Uploading Tracks

Adding music to your site is a two-step process. Here’s how it works:

Step 1 - Upload Your Tracks

  1. To upload new tracks, start by making sure you’re logged into an account with admin permissions. If you aren’t logged in you’ll see the Log In button in the top right. Once logged in, admin icons will have a wrench and screwdriver icon in the top right next to their user icon. Click the wrench and screwdriver icon in the top right corner of your screen to enter the admin panel. Click the Upload/Import Audio tab on the left.

  2. Once you’re at the track uploader, you can either click to Select Files, click to Select Folder, or drag your files to the center of the screen to select them for uploading.

  3. Click “Start Upload” and the progress bar will fill up for each track. When all tracks have uploaded, click “Next” in the lower right.

Step 2 - Publish

  1. After clicking “Next”, you’ll be taken to the publishing queue where your tracks will remain until you’re ready to publish them, pushing them live to your site. Here, you can review any data that was previously embedded on the track and recognized when uploaded. Before publishing the tracks in the queue, you can edit their metadata one of three ways-

    1. Track by track by clicking the tracklisting on the lower half of the screen and editing any metadata field by clicking the pen/paper icon next to the field.
    2. As a rule applied to every track in the queue using the “For each new track below…” tool, and then hitting “Apply”.

    3. With a metadata CSV export/import. Click Export Metadata and edit the downloaded CSV to reflect your desired edits. Save your changes to the local file, and import the edited spreadsheet to apply those changes by clicking Import Metadata. Do not edit the SourceAudio ID column, as this is a unique identification number assigned to each track which matches the rows of data to the tracks themselves upon upload. Do not upload a spreadsheet exported from the publishing queue after publishing the tracks in question.

      Upon uploading your spreadsheet, you’ll be prompted to a screen where you can ensure your spreadsheet fields are correctly mapped to your site fields, as selected in the drop-downs seen on the right-hand side.

      CSV data from an outside source can also be applied to your tracks in the publishing queue. Since a SourceAudio ID is not present, the system will next look to use the filename as the matching agent for the data. If neither the title nor filename is present in the upload, the title field will be used as the matching agent.

  2. Once you’re happy with your metadata, click “Publish” and a progress bar will fill up signifying the publishing of your tracks to the front end of your site. There is not a way to only publish specific tracks from the publishing queue. Depending on how many tracks you have uploaded there can be up to a 30-minute delay before the tracks appear on your site.

Automatic Metadata

SourceAudio looks for embedded metadata in your track files during the import process and will display any fields it can interpret and match up to fields on your site.

Most track files - MP3s, WAVs and AIFFs - are tagged by the original owner/composer/publisher with metadata. Some people use Soundminer for tagging and others use iTunes. When embedded metadata is present in your files your site will grab any fields it can read and it will map those values to the corresponding values on your site. One critical thing to note here for iTunes users - iTunes does not support all of the same fields as Soundminer or SourceAudio. For example, iTunes does not have a “Description” field. They also do not have a “Publisher” field. This means that any time you place your descriptions or publisher info into another field in iTunes, eg. the “Comments” field or another unused field like “Grouping”, your site will not pick up that metadata and be able to map it to the proper field on your site.

Processing Time

Depending on the number of tracks you uploaded, it can take up to 30 minutes for newly uploaded tracks to appear on the site.

We generate the waveforms and create the streaming flash version for each track during the upload and import process. Each of those operations takes a little bit of time to complete. After clicking to publish you’ll see a pop up where you’ll designate an email (your site’s main contact by default) where you’ll receive an automatic email when the tracks are all up on the site and finished publishing.

Transcoding

You can transcode additional file formats like AIFF’s or WAV’s from the publishing queue as needed. MP3’s will be automatically transcoded from your lossless file.

Once your tracks are in the publishing queue you can transcode a new file format for every track in the cue by clicking the corresponding file format button next to “For each new track below, have SourceAudio create a…”.

You can also create new file formats on a track-by-track basis by clicking the desired file format icon next to the corresponding track under Edit Fields Manually.

Once you click to transcode your files, the process is set in motion within the site. Transcoding a few files normally takes just a few minutes, whereas the more files you transcode the longer the process will take.

Updating Audio Files

You can upload a file to update the audio of a track on my site without disturbing the metadata in either of the following ways:

  1. You can upload the file(s) at the publishing queue– this method is recommended for updating many tracks. As long as the uploaded replacement file has the exact same filename as the previously existing file on the site. Upon uploading you’ll see the track in the publishing queue ready to be published with a grey message that states it will be replacing audio on a currently existing track and will not be published as a new separate listing. Just click to publish and that file will replace the old file on the site.

  2. You can upload the audio on a tracks detailed page– this method is recommended for updating single tracks. Head to a tracks detailed view like the one linked below, and click Edit Track Metadata just below the bolded title. Then click the Edit button that appears on the right just above the file types. In the pop-up that appears, click Upload New next to the respective file type you’re updating, click to upload your local file, and the new audio will replace the old.

Please note, with both of these methods, audio is replaced on a file by file basis so if you have an MP3, WAV, and AIFF on your site you’ll need to upload each of those files to replace all three of the file types. Alternatively, you could delete two of the three file types (Edit Track Metadata → Edit → click the red next to a file type to delete it), update the one remaining file, and then transcode the two deleted file types from the one remaining updated file type.

Deleting Tracks

Deleting tracks is explained in detail here.

If you have any problems or questions, please contact us at support@sourceaudio.com