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.
First, it is important to choose the correct format for creating your metadata document. Generally an .xls project is the best way to organize your library using each sound as a row and each category as a column. Such a document allows for easy sorting and searching according to type, time length, or SKU number.
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. If you associate a SKU number of three letters unique to you, such as your initials, and five digits such as SFX00001_DogBark with each sound effect upon their creation your sounds will be perfectly organized. The sound to follow the above example would begin with SFX00002 and so on which assigns a totally unique identity to each sound. This numbering system alleviates confusion in the future should you have multiple Dog Barks and only organize them alphabetically.
4. A friendly title for Title is simply intended to inform the buyer on the type of sound like Bird Chirp 1.
5. A simple but significant bit of metadata is Time Length since long sound effects are usually priced higher than shorter sound effects and the buyer deserves to know how much sound they are getting for their money.
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.
First, it is important to choose the correct format for creating your metadata document. Generally an .xls project is the best way to organize your library using each sound as a row and each category as a column. Such a document allows for easy sorting and searching according to type, time length, or SKU number.
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. If you associate a SKU number of three letters unique to you, such as your initials, and five digits such as SFX00001_DogBark with each sound effect upon their creation your sounds will be perfectly organized. The sound to follow the above example would begin with SFX00002 and so on which assigns a totally unique identity to each sound. This numbering system alleviates confusion in the future should you have multiple Dog Barks and only organize them alphabetically.
4. A friendly title for Title is simply intended to inform the buyer on the type of sound like Bird Chirp 1.
5. A simple but significant bit of metadata is Time Length since long sound effects are usually priced higher than shorter sound effects and the buyer deserves to know how much sound they are getting for their money.
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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