Buying our first SFX library

[yazoo]

Our sounddepartment is about to buy our first big SFX library.

I have checked out :

The SoundStorm Library (MAC) sounddogs.com

and different packeges at Soundideas.

Any suggestions and advices?


We are mostly working with short commercials spots, TV-series and features and sometimes radiospots.

We want to have a library so we dont have to spend to much time recording foley ourselfs.

Is soundminer the best SFX audio handler if you are working with PT HD7?

regards
Benny

[georgia]

A lot depends on your budget. You should buy some kind of generic library that has a shotgun approach to sounds for a base. I would recommend 1000 - 10000 series from Sound Ideas...

Then, based on need, there are the various "special" sets... Almost all have some value depending on what your looking for. I LOVE the Hollywood edge stuff! I like the sound dogs stuff as well. One of the good things about the special sets, even though they are specific to a type of SFX or ambience, they tend to be much better quality than the generic libraries.

One of the key things I tell my interns and team is to use the SFX libraries as if they were basic ingredients and not the end product. It really irks me while I'm watching TV or at the movies and I hear a sound that I can pinpoint to a specific CD, let alone, a specific library. Layers, editing, change-up ...but do something unique to the sounds unless they are a perfect fit.

cheers
geo

[yazoo]

Thanks Geo!

I think that the budget is around 6000$

And my big issue here is, if its better to buy a SFX bundle or pick togheter differnet kind of libraries from different manufactors?

Its almost impossible for me to make a decision among the huge amont of libriaries that exists.


How should you choose if you were going to build up a new SFX library from scratch?
Our jobs is most for TV and TV commercials then film.

regards
Benny

[Frank S.]

Starting from scratch you should go with a general package like Georgia recommended. You may also want to take a look at the types of projects you typically work on. If there are things that you do more (nature docs or whatever) you may want to get some more specific libraries in addition to the general ones.

[seanmccoy]

If you're starting from scratch, with that budget I'd go for most or all of the Hollywood Edge Premiere Editions plus a few of the Sound Ideas General collections. That would cover a lot of ground. Building sound effects libraries is quite addicting, so you can plan to add the specialty libraries one by one as projects demand. Be sure to leave a little budget for database software---SoundMiner or BaseHead. Finding and using effects from huge libraries can be a nightmare without one of these.

[Brent Hahn]

What Sean said. For me, 5K of effects + Soundminer would absolutely trump 6K of effects and no Soundminer. For that matter, even the thought of no Soundminer... ugh. The bad old days.

[gsilbers]

sometimes the specialized libraries are TOO specialized. like if you want something that has more cars cause u doin car spots, suddenly there is "mustang 68 right door close hard" then "mustang 69 left door close" and "ford sport car door close right side" etc.
some of it works great but sometimes any of those car doors work then you may have too many car doors and not other stuff u may need.
so the basic sets and "complete" packages for starters are better.

[smsjr]

6000 series from sound ideas will get you started. If you need additional things like transitions, stings, etc. there are many libraries that focus on this. Keep an eye on the Blue Plate Special at Sound ideas. They offer deals every month. Get Soundminer, never look back.

As for no time to record sound effects. Hmmm..... I know in a deadline driven world it can be tough to do this for a particular job, but I would highly encourage you to roll your own. Even if it's two hours a week, you will build up a library quickly and they will be unique sounds. Maybe you use a couple of them months down the line, but you'll have it and be very happy with yourself for taking the time to record them.

Steve

[soundboy]

Originally Posted by yazoo

We are mostly working with short commercials spots, TV-series and features and sometimes radiospots.

We want to have a library so we dont have to spend to much time recording foley ourselfs.

Is soundminer the best SFX audio handler if you are working with PT HD7?

regards
Benny

All the recommendations here are right. Personally I get more use out of the Hollywood Edge library than Sound Ideas. I also wouldn't look at anything below the 6000 series in the SI catalog. Just a quick correction. Foley by it's definition is not cut from a library. Foley effects are effects that are recorded to picture on a foley stage.
Just a clarification of the term "foley".

[kk@jamsync.com]

Originally Posted by yazoo

Our sounddepartment is about to buy our first big SFX library.

I have checked out :

The SoundStorm Library (MAC) sounddogs.com

and different packeges at Soundideas.

Any suggestions and advices?


We are mostly working with short commercials spots, TV-series and features and sometimes radiospots.

We want to have a library so we dont have to spend to much time recording foley ourselfs.

Is soundminer the best SFX audio handler if you are working with PT HD7?

regards
Benny

Another vote for Hollywood Edge, although I have a lot of different libraries. I like their company and their licenses are straightforward.

[Energie]

I have used Sound Ideas for a bit, and have some hollywood edge stuff. All very good. However, I am very delightfully surprised at a company called Digital Juice''s Sound efx package. I have their 1 and II, and they just released their 3rd library. It really kills what you will get quantity, and I say on par quality wise, as the big boys, for much much cheaper. I recently did a project and ended up using lots from thier sfx discs. Right now they are seling their 3rd package for like 120 bucks, insane cheap. I actualy got to contribute a little with some music cues for I and II.

The only drawback is that it is dependent on their software, which comes with it, so you load in the discs and previews, boot up their software to do your searches and then export to where you want. It adds an extra step, but isn't too annoying, I guess, and you can do batch conversions to different formats and stuff up to 96k.

