I love sound design. It’s truly one of my favorite aspects of music creation as there are so many ways to find inspiration in less traditional sounds. I’ve often found in my own work that there’s quite a feedback loop where the music I write influences the sound design I create, and meanwhile the sound design will then also influence the music. In fact, a large part of my career for the last 10 years has included sound design for movie trailers, and it was actually sound design licenses that paid for the piano on which the Pummeled Piano Sonic Drop was created.
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Pro Sound Effects Libraries
In the spirit of sound design, this month’s Sonic Drop, PSE Cinematic Selects, comes from our friends at Pro Sound Effects. Pro Sound Effects is renowned for high quality sound effects that are consistently used in film, TV, video games, and more. PSE often collaborates with highly respected sound designers to create their libraries, such as Mark Mangini who is responsible for the sound of Dune and Blade Runner 2024 (fun fact, I also had sound design in the trailers for both of these films). Cinematic Selects pulls from PSE’s massive catalog and includes 100 different sounds including everything from impacts and stingers to ambiences and foley. The recordings in Cinematic Selects sound fantastic, high end, and while you can of course use these in the more traditional ways of transitional effects and post production, I challenge you to use these in a more musical context as well.
For example, use the recordings of drywall falling and breaking as a clap, turn the foley recordings of footsteps into percussion, make melodic hooks out of the recordings of monks chanting or the Japanese flute. There is a wealth of material in Cinematic Selects to get your creative juices going, and like I mentioned above, I’ve also found so much inspiration in sound itself. Hopefully you will as well.
Additionally, Pro Sound Effects is offering 10 free sounds of your choice from any library in their catalog here: https://app.prosoundeffects.com/offer/pro-tools
If you want to learn more about how to use Sonic Drop loops and samples in your music workflow, check out the new video that takes you through the process:
Like all Pro Tools | Sonic Drops, PSE Cinematic Selects is FREE with your active Pro Tools annual or monthly subscription or current Updates + Support Plan (for perpetual license holders). Check the Sonic Drop tab in Avid Link (version 2023.3 or later) for a list of all the latest Sonic Drops. This is also where you can play audio samples and manage your content downloads. Watch this video to learn more.
Happy sound mangling!
Matt
