SoundMiner - Has anyone had experience using it?

[T&V Marino]

Hi Everyone,

We've been wrestling with the idea (and EXPENSE!!!!) of purchasing SoundMiner. It can be really handy for imbedding metadata and delivering music to Music Editors, Music Supervisors, Production Companies, Ad Agencies, etc. It seems like it's now the standard in the music industry. However, it's very costly and super time-consuming to get it up and running. Several of our friends said it took them MONTHS, not just hours or days -- and they're full-time composers and publishers. YIKES!!

Has anyone had any first-hand knowledge and experience using it, and if so, is it worth it? And, do you have the "cheap" version or the "extravagant" version? Or have you found a simlilar, yet just as effective, program?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

~ Tracey & Vance Marino

[mazz]

I've thought about it after seeing it at the NAB show last year. The low end version doesn't seem to do what I would need it to do (enter the metadata for one thing, last time I checked) and the high end version is really just overkill.

My question is this: Why do you think you need it?

If your answer is: We have hundreds of tracks that we are trying to license ourselves, then I would say go for it.

If your answer is: We want to enter metadata in our tunes to make it a bit easier for our clients, then I would say there are easier ways to do it, like the basic fields in iTunes, for instance.

IMO they need to come out with a version that basically lets a content creator easily enter the metadata, someone who doesn't necessarily need all the database features, just the basics.

Actually I'd love to see an application geared towards composers, Soundminer seems to be geared toward end users, the folks that need to search large catalogs of material. The problem is, they need to make it easier for the creators to enter the data, because, as we know, a database is only as good as the data that's in it.

Just my 2c. I've not made the leap because it really doesn't serve my needs at this time.

YMMV

Mazz

EDIT: Soundminer HD Plus seems to be the way to go and it's 399.00, which isn't bad (compared to 899 and up for the full version!), a full version of FileMaker Pro might cost that much and you'd have to design a database yourself:

http://store.soundminer.com/mac-win-hd- ... ndows.html

Looking at the specs it seems you can add the Metadata yourself, which is what you want to do. The low end versions only allow searching. This version wasn't out yet the last time I looked at their website.

[greatmoves]

Hey TV

Personally, I would not get anything that knowingly up front, takes (the time you stated) that long to get up and running. I fuss way too much with the software that I use to create this music (and I let them know it). I say wait and sooner or later (hopefully sooner) they will make it "WYSIWYG" or something. If we don't buy it, they will want to know why... Write to them and tell them why you are "on the fence" as far as purchasing their product...

It's just like these makers of DAW app's they want you to Read The Manual Like its a novel, they take forever to explain something that in the end could have been explained more succinctly yet the third party manual writers are more concise. They (DAW manual writers) can make things clearer and so should you... Write to Them!


Just my 2Cents... no this is about 75Cents
BB

[T&V Marino]

Thanks for your input, guys. It's always appreciated!

To answer your question Mazz: Yes, we have hundreds of tracks that we're starting to license ourselves. We just happened to hook up with three music supervisors last week at three different events (what are the odds???) and one of them needs some music for a new show -- in just a few days. She needs to have all of the tracks imbedded with the metadata, which we can do, but it seems like SoundMiner might help if there are requests like this in the future.

Another music supervisor we met is starting his own music library and needs to have the tracks imbedded and sent to him via SoundMiner -- and he needs the music with this information on mp3s, wav files, AND AIF(F) files. From our experience, iTunes won't imbed the data on AIF files.

Looks like we'll be shelling out some serious $$ in the next month if SoundMiner is the best way to do it!

~ T&V

[llama]

Hey Guys. You might want to consider Basehead. It is less expensive then Soundminer and seems to do most all that Soundminer can. I use it to keep tabs on my sound effects libraries for video game gigs but it can equally be used to tag music files too. It handles WAV, MP3, AIFF, WMA, OGG etc etc. Anyways the website is

http://www.baseheadinc.com

They do a free trial too.

HTH
Derek.

[matto]

Thanks for your input, guys. It's always appreciated!

To answer your question Mazz: Yes, we have hundreds of tracks that we're starting to license ourselves. We just happened to hook up with three music supervisors last week at three different events (what are the odds???) and one of them needs some music for a new show -- in just a few days. She needs to have all of the tracks imbedded with the metadata, which we can do, but it seems like SoundMiner might help if there are requests like this in the future.

Another music supervisor we met is starting his own music library and needs to have the tracks imbedded and sent to him via SoundMiner -- and he needs the music with this information on mp3s, wav files, AND AIF(F) files. From our experience, iTunes won't imbed the data on AIF files.

Looks like we'll be shelling out some serious $$ in the next month if SoundMiner is the best way to do it!

~ T&V

Can you hire someone to do the tagging for you?
This would save you from having to spend the money on the software, spend hours learning how to use it AND then spend more hours doing the actual tagging.
Unless of course you enjoy such tasks...

Yes it might be cheaper in the long run to buy the software and do it yourself...but perhaps not if you also factor in that every hour you spend tagging is an hour you're not spending composing...which I assume is what you really want to be doing...

I know if I had hundreds of tracks to tag, that's a task I would want to delegate...

matto