Writing can prove challenging if you’re constantly interrupted by noise. In my town, there’s plenty; dogs barking, kids screaming, church bells that ring (three times a day and then 15 minutes of tacky bell Protestant music), not to mention my husband playing his laptop or TV loud enough for me to hear in my office with the door shut.
I ended up purchasing some noise cancelling headphones. (This helps tremendously, deafening distractions. Even with them on, sometimes noise leaks into my ear so I discovered some ambient videos and sound files help with drowning it all out.
There are also ambient ‘mixers’ that provide nature sounds, background café noise, or white noise sounds like fans, but I prefer mixing my own or the YouTube videos I’ve saved for specific writing projects.
defonic.com – pick and choose sounds (free). Nature sounds, white noise, and a cafe sound byte are all free. Some sounds require a membership and fee.
coffitivity.com – cafe background noise (free). Some sounds require a membership and fee. I can’t write in a cafe because it’s too distracting.
Ambient-Mixer provides tons of variety which I love. You can select pre-made sounds or create one of your own. Need sounds of a tavern for writing a scene in your fantasy novel? Need background noise of a spaceship for a sci-fi story? This site let’s you pick and choose.
I love how you can remove elements to the pre-made. For instance, I might not like the sounds of frogs near a lakeside and select a loon all instead.
YouTube provides tons of choices for ambience as wll. Ambiance Keepers’ Archive has some nice ones. I like the sound of a train for basic writing and use the videos of rain for overall relaxation.
Selcuk Celebi Ambient & Music provides background noise of spaceships, cyber cities, apocolyptic noise, and other sci-fi type atmospheric ambience. You might find some of the videos spark a story idea in you.
If there’s sounds specific to your needs, just use the search on YouTube and find some sounds that would fit.
A Writer's Journey 