NEWS – Database

Von: David Hirst via cec conference

Datum: Fri, 29 Jul 2016

Betreff: Re: [cec-c] Database

Sound Databases

Ways of categorising and organising sound files on computer usually

start with organising sounds into directories or folder according to

some kind of categorisation. This traditional system is a hierarchical

system, with sounds stored in different levels of classification from

general to specific. This system starts to break down when a large

number of files and/or a large number of attributes makes finding

something, by searching manually, long and laborious. Using database

techniques means “tagged” files can be saved anywhere and then retrieved

using semi-automated search techniques.

Describing, tagging and categorising sound files

Describing, tagging and categorising sound files can be though of as two

main types:

Metadata tagging – Describing the file with attributes like Title,

Date, Composer, Artist, Genre, Sampling rate, bit rate, etc. Often

this type of data can be stored within the sound file, e.g. mp3,

WAV. This is usually a combination of data within the sound file

standard, and “hand-curated” data that is entered by hand by a

person. It is the sort of data used by music sales companies like

iTunes, which combines this information with music listener

information, in order to market music. Sometimes composers, sound

designers, and librarians want to add extra descriptors and

categories that must sit outside the sound file itself. Attributes

like: where, when, and what was recorded. Plus descriptions of

physical attributes of the sound (long/short, high/low), semantic

references (dog bark), and onomatopoeic references (whooshing sound)

etc etc. Metadata tagging produces a textual list of attributes.

Tagging using physical data derived from the sound – Usually this is

achieved by mathematical analysis of the sound file to produce

specific data from the sound file like: event onset times, spectral

centroid, spectral flux, pitch tracking, loudness, number of zero

crossings, etc, etc. The aim, in this case, is to reduce the sample

rate data to a specific (smaller) “vector” of attributes. Such

vectors can lead to the “finger-printing” of a file which can be

used to find similar files etc. e.g. Shazam. Physical signal

analysis produces a vector of attributes in text and numbers.

Regarding Metadata Programs

Paul Virostek has two articles on the creativefieldrecording.com site:

This one is an intro to Metadata:

http://www.creativefieldrecording.com/2014/06/12/an-introduction-to-sound-fx-metadata-apps-1-how-they-work/

And this one reviews various sound metadata apps:

http://www.creativefieldrecording.com/2014/06/17/an-introduction-to-sound-fx-metadata-apps-2-comparing-apps/

Program Links

Here is a list of the reviewed metadata programs, and more. Most of the

commercial products have entry level and pro versions for people on

different budgets. Paul Virostek’s review concludes with suggestions for

people on various budgets:

Full-Featured Metadata Apps

Soundminer (Win/Mac) – from $199.00 to $899.00 Soundminer HD is a cut

down version, see store.soundminer.com/mac-win-hd-product.html

And read their Metadata white paper here:

http://www.soundminer.com/current/MI_Whitepaper.pdf

Basehead (Win/Mac) – http://www.baseheadinc.com

Library Monkey (Mac) – http://www.monkey-tools.com/products/

AudioFinder (Mac) – http://www.icedaudio.com/site/

ifoundasound – has been discontinued, but still has a free version

online for Windows users: ifoundasound.com/?page_id=6

Get soundly replaces ifoundasound and works with online libraries like

freesound.org , but Soundly can also index all

your local sound effects, see getsoundly.com

Apple iTunes (Win/Mac) Free – can be shoe-horned to include search and

metadata functions.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Simpler Metadata Editing Apps

Digital Confidence’s MetadataTouch (Win) $60 $80 –

http://www.digitalconfidence.com/MetadataTouch.html

TwistedWave (Mac) $80 – twistedwave.com/mac.html

Sound Devices Wave Agent (Win/Mac) Free with registration –

http://www.sounddevices.com/support/downloads/wave-agent

BWF MetaEdit (Win/Mac) – (free) bwfmetaedit.sourceforge.net

Splat Sound FX Database (Win) – (free) gersic.com/splat/

Limit Point Software’s Commenteer (Mac) –

http://www.limitpointstore.com/products/commenteer/

(Or purchase from the Apple App Store – $20)

Read-Only Metadata Apps

Snapper $79 – is like a quick look tool for Macs:

http://www.audioease.com/snapper/

but could be used in conjunction with Commenteer and the Finder to

classify and find files.