Ambient Sounds

About ambient sounds

Ambient sounds are the background of a place: the air of an empty room, the murmur of a restaurant, traffic outside a window, rain on a roof. They tell the audience where a scene happens before anyone speaks. Room tone is the largest set here, with basements, attics, classrooms, warehouses and lifts. After it come crowds, traffic and city streets, campfires and fireplaces, rain on streets, roofs, windows, leaves and tents, and the inside of cars, buses, trains, planes and boats. Cafes, restaurants, stations and offices fill in the everyday places.

Every clip in this category is a steady, sustained sound a few seconds long. That makes them easy to extend: lay a clip under your scene, repeat it, and crossfade the joins so the repeat isn't obvious. Two different clips from the same kind of place, alternated, hide the pattern better than one clip on repeat.

Keep ambience quieter than you think. It should sit under dialogue and be noticed mainly when it stops. Choose by the space as much as the source: a busy restaurant and a sparse morning cafe both carry voices, but they set very different moods. When you cut between two places, change the ambience on the cut so the new room is heard as well as seen.

Other categories

Nature Sounds721 soundsMachine & Vehicle Sounds708 soundsImpact & Whoosh664 soundsGame Sound Effects619 soundsAnimal Sounds346 soundsUI Sound Effects313 soundsAlarms & Sirens295 soundsFunny & Reaction181 sounds