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"2024 Approved Superior Mics for Video Blogging Professionals"
Superior Mics for Video Blogging Professionals
Best Microphone for YouTubers
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want your viewers to be glued to their screens then quality audio is just as important as quality video for your YouTube channel. People will watch your vlog because they want to hear what you are saying. It can be tempting to use the audio your camera records rather than buy a separate microphone. Unfortunately, the microphones built into most cameras will only record mediocre audio. In this case, we have researched and found out the following best microphones for YouTube videos based on its price and performance. Besides, we will also highlight the best microphones for different recording scenarios. Whether you’re making gaming videos or recording yourself singing, or filming inside or outside, you will get to know which one is best for your situation. Let’s check out now.
- Best Microphones for YouTube Videos
- Best Microphones for Different Types of YouTube Creators
- Tips for Recording YouTube Audio
- How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Part 1: Best Microphones for YouTube Videos [Best for All]
Here are examples of some of the best external microphones for YouTube:
1. Blue Snowball USB Mic - $60
The Snowball is especially good for vlogging from your webcam because it is easy to hook up to your computer using a USB port. It will record your audio simultaneously while you are using your webcam. The biggest drawback of the Snowball is that it needs to be close to you while your record. This combined with its larger size means that it will probably need to be in your shot.
2. RØDE Video Shotgun Mic - $140
The Shotgun attaches to your DSLR camera and is great for capturing specific sounds, like dialogue, without a lot of background noise. To work well it needs to be pointing at the person who is speaking, and it should be fairly close to them as well. This means that the camera cannot be too far back from you while you vlog.
3. Audio-Technica AT875R Line + Gradient Condenser Microphone - $240
This microphone is similar to the ones you think of being mounted on boom poles on professional sets, and it can easily be mounted onto a pole and used the same way. This gradient condenser mic is good at picking up sound at a distance, and at only picking up sound coming from directly in front of it. If you are working alone then you can set this mic up on a stand so it is pointing at you, or if you have a friend to help you you can ask them to hold it on a boom pole.
4. Sony LAV Wireless Mic System - $600
A LAV Mic, also called a lavalier or lapel mic, is a small microphone which can be clipped onto clothing. Wearing a LAV Mic while you vlog will allow you to move around freely and still capture great audio, rather than being stuck in range of a stationary mic. There are both wired and wireless options available in LAV Mics.
5. Roland R-05 WAVE/MP3 Recorder - $200
The R-05 is a pocket recorder that captures flawless audio. Its small size means you can hide it in your pocket and it will not show up in your video. Also, since it does not need to hook up to your camera or computer you will have freedom of movement.
Part 2: Best Microphones for All Types of YouTube Creators
If you have to invest in a new piece of equipment for your YouTube channel, consider upgrading your microphones. Your viewers can forgive your grainy video footage, poor lighting, and unsteady camera handling, but if your audio sounds like you’re speaking across the road on a busy highway, all your hard work will be wasted, because nobody will want to watch it.
But the thing about microphones is that they are not all created equal. Depending on the type of videos you’re filming and the environment where you’re recording, the capabilities of the microphone will differ.
1. Best Microphone for Live Streamers and Gamers
Blue Yeti USB - $150
As a live streamer, gamer, or vlogger such as beauty or lifestyle, you’ll want a balance of easy setup and high-quality audio. The Blue Yeti USB delivers on that.
It’s the closest budget microphone to a professional studio mic on the market, and it feels that way when you hold its solid metal frame for the first time. Connecting directly to your computer via USB, the Blue Yeti comes with a 6-feet long USB cable. Out of the box, it sits upon a sturdy stand, which can be removed and the mic can be threaded a shock mount.
The Blue Yeti can pick up audio in four different polar patterns: cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo. This makes it incredibly versatile, but if you are streaming, I recommend keeping it on cardioid.
Tip: In cardioid mode, speak into the front of the mic, not the top of it.
2. Best Microphones for Outdoor Locations
Rode VideoMic Pro Compact VMP Shotgun Microphone - $268
When you are filming outside, you are dealing with audio from all different directions: distant traffic, a gust of wind, the neighbor’s kids, etc.
That’s why a shotgun mic is better than an omnidirectional one for outdoor situations. Shotgun microphones, such as the Rode VideoMic Pro, picks up audio only in the direction it’s pointing in. You can aim it at your subject and it will give you clear audio without a lot of background noises.
The Rode VideoMic Pro comes with a mount that attaches on top of your camera, if you are filming outdoors. So if you are holding the camera and vlogging, then the audio will be great. However, if you want to take advantage of the space, and set the camera further away, you should attach the mic on a boom or a stand to get the best audio.
Tip: With Rode VideoMic Pro, and any mic you use to shoot outdoors, always do a sound check to make sure the quality is up to standard. Ten seconds of your subject talking at the level they will be speaking in will be enough to judge the sound quality.
3. Best Microphone for Music (Vocals)
Audio-Technica AT2035 - $163
If you are a serious musician on YouTube, then you will need a serious microphone like the Audio-Technica AT2035. This microphone connects via an XLR cable and requires phantom power, so you will need to invest in an audio interface, if you don’t already have one.
Nevertheless, this microphone does a fantastic job isolating the source of sound and eliminating background noise. Even if you’re recording in your bedroom, and not a professional studio, you’ll still get high quality vocals from this microphone.
Tip : Position yourself 8-12 inches away from the mic when singing. This allows your voice to sound more natural (too close and it’ll sound bassy) and it prevents the audio volume from fluctuating too dramatically as you move around or sing loudly one part and quietly at another.
4. Best Microphone for Voice Over
Rode NTK Tube Condenser Microphone - $529
The Rode NTK Tube is arguably one of the best microphone for its price. You can spend a thousand dollars and get a professional studio microphone, but you can’t do much better than the Rode NTK.
If you’re recording out of a studio environment, whether it’s a professional, semi-professional, or a closet with soft padded walls, the Rode NTK will give warmth and richness to every word you speak, while still offering crispness. Allow it to warm up for a few minutes before you start recording, and you’ll have awesome audio for your voice over.
This mic is great for YouTubers who are creating video essays, ADR, animated videos, or other videos that require top quality narrations.
Tip: Make sure you have a mic stand that you can raise to your standing height. Standing while recording voice over allows you diaphragm to open up, which will improve the quality of your voice.
5. Best Microphone for Big Echoey Space
Sennheiser MD 421 II Cardioid Dynamic Mic - $449
Commonly used to record isolated percussions or brass instruments, the Sennheiser MD 421 II is also wonderful if you need to record vocals in a large room. As a versatile dynamic mic, it doesn’t allow background noises or reverberations to bleed into the source vocal.
The Sennheiser MD 421 II has a rugged design as it’s built for live situations, such as concerts. This is a great microphone to have in your arsenal, should you end up recording in a large venue such as a conference or an arena.
If you are a YouTuber who makes a lot of video in warehouses, workshops, or rehearsal halls, then you should consider investing in a Sennheiser MD 421 II to get the most out of these acoustically complicated locations.
Tip : Sometimes audio in a loud, big environment can’t be saved by the best microphone. If that’s the case, film the source of the background noise. Get b-roll of people walking around, machinery operating, or whatever challenging sound you are dealing with in the large space. Cutting to these noise makers will give the audience a reference for the background noise, which helps conceal it.
6. Best Handheld Microphone for Interviews
Zoom ZH1 H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder - $68.99
This unidirectional microphone delivers clear and crisp audio. Compact, portable, and lightweight, the Zoom ZH1 H1 is a terrific choice for YouTubers who are looking for a handheld option for a microphone.
As a YouTuber, you may not have a crew to help you wrangle cable or a team member to help you monitor your audio levels, that is what makes Zoom ZH1 H1 a solid choice, as it is wireless and you can check the levels right in the palm of your hands as you record and even hear playback on the device.
The only thing that might slow you down, is that the audio will be captured directly onto the device, which means that you will need to sync up your audio to video afterward.
Tip : Before you start your interview, hit record on video and audio and then clap on camera, causing the audio to spike and giving you a video reference. This will give you a clear mark for syncing up, the sound of the clap and your hands coming together on camera.
7. Best Microphone for Action and Fitness
Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount - $214.90
If you’re a YouTuber who films a lot of action shots or fitness videos, where you, your camera and your microphone are in motion, then I recommend the Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount.
The Rode VMRP VideoMic Pro is a shotgun microphone that can focus on your subject in front of the camera with a low self-noise. This is excellent when you’re filming action shots, because you can always direct your mic at what you want to record knowing you won’t capture too much from other angles.
The Rycote Lyre shock mount eliminates any external audio that can be caused by movements to the microphone and camera. The shock mount is made of an elastic solution, so it’s incredibly durable.
Tip : For a greater range, the Rode VMRP Video Mic Pro can be mounted onto a boom pole, should the subject need to move around within the shot or if the camera needs to move away from the subject.
8. Best Waterproof Microphone
Sennheiser MKE 2 elements - Action Mic for the GoPro HERO4 - $200
In or around water, nothing can ruin a day of shooting faster than getting your equipment wet. If you’re using GoPro Hero4 for shooting all your intense water shots, you would be familiar with the awful audio you capture when the camera is inside the waterproof casing.
Lucky for you, Sennheiser has developed a waterproof microphone, the MKE 2 elements. This little furry ball that connects to your GoPro Hero4 can withstand up to 1 meter of water. Because underwater sound is captured differently (via a hydrophone ), the Sennheiser MKE 2 elements can’t actually record audio underwater, however, it’ll be ready to keep recording quality audio once it resurfaces.
Tip: Double check to make sure that the mic cable is not blocking the seal of the waterproof case of the camera before launching it into the water.
Different situations call for different equipment. This is the true for tradespeople, golfers, and YouTubers. If you want to get the best audio, it’s more than simply buying the most expensive one, you’ll also need to find the microphone most suited for that situation.
I hope this post helped you improve your audio quality. If you are having challenges finding a good microphone for a particular scenario, let us know in the comments below!
Part 3: 10 Tips for Recording YouTube Audio [Video Tutorial]
After picking up the best microphone based on your need, you can record your audio now. But wait, here are 10 tips for using the microphones to record better audio for your YouTube video. In case that you are in a hurry, we have summarized the following tips for a quick look.
- Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
- Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
- Minimize echo.
- Block wind from reaching your mic.
- Upgrade your mic.
- Adjust your levels.
- Start with a sound cue if you’re planning to do some syncing in post.
- Get close to the sound.
- ADR.
- Record Ambient Sound.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 4: How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Both the LAV Mics and the R-05 will create separate audio clips which you will need to sync up with your video when you are finished recording.
Note: when you start recording, clap two or three times. This will create distinct and visible audio spikes for you to look for when you sync the audio with video.
1. Import Video and Audio Files
Once you have finished recording and have opened up Filmora Video Editor , import your video and drag and drop it into your timeline. The audio recorded with the built in camera mic is already lined with your video clip and your audio and video will both automatically share the video track.
Now import the audio from your external microphone and drag and drop it to your audio track. The audio track is initially hidden, but it will appear when you pull an audio file into the timeline.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
2.Detach Default Audio from Video
Since you have recorded a separate audio file, you should detach the original audio recorded with the built-in camera mic from the video. To do this, just right click the video clip in the timeline and select Audio Detach from the drop down menu.
3.Align Spikes in Video Audio and Recorded Audio
Find the spikes that represent your clapping in both audio tracks. Then, adjust your external audio so its clapping patterns are in line with those in your camera’s audio track. You can magnify your timeline for a better control.
Once your external audio is synced to your camera’s audio it will also be synced to your video. You no longer need your camera’s audio and can delete it.
Watch the video below to check more features about Filmora.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want your viewers to be glued to their screens then quality audio is just as important as quality video for your YouTube channel. People will watch your vlog because they want to hear what you are saying. It can be tempting to use the audio your camera records rather than buy a separate microphone. Unfortunately, the microphones built into most cameras will only record mediocre audio. In this case, we have researched and found out the following best microphones for YouTube videos based on its price and performance. Besides, we will also highlight the best microphones for different recording scenarios. Whether you’re making gaming videos or recording yourself singing, or filming inside or outside, you will get to know which one is best for your situation. Let’s check out now.
