4 Post-Production Software Tools to Transform Your Audio Workflow
Modern digital tools have created new ways to work in audio post-production. From easily sharing and downloading sounds to managing and organising libraries, sound design, and even performing Foley from the convenience of your computer, post-production software has become an essential part of the modern workflow. But with so many options on the market, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. In this article, alumnus Carlos Bricio, explores software* that can help you get started with modern audio post-production tools and improve your workflow.
Sound Library Management
Collecting sounds is part of a sound editor and sound designer’s life. Whether you record your own sounds or download libraries from different websites, the more sounds you have, the bigger your colour palette is for creating the sonic worlds for your projects. The problem is that, sooner or later, your hard drive will end up with thousands of folders, complicated structures, and different names, which can make finding the right sound in the middle of a project a true nightmare. That’s where sound library management software can come in handy. It helps you organise, search and manage your collection as part of your wider post-production software workflow.
Sound library management software helps you organise your sound library for quick searches. You can add tags and metadata, organise sound by categories, audition the files, and even send the audio to your editor of choice, straight into the timeline, instantly. An example of this is SoundQ. SoundQ is a free app by the sound library company Pro Sound Effects. You can organise your sound library, access the Pro Sound Effects catalogue and even the free sound effects collection of freesound.org.
Royalty-Free Music in Sync
Sometimes you need to add some music to your project to make it more dynamic or communicate the right feeling. The problem is that you might not be a musician, or you might not have the time or budget to write a dedicated piece. That’s where royalty-free music comes in handy. Plenty of websites offer royalty-free music for audiovisual projects; today, we want to highlight Epidemic Sound for its dedicated app and software integration.
The Epidemic Sound app lets you find the right soundtrack for your project without switching windows or navigating websites. You simply find the music you like and drag and drop it to your timeline. The app allows simple editing, including looping, reshaping and adjusting the length of tracks. It even integrates with Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve, making it a useful addition to your post-production tools and broader workflow. This allows you to map your footage and find the pace of your visuals to get better music suggestions.
Foley in-the-box
If you work in sound design, you’ve most likely heard of Krotos Audio and their Dehumaniser 2 or Weaponiser plugins (among others) for creating stunning, original sound designs with ease. But a few years ago, Krotos Audio launched Krotos Studio, a platform for creating, customising and exporting royalty-free sound effects and ambiences in minutes. As post-production software, Krotos Studio offers a streamlined way to build and enhance sound design directly on your computer.
Its originality comes from the ability to perform the sounds in sync with the video, similarly to how you would in a Foley session, but without leaving your computer. From footsteps, door sounds, or kitchen foley, to trailer risers, city sounds or even dragon roars. A great tool to add layers to your sound design.
Just like Epidemic Sound, Krotos Studio recently added Adobe Premiere integration for its latest feature, Picture to Sound, which analyses your project footage and adds sound effects from its library as a starting point for your sound design.
Sharing and Feedback IN POST-PRODUCTION
In modern post-production, remote workflows can simplify and speed up audio editing as well as collaborating with professionals around the world. But in post-production, keeping audio and video in sync during streaming used to be a difficult task. Here is where the MixStage team has been focusing their efforts.
MixStage is a platform that offers full-quality video with audio streamed straight from your DAW. It’s designed specifically for audio post-production teams, enabling mixers, editors, directors, clients, or production teams to review projects together in real time without compromising audio or video quality. It creates virtual rooms to keep the whole team on the same page, helping the project move forward faster and more efficiently.
These are just a few of the post-production tools available nowadays to make your audio post-production easier. In the end, it’s about finding the tools that fit your workflow and learning to get the most out of them for your projects. In our Advanced Diploma in Audio Post Production for Film and TV, we provide the knowledge and skills to develop as an audio professional, understanding the needs and tools required for a successful career in the post-production world.
Find out more about our course on our website or sign up for our upcoming online open evening on the 1st of October.
*(Abbey Road Institute is not affiliated, associated or sponsored by any of these brands or services)
