Mighty proud to report that our sound effect "Swoosh Pack 2" was one of the two top sound effects sold on Envato's Elements for the year of 2021! Out of literally thousands of sounds, we had the top downloaded sound effect for the entire Element's catalog. Currently we have 6470 sounds available on Elements with new sounds being added weekly.  To see our Element's portfolio clink on this link:  Apple Hill Studios - Elements

It's been a fun Christmas season recording classic Christmas songs with a rock feel.  I recently added the classic New Year's Auld Lang Syne with a Rock feel to my repertoire and it was immediately bought by BNN Bloomberg, Canada's Financial News Network.  Happy to know it will be getting lots and lots of airplay in a national setting....and perhaps for years to come!

​Take a listen below & Happy New Year!!!!

Apple Hill Studios now have a Facebook business page.  We invite you to follow us as we share new sounds & music tracks along with an occasional inside scoop on how we make our sounds.
Check us out!
​

I recently spent some time in Charlotte, NC where I took an evening in with some really funny comedians and a great audience.  Armed with my trusty sound devices mixpre-6 recorder and a stereo pair of omni microphones I was able to capture some wonderful laughter and applause.  These tracks are perfect for use as comedy laugh tracks for a comedy project, TV sitcom or radio show.  Currently, I have 30 different tracks available for sale on AudioJungle and 10 different tracks on Pond5.

Take a listen to a sample below!

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon putting together various carnival sounds including a carnival gun shot hitting a bell, a gun shot popping a balloon with winner bell and finally a short audio carnival scene using both these sounds along with a crowd carnival/amusement park effect I had produced last week.   That production is a whole different story but I will share that I wrote and produced the music (merry go round sound) using Logic and a vst software from Sonokinetic called "Carousel".  I love how authentic the organ sounds are for making circus or carnival music.

Today's project started with a simple cap gun I ordered off of eBay.  I got it in the mail today and started by recording several shots using my Sound Design Mixpre 6 along with a Sennnheiser MKH 8040 Stereo microphone.  After some post work in Logic I was happy with the "cap gun" sounds.  Then I worked on the bell ring.  I recorded a simple hotel desk clerk bell and after sampling it and down tuning the sounds, I came up with the quick bell hits.  I had already purchased some balloons yesterday ( a whole bag for .99 cents) and recorded various balloon sounds including some popping sounds.  I used the 8040 pair for these sounds as well.  Then I remembered that I had my Dad's old test bell he used when he worked for GTE Telephone company back in the sixties, seventies & early eighties.   I wasn't sure if it still worked because it probably had not been used for the past 40 years or more.  I went and picked up a battery from Walmart and after testing it, I was able to get the ringing bell sound I needed!  After some editing and sweetening up of all the sounds, I put them together using Logic and bounced them out for the final stereo sound effects.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out!  I put together a short demo if you would like to take a listen to a few of the sounds I created.  These sound effects will be available for purchase on AudioJungle within a week or so.  Enjoy!
​​

It's amazing when we really start to pay attention how many different sounds we encounter every day.  We typically take them for granted, including our ability to even hear sounds.  Stop and listen.  What do you hear?  A clock ticking, the air conditioner blowing, voices, the rustle of leaves or grass as you walk, wind blowing through the trees, cars moving, birds singing, a soft whirring from a computer hard drive - so many sounds!  I have a membership to an O2 gym and go a few mornings each week to help slow down this aging process a little.  While I was working out this morning I stopped to pay attention to all the sounds around me.  WOW!  There was a lot going on.  I would have loved to have had my portable recording rig with me (of course I would have had to ask them to turn the music off).  Perhaps in the future I can get some good sounds there.  I came home and let my pup "Darby" out for a walk and it was fun just focusing on what I was hearing.  The world is full of sounds (I'm listening now to the keys on my computer keyboard doing their thing) and it's just a good reminder to stop....smell the roses, so to speak, LISTEN and have a thankful heart for the ability to hear. 

This past week I traveled up to Wallace, NC and worked with my High School friend Jerry Dempsey to record various farm sounds.  Jerry has been a farmer for many years and has a nice assortment of John Deere tractors, diesel trucks and a huge barn workshop with endless sound effects possibilities.  We worked a couple of hours recording tons of effects including blow torches, steel pipes falling on concrete, chain sounds, tools clanging, tractors starting and moving, etc.  I appreciate Jerry's assistance and I'm happy to report that most of those sounds are now waiting for final approval on AudioJungle where they will be available for purchase within the next week or two.

Below is a sample from one his his John Deere Tractors:

I have been concentrating on producing some new forcefield beams and scans for sci fi space projects.  These are perfect sound effects for the gaming industry.  This is a huge market and lots of fun to produce.  Perfect for use in films, movie scenes, tv series, trailers / teasers, cinematic projects, technology documentaries, & video games.

Take a listen to a few samples below:

I have been on a roll here lately writing and recording new music.  I love the challenge of creating new and different styles for my library.  My main instrument is guitar and I've enjoyed creating happy, upbeat acoustic guitar tracks.  I recently bought my 2nd Martin D-28 (this one is from 1975 and my earlier one was from 1969) and I'm finding it to be a wonderful guitar to record with.  It has such a nice warm tone and a great balance of highs and lows.  I used it as the main guitar for my latest production "Happy You & Me Acoustic Guitar".  You can listen to it below.  The track features acoustic guitars, a mixture of Martins, Santa Cruz for the lead work, a 70's Yamaha that I have strung with Nashville tuning, a fender bass, ukulele, piano, regina music box, drums & percussion.  This track is available for purchase on AudioJungle.

It was great to travel up into the mountains of North Carolina to Lake Lure this past week.  We rented a wonderful cabin through Airbnb and invited some college friends up to join us.  Our cabin was perfect and we particularly enjoyed sitting down by a creek behind our house that fed into Lake Lure.  It was relaxing just to listen to the water falling over the rocks and catch up with old friends!

Lake Lure is a beautiful resort and I highly recommend it for a quiet vacation get-a-way!

If you're a movie buff, you might know that parts of the Patrick Swayze movie "Dirty Dancing" was filmed at Lake Lure.