Finding Music, Sound Effects and Movies on the Internet
Your video projects can be enhanced with music, sound effects, and other video. The Internet is an excellent source for these enhancements; and best of all, they’re free.
We’re going to find music and sound effects and add them to a small video project, and I’ll show you a good website to find video. (I’ll be using Microsoft Movie Maker for my project; some details may be different if you use different video editing software.)
I’ve set up a small 40-second video project. You can see the starting project at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3116808099864552709
In my video, I don’t want music to play when Diane is talking; I’ll want music for the beginning, no music when Diane talks, and music for the end. I want to add sound effects to the vehicles.
First, I’ll add the music. The best way (in my opinion) to find “stuff” on the Internet is to use Google.
We want to do a Google Search to find “free sound effects” (I don’t use the quotes). Here are my results:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+music&btnG=Search
Many sites are offered, and you could do some “music shopping” from here. I’m going to use the Freeplay Music site (the first one following the Sponsored Links).
I like to use the “Style” or “Feel” selections, and Freeplay suggests songs. For my project, I selected the “Driving” Feel.
http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=f&i=42
You’re presented with the first page of recommendations (ten songs). The songs are offered in different lengths of time. Pick a “Preview” version to hear a sample. Pick the “MP3” version to download the music file to use in your video project. (Try to preview most of the music and only download what you want to use. It’s very easy to download many songs and clutter up your hard drive.) I want to use Dixie Pickens (#10) and I want the music in two parts. I download a 15 second version and a ten second version.
Now, I’ll add the music to my video. I import the music files into Moviemaker. (The video for my starting project is already in the Timeline.) I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where Diane starts talking. I place (“drag-and-drop”) the 15-second music clip on the Audio/Music line so it ends at the Timeline Marker. I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where Diane stops talking. I place the 10-second music clip so it starts where Diane stops talking. The 10-second clip makes our project longer. I don’t want the project longer, so I “push” the end of the music clip so it ends with the rest of our video. (I’ve just chopped off the end of the music, but no one will notice.) Here’s our video project with the music.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5078169841654137679
Now, we have to add an extra step because we’re using Movie Maker. (You don’t have to do this if your editing software allows adding more lines of audio at the same time.) We need to save the movie to the camcorder. Close the Movie Maker program and restart it. Capture the movie you just saved into Movie Maker and place it on the Timeline.
Now, I’ll find the sound effects. Like before, do a Google search for free sound effects.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+sound+effects&btnG=Search
Like the music, there are plenty of places to browse. I like this one.
http://stonewashed.net/sfx.html
For my video project, I’ll pick the “Transportation” category (from the column on the left).
http://stonewashed.net/transportation-sounds.html
I’ll pick the AutoSpeak Library of Sound.
http://www.autospeak.com/library.htm
I like this site because it provides the time duration for each sound effect. On this site, you can left-click a sound to hear it. You can right-click a sound and “Save Target as…” to download it. For my video project, I’ll use the “Fast take off” and “Way too fast around a curve” sounds.
Now, I’ll add these sounds to my video. I import the sound files into Moviemaker. I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where the spinning scooter starts. I place the “Way too fast around a curve” sound on the Audio/Music line so it starts at the Timeline Marker. I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where the jeep starts. I place the “Fast take off” sound so it starts at the Timeline Marker. The “Fast take off” sound isn’t long enough for the length of the jeep video, so I add a second copy of the “Fast take off” sound immediately after the first. Like the music, this second copy is longer than our starting video project so I “push” the end of the sound clip so it ends with the rest of our video. Here’s our video project with the sound effects: our final product.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3058680426951697115
For video on the Internet, I haven’t had good luck finding free movies with Google. (I think most of the Google recommendations are sites like YouTube; these sites provide movies to watch rather than use.) A site where I’ve found good video that can be used is
http://www.archive.org/details/movies
There’s a lot to look over here. Some of the videos come with different “rights,” but you should not have a problem finding something.
For my work at Nassau Bay Television, I needed to publicize a hurricane preparedness seminar for the community and was given a one-page flyer of information. I used the above video site, got some Hurricane Katrina video (and music), and provided this.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5560511096238690972
The Internet can be a rich source of music, sound effects and video. My biggest problem is selecting a particular piece; there’s so much to choose from that I get sidetracked browsing. Go online, look around, download those pieces that can enhance your video, and give it a try. If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me at johnn@houston.rr.com.
John’s Disclaimer: I’m disappointed with the quality of the video that I’ve uploaded to Google and provided here as samples. My videos generally look much better on a computer, DVD, or TV. I need to “play with Google” or find another site to improve the quality. (Let me know if you have suggestions.) Hopefully, I’ve interested you in finding and using data from the Internet in your video project.
