Good sources of free nature samples? (also: for use with Biotek 2)

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1.What are good royalty free sources for nature samples, without the "no commercial use" restriction that some orgs (like the BBC) have?

2. What types of samples are particularly good with Biotek 2? I'd like to make sounds where the "nature" is more prominent than in most of the Biotek presets.

There's the US National Parks service for one, though they only seem to provide long clips that haven't particularly been selected for their sound:

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/sound/gallery.htm

I found a few at Soundbible.com , looperman.com and a bunch of random sites.

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Freesound.org
Archive.org
NASA (kidding)
You have to ask but the Macaulay library:
https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/about/use-media/
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if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

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The Macaulay library website says there may be a "licensing and a studio fee" for non-research purposes:

"Once your order has been submitted, we will respond to you within a few days, with an estimate of the licensing fee and studio fee, if applicable. You will not be charged until you approve the estimate and the order is complete. There is no charge for research requests."

Or is it usually free for artists/musicians? Tremendous hassle too.

Is the US really the only country where a government-funded research/naure institution provides audio samples for the public domain (and free for commercial use)?

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Come out of the basement into the fresh air. You can get as many nature samples as you could ever wish for, for free.
This is the same method MJ used when he was working on Anthony Marinelli's Thriller.

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Aloysius wrote:Come out of the basement into the fresh air. You can get as many nature samples as you could ever wish for, for free.
Provided you have decent recording gear and access to a good place to record.

I’ve never licsensed anything from Macauley, maybe if you’re not a big name they’ll let you use stuff. Was just a thought. I’ve made most of my nature recordings.
gadgets an gizmos..make noise~crystalawareness.bandcamp.com/ soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 7/2026
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

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Aloysius wrote:Come out of the basement into the fresh air. You can get as many nature samples as you could ever wish for, for free.
Right, I'll just record the whales, volcanoes, and forest fires outside my inner city apartment. Or do you mean go to the zoo and tease the lions until they roar? Doubt that would work....

Actually, the NASA suggestion was a great idea. Outer space is nature too (and has weather, etc). One of the things that got me interested in using nature sounds was the sound design for Castellucci's The Four Seasons Restaurant, which uses NASA recordings from (the material ringing a) black hole and from Jupiter.

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:lol:
This is the same method MJ used when he was working on Anthony Marinelli's Thriller.

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Orange Free Sounds (no relation to Orange Tree) have a selection of farm animals.

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Have you checked out freesound.org. When i posted that response i had not been on their site in a very long while. I looked again and there is a plethora of nature sounds.

Also, i won’t mention it here but garage sales, flea mrkts, 2nd hand stores often have cds of nature sounds, animals, etc. Of course they may be copyrighted. After a quick trip through the softsynth blender though...
gadgets an gizmos..make noise~crystalawareness.bandcamp.com/ soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 7/2026
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

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Freesound.org is the best place for this type of samples. You can ever filter your research by license:

https://freesound.org/search/?g=1&q=nat ... mmons+0%22

The quality varies, but there's a lot of usable field recordings there.

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thanks for that Sono, I prefer to use my own samples but those zero licence samples will make a great suppliment to what I have.
Pastoral, Kosmiche, Ambient Music https://markgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
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I have a collection of sample and nature CDs collecting dust, I could get rid of them. PM me if interested, I am in Germany, Berlin to be precise...

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