The Ins and Outs of Sound Effect Cataloging
Once you have recorded a large amount of raw material and then edited this material into a batch of finished sound effects it is time to associate data with these products so that you can submit your library to distributors. This data is generally called metadata and gives potential licensees information on pertinent characteristics of each sound in your library. Main categories of data that have proven to be useful in my own catalog are discussed below.
Initially you want to pick the right format for listing your metadata. I have found that .xls projects and the most requested format for metadata which assign each sound a row and each category a column. This type of document, as opposed to a text file, will let you search your sounds easily in the future according to each characteristic.
1. The Main Category column should contain broad categories such as Ambiences, Animal, Human, Transportation. Try to be as efficient in their use as possible in order to maintain a logical order to your library from the start.
3. The next main type of metadata, the Sub-Category, is intended to splice up each main category more specifically such as Tools: Hammers, Tools:Saws, Tools:Screwdrivers.
3. Assigning a SKU number that begins with three unique letters, such as your company's initials, and five digits such as SFX00001_BirdChirp as you make them will add immediate organization to your library. The next sound should begin with SFX00002 etc. allowing each sound to be completely unique in title. This sort of numbered titling eases future confusion should you end you with 50 dog barks organized alphabetically.
4. Simply friendly titles such as Car Honk 1 are best for the Title category because they will be displayed for interested customers.
5. Since shorter sound effects are generally worth less than longer sound effects it is important to include the Time Length in your metadata so that interested clients know the length of each sample they might license.
6. Information under Track Info can be written, for example, as 48k 16bit Mono .wav which specifies the quality of each sample by providing the sample rate, bit rate, mono/stereo info, and file type.
7. One of the main ways that clients find your sounds will be by searching for keywords and thus your Keyword category is very important. Plurals of the sound, related sounds, phrases that include the sound, and misspellings can all help your sounds be found such as car, cars, vehicle, vehicles, car driving, driving a car, kar, kars.
Once you have successfully cataloged your sound effects with organized metadata you are ready to submit your sounds to online sound effect libraries for licensing and profit.
Initially you want to pick the right format for listing your metadata. I have found that .xls projects and the most requested format for metadata which assign each sound a row and each category a column. This type of document, as opposed to a text file, will let you search your sounds easily in the future according to each characteristic.
1. The Main Category column should contain broad categories such as Ambiences, Animal, Human, Transportation. Try to be as efficient in their use as possible in order to maintain a logical order to your library from the start.
3. The next main type of metadata, the Sub-Category, is intended to splice up each main category more specifically such as Tools: Hammers, Tools:Saws, Tools:Screwdrivers.
3. Assigning a SKU number that begins with three unique letters, such as your company's initials, and five digits such as SFX00001_BirdChirp as you make them will add immediate organization to your library. The next sound should begin with SFX00002 etc. allowing each sound to be completely unique in title. This sort of numbered titling eases future confusion should you end you with 50 dog barks organized alphabetically.
4. Simply friendly titles such as Car Honk 1 are best for the Title category because they will be displayed for interested customers.
5. Since shorter sound effects are generally worth less than longer sound effects it is important to include the Time Length in your metadata so that interested clients know the length of each sample they might license.
6. Information under Track Info can be written, for example, as 48k 16bit Mono .wav which specifies the quality of each sample by providing the sample rate, bit rate, mono/stereo info, and file type.
7. One of the main ways that clients find your sounds will be by searching for keywords and thus your Keyword category is very important. Plurals of the sound, related sounds, phrases that include the sound, and misspellings can all help your sounds be found such as car, cars, vehicle, vehicles, car driving, driving a car, kar, kars.
Once you have successfully cataloged your sound effects with organized metadata you are ready to submit your sounds to online sound effect libraries for licensing and profit.
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posted by Marcondes Allen at 2:07 AM
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