StockMusic.com is the Download Division of Sound Ideas. Welcome to our StockMusic.com Search Tutorial. This page will help you to explore, browse and search the contents of our site more effectively, so that you can easily purchase and download the perfect music, sound effects and production elements for your production.

In addition, we have created a short video to provide an overview of how to get the most out of StockMusic.com. View the StockMusic.com Video.

There are 3 sections on this page - for Music Track searches, Production Elements selection, and for Sound Effects searches.

Music Track Searches

How to Browse Music CDs by Category:

There are 2 ways to Browse Music CDs by Category:

1. From the Home Page, click on any Music Category picture.

2. Use the links to each Music Category that are found on our Site Map.

Both of these methods will take you to the Music Category page you selected. These pages list all the CDs in the specific Music Category that you have chosen.

The Music Category page displays basic information for each of the available CDs, including:

- CD Title
- Brief description of the CD
- Price to purchase the complete CD
- More Info button
- Add to Cart button (to purchase and download the complete CD)

Clicking on the Add to Cart button adds the CD to your shopping cart. (For more information about the purchase & download process, see our How to Buy section.)

Music CD Pages:

For more detailed information on a specific CD, click on the More Info button that accompanies the CD's image on its Music Category page. This will take you to a page dedicated to that CD which includes the following information:

- CD Title
- Long description of the CD
- Information chart for the CD which includes a Buy button (to purchase and download the complete CD)

The Music CD pages also contain a Listen to Separate Tracks Chart which includes -

- a Play button to listen to a music track. Toggle the playback on and off with the button.  To play the next track, use the right arrow key on your keyboard. To play the previous track, use the left arrow key on your keyboard. 
- a Flashplayer control will appear at the bottom right of your screen when you hit the Play button. You can control the volume, pause play and scroll through to the end of the track with this control feature.
- a Save button to mark the track for easy retrieval later. (see How to Use the Save Feature below)
- a Buy button to purchase an individual music track.

Clicking on the Buy button adds the track to your shopping cart. (For more information about the purchase & download process, see our How to Buy section.)

Each Music CD page also contains a link to a PDF track list that provides the composer and publisher information for each track in the CD.

Music Tracks Search Engine:

You can look for specific music tracks that meet your needs by using the Music Tracks search engine feature in the navigation bar.

Control your search by using the 4 dropdown menus - for Genres, Instruments, Moods & Tempos, and the Keyword entry field in the top right corner of the screen. The results table will let you know how many tracks match your search definitions and will display up to 500 matches.

For instance, if you type the word "Happy" in the Keyword field and click on the Search button, more than 500 music tracks match your search definitions and more than 35 pages of matching music tracks will be available for you to browse through.

You can narrow your search as you add more details. For example, you can construct a search like this:

- Genre = Comedy,
- Instruments = Xylophone,
- Moods = Antic,
- Tempo = 100-109,
- and type the word "Quirky" into the Keyword field.

Click on the Search button and from the more than 6,700 music tracks available, our search engine will display the details about a great little nonsense song called "Now I'm Going to Sing My Song".

You can broaden your search and get more matches by removing or changing any of the search details that you have entered.

How to Read the Music Search Results Table:

The search results table includes:

- a Play button to listen to a music track. Toggle the playback on and off with the button. To play the next track, use the right arrow key on your keyboard. To play the previous track, use the left arrow key on your keyboard. 
- a Save button to mark the track for easy retrieval later. (see How to Use the Save Feature below)
- a Buy button to purchase an individual music track.

Clicking on the Buy button adds the track to your shopping cart. (For more information about the purchase & download process, see our How to Buy section.)

The search table results also provide more descriptive information about each track, including the length and price of the individual track, as well as the CD on which the music track is published.

You can sort the results in this table by clicking on any of the following column headers at the top of the table: Title, Time, Mood, BPM, CD Name or Price. Clicking on the same column header a second time will reverse the display order of the tracks.

How to Use the Save Feature:

As you explore StockMusic.com, you will find many music tracks that you like. After you have been searching for a while it is easy to lose track of specific music you were interested in.

Use the Save button to mark these tracks as you find them. Later you can click on the Show Only My Saved Tracks button at the top of the Music Tracks search engine page. Only the music that you have saved during your explorations and searches will be displayed, making it easier for you to compare the tracks and determine how each one might fit your needs.

You can then purchase individual tracks by clicking on the appropriate "Buy" button. The track will be added to your shopping cart, ready for you to purchase via the Checkout feature. (For more information about the purchase & download process, see our How to Buy section.)

Production Elements Selection:

The StockMusic.com Production Elements collection offers 28 distinctive virtual CDs of more than 4,000 elements for all of your audio imaging and special effects requirements.

To access our production elements, simply click on the Production Elements link in the upper navigation bar on any page. From this page, select the Production Elements CD of your choice, browse its contents, and select one or more single tracks to purchase, or purchase the complete virtual CD for $99.

