Principles
My personal guidelines and quality standards in sound effects creation.
  • Quality
    With 20 years of recording experience, I always strive to capture any sound I record at the highest quality possible. This means getting things right at the source rather than fixing it in post production. To make sure you're always getting sounds that are infinitely tweakable, every sound in my libraries gets delivered at a minimum 24-Bit / 96 kHz resolution. Only files that do not contain any high-end energy (i.,e. Geofón recordings) will be delivered at 48 kHz.

    This not only ensures high fidelity; it also means that you can pitch shift these sounds down without losing valuable high-end information. Many recorded sounds contain ultrasonic content above 20 kHz that would have been lost at 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rates and can prove very valuable in sound design.

  • Accessibility
    While a lot of work goes into any sound effects library and sample pack I produce, I always want to make sure that I price them in a manner that doesn't gate-keep up and coming sound professionals around the world. Thanks to the great folks at Gumroad, I am now able to automatically offer Purchasing Power Parity for anyone purchasing my products through their platform. This means that the price of my products will be discounted dynamically based on where you live - ensuring that the cost remains proportional to your currency and cost of living.

    For multi-user licensing, A Sound Effect offers automated dynamic discounts during checkout.

  • Sustainability
    Any sound I record and any field recording trip I take should leave as little of a trace on our planet as possible. This entails:
    • Offsetting carbon emission where possible
    • Never using single-use batteries in recorders, microphones or other gear
    • Using reusable fasteners like hook & loops straps or bungee cords in the field to fasten microphones and drop rigs to trees etc. rather than single-use tape.
    • Using reliable equipment and repairing damaged pieces of gear rather than immediately replacing them.
    • Not destroying items or food for the sole purpose of sound recording. Food used for sound recording has to either be eaten or at the end of its shelf life upon use. Any props that get destroyed during the recording process shall be recycled.
  • Metadata
    Even the most amazing sound effect in the world is practically useless if you simply can't locate it in your library containing tens of thousands of sounds. That's why comprehensive and detailed metadata is paramount to making any audio asset useful. All my sound effects libraries contain the following:
    • Soundminer Metadata
      As the de-facto standard Sound Library Manager in the film industry, Soundminer is universally accepted as the definitive reference when it comes to metadata. All sound effects contain complete and comprehensive metadata to search not only for category, subcategory, and name - but also microphone, location, notes, and more.
    • UCS File Naming
      One of the most straightforward and ingenious ways to categorize sound effects is the independently developed Universal Category System. It is a shorthand to quickly and effectively categorize and describe sound effects simply by the means of creating compliant file names.
    • Soundly Metadata
      As the premier free Sound Library Management software, Soundly is especially common among up and coming sound designers. video editors, and content creators for its comprehensive feature palette and amazingly responsive search function. All my sounds contain a detailed set of Soundly-specific metadata for easy browsing.
    • BWF Notes
      All audio assets also contain Broadcast Wave (BWF) compliant notes that can be read by a large number of legacy editing software.
    • Markers
      Longer-form recordings also feature text markers to highlight certain sonic events so you can either highlight them or remove them quickly depending on the needs of your project. These markers are supported in Izotope RX, Adobe Audition, Soundminer, Steinberg WaveLab, and other popular audio editing apps.
  • Transparency
    While I like to keep processing to the minimum with "non-designed" sound effects libraries, some editing and post-processing is necessary to make sure these sounds can meet my quality standards. That's why you will find a summary of the processing utilized in the creation of a library right on its product page.
  • Sharing
    With every library I release I want you to get a behind-the-scenes look into the process involved in creating it. That's why I will release accompanying blog posts whenever I find myself learning something new in the process that other sound designers and audio professionals might find inspiring.
Policies
The formalities. For licensing questions, view the End-User License Agreement.

Royalty-free, always. All sound effects available within my store are 100% royalty-free. That means that absolutely no clearance or attribution is necessary when you use them in any of your projects. Review the End-User Licensing Agreement for more details.

Loops contained in musical loop packs and libraries can be used for commercial productions as part of a greater musical context - i.e. by adding other instruments, processing, and recontextualization. They may not be redistributed as your own loops or as part of sample packs.

Multi-User Licensing is available via my store on A Sound Effect and dynamic discounts are applied automatically depending on the number of seats selected during checkout.

Updates. If you have purchased any of my libraries through Gumroad, you will receive any future updates for free. This doesn't happen too frequently but could include added metadata, corrections to file content or naming, or added formats.

Refunds are not possible as DRM-free digital goods cannot be returned. However, if you are not satisfied with a purchase you made, contact me at bolttracks (at) gmail.com and I will issue you store credit equivalent of the cost of the library you purchased.