In case you haven’t noticed yet Adobe After Effects come with a set of commonly used sound effects and audio effects, yes there is not a lot to choose from but it is still very handy when  you don’t have time to research or switch to an audio editor to add an audio effects. In this article I am going to show what each sound and audio effects do with a preview sample.

After Effects Sound Effects List

You can find the sound effects in the Effects & Presets window, to use them just expand Animation Presets folder then expand the Sound Effects folder, screenshot below
after effects sound effects list

To use the sound effects just drag and drop the sound to your scene, it should create automatically a solid with the sound effects attached.

Here is a example when I dragged the blaster sound effects to my after effects scene

blaster-sound-effects

You can also drag the sound effects directly to your graphic or video layer.

To make it easy I have created an After Effects Sound Effects preview gallery below so you can listen and choose the sound effects you need.
Blaster | MP3 Busy | MP3 CallAdobe | MP3
DialTone-US | MP3 DTMF | MP3 PhoneCompany | MP3
RingingPhone-US | MP3

After Effects Audio Effects

In the Effects & Presets windows you can also find some handy audio effects, just expand the audio folder and drag and drop to your sound layer.

As a reference below is the original sound so you can compare and hear the difference when you apply the audio effects.

Below a explanation of each After Effects audio effects with a sound sample so you can hear the difference with the original sound.

Backwards Audio Effects

The Backwards audio effect play in reverses the audio of a layer by playing from the last frame to the first frame. The frames remain in their original order in the Timeline panel. Select Swap Channels to swap left and right channels.

Bass & Treble Audio Effects

The Bass & Treble effect boosts (increases) or cuts (decreases) the low frequencies (bass) or the high frequencies (treble) of the audio. For greater control, use the Parametric EQ effect. Check out the Adobe website for more detail on Bass & Treble Audio Effects

Delay Audio Effects

The Delay effect repeats audio after a specified amount of time. This effect simulates sound bouncing off a surface, such as a wall.

Delay Time
Time between the original sound and its echo, in milliseconds.
Delay Amount
Volume of the first delayed audio, as a fraction of the original.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Delay Audio Effects.

Flange & Chorus

Flange is an audio effect caused by mixing the original audio with a copy that is delayed by a varying amount that cycles over time. The frequency of the copy is also offset by an amount related to the delay. Chorus uses a larger delay, to make one voice or instrument sound like many.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Flange & Chorus audio Effects

High Low Pass

The High-Low Pass effect sets a limit above or below which frequencies can pass. High Pass allows frequencies above the limit and blocks frequencies below. Conversely, Low Pass allows frequencies below the limit and blocks frequencies above.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the High Low Pass Audio Effects

Modulator Audio Effects

The Modulator effect adds both vibrato and tremolo to audio by modulating (varying) the frequency and amplitude.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Modulator Audio Effects.

Parametric EQ

The Parametric EQ effect emphasizes or attenuates specific frequency ranges. Parametric EQ is useful for enhancing music, such as boosting low frequencies to bring up bass.

If you have audio with an unwanted sound (such as a beep from a forklift in the background), you can isolate and cut the frequency range of the beep to attenuate the sound.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Parametric EQ audio Effects.

Reverb Audio Effects

The reverb audio effects simulate the acoustic ambience of a room, a spacious or acoustically live interior by simulating random reflections of a sound off a surface.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Reverb Audio Effects

Stereo Mixer Audio Effect

The Stereo Mixer effect mixes the left and right channels of audio and pans the entire signal from one channel to the other.

Invert Phase
Inverts the phase of both channels of the stereo signal. Use this control to prevent two sounds at the same frequency from canceling each other out.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Stereo Mixer Audio Effects

Tone

The Tone effect synthesizes simple audio tones to create sounds, such as the low rumble of a submarine, a telephone ringing in the background, sirens, or a laser blast. You can have up to five tones for each instance of the Tone effect, to create a chord. When you apply this effect to a layer with audio, the dry (original, unprocessed) audio is ignored, and only the tone plays.

Check out the Adobe website for more detail on the Tone Audio Effects

You would like to know more about the After Effects Audio Effects feel free to comment in the area below.