View Full Version : Best Sound FX Libraries


Will Hanlon
February 13th, 2007, 10:05 PM
Anyone here bought any Hollywood Edge CD sets? Were they worth it?

Or how about Sound Ideas? Any good?

Digital Juice?

Any particular sound fx library you were really impressed by as far as quality and quantity?

Any tips on where to buy high quality hollywood fx like their manipulated gun shots?

Richard Andrewski
February 13th, 2007, 10:23 PM
Personally I prefer downloading as I need it. Why buy other stuff if you won't need it?

www.sounddogs.com

They even have preview so you can see if you like it or not.

Will Hanlon
February 16th, 2007, 06:12 PM
That website is pretty good, but I question the quality of a lot of the sounds although they do have sound fx from Hollywood Edge and Sound Ideas sets.

Anyone here have a Hollywood Edge or Sound Ideas set? Did you regret buying it?

Any recommendations for really good hollywoodesque gun sounds? It's easy to find gun sounds, but not ones that sound the same as those used in big films... real guns vs hollywood guns.

Glenn Davidson
February 16th, 2007, 06:19 PM
I have Sound Ideas 'XV Series'. It is a 'best of' sound Ideas set. I also have 'Hollywood' and 'Ambience 3000'. All are very good, especially The 'XV Series'. Watch for NAB special prices on their effects.

The sounddogs preview quality is not very good, but I have purchased over 100 effects from them and have been very happy.

Will Hanlon
February 16th, 2007, 07:24 PM
When do you think the NAB special prices would start?

Sounddogs seems like it has nearly everything although their search engine is a little funky. For example, it looks like they have all of Hollywood Edge's Dynamic Range series... when I searched for "gun" though, I didn't find any in that set. I figured out you can just type "dynamic range" and it gives you all the effects in that set, which is pretty cool.

I imagine just buying the individual sounds I need will save me money in the long run... I hope so anyway.

Did the XV Series have any good gun sounds? I keep watching the trailer for Casino Royale, and they have this really amazing gunshot, but I doubt I could find it.

Thanks for your responses.

Glenn Davidson
February 16th, 2007, 07:48 PM
Here is a list of the effects in Sound Ideas XV. Another good set is 'The General', more expensive though. They may have a NAB special now. I would call them and ask.




http://www.sound-ideas.com/pdf/xv.pdf

Bryan Wilkat
February 16th, 2007, 08:38 PM
do you guys know of any FREE sound effects websites? i'm always a little sketched about buying stuff online.

and more specifically, where can i get a traditional a swear word "bleep"?

Bill Zens
February 17th, 2007, 10:35 AM
oops, hit the submit button too early...

Bill Zens
February 17th, 2007, 10:38 AM
I bought the Digital Juice library. Their first version is over 10,000 sounds, although probably 1/2 of that number are musical fx, and professional voice over ("On sale Now!") in male and female voices.

There's nothing like having an extensive SFX library at your reach. Sometimes, you might want to add an effect that may be subtle but will add that extra ambience to your presentation. I jump over to the juicer (their database catalog of sounds), type in a description (say "splash") and the five or so different splash sounds come up. Select whichever, or all, of the sounds I want, render, and use them in the vid.

Typically, it satisifies about 80% of my needs, and I feel it was worth the $ spent for it. DJ is supposed to come out with a second SFX library any day now, and I'm almost certainly going to pop for it.

(I would also check their website regularly, as DJ is right now in the middle of a great seasonal promotion. It Seems like EVERY DAY, (well, weekdays, certainly) they are promoting heavy discounts on something, and it wouldn't surprise me if the SFX library will come up.)

Steven Gotz
February 17th, 2007, 11:30 AM
Feel free to peruse my audio page for links to sound effects web sites, both free and not free.

http://www.stevengotz.com/audio.htm

Richard Andrewski
February 17th, 2007, 09:18 PM
That website is pretty good, but I question the quality of a lot of the sounds although they do have sound fx from Hollywood Edge and Sound Ideas sets.

Anyone here have a Hollywood Edge or Sound Ideas set? Did you regret buying it?

Any recommendations for really good hollywoodesque gun sounds? It's easy to find gun sounds, but not ones that sound the same as those used in big films... real guns vs hollywood guns.

As someone else said, their preview quality is just lower to take up less web bandwidth on their site. I haven't gotten a bad effect from them ever. And their royalty free music is pretty good too. Just takes some imagination when you preview it all.

Glenn Davidson
February 17th, 2007, 09:32 PM
Steven, That's fantastic. Thanks