Sound Library Architect Plan

🎵 Legal Sound Library Strategy

Every source vetted for commercial use, redistribution, no attribution required, no royalties.

391K+

Total Sounds

Legal Sources

~650GB

Storage Required

Royalty Costs

📊 Source Overview

#	Source	Est. Sounds	License	Quality	Priority
1	Sonniss GDC Bundles	50,000	Royalty-Free	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Professional	Highest - Game Ready
2	Freesound.org (CC0)	200,000	CC0	⭐⭐⭐ Varies	High - Volume
3	Archive.org 78rpm	100,000	Public Domain	⭐⭐⭐ Vintage	High - Unique
4	Library of Congress	20,000	Public Domain	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Historical	Medium
5	SFZ Instruments	10,000	CC0	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Instruments	Medium
6	Musopen Classical	5,000	CC0	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Orchestra	Medium
7	Field Recordings	5,000	CC0	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ambient	Medium
8	NASA Audio	1,000	Public Domain	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unique	Low

🔍 Source Details

🎮

Sonniss GDC Game Audio Bundles

Professional game audio, studio recorded

50,000+ sounds

200GB+ total size

24-bit WAV format

2015-2024 bundles

"Everything is royalty-free and commercially usable. No attribution is required and you can use them on an unlimited number of projects."

# Download from Archive.org mirror
ia download SonnissGameAudioGDC --destdir ./sonniss_gdc

# Or manually from: https://sonniss.com/gameaudiogdc/

Content: Ambiences, Creatures, Foley, Impacts, Magic/Sci-Fi, Music Elements, UI, Vehicles, Weapons, Voices

🎧

Freesound.org (CC0 Only)

Largest CC0 sound database

200,000+ CC0 sounds

~100GB estimated

API access

Free account required

CRITICAL: Must filter for CC0 license only. Other licenses (CC BY, CC BY-NC) have restrictions that prevent redistribution.

# Python API filter - CC0 ONLY
filter='license:"Creative Commons 0"'

results = client.text_search(
    query="*",
    filter='license:"Creative Commons 0"',
    page_size=150
)

📀

Archive.org 78rpm Collection

Pre-1923 public domain recordings

100,000+ sounds

~300GB estimated

Pre-1923 = Public Domain

Vintage character

Under the Music Modernization Act (2018), all sound recordings published before 1923 entered public domain as of January 1, 2022.

# Download pre-1923 public domain recordings
ia search "collection:78rpm AND date:[1900 TO 1922]" -i | \
  while read id; do
    ia download "$id" --glob "*.mp3" --destdir ./78rpm_downloads
  done

# High-quality George Blood transfers
ia download georgeblood --glob "*.flac"

⚖️ Legal Framework

✓ Commercial Use

All sources explicitly permit use in products sold for profit.

✓ Redistribution

Can be included in software distributed to end users.

✓ No Attribution

No credit requirements (though credits file recommended).

✓ No Royalties

One-time acquisition, perpetual use, no ongoing fees.

✓ Modification

Can be processed, edited, sampled without restriction.

✓ Sublicensing

End users receive sounds as part of your product.

📋 License Comparison

License	Commercial	Redistribute	Modify	Attribution	DAW Safe
CC0	✅ YES	✅ YES	✅ YES	❌ NO	✓ SAFE
Public Domain	✅ YES	✅ YES	✅ YES	❌ NO	✓ SAFE
Sonniss RF	✅ YES	✅ YES	✅ YES	❌ NO	✓ SAFE
CC BY	✅ YES	✅ YES	✅ YES	✅ YES	⚠ w/credits
CC BY-NC	❌ NO	❌ NO	✅ YES	✅ YES	✗ UNSAFE
Splice/Loopcloud	✅ (music only)	❌ NO	✅ YES	❌ NO	✗ UNSAFE

💾 Storage & Timeline

Source	Est. Storage	Download Time	Processing
Freesound CC0	~100GB	~28 hours (rate limited)	Metadata extraction
Archive.org	~300GB	~48 hours	Date verification
Sonniss GDC	~200GB	~12 hours	Category organization
Others	~50GB	~6 hours	License verification
TOTAL	~650GB	1-2 weeks

📥 Quick Reference Commands

See the Quick Reference Download Commands page for executable commands to build the full library.