Prompt ElevenLabs for sound effects

Last updated: October 12, 2026

ElevenLabs Sound Effects turns a short description into a one-shot effect or an ambience at the length you set. Pick it for game foley, UI sounds, impacts and whooshes when you can name the source, the action and the space it happens in.

Let the agent write it

You don't have to write any of this yourself. The Layer agent knows how to prompt each model it runs, from the same guidance this page is built on. Name the model and the sound, for example: Make a sword-draw sound with ElevenLabs Sound Effects for the inventory screen: dry, no reverb, about a second long. Give me three takes. The agent writes the prompt, shows you its plan, and runs it when you approve. Use the rest of this guide when you want to write or adjust the prompt yourself, and see Write a brief for the agent for how to brief it.

When to use it

Use ElevenLabs Sound Effects for single game sounds: weapon draws, footsteps, impacts, spell whooshes, pickups, menu confirms and cancels, and short ambiences for a scene. It understands plain descriptions and sound-design terms alike.

It is not a music model: for a soundtrack or a menu loop with a melody, see Create music. For a full sequence (a character walks in, opens a door, sits down), make each sound on its own and put them together in an audio editor.

Versions on Layer

ElevenLabs Sound Effects

One version. You set the length with Duration; every run returns one MP3.

How to write the prompt

The source, the action, how it decays, then the space:

Single steel longsword drawn fast from a leather scabbard, bright metallic ring with a short decay. Dry, close-mic'd, isolated, no room reverb, no ambience, no music.

Say what makes the sound and what it does, in the order it happens. Then say where it is: a sound for a game engine usually wants to be dry, because the engine adds the room. That prompt is the one in the clip above.

What works

A duration that fits the sound

Set Duration to the length of the sound. Left for the model to choose, our menu-confirm sound came back two seconds long, with the sound over in under a second and the rest silence to trim. With Duration set, every file we made came back at exactly the length we asked for.

Several takes, then pick

The same prompt gives noticeably different takes. We ran an identical menu-confirm prompt twice: one take was too faint to use, the other was fine. Run a few, listen, and keep the best. Check the level before it goes into the game.

A concrete source and action

"Glass shattering on concrete" beats "breaking sound". Start simple, then add detail and production language: "person walking on grass" becomes "high-quality, professionally recorded footsteps on grass, sound effects foley".

Ask for the space

For a sound the engine will place in its own reverb, end the prompt with "dry, close-mic'd, isolated, no room reverb, no ambience". In our sword-draw test, the take with those words died away about a third of a second sooner than the same sword without them. That fits a drier sound, though it was one take each.

Sound-design terms

The model knows the vocabulary: impact, whoosh, ambience, one-shot, loop, stem, braam, glitch, drone. Use them as you would with a sound designer.

Tempo and key for musical effects

For anything musical, give the tempo or key: "90s hip-hop drum loop, 90 BPM", "brass stabs in F minor".

What to avoid

A whole sequence in one prompt

The model can follow "footsteps on gravel, then a metal door opens", but you get one file with the timing baked in. Make each sound separately and combine them in an audio editor, so you can time and reuse each one.

Describing the feeling instead of the sound

"A scary door sound" leaves the model guessing. "Heavy oak door, iron hinges, swinging open slowly with a low groan, then a dull thud against stone" is a sound it can make. Finding the balance between detail and brevity can take a few tries.

Settings that matter

Duration sets the length of the clip; set it for every short sound. Prompt language tells the model which language the prompt is written in, if it isn't English.

Prompts to start from

Weapon draw

Single steel longsword drawn fast from a leather scabbard, bright metallic ring with a short decay. Dry, close-mic'd, isolated, no room reverb, no ambience, no music.

UI confirm

Short UI confirm sound for a fantasy inventory menu: a soft wooden tap with a bright crystal chime on top. Dry, isolated, no reverb, no music.

Use it in Layer

  1. In a session, open Create sound effects from the side panel.

  2. Click the model name at the top of the panel and choose ElevenLabs Sound Effects.

  3. In the prompt box, describe the source, the action, how it decays and the space it is in.

  4. Set Duration to the length of the sound.

  5. Click Create sound effects. The cost shows on the button before you click.

  6. When the sound lands on the board, click View to play it. Run the prompt again for more takes and keep the best.

Learn more

  • Sound effects (ElevenLabs): what the model does with duration, the audio terms it understands, and musical effects with a tempo.
  • Sound effects product guide (ElevenLabs): simple against complex prompts, adding production detail, and why a sequence is better made as separate effects.
  • How do I prompt for sound effects? (ElevenLabs): short worked prompts, from "glass breaking" to a foley-grade description.

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