So, you’ve learned to record and edit audio for podcasting. Having just started, you have probably been keeping your podcast simple. But when you become more comfortable in piecing together your audio with your editing software, you may be looking to add a bit more spice to it. In that case, you might want to try fiddling with some podcast sound effects.
Podcast sound effects are the transition music, or the background sounds you hear in your favorite podcast, making it more engaging and immersive. Thanks to these additions, you can improve the production quality of your podcast to a whole new level. Creating a podcast is challenging but using podcast sound effects makes the task a little easier.
In this post, Bunny Studio helps you master podcasting by finding the perfect music and sound effects for your podcast. To get started, let’s talk about how sound mixing can help you tell a better story.
Sound Effects Can Help You Tell a Better Story
There are many ways you can increase the value of your podcast production. One of which is effective sound design through the use of a few tricks that tickle the listeners’ auditory senses. If you listen to some of the popular podcasts, you would easily notice the common factor that helps them tell a better story – sound.
It’s not just ordinary sound, of course. It’s about mixing music, natural sound, and sound effects in such a way that it influences the listeners the way you want to. Following the footsteps of old broadcasts that relied on music and sound effects to tell a scene, today’s podcasts use the same technique to help you picture the scene they’re describing.
Some of those sound effects include glass breaking, gunshots, crackling fire, or sometimes just a piece of music that evokes emotions. All these can paint a scene that transcends mere audio. Radio productions in the past don’t have the luxury of pre-recorded sound effects ready to insert in a scene to add depth.
But today, it’s different. Modern technology has allowed it so that you don’t have to go through a lot of trouble and effort to add music or sound effects to your podcast. Your storytelling now has more depth. It’s richer thanks to the effective soundscape you can create by using podcast sound effects available online.
Music is a Podcast’s Core Ingredient
There are many things that you can use to make your podcast unique, and music is one of them. Do you notice how you can remember the jingles of commercials on TV? Music stays in people even when they don’t consciously remember them. The same thing applies in a podcast – the right music prepares your listeners to be more receptive and remember your content.
In that sense, think about the kind of mood or vibe you want your podcast to radiate. Consider your topic and what it is about when choosing the music to use as your podcast intro. Music is not only useful as an intro, of course. You can use music during transitions, signifying if there’s a shift in tone or when your podcast will begin a new section.
Music is an effective opening act and a transition element in a podcast. Music makes it more alive, with listeners easily picking up or anticipating what’s next. In the past, you need to make music from scratch to use in broadcast. Today, you can take advantage of many libraries where there are all kinds of podcast music readily available.
Podcast Sound Effects, Natural Sounds, and Foley
Besides music, you can enhance the story you are telling with your podcast by using a variety of podcast sound effects, natural sounds, and foley. These, when combined, can create a complete soundscape that can take you somewhere else without leaving your seat. You can easily record the podcast in a studio then add the sound effects later on.
Audio is great at stimulating imagination. Thus, using sound effects, atmospheric sound, and changing tones are essential in stirring your listeners to the direction you want. You can help your listeners imagine the visuals you’re describing by using the right sound effects to supplement the audio.
The question is where to get these sound effects? The Internet is one place, but you can also record podcast sound effects on your own. Recording sound effects help you obtain tailored sounds specific to your podcast or voice-over project. But if you can’t work on it yourself, you can always use podcast editing services.
How to Find Podcast Sound Effects
Once you’ve become more comfortable about creating a podcast, you will eventually want to add more elements to your audio. These elements include atmospheric sounds, as well as transitions, sweepers, and stingers.
In some cases, you may want to produce a podcast with a quality of a documentary. Whatever your content is about, you want to know where you can find the podcast sound effects that you can use.
Look for Free Podcast Music and Sound Effects Online
Your first choice is to look for free podcast sound effects online. There are sound libraries where you can get royalty-free sound effects to use for your podcast. The problem is your options are limited and may not suit your podcast specifically. However, you can rest assured that these places have an excellent selection of generic sound effects.
Some of the best places to find sound effects and music to use for podcasts are:
PremiumBeat
If it is royalty-free music, PremiumBeat is an excellent site to start. There are all kinds of music you can find there – intro or outro music, background music, segment transactions, and more. Even better, the site has curated tracks for various uses available.
