I have been working the last month or so on producing over 150 custom sounds for Israel based Artlist (with a final count of over 400 sounds). I was working specifically on Emergency sounds, Police sounds, Court sounds, Medical sounds, Cartoon sounds & TV/Announcer sounds.  It was a ton of work but very enjoyable and it challenged my creativity which is always a good thing because it forces growth and knowledge.  The sound effects industry is a fascinating field and I'm grateful everyday to be a part of it.  Proud to be a contributor to Artlist's Sound Effects library.  Check out my Author's page at Artlist.  You can sample (& buy) a ton of my sounds on their site!

I made my very first recording back around 1968.  I remember being astounded at being able to hear my voice played back instantly.  The recorder was a small portable reel to reel tape recorder that belonged to one of my Uncles.  The second time I recorded was with my school friend Jimbo Alexander who lived down the street from me.  He brought over his portable reel to reel and we recorded my first song "Babe I Need You So".  My sister Robin helped me write the lyrics.  It was 1970 and I was in the 5th grade and had started my first band with Jimbo on bass guitar & our friend Jay Brinkley on drums.  I was the guitarist & lead vocalist.  The guitar was a Western Auto Del Ray acoustic guitar.  We played that song over and over again and got to perform it for our entire 5th grade class at an end of the year party along with the song "Joy to the world" by Three Dog Night (which was popular at the time).  I remember the feeling of being so scared but so excited to be in front of my peers performing those songs!  Fun memories.  Christmas 1972 was extra special because I got my first cassette tape recorder.  I spent hours upon hours recording sound effects, songs, interviews and pretending to be a radio DJ (my dream at the time).  I still have those tapes and get a kick out of hearing my little adolescent voice and the shenanigans I got into.  And now I'm grateful that I'm able to continue to record my music and sounds and share them with the entire world - thanks to the "world wide web" and particularly AudioJungle.

​I had a blast yesterday traveling to Burgaw, NC to record sounds at the Old Pender County Jail.  The Jail is listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Burgaw Historic District.  It was built in 1924 and operated as the jail house until 1979.  Thanks to a friend I was able to get in touch with the town manager James Gantt.  James along with Louis Hesse (who is the town building inspector with knowledge of how to use the various levers to open the jail doors) took me over and I was able to record some fabulous sound effects.  The concrete floors and all the steel helped to make it a very reverbant space and the end product makes the doors closing sound bigger than life.  Louis shared with me that years ago when the jail was in operation, some of the town teenage boys would sneak in and throw fire crackers in to scare the prisoners.  I can only imagine how surprising and scary that must have been!  Some of these sounds, including the sample below will be available for purchase on AudioJungle.  To learn a little more about the Jail, check out this video from local TV WECT.

I'm excited & proud to be working with Nadav Presser & Artlist.io helping to build their sound effects catalog.  Artlist, based out of Israel, is one of the world's largest online supplier of music tracks that cater toward the video/film market.  They are putting lots of energy & effort into building their sound effects library.  Currently, I'm enjoying producing various voice overs and cartoon effects for Artlist.  We'll be branching out into lots of different categories in the near future.  Stay tuned folks! More to come.

I recently purchased several swords online to use as tools to produce various sword sound effects and ultimately the sound of several pirates having a sword fight.  What great fun!  With the help of a couple of friends we recorded the swords hitting together in the studio.  We did several 30 sec takes for the sword sounds.  I mixed several tracks of sword hits and scrapes and then added whoosh effects throughout by recording a 4' thin wooden dowel swishing through the air with stereo Neumann KM-84s and I sweetened those up with some effects using the UVI software "Whoosh".  I then added the sound of boots moving on a wooden floor using actual shoe sounds in my studio along with the UVI "Walker" footstep Foley Designer.  And then for the final layer I recorded several tracks of male fighting grunts, laughs and heavy breathing.  In the end I came up with a Sword Fight Sound Effect Ambience just under a minute in length that works perfect for either a Pirate fighting effect or warrior/battle effect.  My sword sounds are available for purchase on AudioJungle & Pond5.  This particular sound will be available exclusively on AudioJungle in a couple of weeks.

Apple Hill Studios is pleased to announce our Relaxing Sleep Sounds products - available as an instant download on Tradebit.  You can choose Gentle Rain, Soft Chimes, Ocean Waves, Fireplace & Electric Fan.  All are guaranteed to aid in sleep and relaxation.  Each sound is 90 minutes in length and recorded in 96/24 high fidelity and mastered to the highest quality mp3 for fast, easy downloading.  

We're happy to announce that our new product - Horror Background Ambiences is now available as a full digital download on Sonniss.com.  A collection of ten different Horror Background Ambiences that work perfect for building suspense, mystery and tension in your Horror project. Produced using field recordings, voice overs and synthesizers. Perfect for use in projects needing dungeon sounds, scary video game ambiences, dark ambient projects, horror movies, scary sound fx, suspense scenes, haunted houses, live escape room experiences, scenes of tension and distress.

Check it out!

Happy to add to add a Sanken CO-100k to our mic collection.  This is an amazing microphone and what a great tool to add for working with sound effects and especially when lowering pitches.  Monster growls never sounded so good!  Amazing low end along with amazing high end.  

​Take a listen below!

It was a blustery day here in Wilmington, NC today.  I was able to capture the sound of wind rustling through the trees using a couple of different methods.  I started with my trusty Sound Devices Mixpre 6 with a stereo set of Sennheiser 8040's and rycote rig.  I got some great sounds.  Then I set up my Sony A10 and using some Lom omni's taped to a couple of tree branches, got some nice sounds there as well.  I used a triad-orbit clamp system to put the A10 up in the tree.  I absolutely love the triad-orbit products.  I use them for so many different things and I couldn't recommend them more highly for use with audio & photography projects.  The recording contains some nice bird calls as well. 

Take a listen below:
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