- Best Microphones for YouTube Videos
- Best Microphones for Different Types of YouTube Creators
- Tips for Recording YouTube Audio
- How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Part 1: Best Microphones for YouTube Videos [Best for All]
Here are examples of some of the best external microphones for YouTube:
1. Blue Snowball USB Mic - $60
The Snowball is especially good for vlogging from your webcam because it is easy to hook up to your computer using a USB port. It will record your audio simultaneously while you are using your webcam. The biggest drawback of the Snowball is that it needs to be close to you while your record. This combined with its larger size means that it will probably need to be in your shot.
2. RØDE Video Shotgun Mic - $140
The Shotgun attaches to your DSLR camera and is great for capturing specific sounds, like dialogue, without a lot of background noise. To work well it needs to be pointing at the person who is speaking, and it should be fairly close to them as well. This means that the camera cannot be too far back from you while you vlog.
3. Audio-Technica AT875R Line + Gradient Condenser Microphone - $240
This microphone is similar to the ones you think of being mounted on boom poles on professional sets, and it can easily be mounted onto a pole and used the same way. This gradient condenser mic is good at picking up sound at a distance, and at only picking up sound coming from directly in front of it. If you are working alone then you can set this mic up on a stand so it is pointing at you, or if you have a friend to help you you can ask them to hold it on a boom pole.
4. Sony LAV Wireless Mic System - $600
A LAV Mic, also called a lavalier or lapel mic, is a small microphone which can be clipped onto clothing. Wearing a LAV Mic while you vlog will allow you to move around freely and still capture great audio, rather than being stuck in range of a stationary mic. There are both wired and wireless options available in LAV Mics.
5. Roland R-05 WAVE/MP3 Recorder - $200
The R-05 is a pocket recorder that captures flawless audio. Its small size means you can hide it in your pocket and it will not show up in your video. Also, since it does not need to hook up to your camera or computer you will have freedom of movement.
Part 2: Best Microphones for All Types of YouTube Creators
If you have to invest in a new piece of equipment for your YouTube channel, consider upgrading your microphones. Your viewers can forgive your grainy video footage, poor lighting, and unsteady camera handling, but if your audio sounds like you’re speaking across the road on a busy highway, all your hard work will be wasted, because nobody will want to watch it.
But the thing about microphones is that they are not all created equal. Depending on the type of videos you’re filming and the environment where you’re recording, the capabilities of the microphone will differ.
1. Best Microphone for Live Streamers and Gamers
Blue Yeti USB - $150
As a live streamer, gamer, or vlogger such as beauty or lifestyle, you’ll want a balance of easy setup and high-quality audio. The Blue Yeti USB delivers on that.
It’s the closest budget microphone to a professional studio mic on the market, and it feels that way when you hold its solid metal frame for the first time. Connecting directly to your computer via USB, the Blue Yeti comes with a 6-feet long USB cable. Out of the box, it sits upon a sturdy stand, which can be removed and the mic can be threaded a shock mount.
The Blue Yeti can pick up audio in four different polar patterns: cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo. This makes it incredibly versatile, but if you are streaming, I recommend keeping it on cardioid.
Tip: In cardioid mode, speak into the front of the mic, not the top of it.
2. Best Microphones for Outdoor Locations
Rode VideoMic Pro Compact VMP Shotgun Microphone - $268
When you are filming outside, you are dealing with audio from all different directions: distant traffic, a gust of wind, the neighbor’s kids, etc.
That’s why a shotgun mic is better than an omnidirectional one for outdoor situations. Shotgun microphones, such as the Rode VideoMic Pro, picks up audio only in the direction it’s pointing in. You can aim it at your subject and it will give you clear audio without a lot of background noises.
The Rode VideoMic Pro comes with a mount that attaches on top of your camera, if you are filming outdoors. So if you are holding the camera and vlogging, then the audio will be great. However, if you want to take advantage of the space, and set the camera further away, you should attach the mic on a boom or a stand to get the best audio.
Tip: With Rode VideoMic Pro, and any mic you use to shoot outdoors, always do a sound check to make sure the quality is up to standard. Ten seconds of your subject talking at the level they will be speaking in will be enough to judge the sound quality.
3. Best Microphone for Music (Vocals)
Audio-Technica AT2035 - $163
If you are a serious musician on YouTube, then you will need a serious microphone like the Audio-Technica AT2035. This microphone connects via an XLR cable and requires phantom power, so you will need to invest in an audio interface, if you don’t already have one.
Nevertheless, this microphone does a fantastic job isolating the source of sound and eliminating background noise. Even if you’re recording in your bedroom, and not a professional studio, you’ll still get high quality vocals from this microphone.
Tip : Position yourself 8-12 inches away from the mic when singing. This allows your voice to sound more natural (too close and it’ll sound bassy) and it prevents the audio volume from fluctuating too dramatically as you move around or sing loudly one part and quietly at another.
4. Best Microphone for Voice Over
Rode NTK Tube Condenser Microphone - $529
The Rode NTK Tube is arguably one of the best microphone for its price. You can spend a thousand dollars and get a professional studio microphone, but you can’t do much better than the Rode NTK.
If you’re recording out of a studio environment, whether it’s a professional, semi-professional, or a closet with soft padded walls, the Rode NTK will give warmth and richness to every word you speak, while still offering crispness. Allow it to warm up for a few minutes before you start recording, and you’ll have awesome audio for your voice over.
This mic is great for YouTubers who are creating video essays, ADR, animated videos, or other videos that require top quality narrations.
Tip: Make sure you have a mic stand that you can raise to your standing height. Standing while recording voice over allows you diaphragm to open up, which will improve the quality of your voice.
5. Best Microphone for Big Echoey Space
Sennheiser MD 421 II Cardioid Dynamic Mic - $449
Commonly used to record isolated percussions or brass instruments, the Sennheiser MD 421 II is also wonderful if you need to record vocals in a large room. As a versatile dynamic mic, it doesn’t allow background noises or reverberations to bleed into the source vocal.
The Sennheiser MD 421 II has a rugged design as it’s built for live situations, such as concerts. This is a great microphone to have in your arsenal, should you end up recording in a large venue such as a conference or an arena.
If you are a YouTuber who makes a lot of video in warehouses, workshops, or rehearsal halls, then you should consider investing in a Sennheiser MD 421 II to get the most out of these acoustically complicated locations.
Tip : Sometimes audio in a loud, big environment can’t be saved by the best microphone. If that’s the case, film the source of the background noise. Get b-roll of people walking around, machinery operating, or whatever challenging sound you are dealing with in the large space. Cutting to these noise makers will give the audience a reference for the background noise, which helps conceal it.
6. Best Handheld Microphone for Interviews
Zoom ZH1 H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder - $68.99
This unidirectional microphone delivers clear and crisp audio. Compact, portable, and lightweight, the Zoom ZH1 H1 is a terrific choice for YouTubers who are looking for a handheld option for a microphone.
As a YouTuber, you may not have a crew to help you wrangle cable or a team member to help you monitor your audio levels, that is what makes Zoom ZH1 H1 a solid choice, as it is wireless and you can check the levels right in the palm of your hands as you record and even hear playback on the device.
The only thing that might slow you down, is that the audio will be captured directly onto the device, which means that you will need to sync up your audio to video afterward.
Tip : Before you start your interview, hit record on video and audio and then clap on camera, causing the audio to spike and giving you a video reference. This will give you a clear mark for syncing up, the sound of the clap and your hands coming together on camera.
7. Best Microphone for Action and Fitness
Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount - $214.90
If you’re a YouTuber who films a lot of action shots or fitness videos, where you, your camera and your microphone are in motion, then I recommend the Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount.
The Rode VMRP VideoMic Pro is a shotgun microphone that can focus on your subject in front of the camera with a low self-noise. This is excellent when you’re filming action shots, because you can always direct your mic at what you want to record knowing you won’t capture too much from other angles.
The Rycote Lyre shock mount eliminates any external audio that can be caused by movements to the microphone and camera. The shock mount is made of an elastic solution, so it’s incredibly durable.
Tip : For a greater range, the Rode VMRP Video Mic Pro can be mounted onto a boom pole, should the subject need to move around within the shot or if the camera needs to move away from the subject.
8. Best Waterproof Microphone
Sennheiser MKE 2 elements - Action Mic for the GoPro HERO4 - $200
In or around water, nothing can ruin a day of shooting faster than getting your equipment wet. If you’re using GoPro Hero4 for shooting all your intense water shots, you would be familiar with the awful audio you capture when the camera is inside the waterproof casing.
Lucky for you, Sennheiser has developed a waterproof microphone, the MKE 2 elements. This little furry ball that connects to your GoPro Hero4 can withstand up to 1 meter of water. Because underwater sound is captured differently (via a hydrophone ), the Sennheiser MKE 2 elements can’t actually record audio underwater, however, it’ll be ready to keep recording quality audio once it resurfaces.
Tip: Double check to make sure that the mic cable is not blocking the seal of the waterproof case of the camera before launching it into the water.
Different situations call for different equipment. This is the true for tradespeople, golfers, and YouTubers. If you want to get the best audio, it’s more than simply buying the most expensive one, you’ll also need to find the microphone most suited for that situation.
I hope this post helped you improve your audio quality. If you are having challenges finding a good microphone for a particular scenario, let us know in the comments below!
Part 3: 10 Tips for Recording YouTube Audio [Video Tutorial]
After picking up the best microphone based on your need, you can record your audio now. But wait, here are 10 tips for using the microphones to record better audio for your YouTube video. In case that you are in a hurry, we have summarized the following tips for a quick look.
- Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
- Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
- Minimize echo.
- Block wind from reaching your mic.
- Upgrade your mic.
- Adjust your levels.
- Start with a sound cue if you’re planning to do some syncing in post.
- Get close to the sound.
- ADR.
- Record Ambient Sound.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 4: How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Both the LAV Mics and the R-05 will create separate audio clips which you will need to sync up with your video when you are finished recording.
Note: when you start recording, clap two or three times. This will create distinct and visible audio spikes for you to look for when you sync the audio with video.
1. Import Video and Audio Files
Once you have finished recording and have opened up Filmora Video Editor , import your video and drag and drop it into your timeline. The audio recorded with the built in camera mic is already lined with your video clip and your audio and video will both automatically share the video track.
Now import the audio from your external microphone and drag and drop it to your audio track. The audio track is initially hidden, but it will appear when you pull an audio file into the timeline.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
2.Detach Default Audio from Video
Since you have recorded a separate audio file, you should detach the original audio recorded with the built-in camera mic from the video. To do this, just right click the video clip in the timeline and select Audio Detach from the drop down menu.
3.Align Spikes in Video Audio and Recorded Audio
Find the spikes that represent your clapping in both audio tracks. Then, adjust your external audio so its clapping patterns are in line with those in your camera’s audio track. You can magnify your timeline for a better control.
Once your external audio is synced to your camera’s audio it will also be synced to your video. You no longer need your camera’s audio and can delete it.
Watch the video below to check more features about Filmora.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want your viewers to be glued to their screens then quality audio is just as important as quality video for your YouTube channel. People will watch your vlog because they want to hear what you are saying. It can be tempting to use the audio your camera records rather than buy a separate microphone. Unfortunately, the microphones built into most cameras will only record mediocre audio. In this case, we have researched and found out the following best microphones for YouTube videos based on its price and performance. Besides, we will also highlight the best microphones for different recording scenarios. Whether you’re making gaming videos or recording yourself singing, or filming inside or outside, you will get to know which one is best for your situation. Let’s check out now.
- Best Microphones for YouTube Videos
- Best Microphones for Different Types of YouTube Creators
- Tips for Recording YouTube Audio
- How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Part 1: Best Microphones for YouTube Videos [Best for All]
Here are examples of some of the best external microphones for YouTube:
1. Blue Snowball USB Mic - $60
The Snowball is especially good for vlogging from your webcam because it is easy to hook up to your computer using a USB port. It will record your audio simultaneously while you are using your webcam. The biggest drawback of the Snowball is that it needs to be close to you while your record. This combined with its larger size means that it will probably need to be in your shot.
2. RØDE Video Shotgun Mic - $140
The Shotgun attaches to your DSLR camera and is great for capturing specific sounds, like dialogue, without a lot of background noise. To work well it needs to be pointing at the person who is speaking, and it should be fairly close to them as well. This means that the camera cannot be too far back from you while you vlog.