Each Production Elements CD page also offers a PDF listing of the CD's contents that includes the filename for each individual element wav or mp3 file.

Sound Effects Search Engine:

As the Download Division of Sound Ideas, StockMusic.com offers more than 110,000 Sound Ideas sound effects (Sound Ideas, the world's largest publisher of sound effects for broadcast, post-production, podcasting, game development, film sound design and interactive media).

Searching for sound effects at StockMusic.com is easy - you can either use a keyword search entry box, or browse our collection by category and refine your search from there. Here are some simple directions.

Keyword Search Instructions:

Start your search on the Sound Effects search page by typing a keyword in the entry box. If you get too many matches, refine your search by adding one or more additional keywords. All keywords in the entry box should be separated by a space.

When you type more keywords into the box, your search becomes more specific (because ALL of the words must appear in each sound effects track found), and this will refine your search to locate the sound effect you need.

When you pause your typing, a table of results will be produced automatically. You do not need to click on a "Search" button or hit the Enter/Return key on your keyboard.

If your search produces more than 500 results, you will see a message at the top of the results table that says:

More than 500 matching sound effect tracks found. Only the first 500 tracks are shown. Refine your search by typing additional keywords into the entry box.

Use your mouse to change the width of a column in any table of search results, so that you can read all of the details.

Searching for Specific CDs and Sound Effects:

You can use the keyword entry box to search sound effects from specific Sound Ideas sound effects CDs (or to search a specific sound effect if you already know its Sound Ideas CD - Track - Index reference).

To do this, type the CD Code into the keyword entry box - for example, type "3005". All 17 tracks from this CD will be displayed in the search results table.

If you know that you specifically want track 15 (Airport, Exterior - Ambience in Parking Garage, Voices, Cars Planes), then type "3005-15" into the keyword entry box.

If the track that you want has more than one index point, use the complete CD-TR-IN code to specify exactly the sound effect you need. A PDF list of Sound Ideas Products and CD Codes used for each product is available, so that you can tell which sound effects library is represented by the CD code that you see in the search results. Look for the link near the top of the Sound Effects search page. The list is presented in 2 ways - in order by CD code, and in alphabetical order by Sound Ideas product name.
Browsing for Sound Effects by Category:

Our sound effects search engine was built by creating an extensive database. Every sound effect in our online collection has been assigned to as many of the 20 primary categories and more than 600 sub-categories as are appropriate.

For example, medical supply cabinet doors can be found in both the "Doors, Opens & Closes" category and in the "Fire, Emergency & Medical" category.

To locate sound effects using this system, start by choosing one of the primary categories - click on one of the 20 icons found on the Sound Effects search page.  Within each category, you will find a listing of sub-categories and the number of sound effects that each sub-category contains.

You can immediately enter a keyword to search all of the sub-categories in that category for a specific type of sound.

You can also click on a sub-category link to see the sound effects available within the sub-category. And, once the results of the sub-category search have been displayed, you can enter a keyword to search for something specific from within just that sub-category's results.

Remember that when you enter a keyword after a sound effects category or sub-category has been selected, the keyword search will be performed in only that category or sub-category.

To perform a keyword search in the entire sound effects database, click on the "Select Another Category" button.

How to Use the Save Feature:

As you explore our sound effects categories and sub-categories, you will find many sound effects that you like. After you have been searching for a while it is easy to lose track of specific tracks you were interested in.

Use the "Save" button to mark these tracks as you find them. Later you can click on the "Show Only My Saved Tracks" button at the top of the Sound Effects search page. Only the sound effects tracks that you have saved during your explorations and searches will be displayed, making it easier for you to compare the tracks and determine how each one might fit your needs.

You can then purchase individual tracks by clicking on the appropriate "Buy" button. The track will be added to your shopping cart, ready for you to purchase via the Checkout feature. (For more information about the purchase & download process, see our How to Buy section.)

Troubleshooting:

If Your Keyword Search Produced Too Many Results:
- refine your search by adding one or more additional keywords
- all keywords in the entry box should be separated by a space.
- when you type more keywords into the box, your search becomes more specific (because ALL of the words must appear in each sound effects track found)

If Your Keyword Search Produced Too Few Results:
- try different versions of the same word - our search engine is very specific - it looks for exact string matches only
- for example, searching "duck" generates 43 sound effects
- try searching for "ducks" as well as "duck" - this offers 65 additional tracks to consider

If Your Keyword Search Produced No Results:
- check for typographical errors
- try a different version of the same word (make it plural or singular, add -ing, try alternative spellings)
- remove extra keywords so that your search is broader in scope
- make sure that the CD Code that you have typed in is actually in the database - check the PDF List of Sound Ideas products and CD Codes to be sure
- make sure that you have not selected a category to browse first and that you are searching the entire database
- to be certain that you are searching the entire database, click on the button that says "Start Another Search"
- try browsing through one of the categories offered in the "Browse by Category" search feature

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