“Free” Music Sound Loops for Garageband Audio?

I’m going to just take a second and discuss what so many songwriters, bands, composers and music producers have been asking me lately. Man, this economy is getting me down, I’m a little low on cash and I need Garageband Sounds Loops. Where can I go to get “free” music sounds loops? Where do you go to get free music sounds loops?

Check out some of the songs that were created with Garageband Audio’s Loops and Construction Kits!

Blues

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Punk Rock

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Well, I say, this is actually is the easy part of the question.
Finding “free” loop sound and sound loops isn’t tough; there are tons
of places to go. The trick is you must realize that “free” is rarely
FREE !!!!! and that this must never be taken lightly.

So what do I mean? Well just because  sound loops say there free
doesn’t always mean that it is able to be used legally free and clear.
Let me impress the importance of this on you. It is ALWAYS the
responsibility of the composer and writer of the song to make sure that
each and every music loop and sounds loops is cleared. This means that
if your writing, producing  and composing music, then you must know
some musical copyrights and licensing terms.

When a Loop Sound or Music sample library  says that it’s public
domain or copyright free it means that you as the composer of tracks
and songs, don’t need to pay additional royalties on the actual Loop Sound.
Please understand and be aware that for example you have a piece of
music “Star Spangled Banner” that is public domain and you want to use
this sample in your project. Even though the song is in public domain,
if the artist performing the version of  the song isn’t
public domain ie. ” Jimi Hendrix” then the recorded
version of the song “Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner” absolutely can’t
be used in your project. Another music copyrights term is “Creative
Commons”, this means that the author of the musical work has retained a
portion of the ownership and that you read the composers specific terms
and conditions in order to use the piece of Music Loop or song. I would
say that most artists are fairly open to granting you the rights to
their work, please check and be cool by giving them due credit in your
albums liner notes. Yet another misunderstood term is “Royalty Free”
Music. Royalty Free means
that you won’t necessarily need to pay money or a “royalty” after and
only after you pay the  initial licensing fee. This is absolutely a
must that you pay this fee, it is extremely important to note this.
Lastly is the word “Royalties”. Royalties are the money that you must
pay if you use a piece of a song, Music Loop, Sound Loops or Loop Sound. Again, reading the “terms and conditions” careful should ensure that you are abiding by the set conditions and practices.

I must stop and say that there is a lot of
“free” material available ; but please be cautious and careful to use it only after understanding the authors terms.
Most of the time free Music Loops and Sample Sounds are completely
horrible. Sometimes you’ll find good ones if a reputable sample library company
is giving you free music samples as a part of their promotions.

Ok, so the secret of the Pro’s, the Super Ninja trick that makes the big dogs the money and allows them to sleep sound at night.

They always use pre-cleared, royalty free , high quality music loops and loop sound.
This is one of the main reasons why their tracks sound so Amazing. The
best thing is also that they are not worried about any copyright
infringement.

There are quite a few reputable Sample Sound Loops companies that
have high quality Music Samples. Read to make sure that all of the
Music Samples and Sound Loops are royalty-free and legally cleared.

I end by saying that I’m not an attorney, and that this article
should not be taken as legal advice. PLEASE do more investigating and
reading on Music Copyrights. Also, if  your ever in doubt about the
legal ability to use a Sounds Loops you should make sure  that it is
legally cleared.The author of this blog of Garageband Audio ALWAYS insists on using the highest quality, ultra unique, pre-cleared and royalty-free sample sound loops libraries!!!

Always experiment with music samples, have fun and be creative; but just make sure the sample sound loops are “free’