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If you’re working on a project that needs quality ambience and background sound effects, Krotos Studio’s AI Ambience Generator makes it as easy as typing in a brief description of the scene. The platform will then generate customizable ambience within seconds, and all the sound effects are authentic, not generative. And it works with many major NLE platforms such as Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. Let’s dive in!
Krotos is based in Scotland and their technologies have been featured in many major productions, such as Avengers, Game of Thrones, and others. Their plugins include Dehumaniser, Reformer, Igniter, Weaponiser, and Concept.
When working on a film or video project, sound effects, particularly those in the background (busy street, quiet park, etc.), are very important. It can take time to search and add different sound effects to build the proper background ambience, including editing, mixing, and finessing the sound effects.
I downloaded and installed the free trial of Krotos Studio. Upon initial launch, it runs through a brief tutorial explaining how to use the program. Within the user interface, click the AI Ambience Generator button and then type in a brief description the scene or sound effect. For example, ‘quiet park with some birds chirping and a light breeze,’ or ‘basketball bouncing.’ And within seconds, you’ll have a high quality and custom ambience or sound effect to work with.
The ambience isn’t ’baked,’ — you’re not getting a file that only the overall audio levels can be adjusted. You’ll be able to work with the ambience or sound effect within Krotos Studio and adjust and shape the ambience or sound effect using the XY pads in the application. Perhaps the birds need to be a little louder while the breeze can be a little quieter. Even with the fine-tuning, you’re still saving hours of work by searching for the proper sound effects, adding them to the timeline, layer, editing, etc.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a complex ambience is, such as the park example, or just one sound effect of a basketball bouncing, Krotos Studio has it all and it’s intuitive and easy to use. It works with both Mac and Windows.
What’s interesting is Krotos Studio says the sound effects are not generative. Rather, everything was professionally recorded, so you’re getting real sound effects, which are all royalty free and commercial rights are included. As the company says, “We are not trying to replace sound designers with AI… it’s more of an assistive approach.” This is similar to the Audiio Hans application which features searchable and authentic music based on a brief description of the scene or sequence. The music is written and performed by professional musicians.
It works with many major NLEs, including Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. With Premiere Pro, Krotos Studios can run alongside the NLE as an open, standalone application. You can have Krotos Studio generate a specific sound effect, like a basketball bouncing (in time with the footage), then drag it onto the Premiere Pro timeline. Sounds effects can be fine-tuned with the XY pass then dragged to the NLE timeline, which can then be further edited in Premiere Pro. They have a tutorial for using Premiere Pro here.
Krotos Studio (ver. 1.8) is an instrument plugin within DaVinci Resolve (ver. 18.6), making it very easy to work within the NLE. Go to the Fairlight tab, add a stereo track, and rename it Krotos Studio. Add a new effect and select Krotos Studio. Each track created will have a sound effect, such as the bouncing basketball and background ambience. Check out this tutorial to learn more it.
Krotos Studio is priced at $14.99 per month (billed annually, although they’re offering a nice discount that brings the price down to $9.99/month. It includes many features including AI Ambience Generator, hundreds of presets, unlimited royalty-free sound effects, and more. You can learn more and try it for free here.
What do you think of the Krotos Studio AI Ambience Generator? Will it help save time when finding and adding sound effects and creating ambience? Let us know in the comments below!
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Heath has been an independent filmmaker, video director, producer, and editor for over 25 years, and has been writing and lecturing about film and video technology since 2003. In addition to producing and directing several feature and short films, corporate videos, commercials, and more, he has taught filmmaking, video editing, and cinematography. His two most recent short films, 'Nobody's Tomorrow' and 'Hellevator,' were written by comic book legend David Michelinie. Heath enjoys running and triathlons in his free time, and finished a full IRONMAN in 2019.