3. Audio-Technica AT875R Line + Gradient Condenser Microphone - $240
This microphone is similar to the ones you think of being mounted on boom poles on professional sets, and it can easily be mounted onto a pole and used the same way. This gradient condenser mic is good at picking up sound at a distance, and at only picking up sound coming from directly in front of it. If you are working alone then you can set this mic up on a stand so it is pointing at you, or if you have a friend to help you you can ask them to hold it on a boom pole.
4. Sony LAV Wireless Mic System - $600
A LAV Mic, also called a lavalier or lapel mic, is a small microphone which can be clipped onto clothing. Wearing a LAV Mic while you vlog will allow you to move around freely and still capture great audio, rather than being stuck in range of a stationary mic. There are both wired and wireless options available in LAV Mics.
5. Roland R-05 WAVE/MP3 Recorder - $200
The R-05 is a pocket recorder that captures flawless audio. Its small size means you can hide it in your pocket and it will not show up in your video. Also, since it does not need to hook up to your camera or computer you will have freedom of movement.
Part 2: Best Microphones for All Types of YouTube Creators
If you have to invest in a new piece of equipment for your YouTube channel, consider upgrading your microphones. Your viewers can forgive your grainy video footage, poor lighting, and unsteady camera handling, but if your audio sounds like you’re speaking across the road on a busy highway, all your hard work will be wasted, because nobody will want to watch it.
But the thing about microphones is that they are not all created equal. Depending on the type of videos you’re filming and the environment where you’re recording, the capabilities of the microphone will differ.
1. Best Microphone for Live Streamers and Gamers
Blue Yeti USB - $150
As a live streamer, gamer, or vlogger such as beauty or lifestyle, you’ll want a balance of easy setup and high-quality audio. The Blue Yeti USB delivers on that.
It’s the closest budget microphone to a professional studio mic on the market, and it feels that way when you hold its solid metal frame for the first time. Connecting directly to your computer via USB, the Blue Yeti comes with a 6-feet long USB cable. Out of the box, it sits upon a sturdy stand, which can be removed and the mic can be threaded a shock mount.
The Blue Yeti can pick up audio in four different polar patterns: cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo. This makes it incredibly versatile, but if you are streaming, I recommend keeping it on cardioid.
Tip: In cardioid mode, speak into the front of the mic, not the top of it.
2. Best Microphones for Outdoor Locations
Rode VideoMic Pro Compact VMP Shotgun Microphone - $268
When you are filming outside, you are dealing with audio from all different directions: distant traffic, a gust of wind, the neighbor’s kids, etc.
That’s why a shotgun mic is better than an omnidirectional one for outdoor situations. Shotgun microphones, such as the Rode VideoMic Pro, picks up audio only in the direction it’s pointing in. You can aim it at your subject and it will give you clear audio without a lot of background noises.
The Rode VideoMic Pro comes with a mount that attaches on top of your camera, if you are filming outdoors. So if you are holding the camera and vlogging, then the audio will be great. However, if you want to take advantage of the space, and set the camera further away, you should attach the mic on a boom or a stand to get the best audio.
Tip: With Rode VideoMic Pro, and any mic you use to shoot outdoors, always do a sound check to make sure the quality is up to standard. Ten seconds of your subject talking at the level they will be speaking in will be enough to judge the sound quality.
3. Best Microphone for Music (Vocals)
Audio-Technica AT2035 - $163
If you are a serious musician on YouTube, then you will need a serious microphone like the Audio-Technica AT2035. This microphone connects via an XLR cable and requires phantom power, so you will need to invest in an audio interface, if you don’t already have one.
Nevertheless, this microphone does a fantastic job isolating the source of sound and eliminating background noise. Even if you’re recording in your bedroom, and not a professional studio, you’ll still get high quality vocals from this microphone.
Tip : Position yourself 8-12 inches away from the mic when singing. This allows your voice to sound more natural (too close and it’ll sound bassy) and it prevents the audio volume from fluctuating too dramatically as you move around or sing loudly one part and quietly at another.
4. Best Microphone for Voice Over
Rode NTK Tube Condenser Microphone - $529
The Rode NTK Tube is arguably one of the best microphone for its price. You can spend a thousand dollars and get a professional studio microphone, but you can’t do much better than the Rode NTK.
If you’re recording out of a studio environment, whether it’s a professional, semi-professional, or a closet with soft padded walls, the Rode NTK will give warmth and richness to every word you speak, while still offering crispness. Allow it to warm up for a few minutes before you start recording, and you’ll have awesome audio for your voice over.
This mic is great for YouTubers who are creating video essays, ADR, animated videos, or other videos that require top quality narrations.
Tip: Make sure you have a mic stand that you can raise to your standing height. Standing while recording voice over allows you diaphragm to open up, which will improve the quality of your voice.
5. Best Microphone for Big Echoey Space
Sennheiser MD 421 II Cardioid Dynamic Mic - $449
Commonly used to record isolated percussions or brass instruments, the Sennheiser MD 421 II is also wonderful if you need to record vocals in a large room. As a versatile dynamic mic, it doesn’t allow background noises or reverberations to bleed into the source vocal.
The Sennheiser MD 421 II has a rugged design as it’s built for live situations, such as concerts. This is a great microphone to have in your arsenal, should you end up recording in a large venue such as a conference or an arena.
If you are a YouTuber who makes a lot of video in warehouses, workshops, or rehearsal halls, then you should consider investing in a Sennheiser MD 421 II to get the most out of these acoustically complicated locations.
Tip : Sometimes audio in a loud, big environment can’t be saved by the best microphone. If that’s the case, film the source of the background noise. Get b-roll of people walking around, machinery operating, or whatever challenging sound you are dealing with in the large space. Cutting to these noise makers will give the audience a reference for the background noise, which helps conceal it.
6. Best Handheld Microphone for Interviews
Zoom ZH1 H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder - $68.99
This unidirectional microphone delivers clear and crisp audio. Compact, portable, and lightweight, the Zoom ZH1 H1 is a terrific choice for YouTubers who are looking for a handheld option for a microphone.
As a YouTuber, you may not have a crew to help you wrangle cable or a team member to help you monitor your audio levels, that is what makes Zoom ZH1 H1 a solid choice, as it is wireless and you can check the levels right in the palm of your hands as you record and even hear playback on the device.
The only thing that might slow you down, is that the audio will be captured directly onto the device, which means that you will need to sync up your audio to video afterward.
Tip : Before you start your interview, hit record on video and audio and then clap on camera, causing the audio to spike and giving you a video reference. This will give you a clear mark for syncing up, the sound of the clap and your hands coming together on camera.
7. Best Microphone for Action and Fitness
Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount - $214.90
If you’re a YouTuber who films a lot of action shots or fitness videos, where you, your camera and your microphone are in motion, then I recommend the Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount.
The Rode VMRP VideoMic Pro is a shotgun microphone that can focus on your subject in front of the camera with a low self-noise. This is excellent when you’re filming action shots, because you can always direct your mic at what you want to record knowing you won’t capture too much from other angles.
The Rycote Lyre shock mount eliminates any external audio that can be caused by movements to the microphone and camera. The shock mount is made of an elastic solution, so it’s incredibly durable.
Tip : For a greater range, the Rode VMRP Video Mic Pro can be mounted onto a boom pole, should the subject need to move around within the shot or if the camera needs to move away from the subject.
8. Best Waterproof Microphone
Sennheiser MKE 2 elements - Action Mic for the GoPro HERO4 - $200
In or around water, nothing can ruin a day of shooting faster than getting your equipment wet. If you’re using GoPro Hero4 for shooting all your intense water shots, you would be familiar with the awful audio you capture when the camera is inside the waterproof casing.
Lucky for you, Sennheiser has developed a waterproof microphone, the MKE 2 elements. This little furry ball that connects to your GoPro Hero4 can withstand up to 1 meter of water. Because underwater sound is captured differently (via a hydrophone ), the Sennheiser MKE 2 elements can’t actually record audio underwater, however, it’ll be ready to keep recording quality audio once it resurfaces.
Tip: Double check to make sure that the mic cable is not blocking the seal of the waterproof case of the camera before launching it into the water.
Different situations call for different equipment. This is the true for tradespeople, golfers, and YouTubers. If you want to get the best audio, it’s more than simply buying the most expensive one, you’ll also need to find the microphone most suited for that situation.
I hope this post helped you improve your audio quality. If you are having challenges finding a good microphone for a particular scenario, let us know in the comments below!
Part 3: 10 Tips for Recording YouTube Audio [Video Tutorial]
After picking up the best microphone based on your need, you can record your audio now. But wait, here are 10 tips for using the microphones to record better audio for your YouTube video. In case that you are in a hurry, we have summarized the following tips for a quick look.
- Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
- Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
- Minimize echo.
- Block wind from reaching your mic.
- Upgrade your mic.
- Adjust your levels.
- Start with a sound cue if you’re planning to do some syncing in post.
- Get close to the sound.
- ADR.
- Record Ambient Sound.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 4: How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Both the LAV Mics and the R-05 will create separate audio clips which you will need to sync up with your video when you are finished recording.
Note: when you start recording, clap two or three times. This will create distinct and visible audio spikes for you to look for when you sync the audio with video.
1. Import Video and Audio Files
Once you have finished recording and have opened up Filmora Video Editor , import your video and drag and drop it into your timeline. The audio recorded with the built in camera mic is already lined with your video clip and your audio and video will both automatically share the video track.
Now import the audio from your external microphone and drag and drop it to your audio track. The audio track is initially hidden, but it will appear when you pull an audio file into the timeline.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
2.Detach Default Audio from Video
Since you have recorded a separate audio file, you should detach the original audio recorded with the built-in camera mic from the video. To do this, just right click the video clip in the timeline and select Audio Detach from the drop down menu.
3.Align Spikes in Video Audio and Recorded Audio
Find the spikes that represent your clapping in both audio tracks. Then, adjust your external audio so its clapping patterns are in line with those in your camera’s audio track. You can magnify your timeline for a better control.
Once your external audio is synced to your camera’s audio it will also be synced to your video. You no longer need your camera’s audio and can delete it.
Watch the video below to check more features about Filmora.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want your viewers to be glued to their screens then quality audio is just as important as quality video for your YouTube channel. People will watch your vlog because they want to hear what you are saying. It can be tempting to use the audio your camera records rather than buy a separate microphone. Unfortunately, the microphones built into most cameras will only record mediocre audio. In this case, we have researched and found out the following best microphones for YouTube videos based on its price and performance. Besides, we will also highlight the best microphones for different recording scenarios. Whether you’re making gaming videos or recording yourself singing, or filming inside or outside, you will get to know which one is best for your situation. Let’s check out now.
- Best Microphones for YouTube Videos
- Best Microphones for Different Types of YouTube Creators
- Tips for Recording YouTube Audio
- How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Part 1: Best Microphones for YouTube Videos [Best for All]
Here are examples of some of the best external microphones for YouTube:
1. Blue Snowball USB Mic - $60
The Snowball is especially good for vlogging from your webcam because it is easy to hook up to your computer using a USB port. It will record your audio simultaneously while you are using your webcam. The biggest drawback of the Snowball is that it needs to be close to you while your record. This combined with its larger size means that it will probably need to be in your shot.
2. RØDE Video Shotgun Mic - $140
The Shotgun attaches to your DSLR camera and is great for capturing specific sounds, like dialogue, without a lot of background noise. To work well it needs to be pointing at the person who is speaking, and it should be fairly close to them as well. This means that the camera cannot be too far back from you while you vlog.
3. Audio-Technica AT875R Line + Gradient Condenser Microphone - $240
This microphone is similar to the ones you think of being mounted on boom poles on professional sets, and it can easily be mounted onto a pole and used the same way. This gradient condenser mic is good at picking up sound at a distance, and at only picking up sound coming from directly in front of it. If you are working alone then you can set this mic up on a stand so it is pointing at you, or if you have a friend to help you you can ask them to hold it on a boom pole.
4. Sony LAV Wireless Mic System - $600
A LAV Mic, also called a lavalier or lapel mic, is a small microphone which can be clipped onto clothing. Wearing a LAV Mic while you vlog will allow you to move around freely and still capture great audio, rather than being stuck in range of a stationary mic. There are both wired and wireless options available in LAV Mics.
