[RELEASED] Universal Sound FX - Thousands of sounds in evolving library

Wow ... great to hear. Look forward to some updates

 

Nice recording studio!

The quality (of those I tried) is excellent.

But I think this package is sadly unbalanced which means its not a one-stop solution (other sound packages are needed) ... there is only 3 ambience sounds, most games need tonnes of those. Also natural FX like rivers, splashes, ocean waves, wind, birds, insects, other animals.

Please put some effort into working on those. I do get chasing a mosquito around with a microphone is not as exciting as pulling a 9mm trigger ... but thinking of the usefulness of the pack. A day on the river, or by the seaside can be exciting too

Its mostly action sounds, which is great for some, but not very useful for games with no modern weapons / bombs etc. Certainly there are useful sounds ... but very limited.

 

Thanks for the input!

Yes, the recording room will allow me to do tons of every day sounds but it will also allow me to record a lot of source material which is modified and warped to create all sounds of stuff. For example, the dragon wings in Lord of The Rings is a cheese grater on a string swung around in the air =)

But, as you say mwituni, the indoor recordings are only half the story and I am excited to record much more outdoors too. I'll be carrying three of my mics with me in the field, both have the best wind protection available and the new addition are really high quality so there shouldn't be much out there to beat the quality (well, I have to use the equipment properly too of course, that can always improve.)

The problem with ambiences is the size of the audio files which is probably why I have to put ambiences in a separate pack - there just isn't room for it with the restrictions of the asset store.

My workflow from now on will be to pick topic to record, e.g. I will start with hand tools and power tools, and I will record all actions with the tools using 6 microphones simultaneously. This will result in hundreds of high definition sounds that will be sold to sound designers as 192 kHz, 24bit libraries. The best, and generic selection, of the sounds will be put into Universal Sound FX. I can't see the need for 100 hammer strikes from different microphones in USFX, that would just eat space, so keeping USFX "universal" is the key. Then as I move on I will start to create more sound libraries for games, e.g. one dedicated to medieval period which may be 500MB - 1GB alone, and the generic selection of those sounds will make it to USFX.

Animals and generic elements will definitely make it into USFX - I have been in touch with an animal park to get access after opening hours, but it takes quite some effort and planning to pull that off.

 

Thanks for your reply.

Look forward to seeing what you expand it with then.

Sure the "long" recorded ambience environments are better suited for a special pack.

But ambiance sounds don't have to be large files, so I don't think adding a use-able selection will add that much overhead. For resource reasons most games now try keep them smaller ... so would run a script with 3 or 4 similar themed loop-able ambience sounds randomly fading in/out, then overlay some birds / wind etc to randomize it.

I'm sure many look forward to the medieval sounds too.
Not sure about the power tools!, but there's bound to be a few.

As you say - keep it "universal", so a bit of a selection of each area. You could probably make a seperate pack with all the action sounds you already have in there, so you don't need that much in other areas ... else you will never get to the other areas - as I imagine it takes some time to setup, record, edit and prepare them.

 

I'd love more voices but I can understand that it would require voice actors so may not be feasible.

 

Mwituni, I agree about the ambiences being able to be shorter as well. Bird tweets and crickets are better off as individual sounds in spot locations, but recording individual birds and crickets are a bit tricky but I will try =) I'll probably add cropped ambiences and release separate long ambience packs, I will also cater for the film/video industry with large high definition libraries on my website since I've got a fair amount of equipment now.

Rajmahal, voices will be coming. The room is ready and I am compiling word lists for voice actors of different nationalities. Again, voices take up a lot of space so they will move to dedicated libraries with a variety of common sounds in the universal library.

I finished the audio room today by laying down the carpet. I've also cut the carpet so I can roll it back and expose the hard floor for smashing stuff on - I have lined up printers, laptops, phones, glass, plates, and all sorts of stuff to start smashing ASAP. I'm recording at 192kHz 24bit so I can pitch down the sounds a lot without losing any quality - a sledge hammer on a printer will sound like a massive crash and a little remote controlled car servo sounds like a gigantic robot at slow speed =)

Here's the room ready and the equipment I have invested in (I don't think USFX can stay at $20 for much longer so if you haven't got the library yet you may want to pick it up!)

