Having access via the Internet Archive to the SSE (Sunset Editorial collection) downloadable collection of 1,022 amazing sound effects ranging from the 1930s into the early 1980s is wonderful.
This diverse collection of sounds (for example planes, cars, weapons, fire and footsteps) has been passed around, transferred to used Ampex tape then lovingly restored and preserved by baking and cooling the tapes because they started to display Sticky Shed Syndrome.
You can read more about that process in Craig Smith’s blog post on the Freesound blog: Preserving the Sunset Editorial Sound Effects Library from the USC Archive. And Jason Scott has a post on the Internet Archive blog about getting the SSE collection to the Archive: CRASH! BARK! BOOM! The USC Sound Effects Library.
How to use SSE sound effects in your own movie
You can add sound effects from the SSE library to your Timebox movies by downloading one or more of the files and then adding them as a 3D scene background sound or a 3D model animation sound effect.
The library includes various formats for the sound files and metadata, but we recommend choosing VBR MP3 for good file size and sound quality.
One tip for getting a sound effect file downloaded from the archive.org library: if you just tap the name or download icon of a file in the list, Safari will start playing it instead of downloading it. To instead download a file on your iPhone or iPad to the Files app, you need to tap and hold the file name and choose Download Linked File from the popup menu. On the Mac Control-click on the file name and choose Download Linked File to download to the Finder.
Once you’ve downloaded a sound effect file to either Files or Finder, you can add it to a Timebox model animation as follows:
Tap the desired 3D model in a scene to select it.
Tap the Customize (paintbrush) button, tap Animations, tap Sound to add a Sound animation step.
Tap Clip to Play, New Clip, Audio File and then choose the downloaded MP3 file using the file chooser.
We’ve got an exciting update to Timebox Movie Maker 3D almost ready to go with some cool new features. Stay tuned!