5. Roland R-05 WAVE/MP3 Recorder - $200
The R-05 is a pocket recorder that captures flawless audio. Its small size means you can hide it in your pocket and it will not show up in your video. Also, since it does not need to hook up to your camera or computer you will have freedom of movement.
Part 2: Best Microphones for All Types of YouTube Creators
If you have to invest in a new piece of equipment for your YouTube channel, consider upgrading your microphones. Your viewers can forgive your grainy video footage, poor lighting, and unsteady camera handling, but if your audio sounds like you’re speaking across the road on a busy highway, all your hard work will be wasted, because nobody will want to watch it.
But the thing about microphones is that they are not all created equal. Depending on the type of videos you’re filming and the environment where you’re recording, the capabilities of the microphone will differ.
1. Best Microphone for Live Streamers and Gamers
Blue Yeti USB - $150
As a live streamer, gamer, or vlogger such as beauty or lifestyle, you’ll want a balance of easy setup and high-quality audio. The Blue Yeti USB delivers on that.
It’s the closest budget microphone to a professional studio mic on the market, and it feels that way when you hold its solid metal frame for the first time. Connecting directly to your computer via USB, the Blue Yeti comes with a 6-feet long USB cable. Out of the box, it sits upon a sturdy stand, which can be removed and the mic can be threaded a shock mount.
The Blue Yeti can pick up audio in four different polar patterns: cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo. This makes it incredibly versatile, but if you are streaming, I recommend keeping it on cardioid.
Tip: In cardioid mode, speak into the front of the mic, not the top of it.
2. Best Microphones for Outdoor Locations
Rode VideoMic Pro Compact VMP Shotgun Microphone - $268
When you are filming outside, you are dealing with audio from all different directions: distant traffic, a gust of wind, the neighbor’s kids, etc.
That’s why a shotgun mic is better than an omnidirectional one for outdoor situations. Shotgun microphones, such as the Rode VideoMic Pro, picks up audio only in the direction it’s pointing in. You can aim it at your subject and it will give you clear audio without a lot of background noises.
The Rode VideoMic Pro comes with a mount that attaches on top of your camera, if you are filming outdoors. So if you are holding the camera and vlogging, then the audio will be great. However, if you want to take advantage of the space, and set the camera further away, you should attach the mic on a boom or a stand to get the best audio.
Tip: With Rode VideoMic Pro, and any mic you use to shoot outdoors, always do a sound check to make sure the quality is up to standard. Ten seconds of your subject talking at the level they will be speaking in will be enough to judge the sound quality.
3. Best Microphone for Music (Vocals)
Audio-Technica AT2035 - $163
If you are a serious musician on YouTube, then you will need a serious microphone like the Audio-Technica AT2035. This microphone connects via an XLR cable and requires phantom power, so you will need to invest in an audio interface, if you don’t already have one.
Nevertheless, this microphone does a fantastic job isolating the source of sound and eliminating background noise. Even if you’re recording in your bedroom, and not a professional studio, you’ll still get high quality vocals from this microphone.
Tip : Position yourself 8-12 inches away from the mic when singing. This allows your voice to sound more natural (too close and it’ll sound bassy) and it prevents the audio volume from fluctuating too dramatically as you move around or sing loudly one part and quietly at another.
4. Best Microphone for Voice Over
Rode NTK Tube Condenser Microphone - $529
The Rode NTK Tube is arguably one of the best microphone for its price. You can spend a thousand dollars and get a professional studio microphone, but you can’t do much better than the Rode NTK.
If you’re recording out of a studio environment, whether it’s a professional, semi-professional, or a closet with soft padded walls, the Rode NTK will give warmth and richness to every word you speak, while still offering crispness. Allow it to warm up for a few minutes before you start recording, and you’ll have awesome audio for your voice over.
This mic is great for YouTubers who are creating video essays, ADR, animated videos, or other videos that require top quality narrations.
Tip: Make sure you have a mic stand that you can raise to your standing height. Standing while recording voice over allows you diaphragm to open up, which will improve the quality of your voice.
5. Best Microphone for Big Echoey Space
Sennheiser MD 421 II Cardioid Dynamic Mic - $449
Commonly used to record isolated percussions or brass instruments, the Sennheiser MD 421 II is also wonderful if you need to record vocals in a large room. As a versatile dynamic mic, it doesn’t allow background noises or reverberations to bleed into the source vocal.
The Sennheiser MD 421 II has a rugged design as it’s built for live situations, such as concerts. This is a great microphone to have in your arsenal, should you end up recording in a large venue such as a conference or an arena.
If you are a YouTuber who makes a lot of video in warehouses, workshops, or rehearsal halls, then you should consider investing in a Sennheiser MD 421 II to get the most out of these acoustically complicated locations.
Tip : Sometimes audio in a loud, big environment can’t be saved by the best microphone. If that’s the case, film the source of the background noise. Get b-roll of people walking around, machinery operating, or whatever challenging sound you are dealing with in the large space. Cutting to these noise makers will give the audience a reference for the background noise, which helps conceal it.
6. Best Handheld Microphone for Interviews
Zoom ZH1 H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder - $68.99
This unidirectional microphone delivers clear and crisp audio. Compact, portable, and lightweight, the Zoom ZH1 H1 is a terrific choice for YouTubers who are looking for a handheld option for a microphone.
As a YouTuber, you may not have a crew to help you wrangle cable or a team member to help you monitor your audio levels, that is what makes Zoom ZH1 H1 a solid choice, as it is wireless and you can check the levels right in the palm of your hands as you record and even hear playback on the device.
The only thing that might slow you down, is that the audio will be captured directly onto the device, which means that you will need to sync up your audio to video afterward.
Tip : Before you start your interview, hit record on video and audio and then clap on camera, causing the audio to spike and giving you a video reference. This will give you a clear mark for syncing up, the sound of the clap and your hands coming together on camera.
7. Best Microphone for Action and Fitness
Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount - $214.90
If you’re a YouTuber who films a lot of action shots or fitness videos, where you, your camera and your microphone are in motion, then I recommend the Rode VMPR VideoMic Pro R with Rycote Lyre Shockmount.
The Rode VMRP VideoMic Pro is a shotgun microphone that can focus on your subject in front of the camera with a low self-noise. This is excellent when you’re filming action shots, because you can always direct your mic at what you want to record knowing you won’t capture too much from other angles.
The Rycote Lyre shock mount eliminates any external audio that can be caused by movements to the microphone and camera. The shock mount is made of an elastic solution, so it’s incredibly durable.
Tip : For a greater range, the Rode VMRP Video Mic Pro can be mounted onto a boom pole, should the subject need to move around within the shot or if the camera needs to move away from the subject.
8. Best Waterproof Microphone
Sennheiser MKE 2 elements - Action Mic for the GoPro HERO4 - $200
In or around water, nothing can ruin a day of shooting faster than getting your equipment wet. If you’re using GoPro Hero4 for shooting all your intense water shots, you would be familiar with the awful audio you capture when the camera is inside the waterproof casing.
Lucky for you, Sennheiser has developed a waterproof microphone, the MKE 2 elements. This little furry ball that connects to your GoPro Hero4 can withstand up to 1 meter of water. Because underwater sound is captured differently (via a hydrophone ), the Sennheiser MKE 2 elements can’t actually record audio underwater, however, it’ll be ready to keep recording quality audio once it resurfaces.
Tip: Double check to make sure that the mic cable is not blocking the seal of the waterproof case of the camera before launching it into the water.
Different situations call for different equipment. This is the true for tradespeople, golfers, and YouTubers. If you want to get the best audio, it’s more than simply buying the most expensive one, you’ll also need to find the microphone most suited for that situation.
I hope this post helped you improve your audio quality. If you are having challenges finding a good microphone for a particular scenario, let us know in the comments below!
Part 3: 10 Tips for Recording YouTube Audio [Video Tutorial]
After picking up the best microphone based on your need, you can record your audio now. But wait, here are 10 tips for using the microphones to record better audio for your YouTube video. In case that you are in a hurry, we have summarized the following tips for a quick look.
- Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
- Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
- Minimize echo.
- Block wind from reaching your mic.
- Upgrade your mic.
- Adjust your levels.
- Start with a sound cue if you’re planning to do some syncing in post.
- Get close to the sound.
- ADR.
- Record Ambient Sound.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 4: How to Sync your Audio in Filmora
Both the LAV Mics and the R-05 will create separate audio clips which you will need to sync up with your video when you are finished recording.
Note: when you start recording, clap two or three times. This will create distinct and visible audio spikes for you to look for when you sync the audio with video.
1. Import Video and Audio Files
Once you have finished recording and have opened up Filmora Video Editor , import your video and drag and drop it into your timeline. The audio recorded with the built in camera mic is already lined with your video clip and your audio and video will both automatically share the video track.
Now import the audio from your external microphone and drag and drop it to your audio track. The audio track is initially hidden, but it will appear when you pull an audio file into the timeline.
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
2.Detach Default Audio from Video
Since you have recorded a separate audio file, you should detach the original audio recorded with the built-in camera mic from the video. To do this, just right click the video clip in the timeline and select Audio Detach from the drop down menu.
3.Align Spikes in Video Audio and Recorded Audio
Find the spikes that represent your clapping in both audio tracks. Then, adjust your external audio so its clapping patterns are in line with those in your camera’s audio track. You can magnify your timeline for a better control.
Once your external audio is synced to your camera’s audio it will also be synced to your video. You no longer need your camera’s audio and can delete it.
Watch the video below to check more features about Filmora.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Effortless Sound Sourcing: The Top 15 Freebie Audiosites
15 Best Sites to Find & Download Royalty-Free Music for YouTube
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Choosing great royalty-free music for your YouTube videos will help put your audience in the right frame of mind, cover up flaws in your background audio, and help viewers feel more engaged with your content.
YouTube provides a free audio library, but since a lot of creators use it everyone’s videos can start to sound the same. Here are 15 alternative places where you can get royalty-free music for free! It’ll say at the beginning of every section whether they require attribution or allow commercial use.
Best Sites for Royalty-Free Music for YouTube Creators [Free Download]
If you are using Wondershare Filmora video editor , you will find there are some royalty-free music tracks and sound effects already pre-programmed in the Audio library. You will find different styles of music tacks, varying from Young & Bright to Electronic. Download Filmora, and you will get the royalty-free audio library and powerful video editing tools.
1. Audionautix
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the site with ‘music by audionautix.com’ if you want to use this music (if you have a website, they ask that you include a link back to them).
Paid Options? No. All of the music on this site is free.
One of the first things you’ll see when you arrive on Audiionautix is a ‘YouTube Friendly’ button. They know that most people browsing their music library are looking for songs for YouTube videos, and that want you to know their music is safe from copyright claims.
All of the music in the Audionautix collection was created by one man, Jason Shaw, but there’s still a huge variety of tracks.
On the front page of Audionautix, there are three selections you can make to start your music search – genre, mood, and tempo. Genres range from hard rock to bluegrass to techno (there are 28 genres in total), and the moods include things like ‘uplifting’, ‘evil’, and ‘bouncy’ (there are 37 of those). The tempos are fast, medium, and slow. So, if you want a medium-tempo acoustic song with a calming mood, you can easily find all of the songs that meet those qualifications.
Not every combination will deliver results, so it can be easier to just choose two of the three search parameters.
2. Bensound
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must include one of the following in your video description: “Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music” or “Music: Song title - Bensound.com”
Paid Options? Yes. If you don’t want to credit Bensound (or can’t for some reason) then you need to purchase a license. Licensing starts at about $28 USD (price listed as €24) per track.
The most popular music from Bensound is displayed on the first page. Beyond the titles of the tracks, each has a short description that will give you a good idea of what to expect from the song before you listen. You’ll need to listen to a song to know if you want it, but the descriptions are a fast way to figure out if you don’t want something. For example, ‘A New Beginning’ could be anything based on that title, but the description lets you know it’s ‘punk rock’ with an ‘epic/achievement’ feeling.
You can narrow down the music you are shown by choosing a genre from the menu near the top of your page (there are 8 genres including cinematic, electronica, and corporate/pop). There’s also a search bar, and you can choose whether to display popular or new songs first.
