Maybe you didn’t record the exact sound you wanted. Let’s talk about finding and using pre-existing audio files.
Some databases:
- Freesound
- Internet Archive: Open Source Audio
- Free-Loops
- Free Music Archive
- Pixabay Sound Effects
- The University of Edinburgh has more sources for openly licensed music and sound.
But wait! Can I use this? Let’s talk a bit about copyright and usage in Canada.
- What are Creative Commons licenses?
- Does Fair Use exist in Canada? Not really! We have Fair Dealing, usually defined as 10% of a copyrighted work used for “research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody.”
- Remember that the law protects all original work, so you should assume something is not licensed openly unless it is made explicitly clear otherwise.