Where Can I Find Royalty Free Music, Sound Effects and Video Footage? June 9, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Making Videos, Online Video, Video Business , trackback
No knocking Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech.com. He’s saved us from many default musical loops and countless copyright infringements. But now and then, we need a bit of variety. And here are some additional options for music, sound effects and even video footage.
To help you return to this post, I’ll add the words Helen Keller. Then you can just do a Google search for Helen Keller and WillVideoForFood, and you’ll be back on this page. See, Helen Keller couldn’t hear or see, so she’s not a name you’d expect to see as a mnemoni, and… oh never mind. You’ll remember it.
MUSIC
- I’ve got some of my Nalts themes (recorded using every loop I could buy for Garage Band).
- Jonathon Mikel Taylor Roberts has a nice MacLeod-like site at jmtr.com.
- Candace Bilyk has “project loop” to encourage more royalty-free artists to promote their music. She also has some of her own songs on her site.
- DigitalPh33r (a creator for Machinima.com) identifies two sources, and does so without sounding as angry as usual. He credits stockmusic.net
- Then there’s RoyaltyFreeMusic, which seems a bit pricey for the amateur and a bit cheesy for the pro.
- The MusicBakery is a mixed bag. Some fantastically cheesy 1980s music mixed with some robust classics. Prepare to dig, but you may find something worth the $30-$50 price tag for a song download.
- Opuzz.com was also hot and cold, but I quite like this contagious whistling song called “Easy Stroll.” Prices range for $3 to $30 per clip, depending on how much you want.
- Free Sound Project is one that’s a bit more complex, but interesting. Sounds not songs.
SOUND EFFECTS
- DigitalPh33r lists soundeffect.com.
- PartnersInRhyme has a nice mix of free and pay-as-you-go sound effects… all royalty free.
- I’ve also used SoundDogs before, and you’ll need to dig around but usually find what you need.
- Avoid the CD-ROM collections since they’re usually not royalty free, even if they’re inexpensive.
VIDEO FOOTAGE
- iStockvideo.com and Pond5.com offer user-generated content at low price points ($5 to $100). This is a better alternative to higher-end stock companies like Gettyimages.com, Artbeats.com and Corbis.com (who average $200 or more, and have some footage for closer to $1000). Source: DV.com
- Here are a few more from a threaded discussion on the topic: www.thinkstockfootage.com, www.digitaljuice.com, www.dvcuts.com, www.veer.com, www.liquidlibrary.com, www.creatas.com
www.comstock.com.
Comments»
first. big fucking deal.
The key word for me is “FREE”. I am a cheap bastard.
You got a big pickle.
Free is great for me but it takes forever to get search the right song. I guess beggers can’t be choosy. When I am working on something that pays or gets on air, I’d rather pay to be on the safe side. That way i’ll have some license agreement to back up my claim. I’ve read somewhere that some free sites use some loops from loop makers that don’t allow their loops to be made into r-f music. So that kinda scares me sometimes.
Off your list of paid, I have tried Opuzz and Music Bakery but I like the earlier as they have more selection and better pricing. I don’t really like the choose wav or mp3 option from Music Bakery. Why can’t I have both. Opuzz has good guitar and orchestral stuff but the electronic stuff are a bit off in my opinion else others are fine. RFM.com is way to xpensive and yes I agree some a little cheesy. I mean they have some music for funeral too which they use as pop.
As for sfx, there are quite a few sfx sites and it is pretty easy to get if you are not too picky on what your swoosh sounds like.
Oh yes that is a big pickle!
this is a great post, nalts!
i use this search engine to find sound effects. hope you find this useful to you.
http://www.findsounds.com/
suzzy whats it cost to pay?
NALTS you forgot the legendary http://www.detonationfilms.com for explosions and fire and theres loads of free stuff.
Nalts, what’s the deal with the creative commons license? I still don’t understand any of that fully. I used a song from the “Creative commons” website in my newest video, and I don’t know if it’s bad or not.
Reubnick, try this website:
http://creativecommons.org/license/
Right now I can’t seem to access the site, but I’ve used it in the past to clarify the whole creative commons issue in my brain. Take off the licenses part and see if that helps.
or more likely, put in the http://www. that’s missing from my link.
For sound effects and loops, look no further than soundsnap.com.
It’s all user generated sfx and loops that are FREE!!! It’s got a huge database of sfx with a growing list of loops. It’s all I use anymore for audio.
The closest thing I have found to Garageband for the PC is Mixcraft and Beatcraft. You can buy loops or make your own.
The pickle is massive.
One I also use:
http://opsounds.org
Hi, you could try here…..there’s Free Stuff!
….er…..here……..http://www.smartassmusic.com
there are many Royalty Free Music sites out there, it is worth checking out some of the smaller companies as often they have music that is more original and they are usually much easier to deal with. Many of the top sites have incredible choice but their music is can seem soulless and uninspiring.
[...] better than my previous list of free and royalty-free music and sound effects? A longer list, which includes video effects too! Thanks to you, we’ve got a few new [...]
Nalts! You’re so awesome and I’m so dumb! I miss a lot of your posts because I don’t get around to checking your blog every day and of course I missed the one where you are incredibly nice to me and link my site
:) I found it on my google analytics page just now.
Thanks so much, and I appreciate the other links too (If I only used my own music, I would also be bored).
Cheers,
Candy Bilyk