Pro Sound Effects | PSE Blog

If there’s a sound you need, any sound, chances are you’ll find it online. Heck, there are sound effects available for the obscurest of the obscure, like Olympic curling and yogurt curdling. But what are some of the most popular sound effects online? What sounds do filmmakers and game developers want most of all? Here on the PSE blog, we’ve compiled a list of these sound effects – without further ado, The 20 Most Popular Types of Sound Effects:

20. Crowd Sound Effects
Unless you’re able to get a room full of people to chatter under a microphone for you, you’ll need some walla. Don’t try and decipher the murmurs- they’re usually gibberish anyway.

19. War Sound Effects
Considering how many productions, (film, game or otherwise) are war-based, it’s no surprise war sound effects are on our list. The ambient noises of war (machine gun fire, background explosions) add an essential layer to any war scene.

18. Game Show Sound Effects
Game shows are full of interesting sounds, usually either congratulating or penalizing the contestants. Either way, they’re usually production elements (abstract, digital sounds).

17. Train Sound Effects
The distinct rattle of rails and the toot of a steam engine is integral in any Western. Train sounds can not only add to platform scenes but also provide a perfect transition from one setting to another.

16. Hanna Barbera Sound Effects
Hanna-Barbera has some of the wackiest, zaniest sounds out there, perfect for many comedies and animated pieces. Their extensive libraries have every splat and wham you could possibly imagine.

15. Scary Sound Effects
When trying to create an eerie atmosphere, it’s all in the sound. Doorknob rattles, floorboard creaks and wind sounds create a mood that no picture could possibly manage on its own.

14. Funny Sound Effects
Ever notice the over-the-top sound effects in all those Will Farrell movies, or the more obvious ones in Warner Brothers cartoons?  Plops, dings, squeaks, even punches and body falls can have personality to them, and many sound effects editors seem to want the funny-tinged versions.

13. Doorbell Sound Effect
A tried and true sound effects used even in the earliest radio shows is the doorbell.  It immediately signifies another person is about to enter the scene.

12. Star Trek Sound Effect
People look for sounds from Star Trek even more often than sounds from Star Wars!  Well, that one was surprising, but maybe that’s because we are more Star Wars people over here.  No offense to all the Trekkies out there.

11. Animal Sound Effects
This one wasn’t surprising, but did you know that we have sounds from hundreds of animals, not just the typical dog bark or cow moo?  We’ve got baboon hisses, blue-footed boobies honking, even piranhas eating.  Seriously.

10. Video Game Sound Effects
These sounds will take you back to the early 80s. Think Asteroids from Atari, Mouse Trap from Colecovision. Narrow band, synthesized  melodies, pings and speech with an R2-D2 accent.

9. Static Sound Effect
Ever wonder what sonic fuzz sounds like?  Static sound effects are often made from white, pink, or even brown noise that’s then chopped up and subjected to ASDR envelopes. Google that one if you’re new to sound synthesis.

8. Cartoon Sound Effects
Cartoon tends to be synonymous with funny when it comes to the sound effects world.  If you need ingredients for a laughter cake, look no farther.  Mmmm. Cake.

7. Movie Sound Effects
All the people searching for sounds from famous movies will be thrilled to know that they not only can find and use sounds from Academy-Award winning films, there are thousands to choose from.

6. Thunder Sound Effect
Whether created with a large, metal sheet then pitch shifted down, or synthesized with C-Sound, or recorded in nature, you’ll feel the unmistakable rumble of thunder with these sounds.

5. Record Scratch Sound Effect
We dare someone to create a Concerto with a virtuosic, record-scartching androgynous robot as the soloist, and then have it performed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.

4. Explosion Sound Effect
One of the most fun sound effects to work with: explosions.  You can build your own with individual elements (wood snap, glass debris, low frequency boom) or use pre-made effects that already contain multiple sound layers.  Boooooom.

3. Siren Sound Effect
What effect would it have to use an LA police siren when designing a chase scene shot in Shanghai, China?

2. DJ Sound Effects
DJs often cross from traditional musical borders into the more abstract sound art territory.  Often spicing mixes up with sound effects, these libraries offer many sounds to choose from.

1. Gun Sound Effects
Like explosions, gun sound effects are made from multiple elements, and each type of gun sounds drastically different from the next.  Pro Sound Effects’ customers are often searching for gun sounds. We’ve got thousands to offer.

Christian Marclay, American visual artist and composer, has created a brand new ‘graphic score’ titled “Manga Scroll“. It borrows its style from Japanese Manga comics, using onomatopoeic words and phrases sewn together to produce a sixty-foot long chain of sound effects madness. It’s a neat idea, and – traversing visual and aural mediums – could be of great interest to the sound design community. The piece is currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art, as part of Christian Marclay: Festival. Check it out at the official website here.

