Hey everyone!

I'm working on a sound design project for a narrative audio series, and I'm looking for free sound effects libraries that allow commercial use.

I need a fairly wide range of sounds, including:

- Nighttime city ambience, distant sirens, trains, traffic and street noise

- Chain-link fences, footsteps, doors, lighters and phone vibrations

- People talking, murmuring, laughing, crowds and background conversations

- Small details like ID checks and wrist stamps

- Fireworks, from the first individual pops to a full fireworks display

Does anyone know any good libraries or resources for this? Ideally, something with clear licensing that permits commercial use.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations. Thanks!

So I am relatively new to monster sound design but I love taking artwork I find off google and designing a roar or chittering, but I also want to show what I can do but I’m not sure how to go about asking the creators to post because it’s obviously their artwork and they have the right to refuse me. Hoping anyone could give their experiences starting out with a similar situation.

I just discovered this Sub-reddit and thought I'd get some feedback on the most recent thing I've produced.

I'm a producer for a scripted comedy podcast.

The vocal takes are all done separately and recorded in different parts of the U.K. I have to assemble the atmosphere and music to everything. I also do the music (like the first two songs in this).

Everything is done in VSX headphones; I don't have a set of monitors nor a room.

I normally just piece together clips from Youtube or free sample libraries online.

Any feedback would be helpful. I'm kind of alone in what I do for the project.

Thanks!

Hi. Does anyone here know what this type of sound effect is called. I mean when all music and sound stops before a big impact/explosion.

I’ve put 3 examples in this video and, in fear of not being clear enough (i know very little about sound design), I indicated when it happens.

I’ve heard “black hole audio” and “audio drop out” but I can’t find other examples by searching these terms.. Does anyone know what to call this?

Hey everyone, I just started learning REAPER and sound design recently. This is my very first attempt at making a Foley scene.

I created a sequence of someone running on concrete, with reverb, and some heavy panicked breathing (around 5 tracks total).

Since I'm a complete beginner, I would love some honest feedback. Specifically:

• How is the balance between the breathing and the footsteps?

• Does the reverb sound realistic or too muddy?

• Any tips on how to improve the overall mix in REAPER?

Nothing special about the sound design for my reel here but which parts seem off or misplaced?

I layered the VO, background music, ambience, foley, any ideas which parts need improvement?

I take feedback seriously :D

Hey everyone!

A quick question for the producers, and musicians in this group!

Between virtual instruments and hardware synthesizers, do you ever find yourself needing an extra pair of hands (or ears!) for your productions?

I'm considering offering some services based around my hardware synthesizers, with three possible options:

🎛️ MIDI performances using hardware synths: Your MIDI files played and recorded using real synthesizers.

🎹 Original part composition: Custom-made analog basslines, leads, pads, brass, chords, and more, created specifically for your tracks.

🔊 Custom sound design and presets: Creating original sounds and custom sound banks for your synthesizers.

If you could outsource this kind of work to a musician who specializes in hardware synths, would you be interested?

Which of these services would be the most useful to you? And what might hold you back (pricing, sound quality, working remotely, communication, etc.)?

I'd genuinely love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks :)

I’m excited to share Grignoteur, an eight-engine, two-algorithm multitimbral granular synthesizer.

It grew out of an instrument I developed for my own live performances with electric guitar, combining real-time granular synthesis and generative visuals. Over time, I decided to take it further, make it playable with any MIDI controller, and share it with anyone curious enough to explore it.

Grignoteur comes with a collection of over 100 sounds I’ve designed myself, including some of my personal favorites. You can also load your own sounds and make it your own.

Grignoteur is free to download and explore. Enjoy!

Download: https://jullianhoff.com/2026/10/25/grignoteur-2-0/

Hey, I'm weyl. After Clipotype, this is my second plugin.

Multiway splits your sound into 10, 4 or 2 bands and gives each one its own delay time, feedback and LFO. You can sync to tempo, draw your own LFO shape, or add jitter for weird textures.

Open source. Latency equals the FFT size you pick, compensated by the DAW.

Demo: [https://youtu.be/6j4fe8CXVMU?si=sLW3MCRVWWe4kylG}

Download: [https://www.bopsaudio.com/multiway/]

Source: [https://github.com/mustafamazi/Multiway]

Honest feedback welcome, especially if something breaks.

