Frequently Asked Questions

The .ra88 files included with some libraries are pre-built sampler patches for Soundminer's amazing sampler Radium. They use content from the libraries and are just fun ways to explore using the sounds for users of Radium.

They are ways to 'perform' the sounds, and in the case of Ghost Town Footsteps and Mockingbird, the Radium patches may be the best way to utilize the sounds.

For other libraries these are simply bonus files for owners of Soundminer and Radium.

Sound Libraries and Tutorials are delivered as multi-part .zip files.

Download all parts and double-click the first part (ending in .001), and this should decompress all files into a single folder containing the content. I highly recommend using programs The Unarchiver on Mac: https://theunarchiver.com/ or 7zip on Windows: https://www.7-zip.org.

These utilities are entirely free and have proven to be the most reliable decompressing applications for decompressing files.

Absolutely. As the creator of UCS (Universal Category System), all files from Sonofex and its partners contain robust and consistent metadata. This includes full Soundminer Metadata and full broadcast wave descriptions.

The filenames are also all UCS compliant, with three alternative filenames included in the metadata spreadsheet.

Please find the video on the UCS YouTube channel about UCS Renamer, an app for the Mac (Sorry, no Windows at this time) that will show how to take the alternate filenames available from a spreadsheet and rename files. Three alt-filenames are also stored in the Soundminer Metadata.

With robust Metadata, it would be reasonably easy in something like Soundminer to devise your own workflow to create custom filenames with the information you want.

No. And I wish no one else would as well.

32-bit is a useful acquisition format. It can prevent clipping and salvage an otherwise ruined recording. But it makes zero sense as a delivery format. Here's why.

A 24-bit file, if properly mastered, can contain more than any usable volume range anyone would need. 16-bit files, if properly mastered, can store 96dB of dynamic range. That is plenty of dynamic range for most things. 24-bit files can store up to 144dB of total dynamic range, far exceeding the level anyone would encounter and far beyond the playback systems of any cinema or home theater.

A 32-float file could store up to 1,500dB of total dynamic range. This is an absurd amount of range. You would never encounter a situation where anyone would need that dynamic range in a delivered file. Once recorded, any files recorded at 32-bit should be mastered and delivered at 24-bit.

To do otherwise is simply a waste of space.

A 192kHz file is excellent at storing high sample rate information that may be present in the recording. But to record those frequencies, specialized microphones such as the Sanken CO-100k are needed in the first place.

I've seen libraries sold at 192kHz and 32-bit that were recorded on a Rode NTG1. This makes absolutely no sense. That microphone cannot record high sample rates.

I own two Sanken CO-100k and other microphones capable of high sampling rate recordings, and if they were used in making a library, I often deliver 96kHz or 192kHz files. I often also deliver mastered half-speed and quarter-speed recordings by slowing down high sample rate recordings, which are delivered at 96kHz (half-speed) and 48kHz (quarter-speed).

For straightforward ambiance libraries, which may have been recorded on something like a Sony D-100 and are unlikely ever to be pitch-shifted downwards, there is little use in distributing them as anything higher than 48kHz files.

Doing so would simply be wasting space.

I often master files I record three times. Once at original speed, again at half speed, and again at quarter speed, primarily if my Sanken CO-100k mics were used. Mastering specifically at these speeds allows me to tweak each mastering pass to the content and speed. Often slowing down a sound opens new artistic possibilities.

Often, slowing down a sound reveals new issues that must be addressed in the mastering phase. For example, if de-noising is needed, a different profile will be needed, at least for the different speeds, as pitching the file also pitches the noise floor.

Yes, but my time is usually severely limited. But I have done custom SFX recording and design many times for many clients.

Feel free to contact me if you want to hire me for a project. Depending on my schedule, I may also be available to consult on Metadata or UCS Projects.

In theory, yes, but again my time has become very limited. But I've done many guest spots remotely and in person for various organizations and schools. I've also traveled to Germany, Denmark, and Finland to teach classes. I'm always up for an adventure!

I do, but I don't sell vehicles or gun libraries for one main reason:

Other people are better at it than I am.

And I don't particularly LIKE cars or guns, or cutting them, or recording them. Both are art forms that others do better, and I know I cannot compete with them, so I don't try.

Mostly, I record what interests me and what I hope will interest or be helpful to others.

I try to think of things I haven't yet seen many people recording or selling before, and I'm interested in somewhat esoteric smaller libraries of neat sounds or something that may be out there already, but that would be fun to record and may still interest people.

This question would require a book.

At the moment, I have over 50 microphones of nearly every style made. Stereo, surround, shotgun, contact, hydrophone, EMF, parabolic... And I have over 20 recorders as well currently. I use what setup will best benefit the thing that I'm recording. And sometimes, simply whatever recorder I have handy.

The truth is that these days, we can use excellent quality recording gear at a very low cost. A Zoom H1N is a $100 recorder that can sound incredibly good. The entire Philippines library was recorded on Zoom H1 and H1N recorders.

While still a student at USC in the graduate film program, a professor sold me my first 'professional' microphones, a set of Schoeps that I built into an MS Rig. This I paired an HHB Portdat, and a Grace Design Lunatec V3 Preamp with a custom M/S Circuit built for me.

At the time, that HHB PortaDat was the most beautiful machine I'd ever seen, and still the most expensive recorder I've ever purchased. It has long since been retired and sold, but those original microphone are still going strong, although it was sold to a colleague years ago.

Although I would not consider myself a hardcore nature recordist like many people I know, I still love to record nature, particularly water. The shore of Lake Superior was one of the very first recordings I ever made, and I still love recording water in all forms: surf, waves, and rain.

I also love all things ambiance. I love to be transported to a new place simply by listening to the sounds recorded there.

Check the About-Links page for links to two great Slack channels, the Field Recording Slack Group, and the Echo Slack Group. Both are great places to meet others, get involved with Crowdsourcing (See also the Crowdsourcing page on this site), and ask questions.

I also want to continue adding new YouTube videos about recording, gear, and techniques to our channel. During the pandemic, I held four Zoom workshops on microphones, recording, mastering, and metadata. My goal in 2024 is to turn this into a proper course on sound effects recording.

I intend not to. There are some bundle discounts available if you combine certain products but I have priced my libraries I feel very competitively already. As such I do not intend to run sales.