Associating data with your finished sound effects products is the final step before submitting your material to sound distributors. This data, called metadata, offers interested buyers information on each sound in your library. Details about the seven main types of metadata to be used when cataloging your sound effects follow.
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. For excellent organization from the beginning, create a SKU number for each sound sample as you make then that begins with three unique letters, such as a personal acronym, and 5 digits like SFX00001_CarHonk. The sample which follows will begin with SFX00002 and so on giving each product a unique name. This SKU method is superior to alphabetical organization, especially if you record multiple versions of bird chirps, for example, over a number of years.
4. The Title is a friendly title to be displayed for the potential licensee such as Dog Bark 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. Track info stipulates whether the sample is stereo or mono as well as the sample rate, bit rate , and file type such as Stereo 48k 24bit .wav which informs the licensee about the quality of the sample.
7. Keywords are very important in letting potentials buyers find your sounds and should not be ignored. They should contain the plurals of the sound, associated sounds, phrases, and even misspellings such as dog, dogs, dog bark, dog barks, bark, barks, dog pack, pack, wolf, canine, wolves, canines, barck, barcks.
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.
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. For excellent organization from the beginning, create a SKU number for each sound sample as you make then that begins with three unique letters, such as a personal acronym, and 5 digits like SFX00001_CarHonk. The sample which follows will begin with SFX00002 and so on giving each product a unique name. This SKU method is superior to alphabetical organization, especially if you record multiple versions of bird chirps, for example, over a number of years.
4. The Title is a friendly title to be displayed for the potential licensee such as Dog Bark 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. Track info stipulates whether the sample is stereo or mono as well as the sample rate, bit rate , and file type such as Stereo 48k 24bit .wav which informs the licensee about the quality of the sample.
7. Keywords are very important in letting potentials buyers find your sounds and should not be ignored. They should contain the plurals of the sound, associated sounds, phrases, and even misspellings such as dog, dogs, dog bark, dog barks, bark, barks, dog pack, pack, wolf, canine, wolves, canines, barck, barcks.
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.
About the Author:
SFXsource ponders and reports on multimedia production and produces voice clips and free animal sounds for sampling in animation, flash, and film
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