Free sound effects samples (including windchimes!), royalty-free background music and original soundfonts

Finding sounds

The best way to search for material on this page is to use your browser’s “find on page” feature and search for words in the sound descriptions.

Or jump straight to: Windchimes samples, clangs, pings, impacts and shatters, drones, atmospheres and ambience, drum rhythms on real drums, royalty-free music or soundfonts.

The sounds

All this sound/music was created, recorded, engineered, composed and played by me (unless stated). It has proved very popular on Freesound.org (my username is BristolStories) - some samples have been downloaded thousands of times for use in games, websites and films. There are new samples here which aren't available on Freesound.

Crediting sounds you use

If you use these samples in a film or recorded album, credit their use as “(description of sound) by Paddy Uglow - CreativeMedia.org.uk”. If you don’t want to credit me, donate at least £1 per sound (more for music) via PayPal (below).

You may not sell or share these sound files; please point people at this page instead. You do not have exclusive rights to the sounds.

Saying thanks for the sounds

Give me some encouragement by making a donation to me via PayPal - decide an amount in GB pounds/pence (xe.com will show you current exchange rates) based on the length of the sound/music, how much time it’s saved you and how much publicity or income it helps you raise. Alternatively, make a donation to Oxfam, Greenpeace or Practical Action. If you can’t stretch to that, then visit some of the averts on this page and I’ll earn a few pence.

£

(If you don’t have an account, you can pay with a card)

Windchimes sample sounds

There are 25 samples of ascending and descending strokes windchimes, both fast and slow. There are also some in both directions, and some “special” ones. Sampled from a real set of windchimes. Tips: add lots of reverb for magical effects. Slow them down for spookiness (especially played backwards!)

Download all the chimes (2.9MB) or click below to audition the sounds in a new window - right click the links (or choose Save from the audition window) to save the files.

• Down chimes slow 1 - Slow sweep of chimes from high pitch to low.
• down chimes 1 - Sweep of chimes from high pitch to low
• down chimes 2
• down chimes 3
• down chimes 4
• down chimes 5
• down chimes 6
• down chimes 7
• special 1 - Two simultaneous sweeps of windchimes from low pitch to high.
• special 2 long - Longer windchimes sample, somewhat all over the place!
• special 3 - Windchimes in random directions.
• up chimes short 1 - Fast sweep of windchimes from low pitch to high.
• up chimes short 2
• up chimes short 3
• up chimes short 4
• up chimes short 5
• up chimes slow - Slow sweep of windchimes from low pitch to high.
• up chimes 1- Medium speed sweep of windchimes from low pitch to high.
• up chimes 2
• up chimes 3
• up chimes 4
• up chimes 5
• up-down chimes 1 - Windchimes from high pitch, to low, then to high again.
• up-down chimes 2
• up-down-up chimes 1

KEYBOARD PLAYERS! Have a go with triangle.sf2 soundfont (further down this page) - a kind of MIDI playable windchimes.

