Music Information Resources: Media

Library Catalogue

Films, videos, DVDs / Sound recordings / Slides

Limiting a search in the library catalogue through the advanced keyword search page can help you find specific types of media:

• For sound recordings, limit your search to Music, Sound recordings or choose Format: SOUND RECORDING.
• For films, videos, and DVDs on your topic, limit your search to Movies (DVDs, Videos, etc) or choose Format: DVD/FILM/VIDEO.

Note that the Media Resource Centre holds the SFU Library's:

• Film Collection
• Sound Recordings Collection
• and Slide Collection

The Slide Collection includes a set of 90 slides on music history.

Digital media online

Databases

The following databases available through the SFU Library will help you find online sound recordings:

• Classical Music Library: Searchable database of online music, from classical to contemporary. Full text music scores and manuscripts are also available. Many pieces have associated streaming audio tracks.
• DRAM: Provides high-quality streaming access to recordings by New World Records, CRI and other important labels. Includes folk, opera, jazz, musical theatre, contemporary and electronic music.
• Smithsonian Global Sound: Searchable database of online music from around the world. Includes sound effects and spoken word recordings.
• Sound Ideas Sound Effects Libraries: A database of the sound tracks of sound effects CDs produced by Sound Ideas. Use it to identify the CDs that have the sounds you need, then search the library catalogue with the TITLE "Sound ideas" to find out which of the CDs are available in the SFU Library.

Selected online sound sites

• American Music Center Online Library: "The online library and listening room that provides immediate access to scores, streaming audio, and vital information about music by American composers."
• Art of the States: "Listen to new music from the US." A Production of WGBH Radio Boston.
• Canadian Music Centre: The Canadian Music Centre is the place to find scores and recordings of music by Canadian composers. Listen to thousands of archival recordings by Canadian composers on "Centrestreams." Sounds New is the official podcast of the CMC.
• Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project: University of California at Santa Barbara Libraries have created a digital collection of over 6,000 cylinder recordings. They can be freely downloaded or streamed online.
• The Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound Recordings. "...a multimedia Web site devoted to the first half-century of recorded sound in Canada."
• FindSounds.com: Search for audio files of many different sounds.
• Filmsound.org: All aspects of film sound design.