 

This really does look like PBR assets from the store. That last pic even shows a ton of white pixel artifacts ...

 

Yeah, I put in LED lights in all corners so it lights up decent - and I wasn't aware that the foam sparkled so that was a fun surprise - I like it =)

 

If anyone is interested in the entire build process of the recording room, you can read about it all (and look at all the progress pictures) in my three blog posts:

http://www.universalsoundfx.com/making-of-the-sound-recording-room-part-1/
http://www.universalsoundfx.com/making-of-the-sound-recording-room-part-2/
http://www.universalsoundfx.com/making-of-the-sound-recording-room-part-3/

 

Wow did you build the recording room solely for this asset? Or are you musician too or something like that. Anyway you have some impressive construction skills!

 

Hi and thanks! This room was built primarily for the Universal Sound FX asset and the additional specialized sound assets and voice assets that will follow. I have been making music for nearly 20 years but it's all electronic so I don't need the room for that =)

 

Cool, I haven't had time to utilize a lot of your sound effects yet, but I just left you a positive review of Universal Sound FX because that kind of dedication certainly deserves recognition =)

P.S. Do you by chance happen to know of a good cheap midi guitar that actually works well, doesn't signal wrong notes, can do hammer-ons and pulloffs... key word being "cheap" lol. Thanks!

 

Thank you very much! The time (and money) invested in the room and equipment will hopefully pay off finally because I've been frustrated not being able to record much for quite some time. But I am super excited now. Batteries are all charged and ready to go!

I don't have any advice on midi guitars I'm afraid - I play the piano a bit but that won't help you =)

 

No worries, just thought I'd ask since you mentioned electronic music. Just wanted to add that the first picture at the top of the third page of your "making of" web page looks like a promo pic for American Idol or something like that, lol. It's a great shot, well done.

 

Is there a planned release date for the update? I am pretty excited for it

 

Being a solo act with a lot of different stuff going on I've learned not to announce release dates due to my massive undertaking with SPACE for Unity =) But with the new room complete and the latest mics at my disposal I'm excited and spending a lot of my time with new sounds for USFX.

I'm happy to announce that I'm a Unite Europe 2015 sponsor and I will attend the event in Amsterdam as one of the asset publisher exhibitors for one of the event days. I will have a USFX update out before the event (24-25 June.)

 

Hello! Will you continue to update Universal Sound FX?

 

Hi - yes - there I go again setting a date, I never learn Prepping for Unite Europe took a lot of time and long nights so the USFX update didn't make it out in time, but I'm working on both USFX and SPACE very much still.

 

Great work you're doing here, really looking forward to that update.

 

Wonderful to see the update, thank you.
Are there only additional sounds, or did you remove some also? I just want to know before I overwrite my previous version.

 

Hi everyone! I've added the version 1.2 update which includes 497 new sounds. I am really hoping to increase the pace aiming for a target of quarterly releases now that I've got the room and equipment in place! Truly excited

Here is the list of new effects that were added in 1.2 (PDF)
...and here is the complete listing of all 3585 effects (PDF)

Since the Asset Store now allows larger assets I didn't remove any sound effects with this update!

The price has now increased to $30 and I encourage purchasing now if you haven't as it will continue to go up over time.

To give you some insight of how I recorded some of the source sound that made it into the 1.2 update that accounted for 37 of the effects that were added:

 

Thanks! No sounds were removed so no need to keep any previous versions =)

 

Hey, are you by any chance plannig on improving the UI section to include some menu selection sounds like the ones found on this Soundpack? (Unless I misunderstood your categorization scheme and missed them somehow)

Great asset by the way.

 

Thanks, great reference, thanks. I will aim to add more UI sounds in the next update

 

That's awesome news. I'll keep track of this thread to know when that happens.

 

Powerboat sounds are now edited and queued for the next update of Universal Sound FX. For anyone curious, this is what goes into turning one powerboat sound into one single loop ready for use in games:

I also wrote a blog post about it.