What’s more, as a ‘graphic score’, it is has also been performed! Joan la Barbara, composer and sound artist, showcased her interpretation of Manga Scroll on July 16. Take a look at a video of the performance below:

Think you could read those sounds aloud more accurately? Was that left hook more of a BAM! or a POW!? Stay tuned to the PSE blog for our next competition, highly related to the content of today’s blog post…. and a whole host of free sound effects to our winner!

It’s always going to be difficult designing sound for a film that delves deep into the surreal and bizzare. Throw an unhealthy amount of slow-motion into the mix and you have something of a sound design nightmare. With the right sound effects in the right places, however, you can ensure that dreams stay dreams and reality a reality. Mix Magazine offers an interesting look into how Richard King – supervising sound editor and sound designer – did just that, tackling the challenges that this summer’s Inception presented him with:

“In one very unusual scene, an entire neighborhood in Paris appears to rise up and curl onto itself as if it’s being peeled off the earth’s surface—something we’ve definitely never seen or heard before. “That sequence could sound like anything,” King offers. “It could be a very sci-fi, synth-y, smooth sound. The shot could totally rely upon music. It could be very frightening or awe-inspiring. Chris’ direction was that he wanted it to sound like massive machinery, like a huge watch mechanism—again, using a relatable sound for an image we’ve never seen. Imagine a machine that would be massive enough to move a city like that. That’s the sound that I tried to make. What you hear in the film is composed of all kinds of different sounds: It’s big metal groans and giant, heavy machinery moving, pivoting, clattering. I tried to create a little [sound] suite that would progress as the city rises and folds over.”

King and his team also had to get creative when it came to sculpting the sound of the transitions from sleep to dreams—“a little bit of an audible cue that we’re transitioning somewhere,” King says. “We hooked two oscillators to a couple of giant subwoofers in a few different locations and recorded the result. We used Hennessy Street, which is a [Warner Bros.] back-lot street, to get a sense of an urban locale; inside one of the big WB soundstages; and also in a canyon in the mountains north of L.A. Then, using the oscillator, we dialed it from 10 or 12 Hz up into the audible hearing range—and not only does it start to activate and shake and rattle things in the interior spaces, but you hear this wave of sound that comes from nowhere that becomes quite massive as the sound comes up into 18, 20, 25Hz range.”

Read the whole article here. There are no spoilers, if for some reason you haven’t yet seen it.

If you’re searching for surreal sounds, dream sequence sounds, or just weird ambient noises, check out Sounds of a Different Realm.

If you liked the sounds of BBC’s Planet Earth, you’ll love this video. It’s an interesting glimpse into marine sounds of the deep blue. Peter Tyack of Woods Hole talks about the amazing ways whales use sound and song to communicate across hundreds of miles of ocean.

(Peter Tyack studies the the social behavior and acoustic communication in whales and dolphins, learning how these animals use sound to perform critical activities, such as mating and locating food.)

Pro Sound Effects hosted the first BBC Planet Earth Sound Effects Listening Party this past week (July 2010) in NYC.  The purpose was to gather together people from diverse backgrounds, listen to animal sounds from around the world, and via an Interactive Brain Panel, BrainBarnStorm ideas relating to interactive applications, installations, artistic and business application of this Massive archive.

We invited a select group of those in technology, music, art, fashion, web programming, design, engineering, martial arts and figure skating to storm the barn with the brains and come up with some cool ideas.  The discussion portion of the event was informal, but creative and exciting ideas were nonetheless thrown out including:

• Creating a horror sound design library with all animal sound effects as your sonic palette (thanks, Arya)
• Producing webisodes for children where they listen to animal sounds from around the world and learn about their habitats (Valiance!)
• Pygmee Chimpanzee Fart ringtones (unanimous)

Listen to some of our favorites from the BBC Sound Effects Listening Party, then comment below about your own brain storming experience…

Sounds from the BBC Planet Earth Listening Party by Pro Sound Effects

A taste from the BBC Nature Sound Effects Library.  These are NOT specially created sounds for some fanstastical movie trailer.  They are REAL!! What’s that cliche again… truth is stranger than fiction…

Listen, download and use as you please:

BBC Nature Sample Sound Effects (MP3)

Japanese Sika Deer
- image courtesty of Wikipedia

Pro Sound Effects came out in force at NAB 2010.  Larry Jordan interviewed our very own Doug Price about all the great happenings this year.  As master distributor for HD Sound Effects publisher Blastwave FX, there was much to discuss, including their new library, BUGS!, and the Blastwave FX and Avid Sound Design Competition.