A few weeks back I received interesting message in my email inbox. John Koulouris had reached out and asked about adding his “Cosmos” sound library to the search. We did, and in the process, I asked John to explain a bit more about his background, Rescopic Sound, and his latest release: Cosmos.
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and your company?
I’m John, a sound designer, sound effects creator, and sound editor based in Athens, Greece.
I’ve worked in-house at an audio post-production studio with an emphasis on advertising, where I provided sound design services to major national production houses and well-known brands. Additionally, I have made sound effects for mobile games—among them, a Nintendo Switch shooter game.
Now, I work as a freelance sound designer and sound editor for independent content creators. I mostly do audio production for podcasts and sound design for promo videos, short films and adverts.
I started Rescopic Sound in early 2023 and my ultimate goal is to offer premium and artistically distinctive sound effects libraries to sound designers, game developers, and sound editors at a reasonable price.
What prompted you to start recording sound effects and sharing sound libraries?
After I earned my B.Sc. in Music Technology and Acoustics Engineering and trying to find what I wanted to do with audio in general, I met the founder of Sound Ex Machina.
We started working together on some sound effects libraries, and gradually I became more and more passionate about this.
After finishing the second library for them, I knew this was what I wanted to do daily. I learned everything I could about microphones and recording techniques, as well as how to add metadata and which software plugins to use.
Why did you create Cosmos?
Cosmos arose from a goal to provide a diverse sci-fi sound effects library that covered the acoustic range from 2000 to the present. I curated a collection that goes beyond traditional sci-fi cliches, aiming for a balance of modern and retro sci-fi aesthetics.
It provides a diverse range of sounds, from a spacecraft soaring across the screen to a spectacular transition in a blockbuster trailer.
Additionally, with this sound library, I attempted to delve deeper into granular and spectral sound design processing. It was an excellent opportunity to learn and utilize some spectral processing plugins I had purchased (Unfiltered Audio‘s SpecOps, Silo, and Lion soft synths).
Who did you have in mind when you created the library?
When I produced the library, I was always thinking about action and sci-fi movies. My references included movies such as The Matrix, Star Wars, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner 2049, Gravity, Prometheus, and Arrival.
I intended Cosmos to be as adaptable as possible, especially for film sound designers and sound effects editors.
What’s interesting or cool about this library?
I think Cosmos definitely has a lot more fields of application than just sci-fi. This is the most interesting about it. These sounds are great as additional layers for just about anything contemporary. Adding those as a layer can give a nice edge.
The source material works well as additional layers for magic or robotic sounds. Especially the synth and whoosh categories.
Additionally, the designed sounds boast a polished, rounded feel, thanks to Tonsturm’s Whoosh granular sampler engine.
Any particular tracks you’d like to highlight?
I worked in a great detail on every aspect of this sound library. Every source sound has its own unique approach. If I have to choose what I like most of this sound library, it would be the source whooshes and the designed impacts categories.
I used extensively the modular soft synth Phase Plant by Kilohearts to design the source whooshes, and I made some cool preset templates for future use.
For the designed impacts, I fully capitalized on the extensive features offered by Whoosh. From its multi functional sampler engines to its advanced doppler engine, I explored every facet of the plugin to sculpt impactful sounds.
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