In this edition of Sunday Sound Effects Round Up we cover sound effect library releases from Soundbits with Collected Ambiences Volume 9, Rabbit Ears Audio with NYC Rooftops, Polarity from Mattia Cellotto, Cinematic Winds from Pro Sound Effects, and Car Horns from Badlands Sound. We finish with a preview of an A Sound Effect interview with senior audio director and sound designer Ben Minto on the future of game audio.

SoundBits Release Collected Ambiences Volume 9

Saro has released the latest volume in his Collected Ambiences adding another selection of varied ambience tracks including tracks from public spaces, industrial areas, factories, shopping mall food courts, city ambiences, parks, and Schoolyards.

• Number of files: 33 Files
• Quality: 96kHz / 24bit / Stereo
• Total Size: 4,62 GB
• Total Duration: 129 minutes
• Price: 30 Euros inc vat.

Rabbit Ears Audio Release NYC Rooftops

Michael Raphael has been in touch to tell us that NYC Rooftops is the culmination of over two years of urban recording in the city that neighbourhood never sleeps. Recorded on rooftops around New York City, this four-hour collection features 20GB and fifty tracks of quad (L/R/Ls/Rs) ambiences. Each and building was carefully chosen to take advantage of the sonic palette the city offers. The collection includes:

- police sirens
- fire truck sirens
- ambulance sirens
- brake squeals
- distant buses
- garbage trucks
- drunk people milling about
- helicopters
- airs (with that signature NYC hum)
- patio parties

• Files: 24 BIT 96 kHz WAV.
• Download: 12.3 GB RAR, 20GB unRAR’d
• Equipment: Schoeps Double ORTF (MK4 x4), Cooper CS104, Sound Devices 744T
• Price: $200

A Sound Effect Release Polarity From Mattia Cellotto

Polarity delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs. About 50% of the library is all about electricity, with various types of Jacob's Ladders, Tesla Coils, Ruhmkorff lamp and all sorts of impactful bursts of energy.

Then they move onto welders, plasma spheres, 3D printers, starting to cover a more broad technology theme – like old phones, telegraphs, dynamo wheels, rotary dials, whirling watchers, alarm, lab centrifuges, something scientists call a roller and a rocker, servo sounds, neon lights, a Wimshurst machine and sparklers.

Many sounds in this section were captured from vintage equipment, from a 1928's tram to old telephone switchboards, high voltage levers and control surfaces.

All content was recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K, a couple of Sennheiser 8040 and a Neumann 81i, translating into final assets that have plenty of ultrasonic content, ready for the most extreme manipulation.

• 552 files
• 975 sounds
• 24 Bit / 192 kHz
• 5.5 GB Includes metadata
• Price: $72 inc vat

Pro Sound Effects Release Cinematic Winds Sounds Library

Recorded and designed by Ann Kroeber and Alan Splet, the Cinematic Winds sound effects library delivers diverse recordings from eerie, hollow wind sounds to whipping, stormy moodscapes.

Cinematic Winds is an exclusive collection of sound effects selected from Ann and Alan's private recording archive, Sound Mountain. Wind is one of the most difficult elements to record. This special collection includes over 3 hours of 24-bit/48kHz WAV format wind effects and recordings designed for inducing subtle, subconscious emotion, imposing a powerful presence, and creating earthy or surreal soundscapes in your production. The wind sounds are grouped into five categories:

• Moody Winds: Tonal, eerie, mournful, lonely
• Interior Winds: Resonant staircases, barns, caves, pipes
• Nature Winds: Through trees, over mountains, water, sand
• Wild Winds: Gusting, whipping, whooshing, swirling
• Storm Winds: Intense, howling, rumbling, shrieking

• 98 wind sound effects (3.3GB)
• Over 3 hours of emotive, iconic wind recordings
• Average file length: 1 minute 57 seconds
• View PDF Sound List
• 24-bit/48kHz broadcast WAV files
• Descriptive embedded metadata
• 100% Royalty-Free for use in any project
• Download or flash drive delivery (+$40)
• Price: $199

A Sound Effect Release Car Horn Sound Library From Badlands Sound

Looking for car horn sound effects? This library delivers more than 230 sounds in 80 files. It features recordings such as short, medium and long car horn sounds from both exterior and interior perspectives – and includes recordings from cars such as a Jeep Wrangler (2016 and 2004), Honda Pilot (2008), Ford F150 (2016), Volkswagen Beetle (20020), Mercedes-Benz E350 (2010), Corvette Stingray (2015), and a Chevy Silverado (2016).

• 238 sounds
• 24 Bit / 96 kHz
• 334 MB • Includes metadata 
• Price $18 inc vat

The Future Of Game Audio - A Sound Effect Interview With Ben Minto

Senior audio director and sound designer Ben Minto based in Stockholm, Sweden has spent the last 10 years working on AAA-game franchises like Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront. With every new release, he and the team at DICE are looking for ways to push the boundaries of sound, to take the next step to deliver an exemplary sound experience to game players. In this, A Sound Effect interview by Jennifer Walden, Ben shares his thoughts on what’s happening in the game sound industry, what opportunities lay ahead, and what can help future game sound pros to get into the industry.

The underlying audio models which handle the sound for these assets are also constantly increasing in complexity. For example, ten years ago a single weapon may have had its firing audio covered by a hand full of variants, or maybe even a single lone variant of ‘gunfire.wav.’ Today a weapon patch may combine many different layers at runtime, with each layer having the ability to play different content relating to various runtime game parameters, for example, different reflections based on environment type or different tails depending on distance from the listener.

Moving to object audio early enabled us to become familiar with the format, to revisit and challenge old channel-based paradigms and to be ready with our first pass solutions, and in most cases a few iterations more, to address the previously mentioned challenges in time for embracing Dolby Atmos and shipping the first two titles, Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield 1, with full Dolby Atmos over HDMI on the PC.

You can read the full interview on the A Sound Effect blog.