All of the music on Bensound was created by Benjamin TISSOT, a composer based in France. He has been creating music for over 10 years.
3. dig.ccMixter
Commercial Use? Depends. Some songs are available for commercial use, some are not. It is easy to search only for songs which are.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the musicians.
Paid Options? Yes. You can purchase licenses to get around commercial use or attribution restrictions. Personal licenses are $22 USD.
Musicians upload their work to ccMixter and make it available to creators like you at dig.ccMixter. Over 45,000 musicians have participated and this has resulted in a huge variety of music for you to discover.
Clicking ‘tag search’ at the top of the page is probably the best way to start your search. The ‘tags’ are displayed in three categories – genre, instrument, and style. You can click as many tags as you want from each category (i.e. you can check off ‘classical’ for the genre and then both bass and cello for instruments).
By default, your search will return results that have even just one of the tags you selected, but you can click ‘match all’ to see results that include all of your selected tags.
To the right of the screen, there’s a button called ‘filters’ and if you click it it’ll let you narrow your results by license (you can choose to only browse music that is free for commercial use). You can also specify if you only want instrumental songs.
If you do not use the ‘free for commercial use’ filter then you will need to click on songs to see whether their creative commons licenses allow commercial use.
If you’re an indie game developer, they have a Music for Video Games section for you too.
4. Free Music Archive
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
There is a huge selection on Free Music Archive (they include songs curated by other sites, including other sites on this list), but using this site can be a bit trickier than using other sites because there are so many different licenses at play. There are even several licenses that do not allow songs to be used in YouTube videos (any Creative Commons license with ‘ND / No Derivatives’ will not allow for use in a video). You should read this page before downloading anything from the Free Music Archive to use on YouTube.
To start browsing Free Music Archive for music you can use for your videos, go to ‘Curators’ in the top menu, and select ‘Music for Video’. There’s no point in browsing music you might not be allowed to use for YouTube, and so the site has made it easy to find the music you can.
By default this screen will not include music you can use commercially, so you need to check ‘allows for commercial use’ in the side menu if that’s important to you. You can also select a genre and specify if you only want instrumental songs.
5. Free Stock Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
Simply choose a genre from the ‘Free Music’ drop-down menu to start browsing Free Stock Music’s collection. There are 10 genres including Pop, Hip Hop, and Corporate.
There are not a lot of ways to customize your search results on this site. You just can search for a keyword, like ‘happy’, but you can’t narrow your results down by things like instrument or mood like you can on some other sites. You just have to scroll through either your search results or the chosen genre until you find something.
To make it a bit easier, Free Stock Music has included detailed descriptions of each song you can read while your browsing and these descriptions do tend to include details about instruments and the moods of the songs.
You need to create a free account on Free Stock Music to access their songs.
6. Incompetech
Commercial Use? YouTube monetization allowed. Other kinds of commercial use may be restricted.
Attribution Required? Yes. You can put the attribution in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot (or do not want to) credit Incompetech then you can purchase a license instead. Licensing 1 piece of music costs $30.
Incompetech allows you to browse one of three ways. The ‘Full Search’ will be best for most people, but if you want to see every song in alphabetical order you can click on ‘Full List’, or you can browse collections like ‘Comedic’ in ‘View Collections’ (but not every piece of music on the site can be found in a collection).
If you go into ‘Full Search’ you’ll see a list of all the music and be able to filter it by feel, tempo, genre, and length. For example, you could set ‘Feels’ to ‘Grooving’ or ‘Length’ to ‘3:00-3:29’.
You can also use the search bar to look for an instrument or song title.
Clicking Expand All will reveal descriptions of all the songs and a ‘listen now’ button, but it will stretch the page a lot. You can see more details about individual songs, and listen to them, by clicking on the title. You won’t be taken to a new page, which is convenient.
You can also download all the music at once (by clicking ‘download all the music on this site at once’).
7. Josh Woodward
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Attribution goes in your description box and it should look like this: Music - “SONG TITLE HERE” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot give Josh credit for some reason you can buy a single-song license for $30.
Josh Woodward is a singer-songwriter who has chosen to allow the free use of all his music (although he does appreciate donations).
You’ll immediately see a list of music on Josh’s site (not everything, there are over 200 songs on this site), and you can change what is displayed by using the filters on the right of the page. The filters available are Playlist, Genre, Album, Tags, Tempo, and Length.
The playlists are songs that have been bundled together around a theme like ‘fun and fast’ or ‘popular in videos’.
There are nine genres to choose from including ‘dark acoustic’ and ‘Americana’.
The albums are albums that Josh has released.
You can also search the song titles and lyrics by typing keywords into the search bar.
At the top of the page, there’s a player you can use to preview the songs, and you can choose whether to browse vocal songs or songs with lyrics (the results below may not appear to change, but if you use the player you’ll hear the instrumental version instead of the version with vocals).
8. Looperman
Commercial Use? Allowed for loops, but they make no guarantees.
Attribution Required? Unclear. The site doesn’t address attribution so it may be up to whoever has uploaded the loop you want to use.
Paid Options? No.
Looperman is a community for musicians. The goal is to provide instrumental loops and acapella vocals to other musicians for their own projects. In theory, all of the music loops and sounds are completely free to use in your projects, but since it’s a community they cannot guarantee that a user hasn’t uploaded something they don’t own (they aren’t allowed to, so in theory you should be safe, but the site doesn’t make any guarantees).
If you want to use vocals it seems like you have to talk to the person who owns the vocals about whether you can use them commercially or whether you need to include attribution.
9. Moby Gratis
Commercial Use? Never allowed. You cannot make money from the project you use this music in any way, including YouTube monetization or through a service like Patreon.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put this in your video description: Music: [Track Name] by Moby courtesy of Mobygratis.com
Paid Options? No.
Moby is a Grammy-nominated, VMA-winning, artist whose work you have probably heard on the radio. Even if you aren’t familiar with Moby himself, he has co-written, produced, and remixed music for other major artists like David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Daft Punk.
Moby has chosen to make a catalog of his work available to independent filmmakers for non-commercial projects. Not all of the music provided on the site is available for YouTube, only the music marked Unreleased (if it has been released, then it will be flagged by YouTube’s copyright system). There is a lot of music under the ‘Unreleased’ category, though.
In order to download songs, you will need to make an account, and it takes about 24 hours for your account to be approved.
10. Musopen
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song
Paid Options? No.
Musopen provides music that is either in the ‘public domain’, or protected by Creative Commons licenses. If it’s in the public domain that means that nobody owns the copyright and anyone can use it for anything (however, Musopen does warn that they do not review uploads from their users so it is possible that someone could upload something they claim is public domain and be lying or wrong).
Creative Commons licenses all have their own conditions. Some may block commercial use, some may require attribution. The ones you need to watch out for as a video creator are the ones marked ‘No Derivatives’, because you can’t use songs licensed this way in videos.
You can start using Musopen by typing a keyword into the search bar on the main page, or scrolling down to select ‘Browse royalty free music recordings’. Besides music recordings, Musopen provides sheet music. If you have some musical talent and want to record your own music for your videos then this might be useful. If not, you probably want to stick to the recordings.
If you click on the Music Discovery Tool you’ll be able to search the recordings not only by instrument, but by license (so you can make sure you’re only looking at music that is in the public domain, or make sure you’re not looking at anything with that ‘No Derivatives’ condition.
11. TeknoAXE
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes.
Paid Options? No.
All of the music on TeknoAXE is covered under a CC4.0 license, which means you can share and adapt the music for any purpose so long as you provide attribution.
TeknoAXE’s music is divided into four categories: electronic dance music, rock and metal music, orchestra and soundtrack, and miscellaneous. There are several sub-categories under every category.
Once you’ve clicked into subcategory you’ll see thumbnails for every song in the category. Click on one to be taken to the song’s page, where you can listen to it before you decide if you want to download.
There are tons of places where you can find great royalty-free music you can use on YouTube, so start hunting! Finding the perfect song for that cool montage you’ve got planned, your intro sequence, or the background of your vlog will take your content to a new level of quality.
12. PacDV
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Music by <www.pacdv.com/sounds/>
Paid Options? No.
PacDV is primarily a sound effects site, but they have a music section as well (just click Music in the menu to the left under Sound Effects. ‘Free Music’ under resources is a completely different site). There is no way to filter down the music, and there is no search function.
There is a column in the list of music for ‘moods/emotions’, so you can get an idea of which songs you might want to listen to before you click to their pages.
13. Partners In Rhyme
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Credit them in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. You can’t buy a license for free songs to get around attribution, but they do offer paid music. At $100 or more per song, their paid music is outside the budget of most YouTubers.
Partners In Rhyme is mostly a paid site, and they’re at the pricier end of the spectrum for paid sites. The reason they’re included on this list is that they have kindly curated a selection of free music for use on YouTube or in projects like podcasts (the link above will take you to the free page, not the site in general).
There isn’t a search function for the free music, or a way to narrow down what’s displayed, but you can click the play button next to any title to hear what the song sounds like. To download, just right click and choose ‘save file’ or ‘save target as’.
14. Purple Planet Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put ‘Music: http://www.purple-planet.com’ in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you want to use the music for anything besides YouTube, or if you don’t want to give them credit, then you can buy a license for $5.
Purple Planet Music is a team of three people, two of whom compose, perform, record, and produce all of the music you’ll find on this site (the third is the studio manager).
From the home page of Purple Planet choose one of the categories listed under ‘Royalty Free Music’. The categories are more related to moods than genres and include things like ‘cute’, ‘sneaky’, and ‘reflective’. Because they know you may want to use this music in film projects, you can even find categories like ‘dark backgrounds’.
Once you click into a category everything is listed, you can’t narrow your results. There’s not an overwhelming number of songs in each category, though, so it’s easy to choose something just by reading descriptions and listening to what’s there.
15. Sounds Crate
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? Yes. You can upgrade to a Pro account for $49 per year to access more content.
Sounds Crate has music and sound effects. After you click into music, you’ll see thumbnails for sections related to a number of themes such as action music, corporate music, and hip hop. You’ll be able to preview and download all the songs in the category once you’re on the category page.
You are only allowed 5 downloads per day while you’re using Sounds Crate for free. They also request a $10 annual donation from free users, but it’s optional.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Choosing great royalty-free music for your YouTube videos will help put your audience in the right frame of mind, cover up flaws in your background audio, and help viewers feel more engaged with your content.
YouTube provides a free audio library, but since a lot of creators use it everyone’s videos can start to sound the same. Here are 15 alternative places where you can get royalty-free music for free! It’ll say at the beginning of every section whether they require attribution or allow commercial use.
Best Sites for Royalty-Free Music for YouTube Creators [Free Download]
If you are using Wondershare Filmora video editor , you will find there are some royalty-free music tracks and sound effects already pre-programmed in the Audio library. You will find different styles of music tacks, varying from Young & Bright to Electronic. Download Filmora, and you will get the royalty-free audio library and powerful video editing tools.
1. Audionautix
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the site with ‘music by audionautix.com’ if you want to use this music (if you have a website, they ask that you include a link back to them).
Paid Options? No. All of the music on this site is free.
One of the first things you’ll see when you arrive on Audiionautix is a ‘YouTube Friendly’ button. They know that most people browsing their music library are looking for songs for YouTube videos, and that want you to know their music is safe from copyright claims.
All of the music in the Audionautix collection was created by one man, Jason Shaw, but there’s still a huge variety of tracks.
On the front page of Audionautix, there are three selections you can make to start your music search – genre, mood, and tempo. Genres range from hard rock to bluegrass to techno (there are 28 genres in total), and the moods include things like ‘uplifting’, ‘evil’, and ‘bouncy’ (there are 37 of those). The tempos are fast, medium, and slow. So, if you want a medium-tempo acoustic song with a calming mood, you can easily find all of the songs that meet those qualifications.
Not every combination will deliver results, so it can be easier to just choose two of the three search parameters.
2. Bensound
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must include one of the following in your video description: “Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music” or “Music: Song title - Bensound.com”
Paid Options? Yes. If you don’t want to credit Bensound (or can’t for some reason) then you need to purchase a license. Licensing starts at about $28 USD (price listed as €24) per track.
