How do you find old audio samples that fit your songs theme?

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popsicle13

New member
Hi so this is just a visual but imagine if you were creating a song about .... the moon. How would you find relevant audio samples about the moon? If I were making a free song I'd just find an old documentary about space and see if there is a line I enjoy. But finding material in the public domain seems kind of hard for me. (Sorry if this isn't in a relevant thread , I haven't checked out all the threads and sub threads yet)
 
I just Googled "Song lyrics that contain the moon"
2nd in the list was 'Top 40 songs about the moon'

Top 40 songs about the Moon - AXS

Then I Googled "Documentary about the moon" and hit 'videos'
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Then I Googled "Story about the moon"
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The he internet is pretty big... There's definitely a lot of crap to wade through but you can be as vague or as specific in your searches as you like.
Good to use little tricks like AND and " (if you put a phrase in "marks - Google will search for an exact match first)
 
I think if you're wanting to build a track (or selection of tracks) around a specific theme then it's important to have a fairly academic approach to your research and a clear vision of the outcome. But also an understanding and acceptance that the research may lead you into the unexpected. If the unexpected happens you need to be decisive enough to either roll with it or reverse course... Worst case is that you just end up feeling stuck and don't actually produce anything.
Don't be afraid to try something new but equally be prepared to throw shit out.
 
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^thats great advice.
You could also make your own, you know? Write down some scientific facts or a transcript from a science journal, study or even like Cosmos and record yourself or a friend in your best "radio" or "narrator" voice...then process it to sound like an old recording. Bandpass filtering, some degradation a little distortion. Use your imagination and tons of patience is going to get you where you want to be...lots of patience....especially if you are searching for something specific and not just gathering samples for future use.
 
I usually hop on youtube and type in the words that portray the theme of the song. I have two of my stereo outputs routed right back into two of my inputs on my interface so I can just hit record and play whichever part of the video I want to sample. Sound quality is shit, but maybe 10 years from now the sound of youtube compression will be the new record crackle ;)
 
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