New Release: China Ambiences 1

We are very happy to announce our latest library: China Ambiences 1.
A collection of ambience recordings from the Northern Cities: Beijing, Datong, Pingyao.

They are renowned for their rich cultural heritage contrasted by the frantic pace of modernity.


The majority of this library was recorded in Beijing, the capital city. There you can hear the hustle
and bustle of daily life, with busy traffic on small street and the outer rings, the crowds on bustling
markets and touristic sites like the Forbidden City. But also the tranquil calm of the Great Wall in winter time.

Take a ride on the subway train from the airport and arrive at Tiananmen Square to be engulfed by
a tourist crowd. Or listen to the happy chatter of locals playing games in the Ritan Park. Visit the old
hutongs and enjoy the sparse voices in the narrow streets and alleys. Listen to electric vehicles whizzing
by and the distant whooshes of traffic as the day settles. Finally settle down in a quiet restaurant with the
staff cleaning up in the kitchen. 


China is a fast moving country and it's sound is changing rapidly. We decided to record the it's ancient
cultural highlights and the modern sounds of everyday urban life. We recorded long takes in quiet hutong
alleys, on busy markets, the walla of crowds in tourist attractions like The Forbidden City and the chaotic
sound of traffic on city streets. After careful curation we selected and mastered an exquisite collection of
sounds.



Background:
In 2011 and 2012 Max and Arnoud individually travelled China for a month. They were not yet working together on sound libraries,
but knew each other well from Art School and work in post-production. Both had gathered a diverse and rich set of recordings,
over 40GB, from all over the country with the intention create a sound library of China. But the task was too great and life
demanded attention to other things. The recordings where shelved and revisited every year or so, until in 2016 Max and Arnoud
discussed creating sound libraries and decided to work together on what became ‘City Bicycles’.

Metadata and Mandarin translators:

After that initial release China was revisited again and carefully they curated and mastered an exquisite collection of sounds
contained in China Ambiences Part 1.
We went through great lengths to get this library ready for use in any scenario,  whether film, game or otherwise, going as far
to enlisting Mandarin translators to check for private or explicit verbal content in our recordings. The sounds are enriched
with detailed metadata, compact FXNames and detailed descriptions, with even more information in Notes.
We also added location, time of day, mood and region markers for distinctive events to create a complete and transparent library.



Finally Part 1 is finished. We will continue our quest and dive deeper into our archives to revisit the other cities we explored.
In the meantime, if you have any requests, let us know!
We can make boutique packages for specific use cases.