Nature Sounds is a free collection of nature audio recordings captured by Free To Use Sounds and released by 99Sounds.
The free download link is located at the end of this article.
FREE Nature Sounds
Nature Sounds contains a set of royalty-free nature field recordings in the following categories: Animals, Forest, Rain, Water, and Wind.
It’s an excellent addition to our most popular Rain Sounds and Water Sounds libraries. The new Nature Sounds offers more sonic variety and is ideal for sound design, film, social media, and music production.
Our friends from Free To Use Sounds recorded the included sounds in Taiwan and offered them as a free download to 99Sounds visitors.
You can find more field recordings from various places around the globe on the excellent Free To Use Sounds website.
The free nature sounds are provided in 24-bit 96 kHz stereo WAV format.
How to use these free nature sounds in your projects
So, who is the free Nature Sounds library for, and what is the best way to use these free sound effects?
Nature sounds are a fundamental asset for us as creators, especially in music production, sound design, and filmmaking.
Ambient nature recordings included in this free sound library capture the essence of outdoor environments, from the tranquil murmur of a forest at night to the soothing sound of waterfalls and rain.
Nature sounds tend to deepen the emotional and sensory engagement of the audience, elevating the impact of our creations. This is true both in film and music production. I’ve often used nature sounds as a layer in my music projects, as they make the audio sound more organic.
In my practice as a sound designer, I often incorporate natural sounds into soundscapes, whooshes, and other cinematic sound effects. I typically add a subtle layer of natural SFX to add texture to a particular sound.
For musicians, these natural sounds can transform a mix, infusing it with an atmosphere that transcends traditional musical instruments. The subtle rainstorm or forest sound layer can add emotion and depth to your music without you even playing a note.
Natural sounds are crucial in sound design, particularly for visual media such as films and video games. They help generate immersive worlds that keep the audience engaged and make the audiovisual experience feel more real.
A well-designed soundscape can make the difference between a scene that feels flat and one that pulsates with life, convincing the viewer of the authenticity of the virtual environment.
Oftentimes, nature sounds serve not just as a backdrop but as a character in the storytelling process. The sound of wind rustling through trees or a distant thunderclap can foreshadow events, build tension, or evoke specific emotional responses.
These sounds anchor the visual imagery, making the scene more tangible and relatable to the audience.
As someone who does sound design for a living, I view nature sound recordings as an essential resource. They offer us a palette of textures and tones that can’t be matched with synthesizers or acoustic instruments like pianos.
To load the included audio files in your audio or video software, download the free Nature Sounds library, extract the downloaded ZIP archive, and import the WAV files into your project.
About the artist – Free To Use Sounds
The project Free To Use Sounds was initiated in 2017 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with a simple idea to record sounds and a Zoom H1 recorder.
This marked the beginning of a journey that would span across more than 26 countries and result in thousands of unique sound recordings. The founders, starting with their first recording of Cambodian women sifting gravel at a construction site, have grown the collection with a focus on capturing the authentic sounds of daily life and the diverse soundscapes of the places they visit, emphasizing quality and authenticity.
They adopt a slow travel approach to deeply immerse themselves in different cultures and regions, allowing them to gather a wide range of sounds that archive the essence of each location.
Free to Use Sounds aims to provide high-quality, royalty-free audio tracks and sound effects through their All in One Bundle (with 2 TB of sounds!), catering to both amateur and professional sound artists in various industries worldwide.
I purchased the All in One Bundle several years ago, and it’s one of the best audio-related purchases I ever made. It’s an endless source of inspiration for creating new sounds and experimenting with sound design.
The project continues to share its journey and updates through its highly subscribed YouTube channel and Instagram account, and its unique mission has been recognized by outlets such as CNN Travel.
Details
Nature Sounds contains 83 audio recordings in 24-bit WAV format (192 kHz, stereo).
The download size is 2.9 GB (3.3 GB when extracted). Detailed metadata is also included.
The library includes the following sound categories:
- Animals (frogs, squirrels, insects)
- Forest (ambiance and vegetation)
- Rain (soft rain and heavy rain)
- Water (waterfall, river, splashes)
- Wind (different wind intensity)
2 Comments
It’s says “Sci-Fi” above the download links. I guess the page was copied from another one and you forgot to change that.
Fixed! And thank you! That’s why user feedback is so important. :)