The most popular music from Bensound is displayed on the first page. Beyond the titles of the tracks, each has a short description that will give you a good idea of what to expect from the song before you listen. You’ll need to listen to a song to know if you want it, but the descriptions are a fast way to figure out if you don’t want something. For example, ‘A New Beginning’ could be anything based on that title, but the description lets you know it’s ‘punk rock’ with an ‘epic/achievement’ feeling.
You can narrow down the music you are shown by choosing a genre from the menu near the top of your page (there are 8 genres including cinematic, electronica, and corporate/pop). There’s also a search bar, and you can choose whether to display popular or new songs first.
All of the music on Bensound was created by Benjamin TISSOT, a composer based in France. He has been creating music for over 10 years.
3. dig.ccMixter
Commercial Use? Depends. Some songs are available for commercial use, some are not. It is easy to search only for songs which are.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the musicians.
Paid Options? Yes. You can purchase licenses to get around commercial use or attribution restrictions. Personal licenses are $22 USD.
Musicians upload their work to ccMixter and make it available to creators like you at dig.ccMixter. Over 45,000 musicians have participated and this has resulted in a huge variety of music for you to discover.
Clicking ‘tag search’ at the top of the page is probably the best way to start your search. The ‘tags’ are displayed in three categories – genre, instrument, and style. You can click as many tags as you want from each category (i.e. you can check off ‘classical’ for the genre and then both bass and cello for instruments).
By default, your search will return results that have even just one of the tags you selected, but you can click ‘match all’ to see results that include all of your selected tags.
To the right of the screen, there’s a button called ‘filters’ and if you click it it’ll let you narrow your results by license (you can choose to only browse music that is free for commercial use). You can also specify if you only want instrumental songs.
If you do not use the ‘free for commercial use’ filter then you will need to click on songs to see whether their creative commons licenses allow commercial use.
If you’re an indie game developer, they have a Music for Video Games section for you too.
4. Free Music Archive
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
There is a huge selection on Free Music Archive (they include songs curated by other sites, including other sites on this list), but using this site can be a bit trickier than using other sites because there are so many different licenses at play. There are even several licenses that do not allow songs to be used in YouTube videos (any Creative Commons license with ‘ND / No Derivatives’ will not allow for use in a video). You should read this page before downloading anything from the Free Music Archive to use on YouTube.
To start browsing Free Music Archive for music you can use for your videos, go to ‘Curators’ in the top menu, and select ‘Music for Video’. There’s no point in browsing music you might not be allowed to use for YouTube, and so the site has made it easy to find the music you can.
By default this screen will not include music you can use commercially, so you need to check ‘allows for commercial use’ in the side menu if that’s important to you. You can also select a genre and specify if you only want instrumental songs.
5. Free Stock Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
Simply choose a genre from the ‘Free Music’ drop-down menu to start browsing Free Stock Music’s collection. There are 10 genres including Pop, Hip Hop, and Corporate.
There are not a lot of ways to customize your search results on this site. You just can search for a keyword, like ‘happy’, but you can’t narrow your results down by things like instrument or mood like you can on some other sites. You just have to scroll through either your search results or the chosen genre until you find something.
To make it a bit easier, Free Stock Music has included detailed descriptions of each song you can read while your browsing and these descriptions do tend to include details about instruments and the moods of the songs.
You need to create a free account on Free Stock Music to access their songs.
6. Incompetech
Commercial Use? YouTube monetization allowed. Other kinds of commercial use may be restricted.
Attribution Required? Yes. You can put the attribution in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot (or do not want to) credit Incompetech then you can purchase a license instead. Licensing 1 piece of music costs $30.
Incompetech allows you to browse one of three ways. The ‘Full Search’ will be best for most people, but if you want to see every song in alphabetical order you can click on ‘Full List’, or you can browse collections like ‘Comedic’ in ‘View Collections’ (but not every piece of music on the site can be found in a collection).
If you go into ‘Full Search’ you’ll see a list of all the music and be able to filter it by feel, tempo, genre, and length. For example, you could set ‘Feels’ to ‘Grooving’ or ‘Length’ to ‘3:00-3:29’.
You can also use the search bar to look for an instrument or song title.
Clicking Expand All will reveal descriptions of all the songs and a ‘listen now’ button, but it will stretch the page a lot. You can see more details about individual songs, and listen to them, by clicking on the title. You won’t be taken to a new page, which is convenient.
You can also download all the music at once (by clicking ‘download all the music on this site at once’).
7. Josh Woodward
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Attribution goes in your description box and it should look like this: Music - “SONG TITLE HERE” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot give Josh credit for some reason you can buy a single-song license for $30.
Josh Woodward is a singer-songwriter who has chosen to allow the free use of all his music (although he does appreciate donations).
You’ll immediately see a list of music on Josh’s site (not everything, there are over 200 songs on this site), and you can change what is displayed by using the filters on the right of the page. The filters available are Playlist, Genre, Album, Tags, Tempo, and Length.
The playlists are songs that have been bundled together around a theme like ‘fun and fast’ or ‘popular in videos’.
There are nine genres to choose from including ‘dark acoustic’ and ‘Americana’.
The albums are albums that Josh has released.
You can also search the song titles and lyrics by typing keywords into the search bar.
At the top of the page, there’s a player you can use to preview the songs, and you can choose whether to browse vocal songs or songs with lyrics (the results below may not appear to change, but if you use the player you’ll hear the instrumental version instead of the version with vocals).
8. Looperman
Commercial Use? Allowed for loops, but they make no guarantees.
Attribution Required? Unclear. The site doesn’t address attribution so it may be up to whoever has uploaded the loop you want to use.
Paid Options? No.
Looperman is a community for musicians. The goal is to provide instrumental loops and acapella vocals to other musicians for their own projects. In theory, all of the music loops and sounds are completely free to use in your projects, but since it’s a community they cannot guarantee that a user hasn’t uploaded something they don’t own (they aren’t allowed to, so in theory you should be safe, but the site doesn’t make any guarantees).
If you want to use vocals it seems like you have to talk to the person who owns the vocals about whether you can use them commercially or whether you need to include attribution.
9. Moby Gratis
Commercial Use? Never allowed. You cannot make money from the project you use this music in any way, including YouTube monetization or through a service like Patreon.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put this in your video description: Music: [Track Name] by Moby courtesy of Mobygratis.com
Paid Options? No.
Moby is a Grammy-nominated, VMA-winning, artist whose work you have probably heard on the radio. Even if you aren’t familiar with Moby himself, he has co-written, produced, and remixed music for other major artists like David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Daft Punk.
Moby has chosen to make a catalog of his work available to independent filmmakers for non-commercial projects. Not all of the music provided on the site is available for YouTube, only the music marked Unreleased (if it has been released, then it will be flagged by YouTube’s copyright system). There is a lot of music under the ‘Unreleased’ category, though.
In order to download songs, you will need to make an account, and it takes about 24 hours for your account to be approved.
10. Musopen
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song
Paid Options? No.
Musopen provides music that is either in the ‘public domain’, or protected by Creative Commons licenses. If it’s in the public domain that means that nobody owns the copyright and anyone can use it for anything (however, Musopen does warn that they do not review uploads from their users so it is possible that someone could upload something they claim is public domain and be lying or wrong).
Creative Commons licenses all have their own conditions. Some may block commercial use, some may require attribution. The ones you need to watch out for as a video creator are the ones marked ‘No Derivatives’, because you can’t use songs licensed this way in videos.
You can start using Musopen by typing a keyword into the search bar on the main page, or scrolling down to select ‘Browse royalty free music recordings’. Besides music recordings, Musopen provides sheet music. If you have some musical talent and want to record your own music for your videos then this might be useful. If not, you probably want to stick to the recordings.
If you click on the Music Discovery Tool you’ll be able to search the recordings not only by instrument, but by license (so you can make sure you’re only looking at music that is in the public domain, or make sure you’re not looking at anything with that ‘No Derivatives’ condition.
11. TeknoAXE
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes.
Paid Options? No.
All of the music on TeknoAXE is covered under a CC4.0 license, which means you can share and adapt the music for any purpose so long as you provide attribution.
TeknoAXE’s music is divided into four categories: electronic dance music, rock and metal music, orchestra and soundtrack, and miscellaneous. There are several sub-categories under every category.
Once you’ve clicked into subcategory you’ll see thumbnails for every song in the category. Click on one to be taken to the song’s page, where you can listen to it before you decide if you want to download.
There are tons of places where you can find great royalty-free music you can use on YouTube, so start hunting! Finding the perfect song for that cool montage you’ve got planned, your intro sequence, or the background of your vlog will take your content to a new level of quality.
12. PacDV
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Music by <www.pacdv.com/sounds/>
Paid Options? No.
PacDV is primarily a sound effects site, but they have a music section as well (just click Music in the menu to the left under Sound Effects. ‘Free Music’ under resources is a completely different site). There is no way to filter down the music, and there is no search function.
There is a column in the list of music for ‘moods/emotions’, so you can get an idea of which songs you might want to listen to before you click to their pages.
13. Partners In Rhyme
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Credit them in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. You can’t buy a license for free songs to get around attribution, but they do offer paid music. At $100 or more per song, their paid music is outside the budget of most YouTubers.
Partners In Rhyme is mostly a paid site, and they’re at the pricier end of the spectrum for paid sites. The reason they’re included on this list is that they have kindly curated a selection of free music for use on YouTube or in projects like podcasts (the link above will take you to the free page, not the site in general).
There isn’t a search function for the free music, or a way to narrow down what’s displayed, but you can click the play button next to any title to hear what the song sounds like. To download, just right click and choose ‘save file’ or ‘save target as’.
14. Purple Planet Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put ‘Music: http://www.purple-planet.com’ in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you want to use the music for anything besides YouTube, or if you don’t want to give them credit, then you can buy a license for $5.
Purple Planet Music is a team of three people, two of whom compose, perform, record, and produce all of the music you’ll find on this site (the third is the studio manager).
From the home page of Purple Planet choose one of the categories listed under ‘Royalty Free Music’. The categories are more related to moods than genres and include things like ‘cute’, ‘sneaky’, and ‘reflective’. Because they know you may want to use this music in film projects, you can even find categories like ‘dark backgrounds’.
Once you click into a category everything is listed, you can’t narrow your results. There’s not an overwhelming number of songs in each category, though, so it’s easy to choose something just by reading descriptions and listening to what’s there.
15. Sounds Crate
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? Yes. You can upgrade to a Pro account for $49 per year to access more content.
Sounds Crate has music and sound effects. After you click into music, you’ll see thumbnails for sections related to a number of themes such as action music, corporate music, and hip hop. You’ll be able to preview and download all the songs in the category once you’re on the category page.
You are only allowed 5 downloads per day while you’re using Sounds Crate for free. They also request a $10 annual donation from free users, but it’s optional.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Choosing great royalty-free music for your YouTube videos will help put your audience in the right frame of mind, cover up flaws in your background audio, and help viewers feel more engaged with your content.
YouTube provides a free audio library, but since a lot of creators use it everyone’s videos can start to sound the same. Here are 15 alternative places where you can get royalty-free music for free! It’ll say at the beginning of every section whether they require attribution or allow commercial use.
Best Sites for Royalty-Free Music for YouTube Creators [Free Download]
If you are using Wondershare Filmora video editor , you will find there are some royalty-free music tracks and sound effects already pre-programmed in the Audio library. You will find different styles of music tacks, varying from Young & Bright to Electronic. Download Filmora, and you will get the royalty-free audio library and powerful video editing tools.
1. Audionautix
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the site with ‘music by audionautix.com’ if you want to use this music (if you have a website, they ask that you include a link back to them).
Paid Options? No. All of the music on this site is free.
One of the first things you’ll see when you arrive on Audiionautix is a ‘YouTube Friendly’ button. They know that most people browsing their music library are looking for songs for YouTube videos, and that want you to know their music is safe from copyright claims.
All of the music in the Audionautix collection was created by one man, Jason Shaw, but there’s still a huge variety of tracks.
On the front page of Audionautix, there are three selections you can make to start your music search – genre, mood, and tempo. Genres range from hard rock to bluegrass to techno (there are 28 genres in total), and the moods include things like ‘uplifting’, ‘evil’, and ‘bouncy’ (there are 37 of those). The tempos are fast, medium, and slow. So, if you want a medium-tempo acoustic song with a calming mood, you can easily find all of the songs that meet those qualifications.
