Designing Sound

Art and technique of sound design

Independent SFX Libraries

Note: We are no longer updating this list and are leaving it visible only for reference. In light of many SFX library database sites and vendors, we do not feel it necessary to keep up this list.

Affordable Audio 4 Everyone Twitter

Run by: Daniel Gooding
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: affordableaudio4everyone.com
About: was started in June 2011 by Daniel Gooding. The goal of this site is to provided SFX, with professional quality, and sounds that are unique enough for seasoned professionals to use and enjoy, but at the same time affordable enough for students interested in sound design to be able to purchase. Affordable Audio 4 Everyone donates any purchase over $5 to charities of those in need.
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Arrowhead Audio Twitter

Run by: Fred Pearson
Quality: 16-Bit/44.1kHz and 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: arrowheadaudiosfx.com
About: Aim to produce high-quality, royalty-free, small sample packs, at an affordable price. Not everyone wants lots of sounds, so we’ve cut down the number of sounds we produce, which keeps our prices low. However, we have not compromised on quality, thus providing the best sound effects at the best possible price. All sounds are unprocessed (only normalized) to keep the dynamic range of the sound intact.
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Articulated Sounds Twitter

Run by: Stéphane Fufa Dufour
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: articulatedsounds.com
About: Articulated Sounds is run by Stéphane Fufa Dufour—audio designer, sound explorer, media artist and entrepreneur at the crossroad of sound, music, field recording, engineering and interactivity with more than 10 years of experience. His focus is on the creative arts, nature, science-fiction and organic living things. Stéphane worked on AAA projects, indie movie and video games as well as in the music industry. Throughout his career, he got involved in projects for Adidas, NRJ, National Bank, Warner, Fremantle Media and The Price Is Right.
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Avosound 

Run by: Guido Helbling
Quality: 24Bit/96kHz
Website: www.avosound.com
About: Avosound, formerly Soundeffects.ch, provides high-quality, royalty-free sound effects from all around the world. Avosound is specialized for atmospheres and sound design libraries. The team travels around the world, recording fresh and unique sounds. No matter if it’s on icy, bone-chilling cold summits or in the hustle and bustle of an Asian market, Avosound is there, preparing new sound collections from Stereo up to 5.1.
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BONSON Facebook

Run by: Michel Marchant
Quality: From 24-Bit/96kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: bonson.ca
About: At BONSON we create original sound effects libraries for sound designers by sound designers. We cater to professionals in film, video game, television and new medias. Our aim is to produce high-quality, royalty-free sounds with an emphasis on originality, variety and most importantly high caliber effects, we strive to take audio to the next level.
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BOOM Library Twitter

Run by: Dynamedion Sound Design Team
Quality: From 24-Bit/48kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: boomlibrary.com
About: The BOOM Library prides itself on providing high end, ultimate sound effects for all media and audio professionals. Every collection comes with a 96 KHz high definition, huge source library of our original recordings + a great variety of designed SFX, ready to use. All BOOM Library products are royalty-free, which means you get unlimited sync rights with every purchase. Their mission is to provide top notch sound effects and source recordings in high definition. All treated with great SoundMiner metadata, fast to use, easy to access and epic sounding: BOOM!
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Bottle Rocket FX

Run by: Bruce Bueckert
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: bottlerocketfx.com
About: Bruce started Bottle Rocket Fx as a royalty-free sound effects library intended for use by anyone looking to enhance their media production. It is his intention to offer a variety of specific libraries that are easily downloadable and affordable so you can get to work sooner rather than later. All of the sound effects are 24bit/96k WAV files embedded with metadata readable by your sound effects database. His mission with Bottle Rocket Fx is to build sound libraries I think will be useful to sound designers, editors and mixers in a way that is easy to use and manipulate.
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Chuck Russom FX Twitter

Run by: Chuck Russom
Quality: From 16-Bit/44.1kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz.
Website: chuckrussomfx.com
About: Chuck Russom FX is a line of royalty-free sound effects recorded and produced by award-winning sound designer/recordist Chuck Russom. For over 12 years I have been designing and recording sounds for numerous hit game franchises. His work has been featured in Call of Duty, God of War, Medal of Honor, James Bond, and many others.
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Collected Transients Twitter

