Axe Throw Sound Effect: Create Your Own!

Hi there! If you want to learn how to create sound effects, you are in the right place. Today, I’m going to show you how to create an axe throw sound effect. This sound can also work for blade throws or knife throws. Let’s get started!

Starting From Scratch

We are inside of Reaper, and we are starting from scratch. The first thing I need to do is look for some swing sounds. I’m talking about weapon swing sounds, like whooshes. I’ve created some of these sounds already, so let’s see if we can find one for our axe throw.

Here we go! I printed out a few sounds using NVK_Create. I’ll listen through these to see if I can find one that I like. I’ll use ReCenter to make sure everything is right in front of me. I don’t want anything too wide because sometimes when I record swinging sounds, I sometimes put the microphones in a wide pattern. This gives you a longer sound, but for this case, I want it more centered.

Finding A Swing Sound

Let’s listen to a few options. I found one quickly that I like. It’s a bit airy and noisy, but that’s okay for now. I’ll put it on a separate folder track. This way, I can process it independently from other sounds.

Now, I also like the ring in this layer. It gives a sense of metal, which is good. I might consider adding a scrape sound later to make it clearer that it’s a metal object.

Creating A Spinning Sound

Next, I want to create a fast spinning sound. For this, I’ll record sounds of a stick that I can whip back and forth quickly. Here’s the recording I did with a few different speeds.

I’ll grab this sound and move it into the project. I don’t need it to be too long, so I’ll cut it to the right length. The trick is to find the right section that works with the throw. I think this segment is good!

For this sound, I like to have some gain and EQ that I can change over time. This will help mimic the sound of something swinging in the air. I want the EQ on the item itself so that any changes I make will stay when I create variations.

Finding An Impact Sound

Now, I need an impact sound. This is the sound of the axe hitting something. I’ll search for a gore sound, as it helps show that it’s hitting something hard.

I found a gore sound, so let’s listen to it. It’s okay, but I want to fix the frequency balance a bit. I also want to find some sort of metal hit or punch sound to add more weight to the impact.

I found a shield impact sound, which is big and heavy. I’ll need to adjust it a little. I might offset these sounds a bit to make them feel more real. Let’s see how it sounds together!

Finalizing The Sound

Now that we have our swing sound, spinning sound, and impact sound, it’s time to finalize everything. I’ll add a high shelf EQ as the axe gets closer to give it more presence.

Let’s listen to what we have so far. It sounds pretty good! What I usually do next is create variations of these sounds. I can swap out different layers and find the best combination.

This is how you create an axe throw sound effect! You can also grab some sounds I used in this tutorial from my online store.

Thanks for watching!