Check it out

Digital Juice - The Leader in Royalty Free Professional Animations, Stock Footage, Music, Layered Graphics, Clip Art and Templates



I think the early 6000 sound ideas series is getting quit dated personally, I would almost say start after disc 40, but just a thought. best of luck. Combining libraries is a great idea, there is always different takes or missing stuff that is found on a variety.

[starcrash13]

We want to have a library so we dont have to spend to much time recording foley ourselfs.

This statement is confusing to me. Performed foley is generally much faster than cutting in library effects. That's why it's also more expensive to hire a foley crew. Perhaps this comes down to Charles' point and there's a different usage of the term. If we're talking about footsteps, props, movement, hand grabs, etc., then forget about commercial libraries. Either record it yourself guerilla-style or hire a foley crew. You mentioned "features" and I think filling an entire feature's foley using cut sound effects from a library is a huge waste of time and effort. Plus, it will never sound as good as custom recordings or a good foley artist and foley mixer.

If I misunderstood you, then my apologies. For general sound effects, I much prefer most of the Hollywood Edge stuff compared to Sound Ideas. I find the HE stuff to be more usable and fitting into the track, whereas a lot of the SI stuff sounds to clean, close, and artificial for feature work. My opinion, of course.

Back to Charles' argument about the strict usage of the term "Foley". Though I agree that you are technically correct, and I've heard that same argument made by others including Randy Thom, I make certain exceptions. I've cut foley on several feature films and the elements that I've provided to the mixer are almost always beyond what was performed by the Foley artists. I always go out and record stuff in natural spaces with real world props to supplement the Foley track. I still consider this foley, albeit "guerilla foley." I find this stuff greatly enhances the traditional Foley that is recorded on the Foley stage. Also, I have a library of recordings made by Foley artists on Foley stages that I use as sweeteners or to replace stuff I'm not happy with from the Foley stage. I still call this stuff foley because that is the context for which it will be used. I feel weird calling a recording of a hand rubbing a face or footsteps in gravel a "cut sound effect". For practical purposes, it makes sense to still categorize that stuff as foley or at least foley-type sounds. In my Soundminer database the category for that stuff is FOLEY.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by starcrash13

For general sound effects, I much prefer most of the Hollywood Edge stuff compared to Sound Ideas. I find the HE stuff to be more usable and fitting into the track, whereas a lot of the SI stuff sounds to clean, close, and artificial for feature work. My opinion, of course.

Another way to put it (if you also do radio spots, like me) is that HE stuff tends to work better with picture, while SI stuff often works better for non-picture applications, and sometimes animation, too.

That said, I try to Foley stuff whenever possible because a.) it's fun, and b). it's a performance. Let's say you have to put in the sound of an angry guy opening a door. A canned sound effect will just sound like an opening door. But if you perform it, you can open the door angrily. Huge difference.

[yazoo]

Thanks for your opinions!
---
[QUOTE=starcrash13;1674225]This statement is confusing to me. Performed foley is generally much faster than cutting in library effects.

I agree! but I am often by myself and do alot of short commercial spots.

And then I think its quite handy to have a good foley SFX kind of library to go to.
Our foley room is to small to make bigger kind of sounding foley and we dont
have much foley props either.

I need a good general foley library I think.

Sorry If I confused you
---
So HE is great stuff maybe the Premiere Edition 1-7 pack is first on the list for us then, 3000$? and maybe one of the general libraries from SI and some specials (foley, stingers...) cd if the budget isnt reached??

regards
benny

[starcrash13]

Like Brent, I would also highly recommend Soundminer. Hollywood Edge libraries come with Soundminer metadata pre-embedded now.

[seanmccoy]

Anybody have any experience, good or bad, with these guys?

Sound Effects, Production Music, Loops and Ringtones at AudioSparx

[Mydog_Nixon]

Soundminer is a must IMHO. It will help you organize and keep track of all of your effects. I just upgraded to V4 and it has some cool new search functions. As for the Libraries, I agree with Georgia, but you should also check out Sound Designers toolkit from Hollywood Edge.

[soundboy]

Back to Charles' argument about the strict usage of the term "Foley". Though I agree that you are technically correct, and I've heard that same argument made by others including Randy Thom, I make certain exceptions. I've cut foley on several feature films and the elements that I've provided to the mixer are almost always beyond what was performed by the Foley artists. I always go out and record stuff in natural spaces with real world props to supplement the Foley track. I still consider this foley, albeit "guerilla foley." I find this stuff greatly enhances the traditional Foley that is recorded on the Foley stage. Also, I have a library of recordings made by Foley artists on Foley stages that I use as sweeteners or to replace stuff I'm not happy with from the Foley stage. I still call this stuff foley because that is the context for which it will be used. I feel weird calling a recording of a hand rubbing a face or footsteps in gravel a "cut sound effect". For practical purposes, it makes sense to still categorize that stuff as foley or at least foley-type sounds. In my Soundminer database the category for that stuff is FOLEY.[/QUOTE]

I'm not a purist. If it works, do it.
But for the sake of discussions on these boards, it's always good to clarify. Particularly for the folks who are new to this stuff. Here is a question for you. You can cut a phone p/u from a library, and it's a cut effect. If you do it on a foley stage, it's foley. Same for a punch. You can cut in a punch from a library and its FX. Slap a chicken on the foley stage, and its foley.

[yazoo]

Thank you all for your replies!

We are going to start with HE premiere 1-7 and Soundminer.

regards
Benny