BBC somehow managed to create one of the best free sound archives you will find online. It is called BBC Sound Effects, and it packs more than 30,000 real-world recordings from every corner of the planet.
Type any word and the results show up instantly. You can narrow things down by category, length, or even by which continent the recording came from. Every clip plays right in the browser. You can download it, or drop it into the built-in mixer and stack sounds on top of each other. The collection goes ridiculously deep.
You can find so many types of sounds there. Search for something as specific as a telex machine and you may be surprised by what turns up. You can thank the BBC sound engineers who recorded and preserved all of this.
The archive is free to explore and can be used for personal, educational, or research projects under the BBC’s licensing terms. For commercial use, check the licence first.
The archive is here:
https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk
BBC licensing information: