At the end of every year I share a retrospective on the field recording articles of the previous year. If you’re new here, it’s a good way to get an overview of what the site’s about.
I’ve included a brief comment with each article describing what it is about, and why I wrote it.
Thank you everyone who visited, commented, Tweeted, and emailed in 2013!
When 2013 began, I decided that I wanted to focus on writing about sharing sound effects. That became a major theme for the blog, and I also released a book about the topic, Selling Creative Sound.
I branched out into a few other themes, notably interviews, and community.
Interviews
In 2013 I introduced a new feature: interviews. I wanted to share provoking ideas from exceptional people in sound.
- How to Enhance Field Recordings with Story and Passion – Interview with Rob Nokes. I spoke with Sounddogs.com founder Rob Nokes about the role of narrative in field recording.
- Creating an Experience with Sound Effects – Interview with Frank Bry. Indie sound library master Frank Bry shared his ideas on recording clips in a way to convey an experience beyond the sound itself.
- Bringing Sound Effects to Your Community – Interview with Shaun Farley. Farley discussed an important step for field recordists: how to share sound, why that’s important, and his experiences with both.
- Helping Field Recordists Share Libraries – Q & A with Asbjoern Andersen of A Sound Effect. In this post, Andersen shared his thoughts behind launching the sound library portal, asoundeffect.com.
- Q and A with Mike Mike Niederquell. Niederquell owns audibleworlds.com, and last year he launched a community field recording project. The post considers how this can be a good way for a field recordist to explore their personal style.
Technique
I wrote a few posts about field recording itself, and the step that follows it, mastering. The posts share tips, find inspiration, and explore new ideas.
Field Recording
- Slating your sound effects is a brief step when capturing field recordings. It’s a vital one, though. I explored why in a two-part series (article one, article two).
- How to Record Gun Sound Effects – A List of Resources. Recording gun sound clips is tricky. This post shares links to other sites that teach you how to get it done.
- A Playbook for Capturing Tricky Sound Effects. How do you grow to record more advanced sound fx? This post explores ideas.
Mastering
- Mastering is typically thought of something that happens after you finish recording sound. I wrote a two part series exploring considering mastering during field recording (article one, article two).
- 8 Quick & Easy Sound Effects Mastering Tips. This two-part series described small tricks to help mastering go smoothly (article one, article two).
Sharing Sound
As 2013’s theme, sharing sound comprised the majority of the posts.
- How to Build an Irresistible Sound Library To Evade Competition. This article explains why you should stop worrying about competition, and what you can do to make your sound library unique.
- How to Share Your Sound Library Safely. This post explores the risks of sharing creative work, and how to protect your sound library.
- Four Ways to Sell Sound Effects. This two-part series explored the state of sharing sound effects from two perspectives: what to avoid, and the future.
- In a two-part series, I examined a vital part to sharing audio: a sound effect’s name (article one, article two).
- Selling Sound Checklist – What You Need to Share SFX Online. This post broke down the nuts and bolts requirements for sharing audio on other websites.
- What’s Best for FX Web Shops? Stripe vs. PayPal Review. Every sound shop needs a decent checkout. This article examined two options.
- How to Create an Irresistible Sound Library Preview. This article explored how to design the “elevator pitch of a sound library”: a sound effects preview montage.
Community
Field recordists often work on their own. That doesn’t mean that we’re alone. There are thousands of us worldwide. I explored some ways to connect with others in these posts.
- SoundCloud Field Recording Community List. A list of cool groups in the audio sharing site behemoth.
- I created two new community resource pages on the site: a list of blogs, and a list of web shops. Each entry has some notes on what you can expect when you visit.
Mixed Posts
These posts are a mix of other themes I like to write about here: creativity, pro audio, productivity, and more.
- I sometimes share other cool audio websites I find. Here’s roundup #4, and roundup #5.
- 4 Tips to Help Break Into Pro Sound. Trouble finding a pro audio job? These tips help.
- 9 Ways for Sound Pros to Beat Motivational Funk. Tips to help sound pros get work done.
- Field Recording Lecture & The Impact of Your Ideas. I discussed why sharing ideas through sound is important for both beginners and pros.
- Field Report: Honda Indy 2013 – Putting Analysis & Articulation to Work. I describe a three-day shoot recording high performance race cars, and how to wrestle with such a large field recording session.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted regularly. However, I have eight articles lined up already for 2014.
Curious about field recording or sharing sound? Feel free to ask me what you’d like to read about.
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