BBC Sound effects

There can be few organisations that have used more sound effects than the BBC, so there’s bound to be great interest in the news that the corporation has now made more than 16,000 of its FX available for free download.

These are being released under the RemArc licence, which means that they can be used for “personal, educational or research purposes”.

The archive is easily searchable, and a quick browse confirms that there’s a wide variety of content, ranging from the atmospheric to the downright obscure. Each sample can be previewed and both its duration and filename are listed.

The service is currently in beta, but you can dive in and start downloading right now on the BBC Sound Effects website.

Don’t forget that MusicRadar also offers its own library of free samples in the form of SampleRadar, and that this content can be in commercial recordings royalty-free.

Here is the actual link: http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk

Just the sound of a particular sound effect is invoking so many memories for me of BBC shows in the past.

Type in 'klaxon' and you get an array of familiar buzzer noises fro shows and also including the infamous gunge sound effect from Noel's House Party.

Didn’t LACIE and the BBC partner up on selling a hard drive filled with the sound effects that were rights free for all uses?

I still have my quarter inch copy of my old company’s laughter tape.