BBC Sound Effects Library: Hearing Music in Everyday Sounds

I’ve always heard production possibilities in everyday sounds.

Back in the ’90s, I remixed The Beach by Coco & StoneBridge.

The track already had birds and atmosphere, and I added more sounds to build on that feeling.

Towards the break, I used the sound of elephants stampeding.

It sounds strange written down.

But in the track, it worked.

The sound had weight and movement.

It felt like something was coming.

You can use whatever it takes to build the picture.

If a sound adds movement, atmosphere or helps the track feel like it’s happening somewhere, it belongs.

Sounds That Do Something

Later, when I was working at Blue Plate in Chicago, they had this huge sound effects library.

Rows of CDs and big catalogue books listing every sound and which disc it was on.

You’d think of a sound.

Find it in the book.

Find the disc.

Then start listening.

I loved it.

For the Chocolate Room, I used the sound of a roller-coaster chain during the build.

That slow mechanical clicking had exactly the tension I wanted.

It pulled the track towards the break.

I’ve used alarms and sirens for the same reason.

Crowds and café atmospheres when a section needed a sense of place.

Sometimes I’m looking for tension.

Sometimes movement.

Sometimes atmosphere.

The sound doesn’t need to be musical.

It just needs to do something.

Knowing Where to Look

The problem is finding these sounds.

I can’t exactly go out and record a stampede of elephants.

That’s why the BBC Sound Effects Library is worth knowing about.

It’s one of those places I know is there when I need something from the real world that I can’t easily record myself.

A particular environment.

A crowd.

An animal.

A machine.

I don’t use it all the time.

But every now and then, a picture starts forming in a track and I know it needs something.

That’s when I’ll go looking.

Usually, I already have an idea of what I need.

I’m not scrolling through sounds hoping something inspires me.

I’m trying to find the sound that’s already in my head.

The BBC Sound Effects Library is one of the first places I’ll look.

More Than 30,000 Sounds

There are more than 30,000 sounds in the archive.

Nature.

Machines.

Crowds.

Animals.

Everyday life.

You can search the library and listen to recordings from all over the world.

The sounds are available for personal, educational and research use.

For commercial use, you’ll need the appropriate licence.

Explore the BBC Sound Effects Library

Worth Knowing About

I don’t use the BBC Sound Effects Library every day.

But I know it’s there.

And when a track needs a real sound, a particular atmosphere or something I simply can’t record myself, it’s one of the first places I’ll look.

You never know what a track might need.

Sometimes it’s a synth.

Sometimes it’s a drum machine.

Sometimes it’s a stampede of elephants.