You need gun sound effects for your latest project, and you’re all out of ammo?
Finding the proper sound effects can be grueling, and not everyone has a sound designer or state-of-the-art Foley studio on hand.
So, I scoured the internet and found some of the best collections of affordable, royalty-free gun sounds.
1. SoundBible
SoundBible is an excellent site if you’re searching for free and royalty-free sound clips in WAV or MP3 format. It’s a well-rounded website with copyright-free sounds for movie scores, game designers, and editors.
The royalty-free section offers creative commons and public domain works. Each sound is available for commercial use without any hassle.
The Pros
The royalty-free sound effects on this website are entirely free. There’s no secret language or stipulations that require payment.
The quality of the sound effects is decent and eligible for editing if you need to spice it up a little in post-production.
The Cons
The website user interface has a poor design. The design doesn’t compete with other options except for the large download button to avoid confusion.
There is a limited selection of available gun sound effects. You might have to search elsewhere if you’re looking for sound effects for your action-packed thriller.
2. Fesliyan Studios
Music Sound’s Fesliyan Studios is a hub of royalty-free and free sound effects from commercial to trailer background themes and EDM electronic.
They boast of having a high-quality selection of gun sounds, including burst shots, single shots, machine guns, automatic gunfire, and more.
The Pros
Right off the back, you can’t go wrong with their 100% free selection. Cutting out the cost of purchasing individual sound effects can set you back in a major way.
Fesliyan Studios offers optional attribution. If you don’t feel like giving them a shoutout in your credits, it’s not an obligation.
The website offers various gun sounds in different scenarios, including indoor rooms (small, medium, large) or outdoor distances (close, far)—no hassle of additional editing to the sound effect.
The types of gun sound effects are impressive. Each subcategory of sound effects breaks down into categories, from pistols and rifles to blowtorches and laser guns.
The Cons
The free sound effects have decent quality. They’re not the worst on the market, but they are not top-of-the-line. It’s the best bang for your buck. Free.
The website can use an update. Elements of the simple layout make sense, but it’s dated compared to some of the most minor, current websites.
3. Zapsplat
Zapsplat is a royalty-free, professionally recorded sound effects library offering a selection from indie sound effects creators and designers.
Their extensive library provides in-depth information surrounding the effects, like software and plugin reviews and interviews with sound designers and field recordists.
The Pros
The sounds are free! If you’re trying to avoid monetary transactions, you’re solid with Zapsplat.
Compared to the previous mentions, the selection of indie effects made by sound designers and creators on Zapsplat is an excellent standard.
The best takeaway is the large selection of sound effects, totaling around 650 different options—no need to sacrifice a specific effect due to a limited variety.
The Cons
Zapsplat requires attribution. Although necessary, ascribing the gun sound effects to the particular creator and website can be tedious and affect the presentation of your body of work.
The only way to avoid the lengthy attribution is to subscribe to a monthly or yearly Gold Account. Once upgraded, you can access higher-quality sound and a more extensive library.
4. Boom Library
The Boom Library is a premium selection of professional, 12 multichannel source recorded weapon sound effects. The multichannel recordings allow for more versatility in the editing and placement of the high-definition SFX.
The sounds come in three different kits:
- Ready-to-use predesigned set
- The construction set of raw and clean-sourced sounds
- The bundle, which includes both kits
The Pros
You’re getting the best quality selection of sound effects from each kit. Even with the smallest option, you receive hundreds of high-quality 24-bit WAV files fully compatible with Windows and Mac software.
The option of three kits lets you decide what is suitable for your production. If you have the budget to spare, purchasing the most extensive bundle gives you over 6,000 weapon sounds at your disposal.
The Cons
It’s expensive. The idea of a bit of attribution or monthly subscription pales compared to the hefty price tags of these three sound packages. The smallest will still run you over $100, and the bundle will be more than twice that amount.
Accessibility. Instead of being a point-and-click away, these large files can take a chunk of space. Each kit is available as a DVD, USB key drive, or downloaded, so be ready to free up some room on your hard drives.
