Frequently Asked Questions
Overview:-Use of Soundeffects.ch Products Detailed OverviewUse of Soundeffects.ch ProductsWhat Rights do I get when I buy a Soundeffects.ch product? -Royalty Free Sound Effects Products Definitions
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Use of Soundeffects.ch ProductsWhat Rights do I get when I buy a Soundeffects.ch product? Royalty Free Sound Effects Products: Soundeffects.ch’ royalty free sound effects products are sold with their synchronization rights, as described in the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement. Performing rights do not apply to sound effects. Except as specifically identified in the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement, you are not authorized to copy or re-distribute our sound effects, unless they are synchronized in timed relation with your production. Is there a License Agreement for your sound effects? Yes there is. Soundeffects.ch's sound effects are sold under the terms and conditions stated in the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement. Can I use Soundeffects.ch’s sound effects in my music? Yes you can. Under the terms of the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement, this qualifies as synchronizing our sounds with other audio content. Can I use Soundeffects.ch’s sound effects in my computer game? Yes you can, provided that the sounds are embedded in the code of your game and are not available for an end-user to access or download. If your application allows the end-user to access or download unsynchronized sounds, you should contact Soundeffects.ch to arrange supplemental authorization for the use of the sound effects. Do I have to pay you more if I include your sound effects in a production that will be broadcast on radio or TV? Soundeffects.ch's sound effects are sold as royalty free products. This means that you do not need to pay any additional money to Soundeffects.ch if a production is going to be broadcast or performed publicly. Can Soundeffects.ch sound effects be used for live theatre productions? Yes. Our sound effects can be incorporated into a live theatre production, either through the creation of a cued tape or CD created specially for the production, or through use of a direct cue from the original library CD. These uses meet Soundeffects.ch's definition of synchronization and therefore fall within the rights granted under our Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement. DefinitionsAt Soundeffects.ch, we record, design and publish thousands of different single isolated sounds, special effects and background ambiences. These include everyday sound effects like doorbells, car horns and telephone rings, specialty sounds like fantasy and science fiction FX and musical accents, and longer background ambience tracks to make the listener really feel like they are in places like a courtroom, a church, a train station, a thunderstorm or a jungle. A simple definition of Copyright is the "right to copy, publish or perform". It is a way of expressing the legal exclusive right of ownership. Soundeffects.ch is the registered copyright owner of its sound effects. Synchronization is the term that describes the way in which soundeffects.ch’s sound effects can be utilized in productions that you create. A sound can be synchronized with a visual presentation (the sound of a creaky door timed perfectly to be heard when a door opens), or with other audio material such as a voice over - as in the case of a radio commercial. A sound can be synchronized for use in many media: television, radio, film, multimedia and audio-visual presentations, Web sites, computer games and music. Soundeffects.ch’s royalty free products are sold with their synchronization rights as described in the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreement. The rights to re-sell, re-publish or otherwise distribute Soundeffects.ch's sound effects are not obtained with your acquisition of synchronization rights to our products. When you use our sound effects, they must be synchronized within a multimedia presentation, film, Web site, game, audio-visual production or broadcast. What are Synchronization Rights? With a synchronization license, you gain permission to reproduce a musical composition within an audio-visual media form (like films, TV programs, commercial announcements, music videos, multimedia or other visual presentations). The music is generally synchronized and/or recorded in timed relation with the visual images, graphic design or voiceover. Soundeffects.ch’s sound effects are sold as royalty free (or buyout) products and their use is governed by the Soundeffects.ch End User License Agreemen.When you buy a Soundeffects.ch library, you buy the rights to synchronize the sounds with your productions. While you own the physical CDs or DVD’s that make up the library and you are allowed to synchronize them for use in your productions - the sounds and their copyright will always belong to either Soundeffects.ch or the copyright holder of the product. A sampler device permits the recording (sampling) and replay (playback) of audio in a digital format - so a sampled sound is one that has been digitized and stored in the RAM memory of a sampler. The