The Best All Round Sound FX Library?

If you are only going to get one, get the from Sound Ideas. Look at the extension sets also as they compliment the first 40cds.

Jim Longo's suggestion of the Sound Ideas 6000 series is a good one- It is unwise to judge the Hollywood Edge effects harshly because they are overused though- They have a very good library of stuff that tends to work well (hence their overuse) charles maynes

General 6000... good idea for European stuff Audio Pro Sound Effects by Yanick Chevalier; good recorded, very useful Check sounddogs.com - very powerful site; lots of "european" sounds there Best regards Kuba

Check out as well. The concept is great for a freelancer. You have a key, and as long as you have a broadband connection available at the facility your working at, you can audition and download sounds from their library via the internet. Quite pricey, but you could (in theory) download their entire catalog over a year's subscription. I've contemplated it for a while, just waiting for the right job to bill it against. My .02 Frank

Soundbird, I'm also based in Europe and I totally agree that many libraries are just "too american". Especially when it comes to cars, wallas, atmos, sirens and sports. So Digiffects is a real must for me. Why don't you combine different libraries ? I don't think you necessarily need the whole Digiffects collection. I would get me also some Hollywood Edge stuff, maybe the EdgeEdition for a start. If you're looking for good European Atmos you should check out SONOspheresFX . Online SFX I don't like too much, I mean it's great if you need a specific sound but it's way too expansive in the long run. By the way, what's your favourite SFX search engine ? Do you use Soundminer or mtools ? Cheers Peter

Well thanks for your thoughts...... I'll probably go for a mish mash of libraries when I finally get around to sorting it out. Some of the of Digiffects range, some Premier Edition and if someone will sell me a selection of the SI 6000 series, I'll take my pick - but I'm not sure I need all of them for starters. The Premier Edition libraries are great, I have no problem with them and have used and still use them a lot, but it does really grate that I hear the fx everywhere. There are certain fx that I'm afraid I will not use because they're just too familiar (not just PE either) Everyone has their favourite fx but it's far too easy to get lazy especially when you're up against it. FX search wise - I don't use either Soundminer or Mtools - as the company I'm currently working for doesn't have either. It's the old fashioned way for me at the moment, even at my old job where they have a huge number of libraries - It was a simple Filemaker database - no auditioning! Thank goodness I'm pretty familiar with the libraries! If you've only for a small amount of FX, it's easy enough to use Digibase but I could afford it, I'd get Soundminer but I do like Soundlog Pro (although the Soundlog site recommends that everyone check out Soundminer) Not used Mtools so I couldn't say. Keep you thoughts coming! soundbird x