Editing your raw audio recordings into professional quality sound effects is the step that takes place after the initial recording period. Hunt down an audio editing software that has eqs, the ability to cut audio, normalization, and fade in/out capabilites. You may use either a freeware readily found online or purchase one of the many digital audio workstations (DAW) available on the web.
Open your audio software and import all of your new raw .wav recordings. Take a large batch of 40 or so .wav files to import and solo each track, thus muting the others, as you work on each file one by one, though you may of course choose the less efficient method of importing one at a time. At this point you can begin editing your recordings and then mix them into finished sound effect products. The advice that follows provides useful information on creating the most valuable sound effects possible from you .wav recordings.
1. First, normalize each track before editing it. This function increases the highest existing amplitude of the .wav file to the highest possible amplitude, meaning simply that it makes the .wav files as loud as possible.
2. Secondly, some frequencies may affect the quality of your sound effect and you should use eq to eradicate these sonic culprits. A great sounding bird chirp, for example, may be compromised by an offending air conditioner. But, by cutting all frequencies below 2,000 Hz you can get rid of the AC and keep the lovely bird sound.
3. When your sound is normalized and cleaned up with eq find a clean beginning point to the sound and either create a fade-out or more desirably let the natural reverb ring out for 1-2 seconds.
4. Create a stereo 48k 24bit .wav file of your recording for video editing purposes. This quality of file is highly valued by individuals and libraries that license sound effects and will earn good money.
5. Make as many versions of each sound recording as possible to increase your number of products. For example, if you have a dog barking 20 times then create sound effects with one bark, three barks, six barks, 10 barks etc. switching up the combinations of barks. This could easily give you 50 or more sound effects from just that one sequence of dog barks.
6. You can further increase your number of effects by using pitch shift or other filters on each sound sample. For instance, the sound of a stream can be pitch shifted up to make it sound lighter and less tumultuous and pitch shifted down to make it sound larger and deeper.
With a little knowledge of audio editing, simply follow the above advice to transform your audio samples into professional quality sound effects for licensing in media productions.
Open your audio software and import all of your new raw .wav recordings. Take a large batch of 40 or so .wav files to import and solo each track, thus muting the others, as you work on each file one by one, though you may of course choose the less efficient method of importing one at a time. At this point you can begin editing your recordings and then mix them into finished sound effect products. The advice that follows provides useful information on creating the most valuable sound effects possible from you .wav recordings.
1. First, normalize each track before editing it. This function increases the highest existing amplitude of the .wav file to the highest possible amplitude, meaning simply that it makes the .wav files as loud as possible.
2. Secondly, some frequencies may affect the quality of your sound effect and you should use eq to eradicate these sonic culprits. A great sounding bird chirp, for example, may be compromised by an offending air conditioner. But, by cutting all frequencies below 2,000 Hz you can get rid of the AC and keep the lovely bird sound.
3. When your sound is normalized and cleaned up with eq find a clean beginning point to the sound and either create a fade-out or more desirably let the natural reverb ring out for 1-2 seconds.
4. Create a stereo 48k 24bit .wav file of your recording for video editing purposes. This quality of file is highly valued by individuals and libraries that license sound effects and will earn good money.
5. Make as many versions of each sound recording as possible to increase your number of products. For example, if you have a dog barking 20 times then create sound effects with one bark, three barks, six barks, 10 barks etc. switching up the combinations of barks. This could easily give you 50 or more sound effects from just that one sequence of dog barks.
6. You can further increase your number of effects by using pitch shift or other filters on each sound sample. For instance, the sound of a stream can be pitch shifted up to make it sound lighter and less tumultuous and pitch shifted down to make it sound larger and deeper.
With a little knowledge of audio editing, simply follow the above advice to transform your audio samples into professional quality sound effects for licensing in media productions.
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SFXsource writes articles on a wide array of interesting topics, has a sound effects library at Sound Effects and offers large amounts of royalty free production music which can be listened to at Royalty Free Music
