How to Insert Background Music or Sound Effects in Audacity – TAP023

I focus completely on Audacity in this episode! This time, I share a brief explanation of copyright laws for podcasters, where to get music and sound effects, and three ways to work with background music or sound effects in your podcast.

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Music copyright laws and podcasters

I am neither a lawyer nor play one on TV. The safest thing to do is never use copyrighted music. However, you are allowed certain rights under fair use exceptions: 30-second previews if accompanied by a comment, or parodies of the song. Unless you have explicit permission from the copyright-holder to use copyrighted music or sound effects, don’t do it. Look for royalty-free or podsafe music.

Where to get podsafe music

• http://www.magnatune.com/
• http://musicbakery.com/
• http://www.opuzz.com/
• http://www.iodapromonet.com/
• http://sounddogs.com/
• http://www.soundsnap.com/
• http://opsound.org/ (free)
• http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ (free)
• http://www.jamendo.com/en/ (free)
• http://www.findsounds.com/types.html (free, but use with caution as you may find copyrighted content)
• http://arielpublicity.com/ (free)
• http://www.musicalley.com/ (free)
• http://JewelBeat.com

Where to get sound effects

• http://sounddogs.com/
• http://www.soundsnap.com/
• http://opsound.org/ (free)
• http://www.freesound.org/ (free)
• http://www.findsounds.com/types.html (free, but use with caution as you may find copyrighted content)

Insert your music or sound effects into Audacity

Audacity presents three  options for inserting audio into an open project: drag the audio file into your project window, or Audio menu > Import > Audio …, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Shift-I (OS X) or Ctrl-Shift-I (Windows). Position your audio where you want it by dragging with the Time Shift Tool (F5)  and clip it as necessary.

Adjusting volume with track gain

If you want to adjust the audio’s volume without changing the audio itself (which would be a “destructive edit”), drag o