Video Project:Free Sound Effects and Music Tracks

As the year progresses and my students begin to look for new ideas for projects they begin to see the value of not only sound effects but sound tracks. Music is a powerful element in a movie. Which leads them to begin using music in

Iconic microphone image based on the design of the RCA Type 77-A microphone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

their videos. This ends up causing some copyright issues. But finding sites and collections of audio files that are safe for school projects and without violating copyright laws can be a bit difficult. Below is a list of sites that me and my students have compiled over the years that provides students with almost all types of audio files that they would need to create most types of video projects or podcasts. All of these sites do provide free audio files however there are files that are for sale as well so students should be aware of this before they randomly start looking and downloading files.

1. soundzabound – Royalty Free Music for SchoolsThey state the following on their website “the ONLY royalty free music library which meets all the licensing and technology requirements needed for education!” You do need to create an account. There are a great selection of sound tracks with many different genres.
2. freeSFX.co.uk – Download Free Sound Effects List of many different mp3 sound effects from nature and man made. Worth a look for sound effects for movies.
3. Royalty Free Sound Effects (FX) Library for Download  Great collection of sounds and simple to search
4. Free Music Archive  Great collection of music that can be used for school projects and podcasts safely and FREE.
5. Free Sound Clips | SoundBible.com  Another great collection of sounds and music that is royalty free and safe for podcasts and school projects.
6. Free Stock Music for Educational Use  The name says it all great for sound tracks for movies.
7. Free and legal music downloads – Jamendo
8. freesound :: home page  One of the biggest collections of sound effects and music on the web. Great site to start with to find sound effects.
9. Freeplay Music, Broadcast Production Music Library, Free and Mp3 Music Downloads, See Usage Terms. Good site for sound track music for videos.
10. Mp3Skip.com – Free MP3 Downloads  Another good site for video music.
11. film music | mobygratis.com  Really good music for films.
12. Danosongs.com Free music site for videos.

Here are some past posts on Audio resources that might also be helpful.

• Student Podcasting Resources: School Resources Part Seven
• Podcasting 101 Good Free Software

Related articles

• Productiontrax.com Expands Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects Offerings With Pro Sound Effects
• 5 Great Sources For Free-To-Use Audio Clips & Sound Effects
• NeoSounds.com Premium Stock, Royalty Free Music Adds Sound Effects to the Mix

A great resource I finally got to look at!

http://aviary.com/

Now that school is out and I have a little time to look at some resources that I had bookmarked. I came across one that I wish I would have looked at during the year.  AVIARY is an excellent free resource to use in the classroom.  This site contains some great tools for students to use in their projects.  Such as image editors, audio editors, music creators, and a variety of other creative tools.  This is a great resource to get students to think outside of the box for their projects and promote creativity.  This site has a community of artists sharing ideas, images and music.  As I perused this site I found the content to be suitable for secondary education and think that it would be a great resource.  As with all communities however, you will want to monitor student activity and work on this site.

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