Hit & Punch – Remastered! ✨

Hey everyone!

(TLDR: Hit & Punch has been remastered with an overall improvement to sound quality and is available to download now!)

It's been almost 3 years since launching the Hit & Punch sound library – the first ever sound design library I released, and one I was very happy with at the time.

Since then, I've gained audio engineering knowledge, invested in new tools and my critical listening has improved after hundreds of additional hours working with sound.

Listening to the library recently, I realised there was still room for improvement. And, wanting to support those who have supported me by downloading my sound libraries I decided to go through every sound in Hit & Punch and make refinements where necessary to release as a free update.

Some of the improvements made:

• Fixes for room resonances and slight harshness in upper frequencies – while I did the best to record as cleanly as I could at the time, anything short of an incredibly expensive custom-built sound recording studio can throw little aural curveballs. Luckily, I can now hear these much better and have tools to address the issues. I've also improved my recording environment since, too, so newer libraries like Balloon are much cleaner from the outset.
• Balancing of the Stereo image
  A few sounds favoured the left or right channel more than the other; these are now more balanced. Stereo width has also been adjusted to improve how well sounds 'sit' within a scene when implemented.
• Tweaks to the tone/timbre of some sounds
  I wasn't happy with the tonal balance of some sounds (audio engineers might use esoteric terms like 'boxy' or 'muddy' to describe issues with tonal balance). Sounds that ought to feel light and airy, clean and crisp are no longer weighed down by muddy boxes.
• Trimming of sample start/end
  I've gone through and removed excess intro/tail portions of many sounds, reducing file-size and memory load and allowing for a snappier, more responsive sound. Reduces the amount of overlapping audio when many sounds are played at once in-game, which can build up to create a muddy, less dynamic sound.
• A library overview PDF with mixing tips
  I've added a PDF with a broad overview of the library contents, and a handful of tips on how to mix the sounds (placing them in a space, setting volume and pushing them into the distance, away from the player/camera).
• Added a 16-bit/44kHz version
  Originally the library was only available in ultra-high quality 24-bit/96kHz wav format. This can be handy when using the sounds as source for further sound design or extreme real-time manipulation, however in most cases 16/44 offers the best quality to size/performance ratio for use in games.

Some of the tools used to refine the sounds (I might do a detailed write-up on the process on my blog at shapeforms.com sometime)

Overall, the library is just that little bit more well-rounded and polished, and hopefully also results in sounds sitting in-game a bit more nicely, too.

I hope you enjoy the update!