Not every combination will deliver results, so it can be easier to just choose two of the three search parameters.
2. Bensound
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must include one of the following in your video description: “Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music” or “Music: Song title - Bensound.com”
Paid Options? Yes. If you don’t want to credit Bensound (or can’t for some reason) then you need to purchase a license. Licensing starts at about $28 USD (price listed as €24) per track.
The most popular music from Bensound is displayed on the first page. Beyond the titles of the tracks, each has a short description that will give you a good idea of what to expect from the song before you listen. You’ll need to listen to a song to know if you want it, but the descriptions are a fast way to figure out if you don’t want something. For example, ‘A New Beginning’ could be anything based on that title, but the description lets you know it’s ‘punk rock’ with an ‘epic/achievement’ feeling.
You can narrow down the music you are shown by choosing a genre from the menu near the top of your page (there are 8 genres including cinematic, electronica, and corporate/pop). There’s also a search bar, and you can choose whether to display popular or new songs first.
All of the music on Bensound was created by Benjamin TISSOT, a composer based in France. He has been creating music for over 10 years.
3. dig.ccMixter
Commercial Use? Depends. Some songs are available for commercial use, some are not. It is easy to search only for songs which are.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the musicians.
Paid Options? Yes. You can purchase licenses to get around commercial use or attribution restrictions. Personal licenses are $22 USD.
Musicians upload their work to ccMixter and make it available to creators like you at dig.ccMixter. Over 45,000 musicians have participated and this has resulted in a huge variety of music for you to discover.
Clicking ‘tag search’ at the top of the page is probably the best way to start your search. The ‘tags’ are displayed in three categories – genre, instrument, and style. You can click as many tags as you want from each category (i.e. you can check off ‘classical’ for the genre and then both bass and cello for instruments).
By default, your search will return results that have even just one of the tags you selected, but you can click ‘match all’ to see results that include all of your selected tags.
To the right of the screen, there’s a button called ‘filters’ and if you click it it’ll let you narrow your results by license (you can choose to only browse music that is free for commercial use). You can also specify if you only want instrumental songs.
If you do not use the ‘free for commercial use’ filter then you will need to click on songs to see whether their creative commons licenses allow commercial use.
If you’re an indie game developer, they have a Music for Video Games section for you too.
4. Free Music Archive
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
There is a huge selection on Free Music Archive (they include songs curated by other sites, including other sites on this list), but using this site can be a bit trickier than using other sites because there are so many different licenses at play. There are even several licenses that do not allow songs to be used in YouTube videos (any Creative Commons license with ‘ND / No Derivatives’ will not allow for use in a video). You should read this page before downloading anything from the Free Music Archive to use on YouTube.
To start browsing Free Music Archive for music you can use for your videos, go to ‘Curators’ in the top menu, and select ‘Music for Video’. There’s no point in browsing music you might not be allowed to use for YouTube, and so the site has made it easy to find the music you can.
By default this screen will not include music you can use commercially, so you need to check ‘allows for commercial use’ in the side menu if that’s important to you. You can also select a genre and specify if you only want instrumental songs.
5. Free Stock Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
Simply choose a genre from the ‘Free Music’ drop-down menu to start browsing Free Stock Music’s collection. There are 10 genres including Pop, Hip Hop, and Corporate.
There are not a lot of ways to customize your search results on this site. You just can search for a keyword, like ‘happy’, but you can’t narrow your results down by things like instrument or mood like you can on some other sites. You just have to scroll through either your search results or the chosen genre until you find something.
To make it a bit easier, Free Stock Music has included detailed descriptions of each song you can read while your browsing and these descriptions do tend to include details about instruments and the moods of the songs.
You need to create a free account on Free Stock Music to access their songs.
6. Incompetech
Commercial Use? YouTube monetization allowed. Other kinds of commercial use may be restricted.
Attribution Required? Yes. You can put the attribution in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot (or do not want to) credit Incompetech then you can purchase a license instead. Licensing 1 piece of music costs $30.
Incompetech allows you to browse one of three ways. The ‘Full Search’ will be best for most people, but if you want to see every song in alphabetical order you can click on ‘Full List’, or you can browse collections like ‘Comedic’ in ‘View Collections’ (but not every piece of music on the site can be found in a collection).
If you go into ‘Full Search’ you’ll see a list of all the music and be able to filter it by feel, tempo, genre, and length. For example, you could set ‘Feels’ to ‘Grooving’ or ‘Length’ to ‘3:00-3:29’.
You can also use the search bar to look for an instrument or song title.
Clicking Expand All will reveal descriptions of all the songs and a ‘listen now’ button, but it will stretch the page a lot. You can see more details about individual songs, and listen to them, by clicking on the title. You won’t be taken to a new page, which is convenient.
You can also download all the music at once (by clicking ‘download all the music on this site at once’).
7. Josh Woodward
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Attribution goes in your description box and it should look like this: Music - “SONG TITLE HERE” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot give Josh credit for some reason you can buy a single-song license for $30.
Josh Woodward is a singer-songwriter who has chosen to allow the free use of all his music (although he does appreciate donations).
You’ll immediately see a list of music on Josh’s site (not everything, there are over 200 songs on this site), and you can change what is displayed by using the filters on the right of the page. The filters available are Playlist, Genre, Album, Tags, Tempo, and Length.
The playlists are songs that have been bundled together around a theme like ‘fun and fast’ or ‘popular in videos’.
There are nine genres to choose from including ‘dark acoustic’ and ‘Americana’.
The albums are albums that Josh has released.
You can also search the song titles and lyrics by typing keywords into the search bar.
At the top of the page, there’s a player you can use to preview the songs, and you can choose whether to browse vocal songs or songs with lyrics (the results below may not appear to change, but if you use the player you’ll hear the instrumental version instead of the version with vocals).
8. Looperman
Commercial Use? Allowed for loops, but they make no guarantees.
Attribution Required? Unclear. The site doesn’t address attribution so it may be up to whoever has uploaded the loop you want to use.
Paid Options? No.
Looperman is a community for musicians. The goal is to provide instrumental loops and acapella vocals to other musicians for their own projects. In theory, all of the music loops and sounds are completely free to use in your projects, but since it’s a community they cannot guarantee that a user hasn’t uploaded something they don’t own (they aren’t allowed to, so in theory you should be safe, but the site doesn’t make any guarantees).
If you want to use vocals it seems like you have to talk to the person who owns the vocals about whether you can use them commercially or whether you need to include attribution.
9. Moby Gratis
Commercial Use? Never allowed. You cannot make money from the project you use this music in any way, including YouTube monetization or through a service like Patreon.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put this in your video description: Music: [Track Name] by Moby courtesy of Mobygratis.com
Paid Options? No.
Moby is a Grammy-nominated, VMA-winning, artist whose work you have probably heard on the radio. Even if you aren’t familiar with Moby himself, he has co-written, produced, and remixed music for other major artists like David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Daft Punk.
Moby has chosen to make a catalog of his work available to independent filmmakers for non-commercial projects. Not all of the music provided on the site is available for YouTube, only the music marked Unreleased (if it has been released, then it will be flagged by YouTube’s copyright system). There is a lot of music under the ‘Unreleased’ category, though.
In order to download songs, you will need to make an account, and it takes about 24 hours for your account to be approved.
10. Musopen
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song
Paid Options? No.
Musopen provides music that is either in the ‘public domain’, or protected by Creative Commons licenses. If it’s in the public domain that means that nobody owns the copyright and anyone can use it for anything (however, Musopen does warn that they do not review uploads from their users so it is possible that someone could upload something they claim is public domain and be lying or wrong).
Creative Commons licenses all have their own conditions. Some may block commercial use, some may require attribution. The ones you need to watch out for as a video creator are the ones marked ‘No Derivatives’, because you can’t use songs licensed this way in videos.
You can start using Musopen by typing a keyword into the search bar on the main page, or scrolling down to select ‘Browse royalty free music recordings’. Besides music recordings, Musopen provides sheet music. If you have some musical talent and want to record your own music for your videos then this might be useful. If not, you probably want to stick to the recordings.
If you click on the Music Discovery Tool you’ll be able to search the recordings not only by instrument, but by license (so you can make sure you’re only looking at music that is in the public domain, or make sure you’re not looking at anything with that ‘No Derivatives’ condition.
11. TeknoAXE
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes.
Paid Options? No.
All of the music on TeknoAXE is covered under a CC4.0 license, which means you can share and adapt the music for any purpose so long as you provide attribution.
TeknoAXE’s music is divided into four categories: electronic dance music, rock and metal music, orchestra and soundtrack, and miscellaneous. There are several sub-categories under every category.
Once you’ve clicked into subcategory you’ll see thumbnails for every song in the category. Click on one to be taken to the song’s page, where you can listen to it before you decide if you want to download.
There are tons of places where you can find great royalty-free music you can use on YouTube, so start hunting! Finding the perfect song for that cool montage you’ve got planned, your intro sequence, or the background of your vlog will take your content to a new level of quality.
12. PacDV
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Music by <www.pacdv.com/sounds/>
Paid Options? No.
PacDV is primarily a sound effects site, but they have a music section as well (just click Music in the menu to the left under Sound Effects. ‘Free Music’ under resources is a completely different site). There is no way to filter down the music, and there is no search function.
There is a column in the list of music for ‘moods/emotions’, so you can get an idea of which songs you might want to listen to before you click to their pages.
13. Partners In Rhyme
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Credit them in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. You can’t buy a license for free songs to get around attribution, but they do offer paid music. At $100 or more per song, their paid music is outside the budget of most YouTubers.
Partners In Rhyme is mostly a paid site, and they’re at the pricier end of the spectrum for paid sites. The reason they’re included on this list is that they have kindly curated a selection of free music for use on YouTube or in projects like podcasts (the link above will take you to the free page, not the site in general).
There isn’t a search function for the free music, or a way to narrow down what’s displayed, but you can click the play button next to any title to hear what the song sounds like. To download, just right click and choose ‘save file’ or ‘save target as’.
14. Purple Planet Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put ‘Music: http://www.purple-planet.com’ in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you want to use the music for anything besides YouTube, or if you don’t want to give them credit, then you can buy a license for $5.
Purple Planet Music is a team of three people, two of whom compose, perform, record, and produce all of the music you’ll find on this site (the third is the studio manager).
From the home page of Purple Planet choose one of the categories listed under ‘Royalty Free Music’. The categories are more related to moods than genres and include things like ‘cute’, ‘sneaky’, and ‘reflective’. Because they know you may want to use this music in film projects, you can even find categories like ‘dark backgrounds’.
Once you click into a category everything is listed, you can’t narrow your results. There’s not an overwhelming number of songs in each category, though, so it’s easy to choose something just by reading descriptions and listening to what’s there.
15. Sounds Crate
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? Yes. You can upgrade to a Pro account for $49 per year to access more content.
Sounds Crate has music and sound effects. After you click into music, you’ll see thumbnails for sections related to a number of themes such as action music, corporate music, and hip hop. You’ll be able to preview and download all the songs in the category once you’re on the category page.
You are only allowed 5 downloads per day while you’re using Sounds Crate for free. They also request a $10 annual donation from free users, but it’s optional.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Choosing great royalty-free music for your YouTube videos will help put your audience in the right frame of mind, cover up flaws in your background audio, and help viewers feel more engaged with your content.
YouTube provides a free audio library, but since a lot of creators use it everyone’s videos can start to sound the same. Here are 15 alternative places where you can get royalty-free music for free! It’ll say at the beginning of every section whether they require attribution or allow commercial use.
Best Sites for Royalty-Free Music for YouTube Creators [Free Download]
If you are using Wondershare Filmora video editor , you will find there are some royalty-free music tracks and sound effects already pre-programmed in the Audio library. You will find different styles of music tacks, varying from Young & Bright to Electronic. Download Filmora, and you will get the royalty-free audio library and powerful video editing tools.
1. Audionautix
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the site with ‘music by audionautix.com’ if you want to use this music (if you have a website, they ask that you include a link back to them).
Paid Options? No. All of the music on this site is free.
One of the first things you’ll see when you arrive on Audiionautix is a ‘YouTube Friendly’ button. They know that most people browsing their music library are looking for songs for YouTube videos, and that want you to know their music is safe from copyright claims.
