METADATA (UCS)

For file metadata, I use UCS (Universal Category System); a public domain initiative that is supported by sound librarians, vendors, and users from around the globe. UCS’s aims to provide and encourage a set category list for sounds, to ease the pain of navigating big libraries, Here is the full list below.

If you would like to learn more about UCS. Please check out their website here which goes into more depth about everything.

Here is an example of one of our metadata tables.

Displayed in the table, each file name begins with the CatID followed by EXT (External) or INT (Internal), indicating whether the sound was recorded outside or inside. Following this, there is a short description of each sound, using keywords and an explanation of what you are hearing. A spectrogram from iZotope RX 10 Audio Editor is also included, giving the viewer a clear idea of the track's relationship to time, frequency, and amplitude before purchasing.

The further columns display the primary track and recording information of Length, Sample Rate, Bit Depth, Channels, Mono or Stereo Classification, Microphone, Field Recorder, Location and Date, File Format, Category ID, Library, and Sound Creator.

There is an additional field titled "Notes", which details whether the file has been edited or altered in any way between the raw media and file for download, for example, if a plane is included in an ambience track, this will be removed. I felt it was vital to be completely transparent about the recordings and any editing done, although I aim to keep audio recordings as unedited and raw as possible, especially when recording natural sounds and ambience. Please see the Mixing And Mastering page for more information on editing and my techniques.