When it comes to free sound effects libraries, there are plenty to choose from. No Film School has even highlighted our favorite 16 royalty-free sound effect websites. But when creating dynamic sound mixes, free can only take you so far. It's why you may have to turn to paid resources. Soundsnap is one of them.
Soundsnap has been around for more than a decade but has recently started to pick up steam, having doubled its number of sounds in the last year. The professional sound library now has over 415,000 available sounds to date and is updated weekly. It's trusted by the likes of Apple, Disney, HBO, Netflix, Pixar, and many more.
Recently, they updated their content library with contributions from Coll Anderson (Mother!, Black Swan), Stuart Morton (Casino Royale, Mad Max: Fury Road), and Juraj Mravec (Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones), among others.
What we like about Soundsnap is that it curates professional sounds only. You're not going to run into something that sounds thin or lacks quality. The library is also broken down by category and tags, but we also like that they have a filter for location.
If you want sounds specific to India? They got it. Istanbul? They got that too. They give you free rein to browse sounds so you can hear what we are talking about.
Soundsnap categoriesCredit: Soundsnap
As for price, Soundsnap offers two tiers. A six-month subscription runs $149 at $25/month or an annual subscription runs $249 at $21/month. With the six-month subscription, you can download 150 sounds per month, while the annual version offers unlimited downloads. Better yet, if you do cancel your subscription, you can keep the sounds you downloaded indefinitely.
While there isn't a perpetual option, or the ability to buy sound effect-specific libraries similar to Pro Sound Effects, another one of our favorite resources, for $249, you're essentially getting their entire library and any updates the first year, which is a great deal.
Soundsnap also publishes helpful articles and tips on their blog related to sound, like 5 tips for working faster in Premiere Pro and a guide to audio compression if you need to brush up on your skills.
Have you used Soundsnap before? Let the community know what you think about it in the comments below.
