RadioJinglesVIP.com - Voice, Imaging and Production

In the film industry, room tone is described as the "noise" of a room, set or location where the dialog is being recorded. Dialog and film editors use this as "bed" to form a consistent tone through a specific scene. Though not to be confused with ambience, which can be sound effects and/or reverbs added when the dialog is mixed, room tone is specially important for particular productions.

Unlike film production where dialog can be recorded on site, limitations in radio production requires creativity and resourcefulness. If you are, for instance, producing a commercial for a restaurant where the script requires a conversation of two people inside a restaurant, you will need to have the room tone set consistently and realistically.

Since it would be impractical to go out and record tones in an actual restaurant, your most likely option is a pre-recorded room tone.

And this is where ambient and room tone production libraries come in. Sound-Ideas.com is one of the largest suppliers of sound effects for film, tv and radio today. With a wide range of products that include effects from Universal, Warner Bros, and Lucas Films. You can visit their site and check out their CDs on various ambience and room tones.

There are also free resources like http://www.freesound.org/index.php. They've got tons of raw sounds here in WAV format. You'll have to ask permission and rights though before using them.

The last thing and perhaps the most authentic option you can get is to record the room sound your self. Of course, all pre-recorded room tones are real. If it happens that you can't find the right sound, then you'll have to be more patient then.