While browsing for new sound-effect files for my instant messaging programs, I came across a pretty great sound-effects site called the Free Sound Project. Basically you can upload your own sounds to the site for others to vote on and download. Registration is required but the sounds are varied and of excellent quality. You can preview the file before downloading so you can see if it is what you are looking for.

The audio files that come with Skype to make its sound effects are not too bad (better than Yahoo Messenger's anyway with that really irritating "YYYAAAHHHHOOOO!" rodeo sound) but still I wanted to change my Skype sounds a little. I wanted a more normal sounding ringtone plus I wanted a few catchy sounds for incoming chat messages, failed file transfers and so on.

I came across this site today and it has a selection of interesting sounds in "wmv" format which you can use for Skype. I now have a flushing toilet noise for anything that goes wrong (failed file transfers for example), I have a sci-fi "ka-pow!" noise for incoming messages and I have the trumpets playing for when I log on and off.

If you don't like what's on offer on that page, you can also just Google what you are looking for. So if you are looking for say a dog barking, you can search for something like "bark.wmv". A duck quacking might be found as "duck.wmv" or "quack.wmv". Normally you can easily find free audio files via Google as there are a lot of websites which are basically just huge online warehouses of free audio files in both "wmv" format and "mp3" format. Fan sites such as South Park Studios have their own downloadable South Park sounds section (I used to have Cartman screaming at me when someone called me on Skype!) and many other TV programmes also have fan websites with free sounds you can use for Skype.

It's easy to change your sounds on your Skype program. Just go to your options panel and choose "notifications" then the "sounds" sub-tab. Then at the bottom, it says "import your own sounds". Click on that and upload the relevant sound file from your computer. Then go to the panel above that, choose the action you want to change (such as "ring-tone") and if you drop down the menu to the right, you should see the sound file you just uploaded. Choose that file with your mouse then press "save". Before saving, you can preview the sound to make sure it works properly.

I am thinking of using Audacity and a microphone to make my own personal sounds. I'll keep you updated on that little project if I ever get it going.