Sound Effects: Home
A guide to sound effects and music resources, including sound libraries, at the SVA Library and on the Internet.
Librarian
Library Resources
- Prism CatalogSearch for books, ebooks, movies, articles, magazines, images and more in the SVA Library.
- A-Z DatabasesFind millions of articles and images using our e-resources.
- Research Tools & Information LiteracyA guide to doing research, evaluating sources, writing, citing, plagiarism, and copyright.
Related Guides
Sound Effects & Music Online
There are many sound effects and music resources online. While most of the resources listed here are free to download, always check the copyright status of any works before using them in your project.
Via the SVA Library:
- Westar Music & Sound Ideas This link opens in a new window
Westar Music allows you to download over 300,000 tracks of Production Music, Production Elements and Sound Ideas sound effects in your choice of mp3 and Broadcast WAV files. All new releases are immediately posted on the site and we release thousands of new tracks every year.
Sound Ideas offers sound effects and production elements for television, film sound design, game development, post-production, interactive media and any other professional or educational audio production use you can imagine.
On the open web:
- BBC Sound Effects This link opens in a new window
The BBC Sound Effects Archive is available for personal, educational or research purposes. There are over 33,000 clips from across the world from the past 100 years. These include clips made by the BBC Radiophonic workshop, recordings from the Blitz in London, special effects made for BBC TV and Radio productions, as well as 15,000 recordings from the Natural History Unit archive. You can explore sounds from every continent - from the college bells ringing in Oxford to a Patagonian waterfall - or listen to a submarine klaxon or the sound of a 1969 Ford Cortina door slamming shut.
- American University's Greg Smith Sound Effects CollectionThis is a collection of 1450 sound effects tracks recorded by producer Greg Smith during his 20 year career in the film and television industry. This collection was provided to the American University Library for the benefit of filmmakers, video and audio producers around the world.
- ContemplatorGreat resources for folk and historical music. Downloadable midi files can be easily remixed. Read Contemplator's use guidelines for proper attribution.
- Find SoundsA web search engine with a focus on sounds. You are responsible for copyright compliance for any sound found through this site.
- Freesound.orgFreesound aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, etc released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse.
- funkyremixes.comThe free remixes featured on this website are licensed under Creative Commons. You can download, rip, remix and share most these songs, free and legally. See the specific license agreement for each remix for any restrictions that may apply.
- FXhome Sound EffectsThese sound effects downloads are free of charge for you to use in your movies. The sounds are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
- IncompetechMusic and recordings by Kevin McLeod published with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Free.
- Internet Archive AudioAudio and MP3 library containing over 2,000,000 free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by users. Many of these files are available for free download.
- Internet Archive Community AudioThe Internet Archive lets users upload their music with Creative Commons licenses. Free.
- JamendoFree music sharing site based in Europe. Artists upload their music with Creative Commons licenses, so some may be available for use in your projects. Free, but registration required.
- KCAI SFX & Sound Arts LibraryThe KCAI SFX & Sound Arts Library is a royalty-free resource of 1,039 high-quality sound effect and music tracks for your production needs. It was created as an open resource by KCAI students working in our Sound and Interactive Arts production facilities. It is licensed through Creative Commons. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit the work, and use the SFXs in your own productions under condition of Attribution--Please credit SFXs used in your production to “KCAI SFX & Sound Arts Library."
- LoopermanA free pro audio community for musicians, film and video producers, DJs and multi media designers. Members can upload and download royalty free music loops, acapellas and vocals, beats and samples to use in any music software, video game design or movie soundtrack. Read Looperman's Copyright Policy.
- mobygratisThe artist Moby has made over 150 tracks available for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short. Free, but registration required.
- NASA Sound LibraryExplore the universe and discover our home planet with NASA through a collection of our sounds from historic spaceflights and current missions. For sound file use policy, please see Media Usage Guidelines.
- OpsoundOpsound is a gift economy in action, an experiment in applying the model of free software to music. Musicians and sound artists are invited to add their work to the Opsound pool using a copyleft license developed by Creative Commons. Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine.
- Partners in RhymeGeneral sound effects, public domain sound effects, and royalty free sound effects. Read Partners in Rhyme's FAQ.
- SoundBible.comThousands of free sound effects, sound clips, and straight up sounds. Royalty Free Sounds can be used for commercial uses. The free sounds can be used if they are under a Creative Commons Attribution or Public Domain License.
- SoundEffects+At SoundEffects+ you find over 5000 free sound effects recorded, designed and produced by a team of our audio professionals. Our team owns the copyrights to all the sound effects on this website and you can safely to use them in your projects. Just remember to read the License Agreement. It tells you what you can and cannot do with our free sound effects.
- Sound JayYou are allowed to use the sounds on our website free of charge and royalty free in your projects but you are NOT allowed to post the sounds on any web site for others to download, link directly to individual sound files, or sell the sounds to anyone else. Remember to read Terms of Use before downloading and using the sound effects or music tracks.
- UCSB Cylinder Audio ArchiveUC Santa Barbara has digitized music cylinders published between 1894-early 1920s. The music is in the public domain and files are published with a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Free.
Recording & Mixing
Pro tools 101: an Introduction to Pro tools 12 by Publication Date: 2015
Public and commercial studios in NYC:
- Information Commons Recording Studio at Brooklyn Public LibraryBrooklyn Public Library operates an amateur recording studio for Library cardholders working on audio or video projects.
- BRIC Arts Media TV & Audio StudiosBrooklyn's BRIC Arts Media center is freely accessible to the public. Reserve a TV or audio production studio. Note that Brooklyn residency may apply when making reservations.
- NYC Production Studio MapMap of Commercial space for recording and sound production in New York City. This is a list of studios which have requested to be included in NYC Open Data, rather than a comprehensive list of NYC facilities.