Gaming Music
Free Music
FREE ONLINE RADIO STATIONS AND STREAMING MUSIC
Radio Rivendell
Specializing in film/game soundtracks.
RPG Music
A massive collection of free streamable soundtracks from RPGs sorted by system and console.
Vladimiravich’s ‘Lux Tenebrae’ Soundtrack
The soundtrack to fellow OP-er Vladimiravich’s campaign Lux Tenebrae. Each song is hyperlinked to a YouTube page of that song.
Grooveshark
A free streaming music site that lets you search a MASSIVE database of songs and make playlsits. And it is FREE! I am blown away by this site. It is infinitely better than pandora or lastfm. Go check it out!
Filter Music
A compilation of free online radio stations sorte by genre. There is an overabundance of electronic based music here, but all genres of music are present. Those which may be the most useful for RPGs are:
- Ancient FM – early classical music, medieval, and renaissance music
- Chinese Music World – classical and folk from China
- Streaming Soundtracks – the name says it all
- Also check out some of the stations in the Downtempo-Dub-Ambient section such as Blue Mars. These might be good for ambience for a futuristic game.
-
Soundtrack Stations
With channels like Anime, Final Fantasy, Movie Scores, Movie Tracks, Show Tunes, TV Tunes, and Video Game Scores. - Renaissance Channel – A renaissance themed channel.
- World/International Stations – With channels like Celtic and Klezmer.
- Nature Sounds Channel – this might be tricky to use since it is streaming and might not play what you are looking for, but I thought I’d mention it anyways.
- Decades Stations – This could be useful for people running more modern games, for example a Call of Cthulhu game set in the 1940’s. (The 40’s is as far back as it goes.)
Live 365 Internet Radio Network
WIth many stations similar to what you would find on AOL radio.
Two Steps from Hell Radio
OP user DeltaDave has a LastFM station that is focused on soundtracks and other music good for gaming. Its a great listen, especially if you are working on an adventure or if you are looking for new music to add to your game.
CBC Radio
A streaming music site that according to D43mon is “all Canadian, mostly indie stuff, but there’s every genre and you can build your own playlists.”
Sounds To Sleep To
This is a nifty little page. It has some basic types of background effects, rain, birds chirping, crickets, waves, campfire, and wind. Each effect is a high quality loop that can be toggled on or off. There are also individual volume controls so that you can mix the sounds to the right level.
RESOURCES
Soft Rope
A very cool “RPG soundscape mixer” available FOR FREE. Yes FREE. Check it out!
Syrinscape
Syrinscape is a dynamic, easy to use application that creates continuous, repetition-free sound environments.
SceneSound
Another great sound mixer.
Freesound
Free to register and you get access to countless downloadable clips of sound fx and more all under the creative commons license. (A perfect resource for those who might use the above mentioned audio mixers.)
SoundSnap
Lots of sound effects, many of which are free to download. Like Freesound, it would make a good combo with the above mentioned audio mixers.
Ambient Environments: Soundtracks for RPG Settings
A project in the works that needs YOUR help. Check out the Kickstarter to help make this a reality and to get a free download.
Music made by OP users
Quadrivium aka Mary Crowell
She has a beautiful singing voice and writes songs inspired by her time playing tabletop RPGs.