sampler allows the digitized audio file to be amplified and manipulated in different ways, for example: playback of the sampled sound at a different speed will alter its pitch. Samplers vary in their purpose and capabilities - some of them can be used to record and edit the different notes of almost any instrument - a piano, a flute, drums, or whatever you need to simulate the sound of a full orchestra or band. Use of a MIDI keyboard with a sampler allows you to "play" a full range of notes for the instrument(s) of your choice. Some samplers are also designed to offer sound effects and accents as well as music and percussion sounds, and many samplers have the ability to "loop" an audio file, which means that you can extend the playback time of the note just by holding down the key longer. Features like these make samplers and sampled sound very versatile for the production of customized audio. What is meant by CD Audio or Red Book Audio format? Red Book Audio refers to the technical standards that have been set by the audio industry for the physical production of CDs, such as the overall dimension of the CD, the size of the CD hole and how the audio is burned on to the CD. This CD Audio format is not the same as the format of wav or MP3 files. CD Audio is designed for listening on a CD Player. If you have a multimedia program installed on your computer that will play standard audio CDs, you will be able to use your CD ROM drive to play back and listen to the sound effects or music on the CD. Unless otherwise stated, Sound Ideas' products are produced in the Red Book CD Audio format. Foley recording is a specialty technique, designed to produce simulated everyday and extreme sounds for synchronization and audio sound replacement usage in motion pictures. Without the magic of Foley, you would never hear someone's footsteps in a film - these and many other sounds must be dubbed in again on the film's soundtrack in order to be heard by the audience. Why use 5.1 Surround Sound tracks?Questions and Answers about 5.1 Surround Sound files What makes up a 5.1 Surround Sound file? 5.1 Surround Sound tracks are multi-channel audio files. A Surround Sound track is made up of six individual audio channels. -Left channel Because the Surround Sound tracks from Soundeffects.ch have been recorded in a multi-channel environment, it is important that the individual tracks begin exactly at the same point:
Just like stereo tracks, Surround Sound tracks lose the "stereo-feeling" when they don't begin at the exact same point. What are the advantages of 5.1 Surround Sound effects over stereo tracks? Basically, there are two kinds of sound effects: sound effects that reproduce a single sound (e.g. a car horn, a door slamming shut, the neighing of a horse) and so-called ambient tracks that reproduce the atmosphere of a particular location (e.g. a crowded square, natural environments like woods, mountains, steppes, deserts, coasts, beaches, etc.). If you wish to catch an earful of the depth and realism of ambient tracks in 5.1 Surround Sound, please feel free to download these free 5.1 demo tracks and try them out. You won't be disappointed! Caution is advised, though, for 5.1 Surround Sound effects can be addictive! I have been working with stereo tracks so far, even for surround applications. Why should I change my work method now? Many people create Surround Sound in post by using "three-dimensional" stereo sounds for the front and rear channels. The results, although often quite good, don't even come near the Surround Sound experience. Thanks to multi-channel recording technology, Surround Sound tracks feature complete front and rear channel information, which makes the listening experience even more "enveloping". When you "bend" stereo tracks (as you will probably know from experience), the resulting sound tends to feel "two-dimensional" and mono-like, which is ultimately not what you want from a surround experience. The realism is lost and additional sounds have to be layered on in order to get acceptable results. On the other hand, when you use Surround Sound tracks you immediately build a solid "three-dimensional" foundation. All you need to do is add other fitting sounds (either in surround, stereo, or mono) to the mix in order to create the desired atmosphere. Try it yourself: download 18 free demo tracks from our website! Is working with 5.1 Surround Sound tracks more time-consuming? No. Surround Sound files are as easy to work with as conventional stereo tracks. What are the system requirements for working with Surround Sound files? For the playback of 5.1 Surround Sound files you will need the following components: -a multi-channel application like Pro Tools, Logic, Sonar, Nuenod, etc. -an audio interface with at least six audio outputs -a Surround Sound audio player that complies with either the ITU or Dolby standard The playback capability of an audio application generally depends on the latest upgrade that has been installed. For example, any version of ProTools after "5.1" is Surround Sound compatible. Surround Sound can even be edited or played back with older versions. Simply create six individual audio tracks and route these to the corresponding outputs of your audio interface (which, of