Free Podcast Sound Effects: Intros, Transitions, Stingers and Beeps

About these podcast sounds

A podcast is mostly people talking, so the sound effects are there to mark the moments. A swell to open the show, a quick whoosh between segments, a stinger when the story takes a turn, a beep over a swear word. Pick a few and use the same ones every episode. That's how people start to recognize your show.

Some good ones to start with: The Adventure Begins or Cinematic Riser for the intro, Airy Transition Whoosh or Swoosh 2 between segments, and Happy Ending Sax or Drum Roll Fade Out to wrap it up. For true crime and scary stories there's Terrifying Movie Stinger and Strange Spooky Stinger. The censor beeps come in a few lengths, from Short High Censor Beep at about a third of a second to Long Modulated Censor Beep.

Watch the levels. Podcasts usually aim for about -16 LUFS, and some of these files are a lot louder than that. Every sound page shows how loud the file is, so you can turn a loud one down before it blasts somebody's earbuds. Room sounds like Restaurant Kitchen Ambience, Big City Ambiance or Calming Rain can sit under a segment as a bed. Keep them way under the voices.

You can use them in your show, ads and sponsor reads included, with no account. Download the MP3, or the WAV if your editor likes uncompressed files. Audacity, GarageBand, Descript and Adobe Audition all open both.

Every sound here is free for personal and commercial projects, with no credit required. Read the license.