Run by: Stosh Tuzynski
Quality: From 24-Bit/48kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz.
Website: collectedtransients.com
About: Collected Transients are home-grown sound effects libraries by Stosh Tuszynski, a sound designer based in Chicago, IL. Each library from Collected Transients is 100% originally recorded/designed material. All files are embedded with rich Soundminer and Broadcast Wave Metadata for easy searching across all popular audio database software. For your convenience, Collected Transients libraries are available at multiple sample rates up to what they were recorded at. For example, a 192 kHz library also comes with 96 kHz and 48 kHz versions… simply choose which version(s) you’d like to download after purchase!
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echo | collective Twitter

Run by: Rene Coronado and Brad Dale
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: echocollectivefx.com
About: label under which the guys at Dallas Audio Post release sample libraries and Kontakt instruments for use in film, music and games. Our need for unique and interesting sounds has us constantly updating our libraries and databases. We love making noises, bending sounds and re-contextualizing things into shapes and forms they were never really meant to take. Under echo | collective our custom sounds are available to the world at large. Feel free to take a look around, listen to the demos, watch the videos and then pick up some of the sounds that will set your projects apart.
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EFX Sound

Run by: Frederic Dubois
Quality: 24-Bit/48kHz
Website: efx-sound.com
About: EFX Sound is an independent sound effects company which offers sound effects into downloadable packs with 20 to 300 different sounds mastered at 48kHz and 24-Bit.
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Empty Sea Audio Twitter

Run by: Mark Camperell
Quality: 24-Bit/48kHz, 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: library.empty-sea.com/
About: Empty Sea was officially created in 2007 however its members have been working together in varying capacities since 2002. In 2012 we launched our sister venture, The Library by Empty Sea.  The Library features premium sound effects collections for both sound designers and content producers looking to level-up their sonic palette.
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Fox Audio Post-ProductionTwitter

Run by: Cédric Chéty
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: foxaudio.fr
About: Fox Audio Post-Production was founded in may 2015. The company releases royalty-free, high-quality SFX libraries for sound designers who work on TV or video games.
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Hart FX Twitter

Run by: Colin Hart
Quality: From 16-Bit/44.1kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: hartfx.net
About: HartFX, LLC is all about bringing you incredibly high quality sounds for an affordable price. It is a royalty-free sound effects company featuring content recorded and edited by Colin Hart, who strives to capture the most unique sounds he can to the best of his ability. He hopes to stand out as unique and valuable to a community of sound designers that need a wide palette of sound available to them and he aims to exercise my creative vision while maintaining maximum flexibility for the end user.
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HISS and a ROAR Twitter

Run by: Tim Prebble
Quality: From 16-Bit/44.1kHz to 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: hissandaroar.com
About: HISS and a ROAR release royalty-free sound effects & sound design libraries created by award winning film sound designer Tim Prebble. While there is nothing new about the idea of selling sound effects online, these libraries take a different philosophical approach by providing comprehensive thematic collections of high resolution source material, with the sole purpose of helping sound designers achieve their most creative work by access to diverse & highly malleable sounds.
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HzandbitsTwitter

Run by: Christian Hagelskjaer
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: hzandbits.com
About: Hzandbits Sound Effects was started by Christian Hagelskjaer in 2011. He releases topic-focused sound libraries in high quality and at reasonable prices. The repertoire includes both designed sounds and field recordings – the latter often recorded with Sennheiser MKH microphones. Processing of field recordings is usually kept to a minimum, allowing sound designers to mold and shape sounds as they see fit. Email subscribers get substantial release discounts (non-expiring) when a new library is released. They also get access to a selection of free sounds.
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Immersive FX

Run by: John Leonard
Quality: From 16-Bit/44.1kHz to 24-Bit/48kHz
Website: johnleonard.com
About: John Leonard started work in theatre sound over 40 years ago, during which time he has provided soundtracks for theatres all over the world. He has written an acclaimed guide to theatre sound and is the recipient of Drama Desk and LDI Sound Designer Of The Year awards and is a Fellow of The Guildhall School of Music & Drama and an Honorary Fellow of The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.
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Jordan Fehr FX Twitter

Run by: Jordan Fehr
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: jordanfehrfx.wordpress.com
About: JordanFehrFX provides royalty-free SFX for other sound designers. It was started in 2010 by freelance sound designer Jordan Fehr, whose recent credits include Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Meat Boy, SteamBirds, and the full length independent film Separation Anxiety. www.jordanfehr.com.
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New Sound Lab Twitter

Run by: Tor Johnson
Quality: 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: newsoundlab.com
About: New Sound Lab is a sound library download site for sound designers, created by Tor Johnson. The site offers high resolution (up to 192khz) sound effects for film, music, games and other multimedia applications.
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Noisecreations Twitter

