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I've recently purchased the Blastwave FX Starter FX royalty-free library, and used/edited/mixed some of its sound effects alongside my personally recorded ones in a game.

I've read over the License Agreement and tried Google and this site as well, but can't find an answer to whether or not I have to credit the library's use in the game's credits or not. Because they're royalty-free, I don't have to, correct?

Also, if I were to use the game segments in a demo reel, do I have to mention the library's use every time?

Sorry if this is a rookie question, but I'm just discovering the power of purchasing libraries for sounds you can't record yourself on a short schedule. My original goal for my whole sound design career was to never use anything that wasn't my own recording. Was that too ambitious?

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As long as you purchased the Blastwav library legally (from them or a authorized distributor) you do not have to credit them. By legal purchase you buy "the right to synchronize the audio content from any Blastwave FX royalty free product with audio and/or visual productions", that is quoted from the "License info" PDF that came with the libraries I have purchased from them. No where does it say you have to credit them.

Others are correct about freesound.org they clearly state that you do have to credit all uses, but you also get it for free. This means that anything going to air on TV essentially can't use freesound.org because there is no way a producer will make room in the minuscule time they have for credits to list where SFX came from. Most of the time you are lucky if the SFX editor credit rolls on air for most TV shows.

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You could ask Blastwave FX directly to get an answer.

Personally I use lots of library fx, and I don't consider myself less of a sound designer because of that. I also use synths, plugins and own recordings in my work, but they are all just tools along with the fx libraries.

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  • Plus 1 and Seconded. – g.a.harry Apr 8 '11 at 12:29
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I would be incredibly surprised if you had to credit them, because in many circumstances it would be unrealistic to expect it to be possible. If I went to a films producer with a list of eg 100 freesound credits I'd get laughed out of the office. "Whats next? crediting every prop the art director used?"

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Giving credit is always good. It helps build up good relations. I mean look at this marvelous site! It has tons of information from pros and amateurs at the same time.

I guess that for your situation AVnintendo it is not a legal thing to give credits, but as i said before, everything helps and a good community has to give credits to each other.

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I'm not directly sure of Blastwave's policy, however...

I ran/managed sounddogs.com for years, and our policy was "credit is not required but is appreciated". I use the same policy on my own site airbornesound.com.

I have worked with a lot of sound libraries (Soundsnap, sound-effect.com) and this is the generally the attitude they all adopt.

So I think you'll be safe with no credit at all.

Paul

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  • Nice to see you on here Paul! I like your blog. Some great stuff on there. Looking forward to more :) – Andy Lewis Apr 18 '11 at 15:33
  • Hi Andy, glad to hear it, thanks very much! – Paul Virostek Apr 18 '11 at 15:52
  • I will second Paul's blog, good stuff. Glad to see him on here – AzimuthAudio Apr 18 '11 at 17:21
  • Wow! That's so cool to hear from a top dog! (Sounddogs pun not intended) Thanks for the advice and I'll definitely check out the blog! – Bryan Ploof Apr 18 '11 at 17:34
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I use FreeSound.org like crazy, and one of their bylaws is that I attribute EVERYTHING. You can see how I did it here: Silent Hill 3 Redub

Because I doubt I'll ever NOT use FreeSound, I plan on attributing everything the same way. For larger projects, I'll put a link to a full attribution list within the credits.

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Royalty-free libraries TYPICALLY do not require to be mentioned in credits in there TOS, however putting special thanks to the makers of the library at the end is a nice touch.

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As several people have stated, crediting is not necessary with the synchronization license that you have purchased from Blastwave FX.

One thing to be aware of though, is that there are some uses that the synchronization license does not cover, i.e. mobile apps (e.g. iPhone, iPad etc) and some web apps. You may wish to look into that if your game is for a mobile platform.

There's some helpful information at the Pro Sound Effects Blog (they are a Blastwave FX distributor).

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I'd just throw them on. Its good manners and you cover your ass, just in case

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