How to Search

Search

The Search functionality is a crucial part of what we offer and there are many methods of searching that can enhance your day-to-day work within the Synchtank system.

In this section we help you explore the possibilities of search within your system including top tips and advice to get the best results.

On your Synchtank platform you have a few places to access search depending on your set up. You could either have a search bar on your homepage and/or a search area to filter down your results and type in what you are looking for.

Depending on your subscription with us, you may also have the ability to make the most of natural language search/ prompt search and sonic similarity through our partners AIMS and Cyanite.

Advanced Search

Advanced Search enables you to enter specific requirements when searching for a track - based on criteria such as genre, mood, artist, and BPM. Tailoring search results for your specific needs.

So, how do you use advanced search?

Click the “Advanced Search” button at the top right of your page.

You will then be greeted with a series of scrollable windows with various criteria, such as; search fields, genre, tempo, instruments, keyword mood, timbre, vocals, artists. Not forgetting any combination of writer and publisher information, master or release info, and lyrical content. These values are based on the songs’ metadata!

In addition, there are three sliders on the page labeled BPM, year released and length.

To get even more specific results, use the Search bar at the top-right of the page to type in just about anything from lyrics to instrumentation.

As you narrow your search with these tools, a counter at the top-right of the screen will automatically update to show you the number of results that match what you are looking for.

Now you know your options, scroll through the windows and select the boxes for the characteristics that you are looking for.

For example, if you are looking for a mid-tempo rock song with male vocals, you will select Mid in the Tempos window, Rock in the Genre window, and Male in the Vocals window.

It’s worth noting that you can select multiple boxes within a window to broaden your search. If, for example, selecting Rock in the Genre window didn’t get you the kind of results you’d like, try selecting similar genres like Hard Rock or Pop/Rock as well.

Tweak your results further by using the sliders at the bottom of the page.

For example, use the BPM slider to specify that you are looking for a song that is between 85-120 beats per minute, the Year Released slider to specify that you want something that was released between 2005-2013, and the Length slider to specify that you would like a song that is at least three minutes in length, but no longer than five minutes.

Now, let’s use the Search bar. Whatever you type in here will correspond to a value in the Search Fields window.

For example, if you type "love" into the Search bar and select Lyrics in the Search Fields window, this will find all songs that have the word "love" in the lyrics.

You can search across multiple fields at once by selecting more than one box in the Search Fields window. If you want to search for "love" in the lyrics and song title, simply select Lyrics as well as Song Title.

Additionally, you can search for more than one term at a time by typing multiple words into the Search bar, or, to treat multiple words as a single term, put quotation marks around the phrase. This action is known as tokenization. To demonstrate, typing "love" and "hurts" into the search bar will search for these words as separate terms, whereas typing "love hurts" surrounded by quotations will search for these words as a single term.

Use the Results window to specify how you’d like the search to be executed when multiple criteria are selected.

Selecting One or More Match/More Results will find songs that fit into either criteria, yielding broader results.
Selecting Match across fields/Medium Results will find songs that match all filters within a category and/or filters outside that category, yielding slightly fewer results.
Selecting All Criteria Match/Less Results will only find songs that meet all criteria, yielding fewer results.

To demonstrate this concept, let’s go back to our example from above where you searched for Mid in the Tempos window, Rock in the Genre window, and Male in the Vocals window. Selecting One or More Match/More Results will find mid-tempo songs, rock songs, and songs with male vocals. On the other hand, Selecting All Criteria Match/Less Results will find mid-tempo rock songs with male vocals.

Also in the results window is the Cog menu. This menu allows you to specify the metadata that will be displayed in your search results area, whichever columns are checked will display in your results. You can sort your results alphabetically by artist name, song title, album, and more by clicking on the column header that you wish to sort by (clicking again on the same column header will sort in reverse alphabetical order).

If your search hasn’t yielded as many results as you’d like, just click the Clear All Filters next to the search bar at the top of the advanced search page to remove all the filters (optional).

Hit the View button and all of your results will appear.

To tweak your search, use the Filters menu on the left side of the results page (optional).
To start a new search from scratch, click the Advanced button at the top of the page.

