Your feedback and info required...and it will save you $$'s!

[Encore Music]

Hi

My name is Mike Watts and I run Encore Music, you'll find it in the Art and Sound Portfolios.

That aside however we are about to launch a new site aimed primarily at providing downloadable audio, fx and loops for game and flash developers.

What I'd like from you guys if you'd be so kind is to give me your thoughts on what is currently available, it is over priced or good value, are there certain sound palletes or fx that are particularly hard to find? Are there too many sites like this? Is there enough variety and if not what's missing?

Your views are really important as you guys are the market place and to show my appreciation, everyone that provides feedback will receive a 40% discount off their first order.

We are aiming to provide something a little bit different, a catologue compiled of everything from complete tracks to loops to clicks, squeaks and buzzes - but additionally because the whole catalogue will be produced in house (not compiled by a wide group of artists) the prices will be very competitive and more importantly every single track and sample can be customized quickly and effectively to fit your specific need.

Right, I've probably bored you enough by now!

I thank you in advance for your time and participation and look forward to hearing you views.

Kind regards and good luck in your ventures.

Mike

[Andy]

The final complete decision - this is what this market misses so far Mike.

When we're in search for appropriate music, SFXs for every next project this always requires huge amount of time and adds the headache. Basically I believe you should switch to the project on some stage and deliver your vision on the final audio picture for it - what music style would you propose, themes, which and where sound effects to use, etc.
Sounds as unbelievable fantastic in a moment. But I believe this is where one could be a winner on this market.

EDIT: Oh. Just to explain this in short words - I'd like to order someone as kind of our temporary Audio department, not as just musician or sound FX engineer. Hope this helps to understand the idea.

Just my two cents and Good Luck! to your business.

[Nexic]

As far as stock audio is concerned finding good shoot em up sound effects is hard. Almost all of them are really low quality, with an 80s arcade style. Would really like a set of high quality laser shots, shield hit sounds etc.

[Sybixsus]

I would definitely say that finding good stock sound effects is much harder than finding good stock music. I can find vast quantities of high quality music, and a good selection of it is dirt cheap too. Sound effects, particularly genre-specific ones as Nexic mentions, are much harder to come by. There are a few sites which specialize in stock sound effects, but they inevitably have a ton of absolute rubbish and a couple of decent effects, making it nigh-on impossible to find what you want. They tend to have a lot of sound effects which are so specific that you can't imagine anyone ever needing them ( now where can I find a sound effect of a car door being shut at exactly the same time a dog barks and a bell tinkles all in sync with one another? - ok, I'm being facetious, but you get my point! ) and then many are just really shocking quality. Even the big sites have many, many sound effects with buzzing and hissing, and remarkably blurry, distorted sounds.

I would think that could be a successful market if it was done right.

[papillon]

There can never be too much sound and music available! :) Finding exactly what you want is always tricky, and some sites can be confusing with exactly what rights you're getting with your purchase. One look at the new drop-down range of licensing options at a particular site is enough to keep me from EVER buying music from them again...

Legal-but-cheap MIDI can be hard to find. Many places don't seem to bother selling MIDI at all, either because MIDI music is generally seen as tacky and low-quality nowadays or because it's so easily ripped and passed around websites by everyone. And in the few places that DO sell it I've seen them charging the same sort of rates for a MIDI song as they would for a more complicated orchestration, which makes the MIDI feel like bad value. I'd like to see a site doing MIDI as a low-budget option, but that probably wasn't the direction you were headed in. :)

[Sirrus]

High quality sound effects seem rather rare these days and if they are around, the catalog is usually small. I'd really like an extensive library of high quality effects...

[Encore Music]

Guys ,

Thank you so much for your responses. Your feedback is invaluable.

I've had similar thoughts when browsing a lot of the sites. Either pretty limited with stock updated once a year, generic and unoriginal sounds and quite a few have a low quality feel.

We are also thinking of creating soundscapes - large collections of loops that will work together but sold singularly so you're not buying a bunch of sounds you don't need - plus it will also allow you to create the feel you want. Again these will be customizable on request.

We've still got a lot more research to conduct but I'll let you all know when we are up and running.

Some of you who replied haven't got your email available. Drop me a quick email and I'll send you all confirmation on the 40% discount when we launch.

Oh yeah the site will be called sonicmash.com

Thanks again

Mike