Freesound effect in a video ad: CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC?

A Freesound sound effect is safe to use in a video ad when it is CC0, or CC BY with a credit. A CC BY-NC sound is the one to avoid: Freesound's own FAQ says Noncommercial means you "can't earn any money with the piece of work you create", and a paid ad is exactly that. Check the license badge on each sound page before it goes into the cut, because one site hosts all three.

What does each Freesound license allow in an ad?

The FAQ describes the three licenses in plain words. This table keeps those words and adds the ad verdict, which is our reading of them, not a statement from Freesound.

What should the credit say?

For CC BY sounds the FAQ lists what a proper credit includes. Keep a credits file next to the project so the list is ready when the ad is published:

• The sound title.
• The uploader name.
• A link to the Freesound sound page.
• The license type.
• For long lists, Freesound says you may link to an external credits document instead of listing everything inline.

Can the sound go straight into a Sume Timeline render?

Not through the public API as documented. Timeline 1.0 says every URL must already be this workspace's media.sume.com artifact or asset, and Timeline audio repeats it for concat and split. Both tell you to import first with POST /v1/media-imports. In the API's route description that import mirrors a public TikTok or Instagram video URL into Sume storage; the MCP tools page calls it the social URL mirror. A Freesound download URL is neither, so an ad that needs a Freesound effect is finished in your own editor.

What does fit the Timeline is audio that Sume already hosts. A Music Router job returns an audio artifact, and the Timeline soundtrack field takes a Sume-hosted url with gain_db, loop, fade_out_seconds and duck_db.

Is there a no-credit route inside Sume?

You can ask a Music Router prompt for a short sting or ambience and trim it, but the documentation sells it as music, not as a sound-effects library, and it has no duration field: you steer length in the prompt. Treat the result as a track to audition, then cut it with Timeline audio split ranges.

If the effect must be a specific real-world recording, Freesound with CC0 or CC BY remains the better source. If it only has to fit a mood, a generated bed avoids a credits line.

A short checklist before export

Do these four checks on every effect in the cut:

• Open the sound page and read the license badge, not the search result.
• Reject any CC BY-NC sound for an ad that sells or promotes something.
• Copy title, uploader, page link and license into the credits file.
• Keep the license screenshot with the project, since a page can change after you download.

What if the sound is CC BY-NC but the video is a hobby project?

Freesound's NC wording is about earning money with the work you create. A video with ads, sponsorship, a product link or a client behind it earns money in the ordinary sense, so treat it as commercial. A family video that sits on a private link does not. When in doubt, filter the Freesound search to CC0 or CC BY and keep a second candidate for each cue, so a rejected sound costs a minute rather than a re-cut.

The same discipline applies to generated audio: keep the job record. A Music Router job echoes the engine that ran in job.request.routed_model, which is handy when a client asks what made a bed.

How should an ad team log sound sources?

One row per sound is enough. Columns that save a dispute later:

• Where it came from (Freesound page, generated job, in-house recording).
• The license at download time, and the date.
• The credit text, when the license needs one.
• Which cut or version of the ad uses it.