Here are some sound effects I recorded recently which I’m making available as free downloads. They were recorded to a Panasonic SJ-MR220 MiniDisk recorder using a Sony ECM-MS907 stereo microphone and are free for you to use in almost any way you want, including commercial uses.

I recorded these effects because one night I was looking for high quality background sound effects and the only legal ones I could find on the internet were either poor quality or expensive.

There are almost no conditions on how you use these. You don’t even have to give me a credit in your production if you don’t wish to. I’m even happy for you to link to the files directly from your own site (but be aware that I may be moving and/or renaming the files over time, so linking to this page is probably safest). All I ask is that you not redistribute them as sound effects and please don’t claim to have recorded them yourself.

They are available as compressed audio files in 160kbps Ogg Vorbis format. I chose to use compression to save server space and download time, and I chose Ogg Vorbis because it’s a new(ish) compressed audio file format that is a great alternative to mp3. Ogg Vorbis is slightly higher quality than mp3 and is not encumbered with any tricky copyright/trademark issues. You can find out more about Ogg Vorbis at its website.

Chances are that if you have a recent piece of audio software then it supports Ogg. If not then you’ll want some software to convert from Ogg to whatever format you need. The good news is that free Ogg conversion software is available for almost every computer system on the planet. So go download some.

Lastly, to download the files you might have to right-click them (or command-click for those with a one-button mouse) and select the download option from the popup menu. All feedback on these files is greatfully received and there are more files to come.
Street Sound Effects

These clips are meant for background use, and are designed to loop seamlessly.

2:38, 3.10MB, stereo, 16bit, 48kHz, loopable

The sound of an inner city intersection in the early evening.

1:29, 1.69MB, stereo, 16bit, 48kHz, loopable

A trip in a taxi at night, complete with taxi computer beeps.

1:58, 2.26MB, stereo, 16bit, 48kHz, loopable

The sound of a suburb at night. Cars arriving home, car doors closing, a dog barking.