Ever since sound design has become a hot keyword, the Internet has gone ablaze with over-the-top sound “design."

The opposite can also be true though—not having sound design often leaves content falling flat and our ears never like being jealous of our eyes. So in an effort to keep your sensory inputs in harmony, we’ve teamed up with Soundsnap to put together this incredible free pack of whooshes. 

The key to creating any good soundscape is understanding the different roles of each type of sound. 

Psychoacoustics 

The study of how humans perceive and are affected by sound. In film, music is most commonly used here to trigger our brain to feel certain emotions. Think Jaws. 

Diegetic Sound

Sounds coming from a practical source seen on camera. In a way, they’re like the color grading for our ears. These sounds bring life to soundscape and help convince the audience that what is being shown is real.

Non-Diegetic

Sounds that do not have a source on the screen but add to the overall environment of the scene. 

Think traffic outside a city apartment building or crickets and owl noises outside of a mountain cabin. 

So where do sounds like whooshes come in? 

Whooshes, when used properly are a great way to accent diegetic sounds. Sometimes our ears expect to hear something better than it sounds in reality. 

Here’s the sequence with the proper diegetic sounds. And here it is with the addition of the whooshes. 

When it comes to building out a believable soundscape, the basic things to remember are volume, environment, and position. 

Volume

Is the sound at the right level? It’s a good idea when building out your sound design to test a variety of speakers, devices, and headphones. Then you can more or less average the sound for those devices.

Environment 

How would the sound actually sound in the scene as depicted? Would there be an echo or is the room damp. Let your visuals dictate how a sound is portrayed.

Position 

Depending on where the sound happens in the scene, you can position the sound using various surround sound placement. This can get complicated pretty quickly so just keep things as simple as possible.

Once you’ve got everything mastered in your sound design, your piece will sound like a chorus to your viewers ears. 

You can download the Soundsnap Whoosh pack we used in this video using the link in the description below. Also be sure to check out Soundsnap’s entire library for all of your sound design needs.