Glass Beach

Glass Beach is a unique sample library for composers and sound artists that combines experimental percussion and sound design with an oceanic sfx and ambient soundscape library. We explore a wide variety of different natural beach, bay, estuary, marsh and wharf environments in wide stereo with a richly-detailed quality that puts you right there in the scene. Glass Beach is a unique place on shore of the old village of Fort Bragg, in northern California. For decades the town dumped its trash into the sea, leaving heaps towering high above the waves. “The Dumps” were finally shut down in 1967. After years of clean-up, all that remained was broken glass too small to pick from the sand. The relentless years of tide and waves have turned this glass into something magical: A bejeweled beach covered in millions of smooth multi-colored glass pebbles. These little sea glass beads create a remarkably effervescent sound as they tumble in the gentle surf. On our visit to Glass Beach, we captured a wide variety of percussive sea glass hits, taps, clicks, steps and scrapes, perfect for sound design and creative rhythmic composition. We’ve also gone into the field to record sea and bay ambiences from a variety of coastal, bay, marsh and estuary environments, including crashing waves, lapping tide pools, busy wharfs, peaceful marshes, tricking waterfalls, drippy sea caves and even the strange “Wave Organ”, an aquatic sound sculpture located near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.