A key part of any documentary is the audio component. The following files are some of the sound effects from House Divided’s music library. This post provides an overview of other sites where you can download public domain music and sound effects.
Right click on the link and select save as to download the mp3 file.
John Brown Song
While music is an important part to any documentary, it can be difficult to find free (and legal) music to download. Here are a few sites which have public domain music and sounds that you can download for free.
Domain Music
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Musopen allows you to download public domain music. You can browse their collection by composer, performer, instrument, period, and form. Sheet Music is also available. |
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Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, which is available from the Department of Special Collections at the University of California – Santa Barbara, provides free access to public domain music.
You can browse their collection by genre, instruments, and subject. Learn more about “Cylinder Recordings” here. |
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The Recorded Sound Reference Center provides access to some of the Library of Congress’ public domain music. |
Documentaries can be uploaded and shared from a number of different sites. While YouTube is the most popular, several other options are listed below.
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TeacherTubeallows users to upload videos, documents, and photos for free. A FAQ is available here. |
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Vimeo is a video upload site with free basic accounts and a subscription option. Users with a free basic account can upload a limited amount of videos each week (up to 500 MB). If you run into problems uploading a video, check out “Vimeo Basics” in their Help Center. |
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YouTubeis a free service from Google. If you need help uploading a video, check out this guide at YouTube’s Help page. |
is a service from Microsoft that allows you to share up to 25 GB of photos, videos, and other media for free. A FAQ is .
A key part of any documentary is the audio component. While there are lots of programs available , the House Divided project uses the two listed below.
If you look for and download other free editing programs, be careful during the installation process to avoid adding any extra programs or services. While this free audio converter is easy to use, it installs extras (see screenshot) on your computer if you do not uncheck the options during the install.
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Audacity is free, open source program developed by volunteers. An FAQ is available here. CNET gave this audio editor 5/5 stars. |
Documentaries can be a great multimedia project on a variety of subjects. There are a number of free programs available that make it relatively easy to put a video together, several of which are listed below. House Divided has created several documentaries that are online at YouTube.
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is a free program from Microsoft. |
“” provides an overview of all the basic features.
is a free program from Microsoft that requires Windows Vista or Windows 7. Learn how to create videos and use all of the features with . The of this program includes several new features, including captions that are easier to add.
Animoto is not a program that you download and install. After you upload content, youcan create videos online. While the basic version is free, a subscription is required to access all of the features. Teachers can avoid any fees by using Animoto for Education.
iMovieis a video editing program from Apple. This program does not work on computers with Microsofts’ Windows installed.
