Tips on Editing Sound Effects for a Sound Effect Library

June 28, 2008
by SFXsource

Editing your raw audio recordings into professional quality sound effects is the step that takes place after the initial recording period. Hunt down an audio editing software that has eqs, the ability to cut audio, normalization, and fade in/out capabilites. You may use either a freeware readily found online or purchase one of the many digital audio workstations (DAW) available on the web.

First import all of your raw .wav recordings into the software of your choice. Try to import 40 or so for efficiency, though you may attack one at a time, and solo each track for editing which mutes all tracks except the one with which you are working. Now you are ready to edit your sounds and then bounce them into completed sound effects. The following points will assist the quality and efficiency of your work.

1. Use normalization on each recorded sample first. Normalization increases the amplitude of each .wav file, in other works amps the volume as loud as can be.

2. Secondly, some frequencies may affect the quality of your sound effect and you should use eq to eradicate these sonic culprits. A great sounding bird chirp, for example, may be compromised by an offending air conditioner. But, by cutting all frequencies below 2,000 Hz you can get rid of the AC and keep the lovely bird sound.

3. Once you’ve gotten a strong and clean as possible .wav file find a good starting point that beings clean and create a nice ending either through a fade out or even better letting the sound fade out itself giving 1-2 seconds of air after the sound effect for the natural reverb to ring out.

5. Mix down a 48k 24bit stereo .wav file to be used for video productions. Such 48k 24bit stereo files earn the most money as they are valued by video editors and producers for their higher quality.

5. Make as many versions of each sound recording as possible to increase your number of products. For example, if you have a dog barking 20 times then create sound effects with one bark, three barks, six barks, 10 barks etc. switching up the combinations of barks. This could easily give you 50 or more sound effects from just that one sequence of dog barks.

6. Use pitch shift and other effects to create new versions of each sound to increase your number of products. For example, a burp sound effect could be pitch shifted down to create a monster burp sound and pitch shifted up to create a more childlike sounding burp.

With some prior knowledge of audio editing, one can follow the above tips to take raw audio recordings and create professional quality sound effects that can be licensed for profit to media creators.

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