Elektra/Asylum actually put out 3 disk library of your basic sfx automobiles/weapons/household ect. Its of at least the same quality as the Sound Ideas cd sets except instead of paying hundreds for these cds, you can pick them up at $14.95 a cd on Amazon.com. The library is called Authentic Sound effects 1,2,3 enjoy my fellow sound designers! DRINK GIN! IT MAKES A MAN MEAN-milk and cheese [edit (Andrew Russell) - fixed thread title] [edited by - Andrew Russell on November 1, 2002 6:32:44 AM]

be careful with using some of those sounds. you might not have a license to use them for anything commercial or any kind of widespread release. make sure you understand the licensing before you insert them into a game.

devin maxwell

It is all copyright protected, but they have a notice that says if you are using the sfx for nonprofit work they will actually make up custom tapes of material from their masters.

Frankly I''m more of a sound designer than musician so when I use a sample I usually twist it so severely that no one would recognize it for what it was originally. Or I''ll take it and EQ the hell out of it and apply it in a minor way to a larger ambience that I''m making, such as a battle sequence or ambience.

Copyright law has several requirements that need to be met, firstly you have to be blatantly using something that is very recognizable to the general public from someone else to sell your product. Secondly you can''t copyright something basic and fundamental like the 12 bar blues. So with something as basic as doors opening and closing they would actually have to match up waveforms to proove that you stole their samples.

If you are sampling mario bros or an atari game for a song however those guys will go after you, because their sfx are very distinct and recognizable.

I say be careful, but copyright law says that some things are so basic that they are public domain. Elektra can copyright their recording but not the basic sounds, so if ya take''em proccess them a bit and you''ll be fine.



DRINK GIN! IT MAKES A MAN MEAN-milk and cheese

I get concerned whenever I see this kind if discussion and the phrase "to prove you stole their samples" come up. Just because you process a sound so much that "no one would recognize it for what it was originally" doesn''t mean that you have cleared copyright violation. Additionally, after listening to just about every sound effect on Sound Ideas over the last few years, the sound effects become more and more noticable. I can hear them in television ads, radio ads, movies. Gun shots, door slams, footsteps and bird calls seem to be rare in pre-recorded form so they get reused a lot. I for one would not be willing to risk my career on the chance that no one might recognize a sound that is copyright. To go further, the suggestion that you have to use something that is very recognizable to the general public to violate copyright is simply untrue. If I make a small song, or I have a sound effect that is very specific, even if no one knows it, recognizes it, or ever hears it, if I copyright it and you use it un-licensed, you have violated the copyright and I can take you to court. Don''t be fooled into thinking that it is only the well known things that are copyright. If it says copyright on the package, it''s illegal to copy it without permission.

Usually it is not to difficult to build your own library. Most if not all of my stuff is recorded with my own equipment. Although I do use firearm sound from commercial libraries I use them rarely in thier raw form. I also record them from the real deal as I am an avid shooter too.

Sound Lead. http://www.planetmedalofhonor.com/britainsfinest

I guess I''m a bit of a pragmatist about copyright law when it comes to sfx. I did contract work for Sound Ideas creating the Emergency set and the 11000 sports set and have heard my samples on a couple occasions and whether they were stolen or not I think it''s damn cool that they actually were used rather than just left to sit in the "can". I''ve heard samples from television news used on several successful cds, anyone remember Ministry''s Psalm69? Technically the broadcasters could sue them, but it didn''t happen to my knowledge.

Then we get to things like da daism in art where they just cut up a bunch of images and reassemble them, maybe the publishers of the 1800''s should of sued those guys. It is the same sort of production work as an independent development teams usage of sound effects in my opinion.

I say to hell with the bean counting publishers, if the kids want to make their own video games let them go nuts!

I guess I''m a bit of a pragmatist about copyright law when it comes to sfx. I did contract work for Sound Ideas creating the Emergency set and the 11000 sports set and have heard my samples on a couple occasions and whether they were stolen or not I think it''s damn cool that they actually were used rather than just left to sit in the "can". I''ve heard samples from television news used on several successful cds, anyone remember Ministry''s Psalm69? Technically the broadcasters could sue them, but it didn''t happen to my knowledge.

Then we get to things like da daism in art where they just cut up a bunch of images and reassemble them, maybe the publishers of the 1800''s should of sued those guys. It is the same sort of production work as an independent development teams usage of sound effects in my opinion.

I say to hell with the bean counting publishers, if the kids want to make their own video games let them go nuts!

DRINK GIN! IT MAKES A MAN MEAN-milk and cheese