Decompression - Air Release

This flamboyant and diverse library is a collection of recordings of air flows, leaks, bursts, plops, hisses, wooshes, suctions and blows.

I started recording these noises when I needed a basis for a magic spell sound and then realized that the sounds also work very well as a layer in fly bys (or all kind of pass bys), weapons / bullets and other sci fi elements like doors & machines. And of course you can use the sounds for the objects that emitted them.

A lot of objects were recorded that first come on everyones mind, like canned air / co2, bicycle pumps, boat pumps and the opening of soda bottles. But also more exceptional products were captured, like a fog machine, syringes, medical nebulator / inhaler and more. I also recorded quite a lot of vents, fans, HVAC and some more tonal whistles or water boilers like the famous Alessi. There are also air releases into water, so a lot of wet textures, spray paint, desinfection spray ( and all kind of plastic bottles with various sealing caps and and and.

One of my favourite sounds in this collection is a malfunctioning garden hose. Air flow leaked through a tiny hole and depending on the pressure my hand put on the ventile different tones and sounds occured.

The selection offers everything from very short, to medium long sounds, loops and long air releases.

Most sounds were recorded from multiple mic perspectives. While the directional mics deliver clean direct sounds, omnidirectional Eartworks QTC50 capture high frequency sounds up to above 80kHz, that invite to pitch or slow down the sounds and create otherworldy atmospheres or woosh sounds. Some sounds were also recorded underwater with an ASF1 hydrophone.