I remember precisely the moment when I began to think of field recording differently. I began to see sound effects as more than data files produced by metal and plastic in France, December 2002.
At that time I was dating a woman who lived in Bordeaux. We visited the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. They were hosting a special exhibit of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. Modigliani is known for his style of crafting mask-like, elongated faces.
She was a fan of his work, and I asked why. Her answer surprised me. It had a large influence on the way I think about field recording. Of course, I didn’t make the connection between painting and recording sound effects then. That happened years later.
I was thinking of this when responding to a recent reader email. The reader was asking about posting their library online:
How will my sound effects perform? Will people buy my collection? Is selling a sound library a viable way to make a living?
The answer to each of these questions is commonly thought of in terms of competition. If you’re planning to share your work, and earning money from it, you’ve likely thought about your competition. This is common whether you’re cutting in an edit suite, or creating a shop online.
So, in today’s post, I’ll explain how you can evade competition and share clips that fans will be thrilled to support.
What was that comment that influenced me? How did I apply it to field recording? How can this help you share sound effects and sidestep competition?
I’ll explain more at the end of the article.
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