four characteristic bikes in clean, quiet, nicely performed true exterior rides. Including multiple perspectives, speeds and actions. From fast passbys on asphalt to slow onboard recordings, smooth or skidding stops. This package contains everything you need to create convincing sound design for a City Bicycle.

    Contents:

    Four bikes with distinct characteristics:
    1. Good bike: a smooth sounding retro bike that doesn’t rattle or squeak, really nice tire noise.
    2. Bad bike: an old worn bike with severe rattles and cranking, tends to let the chain fly off.
    3. Ugly bike: this bike gets you from A to B… but it won’t win awards for it’s looks.
    4. Racer bike: a vintage racer that’s pre-owned but still super slick.
    'City Bicycles'  Sound Library by Frick & Traa
    Five perspectives:
    1. Onboard Front: captures the whirring tire and surface sound.
    2. Onboard Pedal: nice overall combination of pedaling, crank creaks, chain rattle, tire and surface sounds.
    3. Onboard Rear: close up sound of the rear axle, with chain, sprocket and switching of gear.
    4. Tracking shot: mono recording of the passby, keeping the bike in focus while passing by.
    5. Static XY shot: stereo recording of the passby that emphasizes speed.

    Five perspectives:



    Overview of perspectives and mic placement

    *Onboard recordings are 2-3 minutes long depending on speed. Higher speeds > shorter duration. All 3 onboard mics are edited in sync with one another to make layering easy. All Passbys, Arrivals and Departures move from Left to Right.

    Speeds and actions:
    Three speeds for every bike and every surface (see below). Departures from slow, medium to fast getaways. Arrivals from slow stops with gently squeaking handbrakes to heavy stuttering skids.

    City Bicycles – Perspectives Demo

    Five surfaces:

    We’ve recorded all Bikes on asphalt from all perspectives (onboard and roadside). Additionally, our most quiet bicycle (the Good Bike) was used to record 4 other surfaces from onboard perspectives.


    Five Surfaces:
    1. Asphalt: nice and clean, with smooth singing sound.**
    2. Large Bricks: nicely textured surface that makes the tires purr like a cat.**
    3. Gravel: a fresh crackling surface sound that you might find in a city park.
    4. Grit: classic bicycle path surface sounds that layers perfectly with the other surfaces.**
    5. Icy road: frozen asphalt with sparkling textures of ice crystals snapping under the wheels.

    **these surfaces are also recorded from Roadside Perspectives (passby: static and tracking)

    City Bicycles – Extra Surfaces Preview

    BONUS files:
    There are some sweeteners and extras to give your bike that extra layer of grit:
    1. Exterior recordings of various actions in multiple takes from rattles, bounces, shakes to roll-bys. Enough to make your bike sound just a little different.
    2. We also recorded 21 additional single passbys of various bicycles, from severely rattling to smooth riding bikes on small brick streets and alleys. Enough to expand your options to create a distinguished sound design.

    Metadata & Markers:

    FREE UPDATE to City Bicycles: now conforms to UCS with new metadata to quickly find your sounds.

    Because we know how important metadata is for your sound libraries we have created a consistent and intuitive description method that adheres to the Universal Category System. This allows you to find the sound you need easily, whether you work in a database like Soundminer/Basehead/PT Workspace work, or a Exporer/Finder window. We made a video that helps you navigate the library ans find your best bicycle sounds faster and easier.

    CategoryFull
    A quick way to filter out sounds you don’t need: like handling sounds or vice versa bicycle onboards.
    UserCategory
    Fastest way to find the type of action you need for all bicycles. Passby needed, just click and voila.
    OpenTier
    Once you’ve selected the bike you can open up OpenTier and audition and select the perspective you want to use.
    Scene &  Performer
    This field contains the type of bicycle to quickly navgiate to the bike you like.
    iXMLTrackLayout
    This is a neat little identifier you will find in the Waveform displays and you can see in a glance what Listening position you are.
    MicPerspective
    We have another way to find perspectives but it is more limited to distance to the recorded subject.
    So passbys are MED – EXT and handling are CU – EXT. Exterior? Of course: we recorded everything outside!
    UserComments
    We used this field to create the UserData and give you the minimal set of information about the recording in the filename.

    Additionally, we added Markers making specific sonic events are easy to spot in Soundminer and other apps.

    If you have any questions about this, please contact us info@frickandtraa.com!


    Single Bicycle packages:
    We also sell single packages for all the bicycles in this library.
    Here’s a handy comparison table:

    Reviews:
    344 AUDIO: ‘City Bicycles has a plethora of content, for a great price. The perfect balance between a great concept, great presentation and outstanding execution, lands them an almost perfect score of 4.9.

    The Audio Spotlight: City Bicycles is worth getting if you are in need of great sounding and well edited bicycle sounds.

    Watch a video created by Zdravko Djordjevic.

    City Bicycles sound examples
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  • Animal Sound Effects Rural Ambiences and Textures vol.1 Play Track 130+ sounds included, 270 mins total $21

    Rural ambiences, farm animals, pastures, rural villages, forest, meadows, tractors, farm ambiences etc. Distant villages, daytime and nighttime recordings. Barnyard, henhouse, pigsty ambiences, lumberjack works etc. Check the sound list for full info.

    High quality recordings recorded in MS, XY, AB; NOS, etc., mostly with Sennheiser MKH microphones and Sound Devices recorder/mixer. Files are without any dynamic manipulation (compression) with max. peak around -5dBFS.

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  • 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.
  • Ambisonic Sounds – Sea Waves Loops Vol.2 – these are 16 sounds of sea waves recorded on a pebble beach at close range, 2 sounds with seagull voices, 4 sounds recorded on the beach during the beginning of a thunderstorm and 6 sounds recorded near the seashore in the early morning, in which in addition to the sound of the sea, the sounds of crickets can be heard.

  • Electricity Sound Effects Massive Electric Magic Play Track 2587 sounds included, 154 mins total $34.99

    MASSIVE ELECTRIC MAGIC – is an extensive sound library containing 2587 unique files of various types of electric magic. From Zaps, Cracks and Buzzing to Lightning Energy chains. All of our libraries comply with the Universal Category System naming convention standard, allowing for accurate and easy granular searches.

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