How to Add a Sound Effects Library

The Sound Effects Search website is a search engine for sound clip libraries. These libraries are added to the website in a form on a special page.

How to Add A Sound Effects Library

The libraries are added via the Add a Sound Library form page.

Here, you can add all details about a sound library. Typically, it’s easiest to visit the sound library page in one browser window, and type the information into the form in another browser window. This allows you to see the information and enter it with minimal switching.

Note that some field titles have a “*”. This means the field must be completed. All other fields are optional, although it is best to add the optional information if it is available on the sound library page.

To begin, open the sound library page in your first browser window. Open the Sound Effects Search form in a second browser window. Find the information for each field from the sound library page, then add the information to the form.

Below you will learn how to complete each field.

As an example, we will look at Airborne Sound’s Attack Aircraft Maneuvers sound library, and see how that bundle’s information fits in the form.

Line 1

• Sound Library Name. The name of the collection or sound bundle. Type this in Title Case. Here is an online text to title case converter.

  Example: Attack Aircraft Maneuvers

• Library Publisher. The name of the owner of the website or sound library. Type this in Title Case.

  Note: you can usually find more information about the publisher’s name in the website’s “About” page.

  Example: Airborne Sound

Line 2

• Number of Files. The total number of sound files in a collection.

  Example: 118

• Number of Takes. Some collections include multiple clips in one sound file. So, one file may have five takes in inside it. Type the total number of takes for the entire sound library here. If the publisher listed a plus sign (“100+”), omit the plus sign. If this is not included, skip it.

  Example: in this case, there are no takes. For reference, below is an example of another sound library that does have takes.

  

  Library with both files and takes

• Size in Gigabytes. The size of the collection, expressed in gigabytes. If the size is in megabytes, convert it to gigabytes. So, 54 megabytes will be 0.054 gigabytes. Add 0.054 in the box. Here is an online MB to GB converter.
  If you cannot find this information, add “0” in the box.

  Example: 1.62

• Time in Minutes. The total running time. If this is listed in hours and seconds, convert to minutes. So, 1h 11m should be 71 minutes. Enter 71 in the box. Here is an online time converter.
  Note, this is not always listed. If you cannot find it, skip it.

  Example: in this example, time is not listed. For reference, below is an example of another sound library that does have time listed.

  

  Sound library example with time listed

Line 3

• Sampling Rate (kHz) and Bit Depth. Check the number that applies. Typically it will be 192 kHz or 96 kHz and 24-bit. If multiple options are shown, pick the highest. If you can’t find these, click “Not Available”.

  Example: Our example library is 96 kHz and 24-bit.

• Channels. If there is a number of channels on the page, click the “Click, Enter Number” box and type a number (not text). Stereo = 2. Mono = 1. If multiple options are provided, add them both, separated by a comma. So, if a library has both stereo and mono, type: “2, 1”. If there is no information, click “Unknown.”

  Example: The Attack Aircraft Maneuvers library is stereo, so, we would type “2”.

• File Format. Pick all that apply. If there is no information, click “Unknown.”

  Example: this library includes WAV files.

Line 4

• Price. Enter the price with the currency preceeding it ($, €, or £), and cents at the end with a period, not a comma (ex., “$10.99”). If there are no cents shown (ex., $59), add “.00” after it anyway: $59.00. The price is usually found on a Web page button.
  • If the library is free, type “Free”.
  • If the library accepts donations only, type “Donation”.
  • Some libraries may have multiple versions (ex., “Designed” and “Construction Kit”). Always enter the highest price.
  • Always list the highest regular price, not sale prices (if applicable).
  • Do not include VAT in the final price.

  Example: $59.00

• Category. Choose the most appropriate category for the library from the pull down list. If you are having trouble, try searching for similar libraries here, and see what category they use. Here’s an example search for “airplane”, you can see they all use “Vehicle”.

  Example: Vehicles

Line 5

• Embedded Metadata? Check this box if the Web page mentions embedded metadata (you can perform a text search (CMD f (MacOS) or CNTRL f (Windows)) to find this quickly). Embedded metadata is text that is joined with the sound file (as opposed to a Word document, etc.)

  Example: the library includes metadata, so the box would be checked.