 

I need more character movement and sword sound effects. Thanks.

Something like this but with different sound effects

 

I got 2 errors after importing the asset.

 

Thanks - will try to cover that type of movement and more slashing action based sword combat.

 

Hi, Have you contacted the Asset Store about this error? I haven't heard of similar reports and I have been unable to recreate during import. Maybe try downloading the asset again if you can?

 

Thanks for the great sound pack. Lots of variety with an expanding library helped make the decision to pick it up an easy one.

I'd like to request some more Element/Fire sounds. The crackling of wood on a fire, a softer fire burning, a burning torch, a fire/flames going out. Those kinds of things would be awesome.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will add fire and flames to my list, hopefully to be included in the update next month!

 

The addition of some fire/torch/flames sounds would be awesome.
And keep up the good work with this asset, the quality is amazing compared to the selling price, one of my best purchases on the store!

 

I will probably be purchasing this asset today, because it is such a bargain.

However, I would like to make a suggestion. You are a little heavy on sweetener for some of your sounds. I heard a few weapons with reverb/echo added, which means I can't use them. They sound like the weapon was fired in a cave, and my game does not take place in a cave.

The easiest effect for an indie to add is reverb or echo, and we can do it with free programs available online. You should record your original sounds with no sweetener, and offer that to us as well the final versions in your demo, so we can add sweetener to our game's needs.

I come from the world of music. Professional master tracks are recorded with no sweetener, which is added in the final mix down.

Having said all of that, I see real value in your pack. Thank you for creating it.

 

Just purchased. Looks like a great set of sounds.

I'd be super grateful for the following additions:

- Balloon blowing up / bursting
- Bubble popping (often used in UIs for message balloons) (actually just noticed the POP_mouth sounds in cartoon section, can't listen right now but maybe that's what I'm after)
- Soccer/football/basketball bounce/kick sounds
- Generally more animal sounds, e.g. jungle or farm animals

Thanks! Great work, keep it up!

 

Hey imphy.
First of all great asset. So many nice sounds.
What I am missing are more blood dropping / splatter effects.
I am working on a dark fantasy horror game so any fantasy / horror effects would be great. Here my suggestions for next update:

- More Horror / Fantasy sounds. It seems that your are concentrating a lot on Sci-Fi Robotic or Alien sounds. Fantasy is really missing here.
- Monster / Zombie sounds (not aliens)
- More Water / Blood dropping sounds (I just found 1?)
- Screams
- More Ambience sounds (Caves, Castles etc) like suggested before

Hope that you still are updating this greate and unique asset and you can add those to next update.

Thanks a lot

 

Oh hot damn.

This asset's on sale for the next 6 hours if you didn't already know.

Definitely worth it, 100%. Broad selection of sounds to use. It's a bit like Shaderforge and some of the other must-have plugins; seems like something that should be in vanilla Unity because it's just that useful. Or maybe some discount starter pack for Free or come bundled with Pro (even with a cost bump) or something.

How did you manage the jet engine noises BTW? Working on a flight sim; this and the U5 example jet are the only looping jet engine audio I could find since everything else was flybys.

 

Loving the asset pack so far, would be happy to see a skidding/tire screeching sound for car drifting. Keep up the good work

 

Hey, don't forget to add the UI sounds to your request list! I wouldn't want those to skip the next update!

 

This is the first Asset pack I purchased and I must say it was well worth every penny. I love it. Great job on this. I do have one question. I purchased this through the Asset store not realizing that I could purchase this through your website (because I quickly purchased before reading - my mistake). Is there anyway to download the files not through the Asset store without having to pay again?

Thank you and kepp up the GREAT work.

 

Some of these have already been requested but this is my wishlist of sounds:

Walking and running on dirt, sand, grass and leaves.
Female cry in pain 2 levels of intensity.
Female panting from running, increasing in intensity then gasping.
Person washing at a basin.
A gentle breeze (no background birds, or insects, or traffic noise).

 

Hi everyone, I am just packaging up the 1.3 release so it'll be sent off to the asset store for review and hopefully be up in a few days.

