UCS Quick Reference

These are subset of Universal Category System (UCS) version 8.1 for quick reference.

These are not all UCS has to offer, you should visit the official page to see if there are more specific category suitable for your sound. It is just that the full list maybe daunting to remember, I think seeing some categories more relevant to Tiny Ambience as a teaser might invites you to learn more.

AMBIENCE

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
AMBIENCE	AIR	AMBAir	AMB	Quiet exterior 'air' with little activity, like exterior room tones, very simple exterior ambiences.
AMBIENCE	ALPINE	AMBAlpn	AMB	Mountain ambiences, for recordings and ambiences geographically linked to Alpine Environments
AMBIENCE	AMUSEMENT	AMBAmus	AMB	Theme parks and carnivals. Beware of possible rights issues with uncleared music.
AMBIENCE	BIRDSONG	AMBBird	AMB	Group songbirds, like a dawn chorus of pretty birds. Single birds would go in BIRDS-SONGBIRD.
AMBIENCE	CELEBRATION	AMBCele	AMB	Parties, New Years Eve. Not pure crowds, as that would go in CROWDS, but i.e. exterior city new years.
AMBIENCE	CONSTRUCTION	AMBCnst	AMB	Construction scenes with things like jackhammers, cranes, pile drivers, composite construction scene.
AMBIENCE	DESERT	AMBDsrt	AMB	Quiet desert ambiences with appropriate insects and birds. Maybe tumbleweeds.
AMBIENCE	DESIGNED	AMBDsgn	AMB	Artificial, Fantasy, Sci-Fi created ambiences. Pandora, Middle Earth, things overtly 'designed'.
AMBIENCE	EMERGENCY	AMBEmrg	AMB	Crime scenes, firefighting scenes, accident scenes, with things like firefighters, police, ambulances and medics.
AMBIENCE	FARM	AMBFarm	AMB	Specifically farm ambiences, with animals, maybe tractors working, chickens.
AMBIENCE	FOREST	AMBForst	AMB	Forest recordings or forest composite files. Trees and birds, maybe wind in trees all together.
AMBIENCE	GRASSLAND	AMBGras	AMB	Prairies, meadows, grazing patures, etc. But FARMS has own category if farm animals or human activity are present.
AMBIENCE	HISTORICAL	AMBHist	AMB	Old West scenes, Roman street scenes. Composite history and ancient ambiences.
AMBIENCE	HITECH	AMBTech	AMB	Hi-tech machine rooms. Data centers, control rooms. James Bond type lairs. Spaceship interiors.
AMBIENCE	HOSPITAL	AMBHosp	AMB	Hospital ambiences of all kinds, surgery and emergency rooms too.
AMBIENCE	INDUSTRIAL	AMBInd	AMB	Industrial warehouses and factories.
AMBIENCE	LAKESIDE	AMBLake	AMB	Ambiences relating to lakes, not isolated lapping, but the lake version of AMBIENCE-SEASIDE.
AMBIENCE	MARKET	AMBMrkt	AMB	Busy exterior market activity and crowds. Think vibrant international markets in Istanbul or Africa.
AMBIENCE	MISC	AMBMisc	AMB	Ambience sounds not fitting another category in this list.
AMBIENCE	NAUTICAL	AMBNaut	AMB	Relating to ships at sea, shipyards, things revolving around ships. (compare to AMBIENCE-SEASIDE).
AMBIENCE	OFFICE	AMBOffc	AMB	Workplaces, offices, people working, typing, telephones. General offices of various sizes.
AMBIENCE	PARK	AMBPark	AMB	Parks, mostly city or suburban, probably usually with some human activity, city activity. Not pure nature sounds.
AMBIENCE	PRISON	AMBPrisn	AMB	Prisons and jails, reverberant inmate walla, jail doors, buzzers, that sort of thing.
AMBIENCE	PROTEST	AMBPrtst	AMB	Protests, Rallies, Riots. Big mixed ambiences of crowds, shouting, yelling, chanting. Opposed to CROWD-CHEERING.
AMBIENCE	PUBLIC PLACE	AMBPubl	AMB	Except for restaurants, for any other public places such as stores, lobbies, hotels, malls, museums.
AMBIENCE	RELIGIOUS	AMBRlgn	AMB	Church and temples, church services, religious gatherings, pilgrimages. Any ambience relating to religion.
AMBIENCE	RESTAURANT & BAR	AMBRest	AMB	Restaurants and bars, pubs, places of eating and drinking, mixed crowd with glass clinks or silverware.
AMBIENCE	ROOM TONE	AMBRoom	AMB	Simple room tones with little or no activity.
AMBIENCE	RURAL	AMBRurl	AMB	Rural and countryside ambiences that don't fit somewhere else in this list.
AMBIENCE	SCHOOL	AMBSchl	AMB	Schools of any age, kindergarten through college, hallways, lockers, voices, school bells.
AMBIENCE	SEASIDE	AMBSea	AMB	Relating to beach and oceanside scenes with people. (Compare to AMBIENCE-NAUTICAL).
AMBIENCE	SPORT	AMBSprt	AMB	Sporting events, little league baseball to major league. Use CROWDS-SPORT for clean crowd recordings.
AMBIENCE	SUBURBAN	AMBSubn	AMB	Suburban streets, average residential neighborhood, not dense like URBAN. Lawnmowers, sprinklers, birds.
AMBIENCE	SWAMP	AMBSwmp	AMB	Relating to swamps and marshes, usually things like frogs and water movement, think everglades.
AMBIENCE	TOWN	AMBTown	AMB	Something in between a CITY and a SUBURB. Activity, cars, pedestrians, that 'small town' or village sound.
AMBIENCE	TRAFFIC	AMBTraf	AMB	Specifically traffic without people. Not for a single car by, but for clean busy traffic, clean highway traffic.
AMBIENCE	TRANSPORTATION	AMBTran	AMB	Not VEHICLES, but public train stations, airports, bus stations, subway stations. Not the airplane or train itself.
AMBIENCE	TROPICAL	AMBTrop	AMB	Jungles and rainforests, lush animal life and vegetation.
AMBIENCE	TUNDRA	AMBTndra	AMB	Treeless environments where the ground is permanently frozen, arctic, antarctic.
AMBIENCE	UNDERGROUND	AMBUndr	AMB	Subterranean, underground ambiences like sewers, bunkers, tunnels, dungeons, caves.
AMBIENCE	UNDERWATER	AMBUndwtr	AMB	Underwater sounding ambiences, deep bubbles and that classic undersea world sound.
AMBIENCE	URBAN	AMBUrbn	AMB	Dense cities and environments. New York City or London or Mumbai. Think Dense. Traffic, horns, pedestrians, buses.
AMBIENCE	WARFARE	AMBWar	AMB	Battles, warfare, full ambiences here. Not for isolated weapons or vehicles. Composite sounds of war.

