Catalog of sound effects?
- Thread starter waxenpi
- Start date
Jason Ramsey
Admin
Well, if you really wanna go raw dog and hardcore with it.... At the radio station I work for, we have a 10 set Warner Bros. Sound FX cd's. There are multiple sets you can buy, and a catalog that lists every single sound effect from every single available set.
But they are super expensive. like hundreds of dollars per set.
We also have the digifects. The sound ideas that was referenced. They are pretty good too, but nothing like the WB one's I mentioned.
Jason
But they are super expensive. like hundreds of dollars per set.
We also have the digifects. The sound ideas that was referenced. They are pretty good too, but nothing like the WB one's I mentioned.
Jason
I have two recommendations for you.
The first one, is (depending on what your needs are) make them yourself. You can do a lot with items around your house. Need punches? Take a yard stick and smack it on a leather couch. Need bones breaking? Try crushing and twisting cellery. There's online tutorials everywhere for doing your own foley, making a foley board, etc. I happen to think the best sound effects are the ones you make yourself, because they give you the opportunity to use something original, and they'll normally blend much better in with the overall sound of your film.
My other suggestion, is to take a look at soundtrack pro on the mac. If you're using final cut studio to edit, you already will have it. The program is a fairly decent multitrack audio editing/mixing app. But it also comes with a very big library of sfx. And there are TONS of useable sounds in there. Everything from foley, to weapons, to futuristic sounds. Some stuff is really good, while other stuff doesn't work as well. The quality is high on all the effects in there, but sometimes they just won't fit your film. That's why I do recommend making your own effects, as you can tailor them to exactly what you need.
-Steve
The first one, is (depending on what your needs are) make them yourself. You can do a lot with items around your house. Need punches? Take a yard stick and smack it on a leather couch. Need bones breaking? Try crushing and twisting cellery. There's online tutorials everywhere for doing your own foley, making a foley board, etc. I happen to think the best sound effects are the ones you make yourself, because they give you the opportunity to use something original, and they'll normally blend much better in with the overall sound of your film.
My other suggestion, is to take a look at soundtrack pro on the mac. If you're using final cut studio to edit, you already will have it. The program is a fairly decent multitrack audio editing/mixing app. But it also comes with a very big library of sfx. And there are TONS of useable sounds in there. Everything from foley, to weapons, to futuristic sounds. Some stuff is really good, while other stuff doesn't work as well. The quality is high on all the effects in there, but sometimes they just won't fit your film. That's why I do recommend making your own effects, as you can tailor them to exactly what you need.
-Steve
Cool Lights
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I use SoundDogs.com (www.sounddogs.com) and they have collections and also individually downloadable music and sound effects. You can preview it before you buy it to make sure its what you want.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Two suggestions. Depending on your needs and budget either is a good deal. At the very low end is Digital Juice SFX library, often discounted to around $250. A decent set of sounds, some good others OK But a pretty wide selection at a very good price. On the high end is Sound Storms FX library. It comes on a with a free Soundminer license for around $7000. Seems high but it's 50,000+ FX of very high quality and the best cataloging program around.
If your locked in CD land I have generally found Hollywood Edge's FX libraries more useful than Sound Ideas. And the BBC series is quite affordable, though very british.
Most CD's go for around $100/ disk in sets so be prepared to spend some $$$
Recording your own is a great way to get high quality sounds but even I, who have almost 30,000 original recordings own a number of libraries because you can't record everything and sometimes even if you could you don't have the time or budget to.
If your locked in CD land I have generally found Hollywood Edge's FX libraries more useful than Sound Ideas. And the BBC series is quite affordable, though very british.
Most CD's go for around $100/ disk in sets so be prepared to spend some $$$
Recording your own is a great way to get high quality sounds but even I, who have almost 30,000 original recordings own a number of libraries because you can't record everything and sometimes even if you could you don't have the time or budget to.
moonlitnite
Well-known member
Great feedback, Noiz2. And like Digital Juice's occasional special deals, keep your eye out for the blue-plate specials from Sound-ideas I liked their Science Fiction 8000 CDs and found their Podcasting Production Toolkit was loaded with clips. On that note, buyers should watch out for companies that package their sound effects in a deceptive manner. Some only put 1-2 "token" 1 second sound effects on each of the 100 tracks; worse, I've seen them make trivial changes on essentially the same effect to fill up the CD. The point is, don't assume the raw number of total effects quoted by the seller gives an accurate representation of the CDs value.
I also second Noiz2 regarding catalog management - when you start getting thousands of effects, you really need a way to quickly find the needle in the haystack.
Regards, Michael
I also second Noiz2 regarding catalog management - when you start getting thousands of effects, you really need a way to quickly find the needle in the haystack.
Regards, Michael
awesome advice guys - thanks
noiz2, digital juices sfx library comes neatly packaged in their own software so you can search for sounds easily.
how do you group/store your own recorded sounds and then search for them, can you integrate them into digital juices software? and similarly with cd compilations, can they all be put together in one digital library and searched through with one piece of software? or will there always be some segregation?
noiz2, digital juices sfx library comes neatly packaged in their own software so you can search for sounds easily.
how do you group/store your own recorded sounds and then search for them, can you integrate them into digital juices software? and similarly with cd compilations, can they all be put together in one digital library and searched through with one piece of software? or will there always be some segregation?
I am actually gonna develop my audio knowledge by trying to record sound effects myself, I know they will plain suck cause of my cheaper/est single mic will only be acceptable for a number of the sounds I'll try to capture... but it will be a good exercise for sure... I'll have to figure out why it is impossible for me to get the right sound with that type of mic and which would be the right one, understand why I got an ok example of the ones I end up using and so on...
I saw a docu of guys that make their living doing just that... I never saw so many mics being used at once... and all different, and in such random (to me) positions... cool, very cool indeed...
anyone have any tips as to how to go about my positioning experimentation with shotgun mics, any general tip that might help organize my trial and error and make it a bit systematical?
I saw a docu of guys that make their living doing just that... I never saw so many mics being used at once... and all different, and in such random (to me) positions... cool, very cool indeed...
anyone have any tips as to how to go about my positioning experimentation with shotgun mics, any general tip that might help organize my trial and error and make it a bit systematical?