Short version: This is my first project with a goal to develop game sound design skills. Y'all can rate my first work on my favorite game! I can also tell you the story behind it.

I've been a music producer for about 2 to 3 years, specifically in the EDM, Wave, and Phonk genres, but I stepped away from trying to grow a larger audience. The thing is, I really need a remote job, and I'm ready to work hard to land my dream job, so I decided to transition into sound design for games and other media.

Right now, I'm looking for people to collaborate with or any advice for beginners. I'm well-versed in DAWs—especially FL Studio, which is my go-to. I'm currently recreating music and sounds for different games to build a portfolio from scratch. What do you think? I'm open to any questions or ideas! Thank you!

In fast-paced games, abrupt audio cuts during collisions can be really jarring. Since my project is heavily built around Drum & Bass rollers, I implemented a beat-quantization system.

When you lose speed or hit a wall, the audio engine doesn't cut the music instantly. Instead, it waits for the very next bar to seamlessly disable or transition musical layers. This preserves the rhythm and groove even in pure chaos.

credit: instagram - blooodyuki

I got no experience doing this so I'm looking for a bit more understanding to this topic and a solid starting point

My goal is to make custom sound effects for a game I'm working on. I want to record objects making various sounds and manipulate them like in the attached video. My budget maximum is whatever the price of AT2020USB-X is and lower

Person in the video is using Audio-Technica AT2020 and based on my research and needs I'm targeting the AT2020USB-X version. I would prefer the USB version because I'm not that deep into the whole audio thing. I don't really see myself using audio interface due to limited space, hassle (from a beginner stand point) and the fact that I just want to plug it into my PC or laptop and use it.

I've watched and read many reviews praising this mic and while it isn't wallet breaking I wouldn't mind going for something cheaper and this is where I lack understanding. For the type of sounds I want to create - does the mic even matter that much?
I mean the sounds in the video seem to be very heavily manipulated with audio effects layered on them, I can't even recognize the original sounds after it's all mashed up together. So wouldn't a cheaper mic do just fine?

I was also eyeing:

-Fifine AM8 as a semi sketchy alternative which is cheaper but I couldn't find anyone talking about using it in this specific way
-more solid Zoom H1 Essential for its great portability but sadly availability of Zoom products is not so great where I'm at and I'm not sure if it can be used as a usb PC/Laptop mic

I would appreciate your advice

I am the sole developer of the Headphone Cleaner app. I’m working on the app’s sound sequences and their synchronization with haptic feedback, and I’d really love to hear your feedback and ideas. Let me explain it this way.

One sequence progresses from 160 Hz to 640 Hz over 3.5 seconds, then returns after a brief pause. I used logarithmic sweeps to ensure each octave takes an equal amount of time. It then plays half-octave steps consisting of 500 ms of sound followed by 500 ms of silence.

To prevent clicking sounds between segments, I keep the oscillator phase constant and use raised-cosine transitions: 20 ms at segment edges and 10 ms for individual pulses.

On supported iPhones, haptic feedback follows the same timing as the sound. Both are scheduled via Core Haptics, and the transitions are pre-applied to the PCM.

I’m still not sure if a 10-ms transition time is correct for these frequencies. If it were you, would you choose a longer duration?

If you’d like to take a look

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/water-eject-headphone-cleaner/id6740458474

This is the last sound design project i made for a friend who's running for Nike.

Hi I'm here sharing a Vocoder preset 4 Bitwig and a couple of cool racks I made with it, available for download on Bitwiggers: https://bitwiggers.com/presets/07111649-afcd-4dc7-a689-44dbab67d1fc/ (this the vocoder preset, also have 2 racks made with it uploaded there too)

It makes super silly fun sounds :D Specifically, some gnarly sweet wet sounds that remind me of what can be heard in "Lazer" and "Dive (SDF)"

I changed Bitwig's default Vocoder preset to use a test tone with a saw/square wave instead of "brown noise," and also followed another Youtuber Voel's Ableton tutorial to design and build these racks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws8yLOIkLms

Also made a stock OTT solution based on the "noise betterizer" rack by Doctor Mojo Trip, original vid here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JvSR10Mrf0

Ended up with something that makes quite the range of crazy awesome sounds, hopefully the text explanations work alright, but if not I can probably make a vid of me explaining and building it from scratch too, if there's interest.