Free Music Archive
Free Music Archive is where you can find thousands of music from hundreds of artists from all over the world. This is a great site to find a free-to-use track for the podcast intro music. You will have to browse through thousands of them, though.
Pixabay Music
You probably know Pixabay as a popular website where you can get free stock photos. The site also offers free musical tracks that you can use for your podcast. Searching for the right podcast sound effects and music is easy by filtering tracks by category.
Silverman Sound Studios
The advantage of Silverman Sound Studios is their high-quality tracks that are 100% free to use, as long as you give credit. If you want, you may also obtain a non-attribution license for an affordable fee.
Incompetech
Incompetech is where you can find thousands of free Creative Commons tracks. There are also paid licenses available if you don’t want to use tracks that you will have to give credit to. You can find here simple tracks you might use for your podcast.
Most of these places offer free music, not sound effects. You will usually find podcast sound effects from paid sites that specifically offer them. But as mentioned, you will need to pay for a subscription or a download of these tracks.
Pay for Premium Podcast Sound Effects and Music
Paying for podcast sound effects is how you can save time looking and be sure to get only high-quality tracks. It’s a good thing there are plenty of places where you can buy sound effects either by paying per track or a subscription fee. So, where can you buy sound effects? Below are some of the best places to look.
AudioBlocks
The sound effects at AudioBlocks are available on a subscription basis. You can pay for an Unlimited Plan per month to access their database for only $15. With this, you can download from their library without restraint. They also offer a Basic Subscription, which gives you five downloads every month.
ASoundEffect.com
At ASoundEffect.com, you get access to collection bundles and individual sound effects. Therefore, it is one of the most useful resources for podcasting. As for the licensing, it’s straightforward in that you only need one for every database. Thus, it is easy to find the podcast sound effects that you need.
Music Radio Creative
Music Radio Creative is a great place to look for good music to use for intro, outro, or just podcast branding. Another thing that this site offers is the ability to build your own jingles and upload your scripts. You can even pick a specific voice artist to voice over your podcast outro. Their package can also include stings and sweepers besides music and sound effects.
Storyblocks
Storyblocks is the site perfect if you are looking for sound effects to use in a documentary-style podcast. Their database has some excellent collections of music, ambient tracks, and sound effects for a variety of topics. It’s a subscription service where you can get unlimited sound effects and music for an affordable price, depending on the plan.
Finding the Perfect Podcast Sound Effects and Music
How do you know which sound effects and music to add to your podcast? Everyone has different processes, but there are generally three stages to this. You can start making your podcast and adding sound effects by following the steps below.
Consider How Your Podcast Makes People Feel
First, you want to know the overall mood of your podcast. How does it make people feel? What feelings does it radiate? Knowing this helps you know the kind of music that can enhance your podcast’s mood. You want to match the music to your podcast – choosing somber or heart-pounding music for murder-mystery or upbeat music to a good vibes-kind of a podcast.
When thinking about this, consider your podcast’s subject. Then, think about what you want your listeners to feel. Next, gather a possible music selection and ponder on what they make you feel in relation to the podcast’s topic. Lastly, determine where you want the music to come in – in the intro, mid-segment, outro, etc.
Find Inspiration by Listening to Other Podcasts
If you have no idea at all because you just started making podcasts, it helps to listen to other podcasts. This way, you can listen to how they use music and sound effects to enhance the podcast production. Take note of them and consider why they chose that particular music or sound effect. While doing so, you should also think about what they make you feel.
Look for the Perfect Podcast Sound Effects and Music
Once you now have an idea of what podcast sound effects and music to use, time to look for them. As mentioned before, you have three options – download royalty-free audio, buy one, or created the sound effects yourself. The first two will be a bit harder since you will likely need to scour many databases to find what suits your needs, but they are a more affordable option.
Get Podcast Sound Effects and Music from Bunny Studio
If you don’t have the time or patience to look for the perfect podcast sound effects and music, you can rely on Bunny Studio to help you. Podcasting and audio post-production are two of our many services. Rest assured, we’ve got you covered with anything related to podcasts, from sound effects to audio editing.
Do you want to start podcasting? We can help you! Submit your first project now.