Favorite and Negative Search

You can favorite searches, perform negative searches and use the Synchtank Admin to customize your Advanced Search experience. So how do you get the most out of this functionality?

Favoriting search tags

If you are using a selected search regularly, you can select those as your favorite search tags. This means that these search tags are saved and you can easily repeat it whenever necessary.

To favorite search tags, press the heart button next to the search tag you would like to favorite.

Example: If a user searches for Disco, or a track that sounds like Bon Iver, or Disco tracks that sound like Bon Iver regularly, then they can save these search tags using the Favorite Search Tags functionality.

Negative search

You can use negative search to remove filters that you do not want to see in your search results. To remove a filter, press the 🚫 button next to a search term.

Example: If a user is looking for a track in a minor key that is not slow they can use the negative search functionality to perform this search easily.

Searching and Auto-complete

The search bar can either be found as a search icon or text bar at the top of your site. This can be used to search for specific Artists, Tracks or Playlists that are available to you with your set permissions.

The search bar also has an auto-complete functionality which works when you start to type into the text box and suggested results appear below, displaying suggestions based on what you have started typing. They are in association to the word you have typed in or be a similar title based on what you have entered.

Natural Language/ Prompt Search

Natural language search allows you to go one step further and search music catalogs using your own words, whether that’s a particular phrase, sync brief, or even a scene description.

Please note that Natural Language/ Prompt Search is an additional paid feature, if you’re interested in learning more then please reach out to your Account Manager.

Here are some top tips and best practices when it comes to natural language/ prompt search.

Describe a scene

AI understand unspoken nuances, it’s mastered the art of picking up what mood you’re trying to capture like:

“A field of fallen soldiers”
“Slow-motion tumbleweed rolling along an empty highway”
“The CSI team finds a clue under an abandoned truck”

Get specific with details or industry lingo

With precise instructions comes precise results…the more you can point the search in your ideal direction the greater the results.

“Soft sparse strings with tender piano notes quietly playing over it”
“As the camera pans across a sweeping landscape, the music starts with a gentle melody that evokes a sense of awe…and as the camera continues to explore, the music builds with soaring strings, as if mirroring the natural world…”

Use and combine pop culture references

With this kind of search it will recognize references like artists or film titles! Mainstream or a little obscure, mix genres, categories or entire worlds you’ll get a result.

“Retro soul in the style of Amy Winehouse for a Tim Burton movie”
“Pop music that would work for Pirates of the Caribbean”
“A dramatic track that has the feel of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky”

Match music to locations or cultures

Make the most of getting geographical by focusing on specific atmospheres, holidays or occasions like:

“Gondolas in Venice”
“Early morning crowds at the Taj Mahal”
“New Orleans during the first hours of Mardi Gras”

Take the traditional search route

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! If you’re used to your search ways then no need to step out of your comfort zone. Feel free to stick to what you know with straightforward inputs like:

“Action score with heavy toms”
“Cheerful folk pop”
“Bouncy electropop with sassy female vocals”

Exclude what you don’t like

Choose what you’d like to avoid. You might be okay with a bit of melancholy, just not a full-blown tearjerker! Examples of search like this could be:

“Music for a farewell scene that isn’t overly sad”
“Cocktail bar background music that isn’t jazz”

Similarity Search/ Sonic Similarity

With sonic similarity or similarity search, you can instantly discover tracks similar to a reference track by simply pasting a link or uploading a file to the system.

Please note that Similarity Search/ Sonic Similarity is an additional paid feature, if you’re interested in learning more then please reach out to your Account Manager.

Let’s give you an example, so, if you’re eager to use a Red Hot Chilli Peppers track but lack the budget, you can effortlessly find comparable tracks in your catalog using a system equipped with sonic similarity search.

You can even go further and search particular segments of a song to return similar results, and suppress vocals when searching for more accurate instrumental identification.

The time saving benefits here are obvious – those using systems with this functionality report time savings of up to 90% on searches, enabling faster responses to briefs and more accurate pitches. It’s a win-win situation.