The final step in organizing sound effects for submission to a sound effect library is pairing different types of data with each sound. This metadata, as it is called, lets prospective clients in on specific details concerning each sound. The seven most useful categories of metadata to be included in your sound effect catalog are listed 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. Broad categories should be used for the first Main Category column such as Animals, Machinery, and Vehicles. Be as minimal as possible in picking the main categories for maximum simplicity and organization.
2. The Sub-Category column is meant to break down each main category into various elements such as Animals:Birds, Animals:Dogs, Animals:Pigs etc.
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.
After successfully organizing your sound effects according to the seven above characteristics you can market and submit your library to online distributors for profit through licensing. - 2275
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. Broad categories should be used for the first Main Category column such as Animals, Machinery, and Vehicles. Be as minimal as possible in picking the main categories for maximum simplicity and organization.
2. The Sub-Category column is meant to break down each main category into various elements such as Animals:Birds, Animals:Dogs, Animals:Pigs etc.
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.
After successfully organizing your sound effects according to the seven above characteristics you can market and submit your library to online distributors for profit through licensing. - 2275
About the Author:
SFXsource ponders and writes on multimedia production and produces voice clips and free animal sound samples for sampling in animation, flash, and film