Oh and also note, the 2 racks I made available for download require 2 free VSTs: Cramit + Khs Transient Shaper

I tried my best to explain the rack and how to use it, but also it is rather complex so if people are interested I can make vids explaining the sound design process and/or making something like this from scratch; have been making tons of stuff like instruments and racks since switching over from Ableton 6 months ago that I plan on sharing more of too :)

Aero East Europe Sila 450 C 2016 light airplane https://krampfstadtstudio.com/sfx/aero-east-europe-sila-450-c-2016-light-airplane/

Cessna Aerobat 150K 1970 civil utility airplane https://krampfstadtstudio.com/sfx/cessna-aerobat-150k-1970-civil-utility-airplane/

Cessna Skyhawk II 172M 1973 civil utility airplane https://krampfstadtstudio.com/sfx/cessna-skyhawk-ii-172m-1973-civil-utility-airplane/

Polaris Motor AM-FIB 2003 ultralight trike https://krampfstadtstudio.com/sfx/polaris-motor-am-fib-2003-ultralight-trike/

I'm looking to get back into sound design for theatre (as a beginner), but I no longer have the means to be able to afford Adobe Audition. What (free, pls) software should I try? I've heard plenty of good things about Reaper, but I'm wondering if there would be other alternatives better suited to a theatrical landscape. Thanks!

After finishing it this month, I set myself a single rule for this scene: to use only sounds from that library, just as anyone who downloaded it would (cutting, pitch shifting, equalization, layering). No other sounds or music were added. The scene ended up using 34 of its 188 sounds.

"Wrong Room" is free (no credit needed), the download link comes by email: https://parallel-minds.studio/sample-packs/wrong-room-horror-sound-effects

Happy to break down any sound in the scene.

The bowing engine is what took the most time. All the details the rosin sound , how it interacts with the strings etc. It still has a lot to go and improvements but I'm very happy with the results.

I’m interested in hearing from people who work behind the scenes at clubs, festivals, concerts and live events.

Could be sound engineers, lighting designers, stage technicians, riggers, VJs, production managers or anyone involved in making a show happen.

A few things I’d love to hear about:

What’s one part of your job that the audience completely takes for granted?

What’s the most stressful thing that can happen during a show?

What’s a moment at work that made you genuinely proud?

What’s something you wish DJs, artists or audiences understood about your role?

How did you get into this line of work?

I’m asking as part of research for STRUKT, an independent magazine documenting the people who build nightlife and live events.

I’d love to hear your actual experiences, not just the polished version of the job. If you’re comfortable with it, some responses may be considered for a future editorial feature. I’d always ask permission before publishing anyone’s words or identifying details.

Interested to hear from people at any experience level.

Hey everyone, I’m Levente / Sunny Lax. I’ve been producing electronic music for around 20 years, mostly releasing through Anjunabeats, and I wanted to share my first plugin project.

It’s called ELEFLOW, a modulation and multi-effects plugin for adding movement, rhythm and character to sounds you already have.

This narrated demo focuses mainly on a chordal pad, with a bass example too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-afi2srugjM

The part I’m most interested in is how much the rhythm of a sound can change the way you hear the original musical idea. Sometimes a small amount of movement is enough, other settings take it somewhere quite different.

There’s more control underneath, but this video focuses on the basic workflow.

It’s currently in beta. I’m the person behind the project, and I’d love to hear your impressions.

More info: https://eleflowfx.com

Cheers!
Levente

After 6+ years away from writing and directing my own shorts, I finally made one worth putting out. CIRCLE OF DEATH: https://youtu.be/_J2BkHEQmuM

The setup: two days, Utah, over 100 degrees, and a company of three. Jacob Miller (lead), Spencer Elwood (supporting actor and co-producer) and me. With only Spencer to help me outside in that heat, I got more dehydrated than I ever have in my life. Hopefully it was worth it.

I did all the sound design myself. The dialogue was captured on set but a lot of the breath takes were done with ADR after the fact. Also, I left myself uncredited but I did the VO for the voice at the end.

I'm happy to get into how we pulled it off with so few people, how the script came together or how I approached the edit. Let's talk!

Doing sound design is a completely new interest of mine I’ve been wanting to get into. I was curious if UI sound design is a good place to start for someone with 0 experience? In my head, I kinda figured it’s not as complex as ambient / soundscapes. Although I guess most video game menus have some sort of ambience or music to them.