A guided tour of our latest flagship library bundle.
In this video, sound designer Matt Yocum (Secret Level, The Last of Us) explores some of the exciting new additions to our latest flagship library bundle, CORE 7. From the isolated animal sounds of Wild Voices to the brand-new Game Audio Collection: Footsteps, plus new general libraries from our partners, CORE 7 is packed with diverse, high-quality sound effects for all situations.
0:00 - CORE 7 overview
“If you're a sound designer, editor, content creator, or anybody who's looking for high quality curated libraries, Pro Sound Effects is the place to go,” says Matt. “Today, I have the privilege of walking you through their latest collection, CORE 7. I'm going to take you through a tour of the new libraries that can be found inside of CORE 7 and show how they can be useful for your projects.”
CORE 7 is the latest update to PSE’s flagship bundle, adding 13 new libraries totaling over 28,000 new sounds to an already extensive collection of professional-grade sound effects. “The beauty of these sorts of sounds is they're fantastic whether you're working on big budget movies or indies or your own personal projects,” Matt adds. “No matter the scope, this is the sort of quality that you want in your projects.”
1:04 - New libraries and partners
To begin, Matt highlights some of Pro Sound Effects’ new Sound Artist partners, as well as new libraries by established collaborators. These include:
- Alan Howarth Collection from Alan Howarth (Star Trek, Escape From New York)
- King Collection: Vol. 4 and Vehicles Vol. 2 by Richard King (Oppenheimer, Inception)
- Buttons & Switches by Mark Mangini (Dune, Blade Runner 2049)
- Wu Collection: Vehicles Volumes 4 & 5 by Watson Wu (Baby Driver, Gran Turismo)
- Whitehead Collection by Dave Whitehead (The Lord of the Rings, Blade Runner 2049)
- Wild Voices by Lang Elliott (acoustic ecologist and field recordist)
- Scottish Borders by Chris Watson (Life, Frozen Planet)
- Game Audio Collection: Footsteps (our first dedicated game audio library)
2:23 - Game Audio Collection: Footsteps
To start, Matt introduces Game Audio Collection: Footsteps. The first in a new series conceived and curated specifically for game audio workflows, this library focuses on isolated one-shot footstep recordings featuring a variety of footwear, surfaces, and Foley. Multiple variations of each sound (organized into right and left feet) make this library ideal for implementing detailed footsteps with lifelike randomization.
“By providing files that are already split into small file sizes like this, it will allow them to very easily drop in groups and map them to a character's feet without having to do all of the labor themselves of cutting up footsteps within a longer take,” Matt explains.
3:30 - Whitehead Collection: Vol. 1
Next, Matt takes a look at the Whitehead Collection, a new general library from Dave Whitehead. He samples a variety of sounds from the library to showcase its diversity, including propane blowtorch whooshes, metal impacts, mechanical servos, explosions, gunfire, and animals. “Everything that I've heard in here has got lots of character and potential for fleshing out a believable and cinematic world,” Matt says.
5:15 - Alan Howarth Collection
Another general library newly added to CORE 7 is the Alan Howarth Collection. Featuring sound effects from Howarth’s work throughout the 1980s, ‘90s, and more recent additions, this library delivers a mix of vintage and modern character. Matt showcases a mix of sounds including a designed rocket liftoff, a racetrack ambience, and a variety of bells and chimes he says are “Endlessly useful for design.”
“General libraries like this are fantastic, especially when you're getting started, because what you want as a sound designer is a large variety: a huge palette to be able to draw from so that you're not limited in the sort of material that you have at your disposal when you're designing,” says Matt.
7:06 - Wild Voices
Finally, Matt dives into Wild Voices, auditioning isolated animal vocalizations such as the pygmy owl, spotted owl, sandhill crane, various insects, wolves, flying squirrels, and a golden eagle.
“There's lots of cool stuff in here — lots of character, lots of unique stuff that I haven't really heard in other wildlife libraries,” says Matt. “Most of these files are in mono, and you can tell from some of these recordings that they've been stripped of all of their background noise, so they should be really useful to be able to place these specifics around your surround field and get a very immersive feeling without adding lots of noise.”
8:59 - Conclusion
“That is just a very brief overview and a very small fraction of the total amount of sounds that are available in the new CORE 7 collection,” Matt says. “The cool thing that Pro Sound Effects has done here is make it really easy to tailor to your different budget needs.”
To make our CORE bundles as accessible as possible, we offer three tiers to choose from: CORE 7 Standard, CORE 7 Pro, and CORE 7 Complete. Each bundle can be purchased with a perpetual license or monthly and annual plans starting at $29/month. Additionally, PSE offers customized Teams Plans tailored to your team’s needs and budget. Delivery options include downloads, physical hard drives, or cloud access via the PSE Platform (SoundQ or web browser).
“If this has piqued your interest, be sure to visit prosoundeffects.com and check out the new CORE 7 collection,” Matt concludes. “It'll give you access to thousands of sounds curated from top recordists in the industry. The palette is ever expanding, and it is a fantastic tool set. Again, whether you're working on big Hollywood films, indie films, or your own personal projects, this stuff is absolute gold when it comes to sound design.”