ANIMALS

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
ANIMALS	AMPHIBIAN	ANMLAmph	ANML	Technically any amphibian, but mostly for frogs and toads.
ANIMALS	AQUATIC	ANMLAqua	ANML	All manner of marine and sea animals, not just mammals, but anything that lives in water.
ANIMALS	BAT	ANMLBat	ANML	Bat chirps, echolocation and communicative vocalization. Wings would go under WINGS-MISC.
ANIMALS	CAT DOMESTIC	ANMLCat	ANML	Domesticated house cats.
ANIMALS	CAT WILD	ANMLWcat	ANML	Wild cats as opposed to domesticated cats.
ANIMALS	DOG	ANMLDog	ANML	All species of dogs and canines, domestic and wild, includes wolves, foxes, dingoes.
ANIMALS	FARM	ANMLFarm	ANML	Domesticated mammals you'd find on a farm. For farm birds see BIRDS-FOWL.
ANIMALS	HORSE	ANMLHors	ANML	All members of the horse family.
ANIMALS	INSECT	ANMLInsc	ANML	All manner of traditional insect sounds, crickets, cicada, flies and bees. And singular insect recordings.
ANIMALS	MISC	ANMLMisc	ANML	Animal sounds not fitting another category in this list.
ANIMALS	PRIMATE	ANMLPrim	ANML	All members of the primate family except humans.
ANIMALS	REPTILE	ANMLRept	ANML	All reptiles including snakes and turtles.
ANIMALS	RODENT	ANMLRdnt	ANML	All manner 'gnawing' animals like rats and mice.
ANIMALS	WILD	ANMLWild	ANML	Any wild animal not explicitly defined by the list, and not domesticated.

