The YouTube audio library is easily one of the most valuable resources for YouTubers looking to enhance their content. It allows you access to many safe sound effects and music to use in your YouTube videos. That means that you won’t need to worry about copyright claims or strikes against your channel with these approved tracks and sound snippets.
In fact, if you’ve been perusing YouTube for some time, you’ll probably recognize more than a few of these sound files in use from all of your favorite creators. So why not join them, and start using them to empower your own content?
Table of Contents
How to Access the YouTube Audio Library
Here is a short Tutorial on how to get to the Audio Library on YouTube:
- Left-Click on your Profile icon to bring up the menu
- Select YouTube Studio
- Select Audio Library located in the left-side menu
- Find a track you like and download it
If you click on the star in the menu, the track will be added to the starred tab. Personally, I don’t find this to be helpful, as I have a local folder structure with all of the essential tracks I use across various videos. I also have a fairly large storage capacity on my computer, so I can just store these files locally indefinitely. However, not everyone has this advantage, so that feature may be handy if you delete these SFX to save room.
Storing original, full-quality videos on your PC quickly takes up space, needing things like the Petabyte Project just to keep everything in order
Are Sound Effects or Music Necessary for YouTube Videos?
Whether or not these audio resources are necessary for your content depends very much on the kind of presentation you want to give your audience. For some creators, the simple ambiance of their creative process is enough to draw in their audience and satiate their curiosity.
However, many video formats would benefit from the inclusion of sound effects and music from the YouTube Audio Library. For example, the classic meme video tends to make heavy use of sound effects and music to set the mood of comedic slapstick. Ultimately, you will need to experiment with your editing and play with things until you end up with something worthy of publishing for others to see.
If unsure, simply start with no music in your video editing program of choice. I recommend checking out DaVinci Resolve if you are looking for a powerful free editor. If it feels like it is missing something, try adding some music to see how that changes the “feel” of the video.
Case 1 – When You Don’t Need Music/Sound Effects
The use case for content that does not include sound effects or music is pretty niche. With that said, you can usually tell if your content can stand without the help of music or sound effects pretty easily.
If you are still unsure, I’ve compiled a short list of content I’ve seen do well on YouTube in the past that doesn’t take advantage of music or sound effects:
- A “relaxing sounds of rain” video
- Technically, the entire video is one long sound effect, but that’s beside the point.
- Making this kind of video is easy – simply start recording the rain sounds in a quiet environment with a microphone.
- You are at the mercy of Mother Nature on how often you can release videos like this. However, you can easily modify the recorded sound using a VST filter and have a slightly different ambiance to another separate video from the same source audio.
- Get creative 🙂
- ASMR Videos
- While I don’t personally like ASMR, there is a substantial audience of people who do like it.
- No need for music.
- Vlogs
- True vlogs are typically just a “Talking head” style video. There aren’t typically any sound effects or music used.
Case 2 – When you Do Need Music/Sound Effects
For most other types of content on the platform, music and sound effects are imperative for capturing and maintaining the interest of your audience. Therefore, you are far more likely to benefit from music and/or sound effects in your content than if you excluded it.
There are millions of examples of content on YouTube uploaded daily that are packed with sound effects or music used strategically to emphasize parts of the video. When used well, this emphasis can impart a “feel” to the video that simply isn’t there without it.
Think of Halloween videos – creepy music just goes with Halloween videos. Sounds of bats, ghouls, and zombies are a given too.
Other Places to Get Safe Sound Effects for your YouTube Videos
Not to toot my own horn, but I have a few free and safe sound effects that I made mainly for Live Streamers on Twitch and the like. However, you are welcome to use them in your videos if they fit your needs. I don’t promise their quality to be stellar – I made them mainly for fun one day, and I’m not a professional sound designer by any means.
Still, if you can find them to be useful for your needs, by all means!
There is also a video I made that covers a few safe music resources. And yes, I’m totally aware that the video is pretty amateurish in its presentation. My skillset lies mainly in writing content, not recording and editing. (Though I am learning it!)