Aynwhere to find "ambient" tracks?
 

I did a search on this but didn't come up with anything, probably just didn't know what to look for.

Is there anywhere that sells "background sound" royalty free or something.

For example, the ambient noise in a restaurant where you might just here some silverware moving about or in an office where in the background you might hear some typing or phones ringing in the background or outside with the breeze blowing...you get the idea.

Where would I find such a thing?

The sounds you want do exist but you're right, they're hard to find.

Perhaps you can get ahold of individual sounds like phones ringing and wind blowing (which are easy to find) and mix these yourself?

Also, I would think the examples you give shouldn't be too hard to record on your own for free. (Don't know what kind of a time crunch your under though).

try this
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/Pro...ct.asp?PID=916

if not try this site

http://www.sounddogs.com/start.asp

Try Sounddogs.com or for the whole kit a kabuddle DigitalJuice.com

Jim

They are often call "atmosphere" or "atmos" tracks. A search for those might yield additional results.

If you want these as background audio to match the location (environment) the video was shot in, you would be better served to run 30 sec of "room tone" where you just shoot ambient sounds. This will help you hide edits by having a consistant sound track under the dialog.

If you do use atmospheric sounds that you purchase be very careful in making sure the background sound is appropriate to the locale - especially if your audience might be knowledgable in a particular field. I once used a "forest sounds" atmos track under some footage shot in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. A freind who is an avid birder picked up some birds calling in the track that are not found in the Adirondacks, or even on the East Coast! Whoops!

I noticed one one of the "resturant sounds" tracks I found in a SFX library, the background conversation was in French - would be pretty hard to pass off as Omaha!

Good luck.

thanks for the info and also the correct terminology for such things. These are mainly going to be used for a series of short comedy sketches and as such most of the footage is going to be shot NOT on location but rather greenscreened and indoors. As such I won't be able to record the normal room audio as usual to get a good background track. Sounddogs looks useful for sure.

"Room tone" sometimes gets expanded to mean ambient sounds. If you are shooting the outdoor scenes, be sure to get some good clean audio.