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build a catalog of every sound


mirko

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hello
Somebody uses programs like Audio Finder, Soundminer, Library Monkey Pro.
I'm looking for the right browser to keep ordered in my sound library.
I saw that Audio Finder does not handle metadata very accurately, but you can drag the files directly on the timeline of protools. 
I would like to be able to manage all my sound archive with a single database.
Can anyone recommend me a program?

 

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I've been a HUGE fan of sound miner. It's been a while since I've used it, but I was able to set up plug-in presets right in it, which when I was doing sound effects for video games was HUGE. I would be creating sounds for fictitious futuristic vehicles and I may put a certain filter on 10 different vehicles for a certain faction in a real time strategy game. Rather than do all of that in pro tools one vehicle at a time I could essentially set up the pre-sets in sound miner and then import the audio into pro tools already processed. I still did some basic editing in pro tools, but this made my work flow a LOT faster. It's basically batch processing files for me. It handles metadata easily as well. I imported my own custom recorded sounds, and the metadata I input showed up in searches. It's expensive, but an essential tool. 

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I did't find posts on this topic
I have accumulated through the years a mass of sounds of all kinds.
This material is invaluable when I find the sounds that I try.
The sound library on my computer is like a messy basement.
I have tried several times to make order.
Now I thought, there is this thing called metadata so why not use them to create smart folders, smart playlists, etc.
In a few days I came into a world.
I realized that I need 2 layers.
First, an environment where I can edit the metadata.
Second: an environment where I can search by keywords.
There are no problems for the first level, there is in fact a wide choice of applications.
There are many programs for editing metadata, my favorite is Wave Agent or BWF widget pro.
Second level is more complicated.
Programs like Audio Finder, Library Monkey Pro, do not go so deep into reading metadata. In this way, the search power is limited.
I do't know sound miner, but from what I have read is similar to the others.
The key point is that the descriptions are't embedded on files. 
To understand, Pro Tools does not read any keywords or tags saved in Audio Finder for example ..
I hope it's clear my problem.
I would like a archive environment and search based on metadata contained in brodcast wave.
Someone can help me?
thank you.
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+1 for SoundMiner. Clients are blown away with how quickly it can find a sound, isolate the right part, process if desired, and lay it on the proper track - in sync - with one keystroke.

 

It does very intelligent metadata searches. You can search every field, look for phrases, sort the results by various qualities... but the thing that really impressed me the first day I had it: automatic synonyms!  Look for 'car' and it also finds 'automobile', and so on. I haven't drilled down enough to see how comprehensive/editable the dictionary is, but I know it works great out of the box.

 

Also: I don't use a special program to edit metadata. Instead, I fill an excel spreadsheet with all the data for a directory of sounds and let SoundMiner do the merge. If I wasn't comfortable with excel, I could use a word table... or even a basic text file with tabs.

 

Hats off to them for their user support as well. The guys are pros, understand what we need, and answer questions promptly.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have audiofinder and it's ok but am moving up to soundminer soon.

AF doesn't change the actual file, it has all the metadata in a seperate database. In short, tags (keywords, etc) entered in AF will not show up in other programs. If that's going to be an issue later (as it is now for me) go for soundminer.

FYI: There is an option to copy metadata into the header field in AF but has a ltd number of characters, can't remember the number off the top of my head but it isn't enough for my uses.

 

Grant.

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Was about to edit my post. Yes it has an option where it writes to the spotlight comments field (not header as I incorrectly noted). Again, only useful to the initial user really. Not a program to use if planning on sharing files with others that need meta, otherwise works well.

Just spelling it out for other potential purchasers, as I didn't read the fine print..

Plan B is to use make a new itunes library, that works just as well.

 

Grant.

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