Clangs, pings, smashes, bangs, thumps and impact sounds

• ping - A reverberant metalic ping sound (sampled from a Roland U220)
• wine_glass_bits_hit.mp3 - Length: 0:01. Pieces of a broken wine glass being hit and tinkled together. Not a bad smashing effect; it has a bit more length than some samples.. Keywords: breaking, broken, glass, pieces, shards, smash, smashing, tinkling, wine.
• tinkle_smash_glass.mp3 - Length: 0:00. A short breaking glass sound. Keywords: breaking, broken, glass, pieces, shards, smash, smashing, tinkling, wine.
• shells_tinkle.mp3 - Length: 0:41. This is a shells wind chime. I used it for the effect of lots of glass falling; I didn't have enough glass or space to get that Hollywood effect of a whole mirror_glass skyscraper smashing, so this is my effect. It's also a VERY realistic recording of thin shells on strings being shaken (which is what it is!). Keywords: bones, breaking, broken, chime, clatter, explosion, shattering, falling, glass, shards, shells, tinkle, wind.
• reverse_clang2.wav - Length: 0:08. This is a recording of a metal plate being hit, and played backwards and processed. I've used it for a build in a dark techno song, but it would also make a good effect for horror/suspense films.. Keywords: build, buildup, darkwave, drama, dramatic, effect, fx, horror, rise, scary, suspense, trance.
• reverse_clang1.wav - Length: 0:04. This is a recording of a metal plate being hit, and played backwards and processed. I've used it for a build in a dark techno song, but it would also make a good effect for horror/suspense films. This is my most popular sound that has been used nearly 7000 times at between Jan 2009 and March 2011. Keywords: build, buildup, darkwave, drama, dramatic, effect, fx, horror, rise, scary, suspense, trance.
• reverse_tinkle_smash_glass.mp3 - Length: 0:01. A glass being broken, recorded and played backwards. Keywords: backwards, break, breaking, crash, effect, fx, glass, shards, shatter.
• reverse_shells.mp3 - Length: 0:03. This is a shells wind chime, recorded and reversed. Keywords: backwards, bones, chimes, effect, fx, jingle, shards, shatter, shells, skeletal, tinkle, wind.
• repeated_bell.wav - Length: 0:12. This repeating bell was meant to sound like a Tibetan monastery or rustic church bell or a warning bell in an old village. The timing is uneven. It was made by banging a metal plate. Keywords: bell, bong, church, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, monastery, monastry, plate, ring, ringing, temple.
• nasty_reverse1.mp3 - Length: 0:08. This is a recording of a metal plate being hit, and played backwards and processed. I've used it for a build in a dark techno song, but it would also make a good effect for horror/suspense films. Quite a bit of processing on this. Keywords: build, buildup, darkwave, drama, dramatic, effect, fx, horror, rise, scary, suspense, trance.
• clang6.mp3 - Length: 0:08. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• clang5.wav - Length: 0:08. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• clang4.mp3 - Length: 0:06. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• clang3.wav - Length: 0:08. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• clang2.mp3 - Length: 0:07. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• clang1.mp3 - Length: 0:08. A metal tray being hit for a bell effect added by BristolStories. Keywords: bell, bong, clang, clanging, gong, metalic, plate, ring, ringing.
• break_wine_glass.mp3 - Length: 0:02. Breaking/hitting an expensive wine glass with a stainless steel fish slice! It was an expensive Habitat crystal glass which had already had the base broken off, so I wanted to get the best value out of it before throwing it away. Keywords: break, breaking, glass, hit, shards, shatter, smash, smashing, tinkle.
• window_thump.mp3 - Length: 0:01. Bird hitting a pane of glass. This is actually me hitting a large plate glass window so no birds were harmed. Keywords: bird, door, drum, glass, hit, hitting, kick, knock, muffled, pane, pound, resonant, thump, window.
• drama1-120-em-click.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Finger click with long reverb/echo. This can be layered with all the 120bpm Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, echoey, underground, cave, spooky, snap.

Drones, atmospheres and background ambience sample sounds

• violin_drone_a.mp3 - Length: 2:03. A discordant string/violin detuned drone in the key of A with weird/strange atmospheric squeaks. Reverberant and echoey. Keywords: atmosphere dark mysterious moody, orchestral.
• crackling_rain_fire.mp3 - Length: 1:52. Some noisy cellophane plastic that I thought I'd use for some recording. It makes a good crackling fire sound, or hail or rain, or a very ‘STICKY’ sound! The “intensity” of the sound varies through the recording so you can find a starting or stopping section. . Keywords: burn, burning, cellophane, crackling, crinkly, fire, hailing, plastic, raining, sweet, weather, wrapper, wrapping, downpour,storm.
• street_sound.mp3 - Length: 0:53. Traffic mostly buses and non_distinguishable speech. . Keywords: background, bristol, buses, cars, england, lorries, noise, pedestrians, road, street, traffic, uk, vehicles, voices cityscape vehicles.

Drum rhythms sample sounds from real drums

• drums-6-4-100bpm.mp3 - Length: 1:05. A beat played on North African Darabuka metal hand drum with a plastic skin by percussionist Paddy Uglow. Reverb and EQ have been applied. A driving 6:4 bass-driven beat played to a metronome set to 100 beats per minute, it would probably loop OK with a bit of editing in the right places.. Keywords: bongo djembe darbuka tribal beat loop ethnic handrum flam rim shot.

Soundfonts

These are original soundfonts, recorded and programmed by me.

• cymbal-spree.sf2 - Length: 21.7MB. A collection of cymbal crashes, haphazardly mapped across the keyboard, plus a few reverses. Just what you need when you don’t want an identical crash sound at the start of every chorus! Samples from the kind artists at Freesound.org: keithdrums, Itibits, -zin-, loofa, teleport8, folktelemetry, pjcohen, minorr, mhc, CBeeching, soundbytez, digifishmusic, and the SW1000XG cymbals are sampled by me, BristolStories. Keywords: Crashes, clashes, reverse cymbal, cymbal roll.
• bongo_bank.sf2 - Length: 1MB. Tuned multisampled recording of an ceramic/goatskin african drum. Can be used as a kind of tuned instrument too. Keywords: bongo djembe darabuka handdrum drum percussive percussion soundfont sf2.
• triangle.sf2 - Length: 460KB. Microtuned triangle/bell tree/pipe chimes/windchimes effect for keyboard. Each white key plays a slightly higher pitch metallic ping than the last, so running your thumb up and down the keyboard gives you a nice rising ping effect, a bit like windchimes. Keywords: metallic ping windchimes belltree jingle dring ding percussion soundfont sf2.