I'm adding over 600 sounds this time bringing the total up to 4253 providing the asset store allows the current 870 MB size. Some of the sounds that are coming are: Alarms, Ambiences (forest, scifi, sea, ocean, water), Buttons, Doors, Fire, Waves, Elevators/Lifts (start,stop,loops), Explosions, Baloons (blow up, pop, squeek, release air), Glass (shatte, individual fragments), Foley (coins, gaffer tape, spray, toilets), Footsteps, Impacts (Bullet, Energy, Incoming), Keys & Locks, Lawn Mower, Strimmer, Air Compressors, Industrial Fans, Magic Spells, Space Warps, Ice Skating, Thunder, Impact Wrench, Airplanes, Tank Sounds, Train, SpaceCrafts (flybys and engine loops), Jet Skis (passby and riding loops), Motor Boats (passby and driving loops), Submarine Engines, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Submachine Gun, Swords, Blaster, Plasma Cannons, Shock Rifles and Whooshes.

I am taking all suggestions and requests into consideration, however, some have to wait due to having to get the right recording opportunities. I've just established contact with an "animal for films broker" and I'm hoping to schedule visits to many animals that they can provide contacts to. I'm also pretty much ready to start bringing voice actors and actresses in to get the cry/pain/effort and simple command sounds from a wider range of characters.

I'll post soon again when I've uploaded the updated asset. But here are some videos meanwhile:

A short teaser for a new asset promo video I'm working on (final version will go through 30 minutes of sounds):

(The initial thunder clap and whoosh in the intro is in the 1.3 update as well)

This is what goes into when I make seamless loops out of material that isn't really suitable for looping:

Finally, here is what I did yesterday - got a new super high quality microphone (called Sanken CO100K) into my arsenal and this adds tremendous capabilities for future sound design:

 

Thank you for this amazing pack! Is helped to me many already.

Currently I work about horror game, and I need sound of woman sobbing. I need very long loop. She will cry always without stop. Seem young girl sit in dark room, alone, she not have any exit and any hope, she is feel fear, she just crying. Is will be seem background sound for player who stay in another room, but need hear sobbing this girl always, so is can't be short

And is good if you add more sounds what can use in horror games. Is can be:
- woman scream;
- child lough;
- crazy girl laugh;
- more monster sounds

 

Ambience - Thank you! Excited to hear those. I really need some good Ambience and lots of them.

 

I have to answer your questions too of course, sorry for the delay on that!

Thanks! Some fire is coming in the update but better flames and torches will have to wait a little longer - I need to come up with a safe way to generate good flames without burning myself, or even worse, the microphones

Thanks for the comment. The weapons are recorded at the shooting range and all the reverb on those is the natural reflections of the weapons mixed together from many microphones. I try to not add any reverb apart from some UI sounds, but those are also delivered as dry versions usually. Still, I'll keep this in mind of course. I actually made some new shotgun sounds by cutting and fading away a lot of the trailing sounds followed by boosting the initial blast and they became what you'd hear more traditionally in many games. I'll do more of that stuff. Today while buying fireworks (for recording of course) I spoke to the sales guy who has a lot of contacts with weapons at the local shooting range so when the weather warms up we will arrange a shoot - he was super excited to help =)

Balloon sounds are packaged in the new update!

Sports and animal sounds is a priority for me although tricky to arrange properly - but I'm working on it!

Thanks for these suggestions. I'll research some more fantasy sounds! Monsters will come as I gather more animal sounds - those are truly lacking at the moment but I've got a plan =) Zombie and scream sounds will come with voice actors, I am about to advertise for that locally, I will also add some more myself. Gore and splats are not in the 1.3 update but throwing wet towels, pieces of meat, and splatting fruit will solve that for version 1.4. I am aiming for quarterly releases.

Ambiences will likely have to find their way into a new asset - they take up a lot of space unfortunately. I've added some forest and sea/ocean ambiences along with more scifi. Not sure what castle ambiences would sound like - do you expect voices and surrounding activity in such ambiences?

