Sound Sample Resources and Suggestions

[Balor/SS1535]

I have been looking for various sound samples (especially of speeches), and was wondering if anyone had found any especially nice/useful online collections.

An online collection that I have found interesting to explore so far has been the Associated Press Archive youtube channel.  It is a collection of raw news footage from the past 70 years or so, and contains footage of events from around the world.  As I have dug through it, I have found many interesting muffled recordings - all without news commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTK-2W11Vh1V4uwofOfR4w

Also, in light of the near-infinite number of ways that sound samples can be incorporated into music, I was wondering what you all think makes for a good use of a sound sample.  Recently, I have been greatly impressed by the use of a recorded speech on the A side of X.E.'s "The White Will" ep, as the repetition of the blunt/clear speech excerpt makes for a powerful impression on the listener.

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

there was a thread a while ago where Mikko pointed out that online resources and the ready availability of such "extreme" content lessens the effect that it oncehad when you really needed to search for these things. i would say a good sample is something that the discerning listener either cannot or will not have found before - sourced elsewhere than the internet

[teenagelightning]

there was a thread a while ago where Mikko pointed out that online resources and the ready availability of such "extreme" content lessens the effect that it oncehad when you really needed to search for these things. i would say a good sample is something that the discerning listener either cannot or will not have found before - sourced elsewhere than the internet

I agree. It can really diminish how interesting a track is if the sample used is something yuo could easily just google and find... the same actually goes for images too. I will spend hours at the library digging through dusty old books in foreign languages to find the right things to use in a collage or for a logo. Better than something yuo can find easily on google images, or that you can tell the artist just got off of tumblr

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

Of course this isn't to say that a widely recognisable sample can't be effective - look at Tim Roth's dialogue from Made in Britain in that one Genocide Organ track, and I've even been guilty of sampling from Scum (but I guess I look at my own project as more of a hobby than serious art).

Even if something is widely available, it could be used in an interesting way, given the context. Koufar sampling from The Wire is a good example of this- cements the idea of the project as modern, tough, and real.

[Cementimental]

Better than something yuo can find easily on google images, or that you can tell the artist just got off of tumblr

Agree with this but also the massive expansion of online archiving in recent years means that you can increasingly find amazing stuff that previously you'd have only been able to find in old books etc. If you get deep into searching big library/university/museum archive etc sites you can definitely find high resolution scans of totally obscure and unique stuff that it's unlikely that some random instagram 'designer' would ever even know to look for

[Cementimental]

online Software Defined Radio receivers are a universe of amazing and unrepeatable sample material http://websdr.org/

also on radio: I recently bought this incredibly cheap hacked car radio Eurorack module, was going to build the exact same thing but these people beat me too it and sell it for less than the time + effort would cost me :) https://www.tesseractmodular.com/eurorack-modules/low-coast

It's good for live indeterminate radio transmissions into the Noise, and also can play back samples from a USB stick :)

[Soloman Tump]

I love digging in records stores for spoken word / stories on vinyl. I picked up an old BBC sound archive record of different train engines plus speeches from engineers / railway bosses.  Some of it dated back to the early 1900s. Great stuff for £2.

You can usually find half decent stuff in charity shops and at car boot sales.  If you live in a city go out into the countryside a bit where there should be less demand for "retro" vinyl :)

Always worth a gamble if its cheap.

I also once raided a skip outside a house clearance where an old lady had lived - found a few 78s (mostly scratched to fuck / broken unfortunately) and a few VHS tapes - turned out to be just coronation street recordings but it was worth a go!

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

I love digging in records stores for spoken word / stories on vinyl. I picked up an old BBC sound archive record of different train engines plus speeches from engineers / railway bosses.  Some of it dated back to the early 1900s. Great stuff for £2.

Amazing! my fiancee actually bought me an old BBC sound effects album of "disaster" sounds- explosions, thunder, crumbling buildings, stampedes of wild animals. Really saturated and ancient sounding, will definitely find its way onto a release a sound source.

EDIT: it's this one https://www.discogs.com/No-Artist-Sound-Effects-No-16-Disasters/release/963162

[Balor/SS1535]

Better than something yuo can find easily on google images, or that you can tell the artist just got off of tumblr

Agree with this but also the massive expansion of online archiving in recent years means that you can increasingly find amazing stuff that previously you'd have only been able to find in old books etc. If you get deep into searching big library/university/museum archive etc sites you can definitely find high resolution scans of totally obscure and unique stuff that it's unlikely that some random instagram 'designer' would ever even know to look for

That's the way that I have been looking at it!  The internet is essentially a huge library - with just a few starting places it is possible to delve really deep into super obscure materials.

[Eigen Bast]

Old spoken word records are choice. I love finding old personal tapes too; once walking down Colfax in Denver I found a cassette on the side of the road labeled 'THE REALITY OF HELL'" containing a fiery sermon on the torments...of hell. Can't beat it!

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

Old spoken word records are choice. I love finding old personal tapes too; once walking down Colfax in Denver I found a cassette on the side of the road labeled 'THE REALITY OF HELL'" containing a fiery sermon on the torments...of hell. Can't beat it!

Awesome. I found a particularly tragic self-help audiobook with all the audio clarity of a Transilvanian Hunger bootleg at an Oxfam years ago, definitely good to loop some odd phrases

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

I'd argue that the abundance in sample material available via digital media makes it harder to find any gems.

[wonderland_media]

I've been really interested in using stock/commercial music sites for some of my weirder projects lately. Don't know if this is of any use to anyone here since it's pretty specific for a certain type of sound you'd need to be going for but just throwing it out there.

[Soloman Tump]

Have never seen this one out in the wilds but this would be great source of sounds.  Prefer not to pay brand new prices - probably better if its a 30 year old copy that is full of hiss and crackle

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Sound-Effects-Death-Horror/dp/B01KIP3PNK

A vintage BBC release of over 80 gruesome sounds, not for the squeamish. From chopping and sawing limbs, to screams and howling. Mike Harding (BBC and Radiophonic Workshops) has captured the sound brilliantly. Presented on 180g blood splattered vinyl, this is a must have for horror enthusiasts.

1. Execution and Torture
  2. Monsters and Animals
  3. Creaking Doors and Grave Digging
  4. Musical Effects and Footsteps
  5. Vocal Effects and Heartbeats
  6. Weather, Atmosphere and Bells

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

I actually used a bunch of samples from that record on a tape of mine.

https://www.discogs.com/fr/Audio-Camera-%C3%89pouvante-Insolite/release/6285264


http://yesdivulgation.bandcamp.com/album/violent-shogun-rot-2