Hands Make Sounds is a free sound library featuring 158 samples of handclaps and finger snaps. The sounds were recorded in six different indoor locations. The idea was to capture the natural reverb characteristics of different spaces. The result is a comprehensive and diverse collection of natural-sounding handmade percussion sounds.

I have many electronic clap sounds on my computer, but good sounding natural claps are a bit harder to find. This free collection should remedy the situation, packing over 150 different real-life snaps and claps.

The Claps

The clap samples have been recorded in six different rooms, from a tiny toilet to a large empty hallway. Although you’re free to add your own reverb to these sounds, of course, it’s often helpful to have percussion samples that already capture the natural reverb characteristics of different rooms.

Although sitting alone in a toilet and clapping into a microphone isn’t precisely the best way to spend a day, I’m delighted with how those samples turned out. The claps which were recorded in the empty hallway in front of my apartment also sound nice, and they work great when layered on top of classic 808 snares.

The Snaps

The snap samples are sorted into four different groups. The samples labeled snap-close have been recorded from close range, with almost zero reverb. The ones labeled snap-far have been recorded in my living room, from various distances.

Most of the snaps have been recorded with both hands at the same time to achieve that classic musical finger snap sound. I’ve tried to keep my hands apart as much as possible, which resulted in an excellent stereo separation in the majority of the sounds.

By the way, you should also check out our Rain And Thunder sound library if you’re looking for free thunderstorm sound effects. It features more than 600 MB of high-quality loops of rainfall and thunder strikes.

Technical Details

All samples have been normalized to -0.1 dB and carefully trimmed to avoid any pops or clicks. My advice is to use several similar claps or snap samples in a round-robin fashion to achieve more natural results. You can also make some great sounding fat claps if you layer several different clap samples and trigger them at the same time.

The samples come in stereo 24-bit WAV format with a 44.1 kHz sampling rate. The library contains 158 individual samples. You’ll find 96 clap samples and 62 finger snaps. SFZ and Kontakt 5 mappings included. After unpacking, the library will occupy 19.6 MB of space on your hard drive.