course, has to be connected a correct speaker arrangement). Read more about correct 5.1 playback. It has to be said, though, that working with Surround Sound automatically demands more channels and, naturally, more computing power. A fully functional, up-to-date workstation will certainly make life easier. Modern computers or high-capacity hard disk recording systems like ProTools HD can handle almost any workload. There are different ways of working with 5.1 Surround Sound files. We will look at three of them: Multi-channel Track: Several sound editing applications (ProTools, for instance) offer multitrack channels that allow you to work with multi-channel audio formats in one single track. This is an easy way to work with Surround Sound tracks. Load an entire 5.1 Surround Sound track into a multi-channel track and you will be able to control all six tracks in unison (i.e. one fader curve automatically controls all of the six individual tracks). This is the main advantage, then: the changes you make are automatically applied to all of the tracks. Two stereo tracks, two mono tracks: Create three stereo tracks: one for left and right, one for surround left and surround right, a mono track for the center and one for the sub bass channel as well. A drawback is the potential misalignment of the audio tracks. Six mono tracks: Now you have control over the six tracks. Depending on the application, you can use one fader to remote control the six tracks. Specific changes can now be made to each individual track, because you have access to each one of them. Beware of accidentally misaligning the tracks, though. Also, the great number of tracks might crowd the display screen. Soundeffects.ch's Surround Sound effects have been pre-mixed so that the respective levels of the tracks correspond to each other and do not need any further tweaking. It is not uncommon, though, to change the ratio according to the individual application of the sounds. Modern cinemas use a variety of multi-channel audio formats. Read more about them by clicking on the respective links:
Soundeffects.ch Products and ServicesCan I transfer your sounds to computer hard disk myself, or have it done for me? Yes, provided that you own the Soundeffects.ch products that you want to transfer. If you are setting up a multi-user audio production environment, you need a license from Soundeffects.ch. Our Hard Disk Information Sheet has been designed to provide full details about this license. If you decide to sell your hard drive at a later date, however, ALL Soundeffects.ch’s audio files MUST be removed from the disc before you transfer ownership. You are not authorised to sell copied versions of our audio files under any circumstances - this practice is an infringement of Soundeffects's copyright. Can I copy Soundeffects.ch sound effects on to my computer hard drive in order to create a production? Yes. The synchronization license that you obtain with your purchase of Soundeffects.ch’s royalty free sound effects and music allows you to copy the files on to your computer hard drive for the purposes of creating audio and/or visual productions or applications. Your license does not permit the sale, lease, loan or gift of any unsynchronized Soundeffects.ch audio content. This means that if, for example, you decide to sell a computer hard drive that has Soundeffects.ch’s copyrighted audio content copied on to it, you must delete that content before the hard drive is delivered to its new owner. Can I make a back up copy of my Soundeffects.ch CDs/DVD’s? No. You are not permitted to make additional back up copies of Soundeffects.ch’s CD’s and DVD’s or their contents under any circumstances. If you ever encounter a problem with one of our Discs, please contact us to arrange for a replacement copy. I already own a copy of a Soundeffects.ch library and I need another copy. What are my options? If you have purchased a library directly from Soundeffects.ch and you find that you need an additional copy (or copies) of it for your own production or listening use, Soundeffects.ch can assist you with attractive "extra set" pricing. Under no circumstances are you allowed to make your own extra copy. For more information on "extra set" pricing, call your Soundeffects.ch Production Consultant or send an email message to us. Does Soundeffects.ch have sound effects or music available for ring tones or other special licensing needs? No, unfortunately we don't. But Sound-Ideas, Soundeffects.ch's distributor and the world’s largest distributor of sound effects, does. Visit their Ring Tone Content page for details about how to license music and sound effects for cell phone ring tones, games, mobile communication, and many other applications. Click here to visite Sound Ideas Can I buy products directly from this Web site? Yes - we accept orders from anywhere in the world through our e-commerce enabled Web interface. If you prefer to place your order via telephone, please feel free to Contact Us. How do I use your e-commerce interface to place an order? Take a quick trip to the How To Buy section of this Web site for all the details. If you still have questions, please feel free to Contact Us. How can I pay for orders made through your e-commerce interface?
