Effects database

[JP12687]

Where can i get a good sound effects database. And how much would something like that cost. I want to have one source for all sound effects do 95% of the time i dont have to go searching. I have a backup hard drive i am planning on converting to store everything..its 200gb im assuming thats enough.

Any help would be appreciated.

[RelativeMischief]

There are alot of different libraries out there that are available for purchase. Post not being something I'm interested I've never looked at different sets and prices and what not, but suffice it to say, the library that we used in college was the "#20" set of a 55 set library. The 20 set was about 25 discs of 50-75 samples each. What I'm trying to get at is that an entire library costs a lot of money and they all come on cd's so you won't need the extra hard drive space for storing the sounds.

Sorry I couldn't help me more but also remember, for those of us who listen for it, every movie made in the last 5 years has the same sound of a door closing or opening, and the same sound of a gunshot, it's good to be original occasionaly.

[ccfan213]

there are effects databases that can be downloaded, but i dont know from where and they cost money, also it is not likely that you will be able to afford one that has all of the effects you will ever need, it is probably priced similarly to the ones Aaron was talking about, mabe a little cheaper because there is no medium, but it wont be cheap.

[Peter]

I think this is probably what you are saying you dont want to do, but i just use Google to find free clips of what I want, or if i cant find the right sound, i'll take one that i can find and edit it (using a waveform editor) into what I really do want. I know this is time consumeing, but it is all that i am able to do with my budget :-) (haha oh ya, i dont have a budget!) I hope you are able to find something!

[blsmn]

If you want to individually preview sound effects before getting them, have them sitting in your e-mail ready to burn within 1 minute after ordering, customize them to any length, order in stereo or mono and 8-bit or 16-bit, go to www.sounddogs.com - I have not used anything else for the last 4 years and I can always come up with the exact sound I want. They do cost, but hey, what doesn't that's worth it?

[zachlipton]

I have to second the recomendation of sounddogs.com. Their prices are pretty cheap (roughly $5 for an average effect I would say) and their catalog covers such a wide range of effects that you can basically find everything you need. They have free mp3 previews of everything and they will give you a full uncompressed AIFF or WAV file after you purchase.

I've gotten through entire shows from sounddogs. Be careful though, it's easy to go on a purchasing spree and rack up a $50 bill pretty quick (it's a wonderful feeling to do this when you have someone else paying the bill however )

[dschmoldt]

Originally Posted by zachlipton

I have to second the recomendation of sounddogs.com. Their prices are pretty cheap (roughly $5 for an average effect I would say) and their catalog covers such a wide range of effects that you can basically find everything you need. They have free mp3 previews of everything and they will give you a full uncompressed AIFF or WAV file after you purchase.

I've gotten through entire shows from sounddogs. Be careful though, it's easy to go on a purchasing spree and rack up a $50 bill pretty quick (it's a wonderful feeling to do this when you have someone else paying the bill however )

I have two professional CD libraries that are probably about 100 CDs total. Both had downloadable cue databases, so I downloaded them, merged them into a single Access database, and copied all the actual cues from CD to a hard drive. Now I can do Access keyword searches for effects (such as "telephone"). All the telephone cues come up in a list, and I can click on them and play the sample off the hard drive to preview them. Works pretty well overall and much better than using the hardcopy cue directories that came with the libraries and popping multiple CDs in the drive to hear the various phone cues.

That being said, those libraries cost me hundreds of dollars and I'll probably never use most of the cues. And even at 100 CDs, they tend to be broad-but-generic and often don't have the exact cues I'm looking for.

If I were starting over, I would probably skip the CD libraries and just go with Sounddogs.com. They have a huge library of very specific sound effects. Almost all the major sound effects libraries seem to be available. Need a specific '55 Chevy effect? They might have 50 of them to choose from. I can usually get the cues I need for a show for somewhere between $25 and $50 dollars. My biggest complaint about them is the online previews they provide are of low-res quality (understandable) and pretty short. So sometimes it can be a little difficult to know what the final purchased cue will sound like. Example: a low res rain storm environment sounds like static. But the final WAV file might sound great.

And the cues are usually ready to download within a few minutes of placing the order. WHich can be great if you're working under the usual time crunch.

Dave

[blsmn]

Yea, the low-res previews at sounddogs can be a little deceiving, but they are not to the point of not being able to adequately judge the effect. I have yet to buy anything from them that didn't turn out as I envisioned it. The other areas they are outstanding in are tech support and service. I was having problems one day with a credit card that I knew was good - I e-mailed them about the order being rejected and within 5 minutes I had an answer. They were having problems with their new card verification system, put my order through for me even without card verification (course, I have been doing business there for the last 4 years), and I had my effects about 30 seconds later.

The other thing I really like is the flexibility. The last show we did the director and I decided we needed a sound cue where there wasn't one prior - and this being during the first act of the second to last dress rehearsal. We decided just what we were looking for, and when intermission time came along I zipped down to my computer, hit sounddogs and did a search for what we wanted, previewed about 10 that sounded interesting, found EXACTLY what we were looking for, bought it, had it in my e-mail a minute later, burned it to CD, and made it back within the 15 minute intermission time. Sweet - sounddogs is a good thing

[zachlipton]

bismn: Wow I've never done a cue substitution in the middle of intermission. Nice trick

The nice thing about sounddogs' previews is that you can hear the effect as you plan to use it. In cases where I'm building composite cues or doing surround effects, it especially helps to be able to preview how the new cue sounds along with the existing cues. It's also nice to be able to hand the director a couple of options without paying for all of them.

Sounddogs is great for effects, but make sure to check out their music collection. When you don't know what you want for a cue and just want something that fits a mood, it's a great staring place.

[SteveRB]

I use http://www.findsounds.com/ It is great, it is an internet search engine for sound effects. And the best part is that it is free. You also have lots of choices to narrow down your search, you can choose: Flie Type, Mono or Stereo, Minimum Resolution, Minimum Sample Rate, and Maximum File size. It has pretty much always worked for me, only once or twice have I had to go some place else for a sound effect.

Steven Byers