Jet engines are extracted from jet flyby recordings that I got while standing under incoming aircraft only meters away from the landing strip as the planes flew above. I extract looping jet engines from a flyby using granular synthesis (in my case using the Alchemy VST plugin) which takes lots of little slices of the flyby sound and replays them in a looping fashion which seems to work well for jet engines. I will add more because I managed to capture a few planes before the airport patrol stopped by and kindly asked me to move =) Hopefully I can add true looping jet fighter engine loops in the future if I can gather enough funds for such a sessions.

Thanks - I would too! Those are a bit tricky as well - especially capturing skidding sounds without engine sounds. I think my best plan of action is to rent some cars will full insurance and then just drive fast, put it in neutral, cut the engine, and step on the breaks with plenty of on-board exterior microphones. That'll be a fun shoot but it'll have to wait until the ice is gone from the roads.

I listened once again to your reference video and I think you'll find some sounds that are already in the asset that are similar to that one. If you, in addition to the UI category, look at the "Music Effects", "Magic Spells", "Puzzles", "Buttons" categories.

Thanks. Purchases through the asset store will only provide updating through the asset store as it is now - it is unrelated from the zip archive that I sell on my site. It's a limitation I'm afraid.

I have built so called "foley boxes" and gathered dirt, sand, gravel. I am hoping to do a proper footstep recording session with many types of shoes and surfaces. Due to size limitations all the sounds and repeat variations won't make it into USFX so I will also add a separate asset, probably with thousands of footstep sounds within an equally reasonably price range =)

As I mentioned above, the female crying I'll have to try to get voice actors to do. Will be interesting to see if I can get any professional actors or if I have to try to coach first-timers. My plan of action here in Sweden is to advertise on a site where many foreigners, especially narive english speaking, living in Sweden are hanging out - many are looking for work so if I can offer them $$ in exchange for sounds I'm hoping to get some good sessions going =) Same goes for the panting, running, gasping sounds. Thanks for the additional suggestions too - they are not in this update but they are on my list.

I won't be able to add long loops - they take up too much space. But screams, laughs, and monster sounds for sure - thanks for the suggestion. I can probably help you with the sobbing sound anyway but it depends on how fast you'd need it.

Yes, but there are only a few. As mentioned above, they take up a lot of space. Can you contact me with the specific ambiences you need?

**

Thanks again everyone for supporting this asset and coming with feedback. This has become a big big undertaking for me and I'm investing a lot of time and money so please help me out by spreading the word if you can

 

I don't really have specific needs. Just outdoors types of things like maybe a desert, or coast line, or forest, or wastelands kind of feel. Might be nice to have multiples that can be intertwined together. I really don't know much about sounds, just that it's really nice to have a variety of ambient sounds. So, nothing specific in mind.

 

Very good! Very very very good!

I'll say it again; if you're not already in some sort of talks/deal with Unity to be in their pro 11 thing (I think it's a bunch of asset store packs that are discounted for Pro owners), you should be. These are good quality, and in general enough types that I think both you and Unity would do very well having some factory support (or whatever you'd call it in this case).

 

Thanks! No discussions with Unity in regards to that but I'll investigate the options.

The new promo video for this asset is ready, might as well share it here since I spent longer than anticipated arranging and editing it =)

Also, here is me right now prepping for tomorrow - I will be firing these off in a private location during the day to get isolated sounds with 10 microphones in different configurations:



Happy new year everyone!

 

My new web site is released and so is the site version of USFX. I will be uploading the asset version later today! (It takes some time for me to add the unity asset labels to all 4253 sounds =)

New site: http://www.universalsoundfx.com/ - it has some details about me and the studio etc if anyone is curious!

The price will go up to $40 in the asset store, but I will celebrate the new launch with a 50% discount for a short period of time. (If you don't own USFX already you have three options: Buy today for $30 and get the 1.3 update when it arrives. Wait for 1.3 and catch the window where it is $20. Or buy 1.3 later for $40 =)

Asset update coming soon!

 

I've uploaded both Unity 3.4 and Unity 5.0 versions of the new update. Hopefully it should be approved shortly. The price will then be 50% off the new price = $20.