All of the music in the Audionautix collection was created by one man, Jason Shaw, but there’s still a huge variety of tracks.
On the front page of Audionautix, there are three selections you can make to start your music search – genre, mood, and tempo. Genres range from hard rock to bluegrass to techno (there are 28 genres in total), and the moods include things like ‘uplifting’, ‘evil’, and ‘bouncy’ (there are 37 of those). The tempos are fast, medium, and slow. So, if you want a medium-tempo acoustic song with a calming mood, you can easily find all of the songs that meet those qualifications.
Not every combination will deliver results, so it can be easier to just choose two of the three search parameters.
2. Bensound
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must include one of the following in your video description: “Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music” or “Music: Song title - Bensound.com”
Paid Options? Yes. If you don’t want to credit Bensound (or can’t for some reason) then you need to purchase a license. Licensing starts at about $28 USD (price listed as €24) per track.
The most popular music from Bensound is displayed on the first page. Beyond the titles of the tracks, each has a short description that will give you a good idea of what to expect from the song before you listen. You’ll need to listen to a song to know if you want it, but the descriptions are a fast way to figure out if you don’t want something. For example, ‘A New Beginning’ could be anything based on that title, but the description lets you know it’s ‘punk rock’ with an ‘epic/achievement’ feeling.
You can narrow down the music you are shown by choosing a genre from the menu near the top of your page (there are 8 genres including cinematic, electronica, and corporate/pop). There’s also a search bar, and you can choose whether to display popular or new songs first.
All of the music on Bensound was created by Benjamin TISSOT, a composer based in France. He has been creating music for over 10 years.
3. dig.ccMixter
Commercial Use? Depends. Some songs are available for commercial use, some are not. It is easy to search only for songs which are.
Attribution Required? Yes. You must credit the musicians.
Paid Options? Yes. You can purchase licenses to get around commercial use or attribution restrictions. Personal licenses are $22 USD.
Musicians upload their work to ccMixter and make it available to creators like you at dig.ccMixter. Over 45,000 musicians have participated and this has resulted in a huge variety of music for you to discover.
Clicking ‘tag search’ at the top of the page is probably the best way to start your search. The ‘tags’ are displayed in three categories – genre, instrument, and style. You can click as many tags as you want from each category (i.e. you can check off ‘classical’ for the genre and then both bass and cello for instruments).
By default, your search will return results that have even just one of the tags you selected, but you can click ‘match all’ to see results that include all of your selected tags.
To the right of the screen, there’s a button called ‘filters’ and if you click it it’ll let you narrow your results by license (you can choose to only browse music that is free for commercial use). You can also specify if you only want instrumental songs.
If you do not use the ‘free for commercial use’ filter then you will need to click on songs to see whether their creative commons licenses allow commercial use.
If you’re an indie game developer, they have a Music for Video Games section for you too.
4. Free Music Archive
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
There is a huge selection on Free Music Archive (they include songs curated by other sites, including other sites on this list), but using this site can be a bit trickier than using other sites because there are so many different licenses at play. There are even several licenses that do not allow songs to be used in YouTube videos (any Creative Commons license with ‘ND / No Derivatives’ will not allow for use in a video). You should read this page before downloading anything from the Free Music Archive to use on YouTube.
To start browsing Free Music Archive for music you can use for your videos, go to ‘Curators’ in the top menu, and select ‘Music for Video’. There’s no point in browsing music you might not be allowed to use for YouTube, and so the site has made it easy to find the music you can.
By default this screen will not include music you can use commercially, so you need to check ‘allows for commercial use’ in the side menu if that’s important to you. You can also select a genre and specify if you only want instrumental songs.
5. Free Stock Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? No. Everything is free.
Simply choose a genre from the ‘Free Music’ drop-down menu to start browsing Free Stock Music’s collection. There are 10 genres including Pop, Hip Hop, and Corporate.
There are not a lot of ways to customize your search results on this site. You just can search for a keyword, like ‘happy’, but you can’t narrow your results down by things like instrument or mood like you can on some other sites. You just have to scroll through either your search results or the chosen genre until you find something.
To make it a bit easier, Free Stock Music has included detailed descriptions of each song you can read while your browsing and these descriptions do tend to include details about instruments and the moods of the songs.
You need to create a free account on Free Stock Music to access their songs.
6. Incompetech
Commercial Use? YouTube monetization allowed. Other kinds of commercial use may be restricted.
Attribution Required? Yes. You can put the attribution in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot (or do not want to) credit Incompetech then you can purchase a license instead. Licensing 1 piece of music costs $30.
Incompetech allows you to browse one of three ways. The ‘Full Search’ will be best for most people, but if you want to see every song in alphabetical order you can click on ‘Full List’, or you can browse collections like ‘Comedic’ in ‘View Collections’ (but not every piece of music on the site can be found in a collection).
If you go into ‘Full Search’ you’ll see a list of all the music and be able to filter it by feel, tempo, genre, and length. For example, you could set ‘Feels’ to ‘Grooving’ or ‘Length’ to ‘3:00-3:29’.
You can also use the search bar to look for an instrument or song title.
Clicking Expand All will reveal descriptions of all the songs and a ‘listen now’ button, but it will stretch the page a lot. You can see more details about individual songs, and listen to them, by clicking on the title. You won’t be taken to a new page, which is convenient.
You can also download all the music at once (by clicking ‘download all the music on this site at once’).
7. Josh Woodward
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Attribution goes in your description box and it should look like this: Music - “SONG TITLE HERE” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
Paid Options? Yes. If you cannot give Josh credit for some reason you can buy a single-song license for $30.
Josh Woodward is a singer-songwriter who has chosen to allow the free use of all his music (although he does appreciate donations).
You’ll immediately see a list of music on Josh’s site (not everything, there are over 200 songs on this site), and you can change what is displayed by using the filters on the right of the page. The filters available are Playlist, Genre, Album, Tags, Tempo, and Length.
The playlists are songs that have been bundled together around a theme like ‘fun and fast’ or ‘popular in videos’.
There are nine genres to choose from including ‘dark acoustic’ and ‘Americana’.
The albums are albums that Josh has released.
You can also search the song titles and lyrics by typing keywords into the search bar.
At the top of the page, there’s a player you can use to preview the songs, and you can choose whether to browse vocal songs or songs with lyrics (the results below may not appear to change, but if you use the player you’ll hear the instrumental version instead of the version with vocals).
8. Looperman
Commercial Use? Allowed for loops, but they make no guarantees.
Attribution Required? Unclear. The site doesn’t address attribution so it may be up to whoever has uploaded the loop you want to use.
Paid Options? No.
Looperman is a community for musicians. The goal is to provide instrumental loops and acapella vocals to other musicians for their own projects. In theory, all of the music loops and sounds are completely free to use in your projects, but since it’s a community they cannot guarantee that a user hasn’t uploaded something they don’t own (they aren’t allowed to, so in theory you should be safe, but the site doesn’t make any guarantees).
If you want to use vocals it seems like you have to talk to the person who owns the vocals about whether you can use them commercially or whether you need to include attribution.
9. Moby Gratis
Commercial Use? Never allowed. You cannot make money from the project you use this music in any way, including YouTube monetization or through a service like Patreon.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put this in your video description: Music: [Track Name] by Moby courtesy of Mobygratis.com
Paid Options? No.
Moby is a Grammy-nominated, VMA-winning, artist whose work you have probably heard on the radio. Even if you aren’t familiar with Moby himself, he has co-written, produced, and remixed music for other major artists like David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Daft Punk.
Moby has chosen to make a catalog of his work available to independent filmmakers for non-commercial projects. Not all of the music provided on the site is available for YouTube, only the music marked Unreleased (if it has been released, then it will be flagged by YouTube’s copyright system). There is a lot of music under the ‘Unreleased’ category, though.
In order to download songs, you will need to make an account, and it takes about 24 hours for your account to be approved.
10. Musopen
Commercial Use? Depends on the song.
Attribution Required? Depends on the song
Paid Options? No.
Musopen provides music that is either in the ‘public domain’, or protected by Creative Commons licenses. If it’s in the public domain that means that nobody owns the copyright and anyone can use it for anything (however, Musopen does warn that they do not review uploads from their users so it is possible that someone could upload something they claim is public domain and be lying or wrong).
Creative Commons licenses all have their own conditions. Some may block commercial use, some may require attribution. The ones you need to watch out for as a video creator are the ones marked ‘No Derivatives’, because you can’t use songs licensed this way in videos.
You can start using Musopen by typing a keyword into the search bar on the main page, or scrolling down to select ‘Browse royalty free music recordings’. Besides music recordings, Musopen provides sheet music. If you have some musical talent and want to record your own music for your videos then this might be useful. If not, you probably want to stick to the recordings.
If you click on the Music Discovery Tool you’ll be able to search the recordings not only by instrument, but by license (so you can make sure you’re only looking at music that is in the public domain, or make sure you’re not looking at anything with that ‘No Derivatives’ condition.
11. TeknoAXE
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes.
Paid Options? No.
All of the music on TeknoAXE is covered under a CC4.0 license, which means you can share and adapt the music for any purpose so long as you provide attribution.
TeknoAXE’s music is divided into four categories: electronic dance music, rock and metal music, orchestra and soundtrack, and miscellaneous. There are several sub-categories under every category.
Once you’ve clicked into subcategory you’ll see thumbnails for every song in the category. Click on one to be taken to the song’s page, where you can listen to it before you decide if you want to download.
There are tons of places where you can find great royalty-free music you can use on YouTube, so start hunting! Finding the perfect song for that cool montage you’ve got planned, your intro sequence, or the background of your vlog will take your content to a new level of quality.
12. PacDV
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Music by <www.pacdv.com/sounds/>
Paid Options? No.
PacDV is primarily a sound effects site, but they have a music section as well (just click Music in the menu to the left under Sound Effects. ‘Free Music’ under resources is a completely different site). There is no way to filter down the music, and there is no search function.
There is a column in the list of music for ‘moods/emotions’, so you can get an idea of which songs you might want to listen to before you click to their pages.
13. Partners In Rhyme
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Credit them in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. You can’t buy a license for free songs to get around attribution, but they do offer paid music. At $100 or more per song, their paid music is outside the budget of most YouTubers.
Partners In Rhyme is mostly a paid site, and they’re at the pricier end of the spectrum for paid sites. The reason they’re included on this list is that they have kindly curated a selection of free music for use on YouTube or in projects like podcasts (the link above will take you to the free page, not the site in general).
There isn’t a search function for the free music, or a way to narrow down what’s displayed, but you can click the play button next to any title to hear what the song sounds like. To download, just right click and choose ‘save file’ or ‘save target as’.
14. Purple Planet Music
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? Yes. Put ‘Music: http://www.purple-planet.com’ in your video description.
Paid Options? Yes. If you want to use the music for anything besides YouTube, or if you don’t want to give them credit, then you can buy a license for $5.
Purple Planet Music is a team of three people, two of whom compose, perform, record, and produce all of the music you’ll find on this site (the third is the studio manager).
From the home page of Purple Planet choose one of the categories listed under ‘Royalty Free Music’. The categories are more related to moods than genres and include things like ‘cute’, ‘sneaky’, and ‘reflective’. Because they know you may want to use this music in film projects, you can even find categories like ‘dark backgrounds’.
Once you click into a category everything is listed, you can’t narrow your results. There’s not an overwhelming number of songs in each category, though, so it’s easy to choose something just by reading descriptions and listening to what’s there.
15. Sounds Crate
Commercial Use? Allowed.
Attribution Required? No.
Paid Options? Yes. You can upgrade to a Pro account for $49 per year to access more content.
Sounds Crate has music and sound effects. After you click into music, you’ll see thumbnails for sections related to a number of themes such as action music, corporate music, and hip hop. You’ll be able to preview and download all the songs in the category once you’re on the category page.
You are only allowed 5 downloads per day while you’re using Sounds Crate for free. They also request a $10 annual donation from free users, but it’s optional.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
- Title: "2024 Approved Superior Mics for Video Blogging Professionals"
- Author: Joseph
- Created at : 2024-05-31 13:49:10
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 13:49:10
- Link: https://youtube-stream.techidaily.com/2024-approved-superior-mics-for-video-blogging-professionals/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