5. Storyblocks
Storyblocks is an affordable stock media subscription service that offers audio, video, and images. With a library of over 10,000 pre-recorded sound effects– it’s the best one-stop-shop for gun sound effects and more.
The Pros
You’re looking at a fine selection. The gun sounds alone range over 1,500 options with different styles, atmospheres, and conditions included.
The website is well-built, making access to their entire library and categorization user-friendly and straightforward. Every appropriately labeled sound comes with a preview of the waveforms.
The Cons
The subscription allows easy access and additional perks, but it’s not free. That could be a game-changer for your budget.
You can purchase a monthly plan priced at $1/day for unlimited access to the high-definition footage, music/sound effects, and After Effects templates.
If you’re interested in the audio selection, you can access only the music and sound effects for half that price.
6. Soundly
Soundly is a complete sound effects platform in league with the top media on the internet. It’s a powerful search engine that supports a massive library of sound effects ready to drag and drop into your go-to editing tools and software.
Unlike other platforms with the quality of the Soundly library, this organized platform dedicates everything solely to sound effects.
The Pros
Soundly has one of the best user interfaces and websites of the sound effects libraries. Additionally, the platform is easy to use and compatible with all the current technology and software.
The high-quality SFX library integrates with your workflow and popular editing tools like Logic Pro, Premiere Pro, and Pro Tools.
Soundly boasts 10 GB of cloud storage necessary for large files with metadata support.
The platform’s shared database is easy for large production teams and provides discounts for multi-users.
The Cons
Although free subscribers get access to 2,500 local files, the real perks are only available to the monthly paid subscribers.
Limited free access forfeits using 10 GBs of cloud storage, unlimited downloads, and frequently updated features.
7. Epidemic Sound
Epidemic Sound is in a league of its own. Go with a library of this caliber if the budget is there.
With a single subscription, you can enjoy unlimited use of their royalty-free sound effect with premium sound design.
The Pros
Epidemic Sounds provides one of the largest libraries on the internet. Just for gun sounds alone, it ranges from 700 – 1,000 SFX per category.
Is Epidemic Sound a little pricey? Yes. But you get what your money’s worth. A personal account gets you access to 35,000 tracks and 90,000 sound effects. Each track and sound effect is considered the highest quality on the internet.
The website layout and features are top-of-the-line. When in the market for royalty-free sound effects, the presentation and accessibility of the platform and service can make or break the deal for paid subscriptions.
The Cons
The only real setback is that you have limited access to the Epidemic Sounds features without a paid subscription. The three-tier pay structure (personal, commercial, enterprise) is expensive, but each level provides more access for larger teams.
Are you interested in a more in-depth look at Epidemic Sounds and what they have to offer?
8. Motion Array
Motion Array is an all-in-one professional platform for filmmakers, with over 7,000 files added in the last 30 days. The subscription-based platform contains:
- Unlimited asset downloads.
- Exclusive plugins.
- Extensions for Adobe Creative software.
- Innovative methods of sharing content.
The Pros
Much like the other expensive subscription-based services, the user interface holds up to the standard of modern web design and applications.
Motion Array has exclusive plugins and integrations with editing software like Adobe applications like After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Photoshop.
Motion Array integrates with major editing software like Adobe, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve.
The Cons
Despite the extensive library of SFX, there is a limited selection of gun sounds.
The free subscription is extremely limited in comparison to the paid structure. A monthly or annual subscription opens access features, including exclusive plugins, 25GB storage, portfolio site builder, and more.
Conclusion
I’ll be a straight shooter with you. If you’re looking for the easiest way out of your sound effect search– be willing to get some of the lowest-quality effects on the internet.
Sound designers and creators produce all the SFX at different levels, and the prices, or lack thereof, will reflect that.
Royalty-free sound effects eliminate the problem of having to come out of pocket every time that sound appears in your projects, but it can cost a little more outright or require strict attribution instructions.
Now that I have all the ammo you need to find the best royalty-free sound effects get to work with guns blazing, friends!
Read more here if you need gun muzzle flashes and other high-quality visual effects for your indie flick.
