Sounds for building and other stuff- Where to find them?

[Rosey785Bloom]

Hi everyone,

I'm not a builder of any sort just yet. but I am becoming quite curious. And one or two things are still holding me back. The first is to the title of this post. Sounds and where you get them.? I've asked friends when in-world. I get all the technicalities which are fine, but what I'm looking for. is actually more like. free sources that won't get me in trouble.. If you're looking for a doorbell sound, Or just. the simple sounds of windows and doors opening and closing.. Nobody wants to wind up in copyright trouble for that. Or worse, So., like many others who are new to this sort of thing. I've searched on marketplace. but since there's no way of sampling the sounds before going ahead with a buy... even if it's FREE. Searching online otherwise used to be very easy. but now not so much. So it's confusing. I often. wind up searching for the sounds which I've given examples of. only to come across a website that is more geared toward free photo tools. than sounds.. I've read the rules of uploading. I know the size and technicality is like the back of my hand.. What I don't know yet is where to find the goods. Any ideas? Thank you.

[Rowan Amore]

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Client_sounds

[Frionil Fang]

Try Freesound.org.

You can filter by license: Creative Commons 0 means you can use the sound however you please, Attribution means you must mention the original source but otherwise aren't limited in how you use the sounds. There are others too, explained in the site's help section on licenses.

[PheebyKatz]

There are the built-in sounds and freely available sounds, as noted above, though some of us just make our own.

I use Audacity to make sound clips. Just have to make sure they're exported with the right profile, and they work.

Just Google "second life audacity create sound clip upload", and you'll find tutorials.

Nicest of all, once you have clips uploaded and stored, you don't even have to copy them into things to make them work; you can play sound files by simply calling them by UUID in your scripts.

Edited January 15 by PheebyKatz

[QuietEventide]

I can create various custom sounds, but as mr Alcott showed below, there is already a lot of sounds on SL.

Original poster is welcome to message me in world if you want to discuss specific sounds ("quieteventide Resident" or "Evie Mitchell").
But, considering the amount of sounds already on SL it might be easier to just use the link from the next post.

Edited January 15 by QuietEventide

[Alwin Alcott]

10 hours ago, Rosey785Bloom said:

What I don't know yet is where to find the goods. Any ideas? Thank you.

Second Life Marketplace - sounds

[QuietEventide]

104 pages and 10,000+ sounds already on SL alone. I didn't know that, but, well...
Seems the 'market' is saturated (which was in line with my gut feeling).

Edited January 15 by QuietEventide

[MoiraKathleen]

If you want to shop inworld where you can hear what a sound sounds like before you buy it, you could try Lorin's Sound Effects

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

The best home-made sounds you'll get using a dedicated digital sound recorder device. You get good sound quality using an entry level device such as Tascam DR-05X, but it'll cost you about $90. There are cheaper ones (from $30 and up) on Chinese web stores, but make sure not  to pick a device that's specifically labeled 'voice recorder', but 'audio/sound recorder' instead. If you have a laptop, plugging in earbuds with a little microphone built-in into it can work surprisingly well too. You may have to use Audacity to remove some noise, though.

Then, as mantioned above, use Audacity (it's free) to crop the sounds and edit pitch and tempo as needed, or mix the sounds with others. Then, make mono, set to 16-bit, 44100 Hz, export as .wav and you're ready to upload.

Most sounds I recorded were those of game pieces being put down on a board, or bumping against each other. For most pieces, I recorded domino pieces made out of resin, put down on wooden or cloth surfaces. To avoid repetition (the human ear is pretty sensitive to that), I always record and use several instances of a sound event, with slight variations.

[QuietEventide]

+1 for the Tascam recorders (they are very good) + Audacity.
Probably the best way to go about it.

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

To avoid repetition (the human ear is pretty sensitive to that), I always record and use several instances of a sound event, with slight variations.

Very good suggestion. I try to do that, too, unless exact repetition is the point (like a clock ticking), even if I synthesize the variants in Audacity—and even though I rarely listen to sounds in SL itself.

( Also, whenever I have an excuse, I lust after the other end of the digital recorder spectrum: https://teenage.engineering/store/tp-7 )

[Love Zhaoying]

It did not occur to me, that since now I have a recording / mixing setup, I could use that to create sounds for Second Life!

 

[PheebyKatz]

11 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

To avoid repetition (the human ear is pretty sensitive to that), I always record and use several instances of a sound event, with slight variations.

This subtle detail can make all the difference; some people (especially nerds like me) notice patterns more easily than others, and it can stand out overmuch sometimes, depening on the sfx and the frequency of the repetition. If it's a looping sound, it's good to have some variation, when the real thing would have it.

As noted above, there are loads, like, literally tons, of sounds available already. But when you need one specific sound, or one particular person's voice, or your dog (who is an internet superstar) barking, or a really specific engine type, it's good to know how to make your own.

Also saves potential future legal bulldooky.

Edited January 16 by PheebyKatz
it's "stand", not "syand".