Run by: Callum Tennick and Philip Moroz
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: noisecreations.co.uk
About: Noisecreations was co-founded by Callum Tennick and Philip Moroz in the summer of 2013 in Southampton, UK. Its aim is to provide high end sound effects collections that focus on sounds that are difficult or time-consuming to acquire. Since then noisecreations has expanded to provide post-production services from foley, sound design to the final mix.
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Rabbit Ears Audio Twitter

Run by: Michael Raphael
Quality: From 16-Bit/44.kHz to 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: rabbitearsaudio.com
About: Michael Raphael created Rabbit Ears Audio to provide sound designers and editors with royalty-free sound effects libraries. He wanted to provide libraries that are not only useful to the end-user, but are also driven by his curiosity and his desire to provide something unique. Rabbit Ears libraries are intended to fulfill specific needs, not generic ones.
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RDGSoundFX

Run by: Russell Gorsky
Quality: 24-Bit/192kHz
Website: rdgsoundfx.com
About: RDGsoundFX was started in 2012 by Sound Designer Russell Gorsky. Driven to create his own sound effects library that could be available to the many sound professionals out there, Russell followed his dream to become a successful sound designer and recordist. These professional sound libraries are meant for the needs of sound designers and editors everywhere.
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The Recordist Twitter

Run by: Frank Bry
Quality: From 320kps to 24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: therecordist.com
About: The Recordist is an audio production company founded by Frank Bry in 1986 with digital sound sample offerings for Digital Sampling Keyboards. With the success of these libraries, the company expanded by offering digital sample CD-ROMs for the Emu Emulator IIIx, Emulator IV,synthesizer programming for Waldorf Electronics and Emu Systems, and custom sound effects design for video, film, radio and television. He then expanded into custom sound effects design and recording for leading sound effects CD developers.
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Red libraries 

Run by: Frederic Devanlay and Cedric Denooz
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz WAV
Website: redlibraries.com
About: Red libraries is run by a French duo with many years of experience in video games and film. As field recordists and sound designers, they produce sound effects, foley and ambiences for a wide variety of scenes from peaceful Parisian ambiences to intense futuristic weapons.
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Rocksure Soundz

Run by: Tony Koretz
Quality: 24-bit/44.1kHz WAV
Website: rocksuresoundz.com
About: Rocksure Soundz is a company that specializes in the production and recording of music and sound effects. Their main studio is situated on the beautiful Kapiti Coast in the North Island of New Zealand.
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Samuel Justice Twitter

Run by: Samuel Justice
Quality:  24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: samueljustice.net
About: Samuel Justice is an award winning sound designer (Dear Esther, Battlefield 4) and field recordist, he has been recording for almost a decade. The main aim is to provide high quality, interesting libraries at very reasonable prices. Each library is comprised by a theme, as opposed to selling by type. Every library provides a unique set of sounds recorded comprehensively for multiple needs.
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Shapingwaves Twitter

Run by: David Kamp
Quality: From 24-Bit/48kHz to 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: shapingwaves.com
About: Shapingwaves creates royalty-free, thematic sound collections including designed sounds, ambiences and foley elements. Shapingwaves founder David Kamp is a composer & sound designer specializing in animated films.
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Sonic Salute Twitter

Run by: Mikkel Nielsen
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: sonicsalute.com
About: Sonic Salute is constantly striving to find find new and unique sources to record, and make a big effort in getting in touch with the right people to get permission to get the recordings right. The goal is to get sound designers, and editors, hard to get quality sound effects, and ambiences for their projects.
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SoundBits Twitter

Run by: Benjamin-Saro Sahihi
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz WAV
Website: soundbits.de
About: SoundBits was founded in 2011 by sound designer and SAE graduate and lecturer Saro Sahihi. He has produced many high quality sound effects libraries that range from horror sounds, such as screams, gore, and unsettling creaks, to cinematic transitions and sci-fi drones.
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The Sound Catcher

Run by: Andreas Usenbenz
Quality: 24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: thesoundcatcher.com
About: Andreas Usenbenz is an audio engineer, SAE graduate and sound ‘enthusiast’ living and working in Germany. He is a sound designer for film, TV, media and music production.
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SoundFuse Twitter