• Metadata Type. The type of metadata is sometimes listed. You can see the type of metadata under this heading. Look for those words in the listing, and check the boxes beside the if they appear in the sound library listing.
  • Note that BWF and BWAV metadata are the same thing, check “BWAV Description” for this option.

  Example: In this case, we would check Soundminer.

Lines 6 and 7

• Description. Type a short description of the library. Look for a good, single sentence that describes the library from the collection’s home page. Copy and paste this into the box in sentence case. Here is an online converter to convert text to sentence case.

  Avoid re-using the library name in the description (since it is already seen in the sound library name field), and also phrases like “is a collection” or “has 23 clips”. It’s better to use specific, appealing details about the sounds instead.

  Bad: Attack Aircraft Maneuvers is a sound library that presents 118 sound clips of military fighter jets soaring through the clear, blue sky.

  Good: Military fighter jets soaring through the clear, blue sky.

  Best: Military fighter jets flying, passing, and maneuvering, including an F-16C, F/A-18C, CT-114 Tutor, and CF-18.

• Tags. Type 5 keywords that describe the library, each separated by a comma. Sometimes libraries list these under “tags” or “keywords”. If they are not listed, you can create them yourself. Please use spaces between the words.

  Example: vehicle, jet, aircraft, fighter jet, military

Lines 8, 9 and 10

• Library Link. Get the Web page URL and paste it here. We want the link to the library itself – as contrasted to the home page, or a news page – we want visitors from Sound Effects Search that click the link we add to see the libraries right away instead of hunting for it.
  • We only list links to a creator’s home website. The reasoning is that we want to promote the recordist, not their distributor. We do not list links to corporate pages, or other distributors. Examples are www.asoundeffect.com or www.sonniss.com. If you see these links, do not add the library.
  • Some library creators don’t have a page for each library. Instead, they list all libraries on a single page. If this is the case, use the URL use for all their sound libraries. This same URL can be added for each library listed.
  • Some library creators don’t have an individual page for each sound library – they're all listed on the same page – so, in this rare case, you can just add the main library page as the same page for each of them in the "Library Link" field.

  Example: our example sound library’s address is: https://www.airbornesound.com/downloads/attack-aircraft-maneuvers-sound-effects/

• SoundCloud Link. Most library publishers include an audio preview. The majority of them are hosted from a sound sharing website called SoundCloud. Add the link to their SoundCloud preview page in this box. Find it by clicking on the “Share” button at the upper right of the SoundCloud preview.
  

  SoundCloud link: click the share button

  A box will appear in the preview with the URL of the preview on the SoundCloud site. Copy this text and paste it into the form.

  

  SoundCloud link: copy the URL

  Example: https://soundcloud.com/airbornesound/attack-aircraft-maneuvers-audio-preview-montage-48-24

  • We want the link to be to the specific library on SoundCloud, not a list of all their libraries.

  • Sometimes publishers include a playlist with many tracks. We do not want the link for playlists. Instead, select one track and get the link for that. Here’s how, using an example from the Big Cats library:

    1. Click the sound name link. This will be to the right of the play button, and beneath the small publisher name text. For our example, this is the “SSFX – BCAT Exterior…” text. Clicking the link will open up a new browser window in SoundCloud.
       
       

       Click to view on SoundCloud

    2. Select the URL for this new window. For our example, it would be: https://soundcloud.com/user-665659271/ssfx-bcat-exterior-1-a-2?in=user-665659271/sets/sound-library-big-cats-v8
    3. Delete all text after and including the “?”. For our example, remove this: ?in=user-665659271/sets/sound-library-big-cats-v8
    4. Add this text to the form.
• SoundCloud Embed Code. Skip this.
• SoundCloud ID Number. Each SoundCloud preview has its own SoundCloud ID number. This is a 8-10 digit number. The Website uses this to provide audio previews. Follow the steps under How to Find Your SoundCloud ID on this page to find the SoundCloud ID.

  Example: 257923089

• Library Contact Name and Library Contact Email Skip this. You don’t need to add email and name, this is for us to contact others in case there’s a problem.

Here is what the form would appear using our example sound library:

One you have entered all information, click the “Submit” button.

If there are errors (such as required information, or incorrect characters added), the page will show you the problems in red text. Correct the information, and click the “Submit” button again.

If you have any questions, please email us.