Click here to read more about PayPal. What are the shipping charges for e-commerce orders? Good news - all online e-commerce orders are shipped at no charge to you, our customer. Wherever possible, we attempt to ship your order on the day that it is received here in our office. Please note that shipment of orders received during weekends or statutory holidays may be slightly delayed. Your order will be shipped by courier for delivery within a week. Can you fulfill requests for urgent shipments? We are currently working on the solution to this problem. Do you sell "European" or "international" sound effects? The sounds from the Sound Libraries are specially recorded so that they come across as "international", i.e. they are not country- (or continent-) specific. Some sounds, however, can be of a particular geographical origin. For this reason, it is best to use those sounds as "base sounds" and apply the "layering sounds technique". You can easily combine 5.1 surround sounds with other sounds, whether they are mono, stereo, or 5.1. Use your imagination to create your own soundscapes. By combining sounds, you can create new, fantastic backgrounds and foregrounds. If you wish to try this for yourself, download our demofiles, or listen to the sounds from the "layering sounds" tutorial. If you can't find the sound you're looking for in our database, please visit Sound Ideas, our distributor. They will most certainly have all the sounds you're looking for. Go visit Sound Ideas and check out their famous award-winning products. Do you sell "computer ready" audio files, e.g. wav. or MP3? Yes, we do. All Soundeffects.ch products are stored on data discs for easy transfer to your workstation. If you don’t want to use discs, check out our Harddrive products. It is an external hard drive that contains all of the sound files. Just connect it to your computer via FireWire or USB and start editing. If you need the sounds as mp3 files, the situation ist a bit more complex. In the 5.1 Surround Sound Libraries, the sounds are stored as mp3 files on mp3-CDs to be played on a DVD-Player or an mp3-ready CD-Player. Can I play your DVDs on my Apple Macintosh or PC computer? Yes, you can. All our Data-DVDs are both Mac and PC compatible. The following limitations apply, though: your computer needs a DVD-ready drive; Apple OS9.2, OSX or newer (for Mac); Windows 98, NT, XP, or newer (for PC). To play the sounds, you need a common audio player like Apple QuickTime, Apple iTunes, or Windows Media Player. These can be downloaded from the internet for free. Can I play your DVDs in my DVD-Player? No, you can't. All of our DVDs are Data-DVDs and can therefore only be read by computers. DVDs that are used for movies and intended for playback in a DVD-Player are data-reduced and of a different standard. Our DVDs are full quality 24bit/48kHz standard and intended for post production use only. Sound Editors will transfer the files from the DVDs into their workstations for computer-based editing. Having said that, you CAN play our mp3-CDs - which are part of the 5.1 Surround Sound Libraries - in your DVD-Player. If you see the mp3-logo on the discs, you can play them in your DVD-Player or mp3-ready CD-Player.
Why can't I play your CDs in my CD-Player? To play our mp3-CDs you need an mp3-ready player. Older CD-Players cannot play mp3-CDs because they're a different standard than regular CDs (which are manufactured according to the Audio Red Book Standard). You can find an inexpensive mp3-ready player at your local electronics store. Almost all DVD-Players nowadays read mp3-CDs. General QuestionsCan I make a suggestion for a sound effect or a new product? Yes, of course you can! We are always interested in your suggestions. Simply fill out the form on our "Suggest a Sound" page and email it to us (you don't even have to leave your name). How can I contact Soundeffects.ch with a question or my feedback? Please feel free to ask your questions, say hello and offer your feedback on our Contact Us page - we love to hear from you! Do you provide links to any other useful Web resources? Yes, we do. Please feel free to contact us. If you wish to place a link on the soundeffects.ch links page, send us an email with your name and information, your URL, and a short description of your file. We will take a look at your site and then decide if we'll link to it or not. In case we do, we'd love to have our link on your site as well. Please link to http://www.soundeffects.ch/ |
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