Run by: Giel van Geloven
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz WAV
Website: sound-fuse.com
About: SoundFuse is founded by Giel van Geloven. He works as a sound designer and re-recording mixer in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and has a passion for recording original, fresh sounds. SoundFuse releases theme libraries, where a specific theme is recorded extensively in high quality. Within the recordings, where possible, we record different variations of the same sound. All these variations are edited within one sound file in which the editor can quickly judge the content and find what he’s looking for. The recordings are mono, stereo, quad or 5.1 formats.  They are all embedded with Soundminer metadata description.
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Soundmorph Twitter

Quality: 24bit/96khz
Website:soundmorph.com
About: SoundMorph is focused on offering modern and innovative sound effects libraries and software to the sound community. Based out of Montreal and San Francisco, our sound team was formed from former Electronic Arts, BioWare, and Ubisoft sound designers. We provide highly usable sounds for games, film, music, and television, that can easily be added as layers or quickly become a final asset. We constantly keep sound designers in mind, always striking a perfect balance of usability and design. All of our libraries are meticulously embedded with Soundminer metadata. We believe, like any medium, sound evolves with time, and therefore new sounds are needed for new times.
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Soundopolis Twitter

Run by: David Fienup
Quality: 24-Bit 48kHz WAV
Website: soundopolis.net
About: David Fienup is an audio engineer out of Ann Arbor, MI. “I strive for high quality and a plethora of variation in each object or sonic event that I record. I am confident you will enjoy adding my sounds to your library.”
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Soundrangers

Run by: Kevin Tone and Barry Dowsett
Quality: 24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: soundrangers.com
About: Soundrangers, started in 1998, was the first online sound library of original sound effects and production music designed for specifically for interactive media such as video games, websites and interactive software. The quality and design aesthetic of Soundrangers SFX Libraries also make an ideal solution for all modern media.
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Sound Response Twitter

Run by: Vedran Kapetinic
Quality: 24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: soundresponse.net
About: Sound Response is here to provide professional, high-quality sound libraries and sound effects for use in video games, movies, music production, advertisement campaigns, tv, commercials and other multimedia presentations. Sound Response is founded by sound designer Vedran Kapetinic. Strong passion for sound synthesis and designing sound, the joy of getting lost in the sound universe, and years of experience in music and audio production eventually led to the birth of Sound Response. With every release Sound Response will strive to bring high-end sound libraries that will become a ‘’go to’’ audio arsenal for every audio professional out there looking for a unique, state-of-the-art sounds.
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Surround Sound Library Twitter

Run by: Olaf Bartsch
Quality: 24-Bit 96kHz WAV
Website: surroundsoundlibrary.com/
About: Surround Sound Library was founded in 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Their mission is to provide easy-to-use surround sound libraries at a fair price. All of our sounds are royalty-free. The team consists of highly skilled sound designers. We have made sounds and music for Ubisoft, Microsoft, Dynamedion GbR, Deep Silver and many more. The founder Olaf Bartsch studied Audio Technology and Musicology at the University of Technology Berlin. Graduation (M.A.) in May 2009. He has worked as a sound designer and journalist in the field of audio since 2008.
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Takoma Media SFX

Run by: Richard Humphries and Nicholas Karlin
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: sfx.takomamedia.com
About: Takoma Media was started by the award winning Sound Editor, Richard Humphries, who has been mixing documentaries, commercials, and – more recently – shows for The Discovery Channel since 1992. Joining him is Nicholas Karlin who has brought his talents and strong work ethic to Takoma Media with a goal to provide a fresh and refined voice to each new project.
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TONSTURM Twitter

Run by: Tilman Hahn and Emil Klotzsch
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz and 24-Bit/192kHz WAV
Website: tonsturm.com
About: TONSTURM releases royalty-free, high-quality sound effect libraries for sound designers who work in the field of films, games, and arts or anyone who is serious about sound design and sound effects. TONSTURM is founded by Tilman Hahn and Emil Klotzsch. Both work as Sound Designers and Sound Editors in Cologne, Germany and share the passion for recording sounds.
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Unidentified Sound Object Twitter

Run by: Matteo Milani
Quality: 24-Bit/96kHz
Website: unidentifiedsoundobject.com
About: Unidentified Sound Object is an independent sound effects libraries publisher. It offers high resolution sound effects and virtual instruments for film, games and music creations. It was launched by Matteo Milani in 2011. His purpose is to invent exclusive, original, designed raw elements, and to inspire the creativity of his fellow sound sculptors. The packages contain a wide variety of sources that are suitable for all contexts, with or without the sound processes of transformation and transfiguration: field recordings, everyday objects or materials generated through analog and/or digital synthesis. All U.S.O. Libraries are royalty-free, with unlimited rights upon every purchase.
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