For Multi-User Licensing: Please contact David Fienup via the “Contact” link on this website.
NOW UCS COMPLIANT! Metadata update information below.
Quick Look:
- Files: 180
- Clips: 811
- Size: ~1.65 GB unzipped
- Format: WAV
- Fidelity: 96k/24bit
- Channels: Mono
- Metadata: SoundMiner
Foliage Sweeteners is a collection of sounds recorded in Soundopolis’ Studio, providing crisp new sounds ready for any project. These “sweetener” sounds are great for characters creeping around in the bushes, running through the trees, or just walking through the park. You can add specific environmental sounds to your ambiences, such as individual leafy tree branches that dip into frame, or cattails and bushes reacting to a gust of wind. These sounds are also great for nature documentary, whether you have a squirrel climbing a tree, a bear plowing through a forest, a cheetah stalking from the underbrush, or just a cow eating grass.
Types of Foliage
- Arborvitae
- Dry Flower Stems
- Dry Grass
- Green Grass
- Dry Leaves
- Mulch
- Dry Reeds – Teasel, which is like cattail, 1” bamboo, and thistle
- Thorn Bush
- Leafy Tree Branch
- Branches with no leaves
- Bundles of Small Twigs
Types of Sounds
- Breaks
- Rips
- Impacts
- Rummage
- Rubbing
- Wind Gusts/Steady Wind, including Loops
- Movement
- Stress
- Crunches
- Footsteps
- Debris
- Shaking
Recording Fienup used a variety of microphones including Schoeps MK4, Schoeps CMIT5U, Shure KSM 109, and an Electro-Voice RE50b. A Sound Devices 633 was used for all recordings.
Editing For this library, since all of the recordings were mono, Fienup decided to try and do all of the editing, sweetening, and mastering in iZotope Rx. Fienup got his start editing sound effect recordings in Bias Peak Pro. As a matter of fact, that was his go-to editing software for the majority of his libraries until Bias discontinued producing the software and ended support for it. While sound editing isn’t the primary function of Rx, iZotope has a similar workflow to Peak, but with much better noise reduction and sweetening software built right in. The process was decently simple, although Pro Tools would probably have been easier for the editing portion. But there’s something to be said for doing all of the necessary steps all in one window: denoise, eq, spectral repair, edit, organize, normalize/gain functions, etc.
Why Mono? This library is intended to add individual details to your soundtrack. I wanted it to be easy for editors to drop sounds in, find the iteration that works best, and be off to the races. I once saw the legendary Randy Thom post on facebook, "Stereo effects are over-rated!" And for some things, I agree. I often get tired of bringing stereo files into my sessions, just to delete one channel so my panning is much easier. Many sounds are centered between the left and right channel anyway, so why bother with having two channels of audio for certain types of effects? Whether you agree or disagree, I think this library will be one of the most useful tools in my own sound palette, and I hope it finds a home in your palette as well!
Check out the track list for more details. This collection provides some new and interesting sounds, as well as a ton of variations so your soundtrack never gets old! All Soundopolis tracks include metadata tags so they are easy to find using any search engine. Collections come in easily downloadable zip files.
UCS Update: New purchases of Foliage Sweeteners come fully equipped with UCS metadata and filenames. Previously purchased copies can also be updated.
Soundminer Users: To update your old version to the new UCS metadata, create a new database, scan in your copy of the collection, change the "Manufacturer" metadata column to say 'Soundopolis' (without the quotes, and capitalize the first 'S'), select the "Database" dropdown menu, and select "Lookup Metadata from Cloud". Once the metadata is done updating, you can select all of the files, right click on them, and select "Embed Selected". NOTE: THIS WILL CHANGE THE FILE NAMES!!! If this action will impact older projects that use these sounds, it is your responsibility to save a copy with the original filenames somewhere so as not to impact those projects.
Other Update Options: Below are two zip files. One is a text file with all of the metadata generated by Soundminer. The second is that same information in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. These should help if you use a program other than Soundminer. For directions on how to update your particular program, please consult with the manufacturer's website. Soundopolis only uses Soundminer, and is not familiar with the metadata updating procedures of all of the other programs available.