Royalty free instrumental music for film, etc

• jungle-fever-144.wav - Length: 1:19. Jungle Fever (144.5 bpm): Rough and smooth drum and bass style track with aggressive distorted hand-drums and bass, and electric drums on top. Smooth piano and synth float over the top. (The timing goes a bit loose right at the end). Keywords: drum'n'bass jungle fast dancy nasty bongo djembe darabuka handdrum drum percussive percussion.
• jungle-fever-loop-144.wav - Length: 0:13. Jungle Fever looping version (144.5 bpm): Seamless loop of part of Jungle Fever. Rough and smooth drum and bass style track with aggressive distorted hand-drums and bass, and electric drums on top. Smooth piano and synth float over the top. Keywords: drum'n'bass jungle fast dancy nasty bongo djembe darabuka handdrum drum percussive percussion.
• playing-music-120-g.mp3 - Length: 1:20. Piano and low irish whistle piece, 120bpm in G major. Keywords: Happy, gentle, childish, mellow, peaceful, tranquility, calm, placid, sad, melancholy, mournful, contented, flute.
• silly-birds.mp3 - Length: 0:34. SIlly Birds: A short “bent synth” example I wrote for a film-maker. Electronic, squeaky and low-fi and somewhat silly.. Keywords: Robot birds, funny, cheap synth, beeps, bleeps, low-tech, casio, toy, cheep, electronic, synthesizer.
• good-bad-ugly.mp3 - Length: 0:11. Cowboy music: My cover version of Ennio Morricone’s famous theme from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. Played on penny whistle instead of ocarina; written to replace a pirated sample in a film.. Keywords: Wild west, canyon, cowboys and indians, flute, american, harmonica.

“drama” sample loops which all sync up and can be layered to make a varying piece:

• drama1-120-em-frantic-loop.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Full dramatic seamless loop, 120bpm in E minor. The other drama1 loops are all combined in this one, so you can use them seperately to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, squeaky, scratchy, violin, electric guitar, hit strings, percussive, dulcimer.
• drama1-120-em-click.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Dramatic seamless loop, 120bpm. Finger click with long reverb/echo. This can be layered with all the Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, echoey, underground, cave, spooky, snap.
• drama1-120-em-drum.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Dramatic seamless loop, 120bpm. Bass drum rhythm. This can be layered with all the Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky. thumping.
• drama1-120-em-guitars.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Electric guitar, dramatic seamless loop in E minor. This can be layered with all the Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, cowboy, spaghetti western, the shadows, hit strings, percussive, dulcimer.
• drama1-120-em-hihat.mp3 - Length: 0:08. High Hat: Dramatic seamless loop. This can be layered with all the Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, cymbal.
• drama1-120-em-spooky-violin.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Spooky horror sound made with violins. Keywords: fear, dramatic, scary, rising tension, horrific, alarming, bood curdling, terror, alarming.
• drama1-120-em-violins-frantic.mp3 - Length: 0:08. Violins dramatic seamless loop in E minor. This can be layered with all the Drama1 loops to build tension. Keywords: Frightening, sinister, driving, exciting, suspicious, fear, pressure, stress, tense, exciting, excitement, danger, thrilling, risky, squeaky, scratchy, violin, rhythmic.

A few more adverts; visit them to keep me in peacock feathers (see “more about the sounds”) and wind chimes!

More about the sounds

Why not WAV? So I don’t kill my bandwidth restrictions. And MP3s aren’t so bad really…

For those who don’t know, there are two kinds of wind chimes: the sort that are hung in the wind to jingle and annoy the neighbours, and the orchestral sort, which tend to have a lot more tubes and are played with a stick. Well, three, if you count the big tuned tubular bells, played with hammers (and sometimes by Mike Oldfield!)

I couldn’t find any good windchimes samples online, so I spent £20 on a fair trade set (which are sometimes called “pipe chimes”). Bell trees are a different animal altogether, but they make a similar sound. I borrowed an Edirol R1 for the recording, and used its built-in mics. After a lot of trial and error I found hand-holding the R1 got the best sound. I tried various things to play the chimes with, and you’ll hear the difference in the recordings. I think the best was a shaving brush; I also tried a peacock feather, pens and pieces of wood and metal.

I’m also a songwriter, musician and video-maker. Hear some of my songs and pop videos at paddymusic.org.uk.