Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/724677
SOUND LIBRARIES www.postmagazine.com 32 POST SEPTEMBER 2016 would be appropriate for each series, based on budget and network stipula- tions. When starting work on a renewed series, such as America: Facts vs. Fiction, which is in its fourth season, Schwab looks at what worked in the previous season and what didn't. "I will work out deals with the various music libraries, which is usually about three or four per show," explains Schwab, who prefers working with libraries that deliver the majority of their catalog on a drive. "That way we can have it on our server. We also look at their Website for new material and bring that in as well." For example, if an editor finds a particular album online that will work for the show, it's downloaded and copied onto Workaholic's server. One production music library that Schwab finds particularly useful for America: Facts vs. Fiction is Killer Tracks (www.killertracks.com). Since the se- ries researches myths and legends from America's past, Schwab needs music that pertains to particular periods in time. "We have historical footage, or we're doing a recreation of a historical event. Killer Tracks is a great music library. It has a lot of music that evokes a specific era," says Schwab. Additionally, Schwab likes how Killer Tracks organizes its catalog into albums with common themes, like Christmas albums or Western albums, or how an album will contain music from a common era. "Being organized that way enables us to find music that we're looking for. If we have an idea of how we want to score a scene, then we can pull up specific themed albums and find tracks that fit," he says. Although Schwab likes having the majority of the music library on a drive, he feels that production music companies still need an effective search engine and updated online presence. "Our workflow is getting faster and so it's helpful when libraries constantly update their search engines. When we can search for tracks quickly and download them quickly, that's important," shares Schwab. As another suggestion on improving efficiency, Schwab recommends that production music companies send out pe- riodic emails listing new tracks or albums they've recently added to their catalog. "That way, I can go right to them, go through them, and see if they're something the editor might be able to use," he says. Finally, Schwab would like to see pro- duction music companies offer stems for their songs. "If we find a track we like, but let's say there are vocals on it and we can't use it with vocals, then it's important that all of the stems are available immediately so that we can take out elements that won't work for our project," says Schwab. If the vocals are embedded and no stems are available for immediate download, Schwab has to request the stems from the music company. Or, forgo offering that track as a possibility for the producers to audition. "It really helps our workflow to be more effi- cient if every track has stems available, so we can pick and choose if we want drums or if we want vocals. It's nice for an editor to be able to just take those elements out with a click of a button." SOUNDLY Sound designer/mixer JC Richardson, CAS, at Cohere Media (www.cohere-media.com) in Atlanta, has a rich history in designing sound for animated series — Archer, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and even Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Animation gives Richardson the opportunity to create every sound from scratch — room tones and clothing rustles, and more designed elements, like the sound of characters being shrunk and then injected into a body in an homage to The Fantastic Voyage. Richardson says, "I've been working with my main animation client going on 17 years now. Altogether, I've been doing this for 25 years and still love coming to work!" Richardson recently teamed up with his long-time colleagues and friends to form Cohere Media. The group includes Kevin Thomas handling the video editing and compositing duties at Cohere Media's location in Atlanta, and Darin Prindle, who is based in the UK. The group covers a wide range of projects, from American animations to documentaries for the BBC and ITV. Recently, they completed work on a four-part series for BBC. Being a sound designer, Richardson relies heavily on his sound effects library. Anything he can do to access his sounds more quickly really benefits his work. He says, "I was a long time Soundminer user. Basically the shortcuts were built into my muscle memory, and it got pretty fast and intuitive for me. But, I was always looking for something different." Richardson read a post by Pro Tools Expert blogger Mike Thornton about a cloud-based sound effects management tool and marketplace called Soundly (www.getsoundly.com). Pro subscription users can index/search all of their local sound effects, search and use thousands of free effects provided by Soundly, purchase independent sound libraries directly within the Soundly app, and drag-and-drop any effects from Soundly into a compatible project. "The thing that really got me was the 'cloud' component," says Richardson. "If you're on the pro subscription plan of $15/month, then you have access to Soundly's large library that is always get- ting updated with sounds. It always feels like I'm auditioning fresh sounds, which in turn will inspire me to go in a direction I hadn't planned on." Richardson likes that he can tailor his searches to include all his local libraries and the cloud library, or just search a selected library or two. This is helpful for Richardson since he has specific sound effects that are only used for a specific show. Those effects are kept in their own database that Richardson can easily get to. Whether searching through his local librar- ies or searching the cloud-based library, Richardson says there's no noticeable difference in speed. "What really amazes Steven Schwab The Soundly team added many of Richardson's (right) suggestions.