BIRDS

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
BIRDS	BIRD OF PREY	BIRDPrey	BIRD	Birds that prey on vertebrates, especially rodents. Raptors.
BIRDS	CROW	BIRDCrow	BIRD	Birds in Corvid family, which includes crows and ravens.
BIRDS	FOWL	BIRDFowl	BIRD	Landfowl, wildfowl and waterfowl, also poultry. Ground feeding and many water feeding birds.
BIRDS	MISC	BIRDMisc	BIRD	Bird sounds not fitting another category in this list.
BIRDS	SEA	BIRDSea	BIRD	Birds that live mostly near the ocean. Seagulls, pelicans.
BIRDS	SONGBIRD	BIRDSong	BIRD	Specifically singing birds, warblers, robins, thrushes, what you imagine pretty dawn chorus birds.
BIRDS	TROPICAL	BIRDTrop	BIRD	Birds living in tropical locations, jungle and tropical rainforest birds.
BIRDS	WADING	BIRDWade	BIRD	Long-legged, long-billed birds that feed primarily in shallow water.

NATURAL DISASTER

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
NATURAL DISASTER	AVALANCHE	NATDAval	NATD	Composite big movements of sliding, falling earth, landslides, mudslides.
NATURAL DISASTER	EARTHQUAKE	NATDQuak	NATD	Composite and complex earthquake rumbles and rattles.
NATURAL DISASTER	MISC	NATDMisc	NATD	Natural Disaster sounds not fitting another category in this list.
NATURAL DISASTER	TORNADO	NATDTorn	NATD	Composite tornado sounds, layered and created massive tornadoes.
NATURAL DISASTER	TSUNAMI	NATDTsun	NATD	Composite tidal wave or tsunami scenes, layered and created.
NATURAL DISASTER	TYPHOON	NATDThyp	NATD	Composite typhoons, cyclones or hurricanes. Massive swirling storms.
NATURAL DISASTER	VOLCANO	NATDVolc	NATD	Composite big volcano eruptions. Lava, lava bombs, eruptions.

RAIN

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
RAIN	CLOTH	RAINClth	RAIN	Rain on cloth, like a person's clothes, or more likely a patio umbrella, awning.
RAIN	CONCRETE	RAINConc	RAIN	Rain on asphalt or concrete or patio tile. Rain on a hard slappy solid surface.
RAIN	GENERAL	RAIN	RAIN	General downpour, rain on mixed materials.
RAIN	GLASS	RAINGlas	RAIN	Rain on a glass roof like a sunroof, or rain blown against a window as well.
RAIN	METAL	RAINMetl	RAIN	Rain on a metal surface, so rain on a car, or metal sheet.
RAIN	PLASTIC	RAINPlas	RAIN	Rain on plastic or vinyl surfaces, like a grill cover, or a plastic shed.
RAIN	VEGETATION	RAINVege	RAIN	Rain on plants, leaves and grass. Jungle or tropical rain on plant leaves.
RAIN	WATER	RAINWatr	RAIN	Rain on water, puddles, lakes, ponds
RAIN	WOOD	RAINWood	RAIN	Rain on wood surfaces, so a deck for example.

VEGETATION

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
VEGETATION	GRASS	VEGEGras	VEGE	Individual movement of grass elements in a studio or exterior environment.
VEGETATION	LEAVES	VEGELeaf	VEGE	Individual movement of leaf elements in a studio or exterior environment.
VEGETATION	MISC	VEGEMisc	VEGE	Vegetation and Foliage sounds not fitting another category in this list.
VEGETATION	TREE	VEGETree	VEGE	Individual movement of tree and brand elements in a studio or exterior environment.

WEATHER

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
WEATHER	HAIL	HAIL	HAIL	Hail on various surfaces.
WEATHER	MISC	WTHR	WTHR	Weather sounds not fitting another category in this list.
WEATHER	STORM	STORM	STORM	Composite storms, wind, rain, thunder, where elements aren't well isolated. Mixed storm composite recordings.
WEATHER	THUNDER	THUN	THUN	Thunder and lightning, dry, wet, distant rumbles to sharp thunder cracks.

WIND

Category	SubCategory	CatID	CatShort	Explanations
WIND	DESIGNED	WINDDsgn	WIND	Designed or manufactured or artificial winds, wind machines, synth winds.
WIND	GENERAL	WIND	WIND	Base and general wind category.
WIND	GUST	WINDGust	WIND	For more singular gusts or buffets, accents to cut into other winds
WIND	INTERIOR	WINDInt	WIND	Interior wind, through window, or crack in door. Wind through chimney or vent pipe.
WIND	TONAL	WINDTonl	WIND	Wind howls, wind in wires, wind whistles, overtly tonal winds.
WIND	VEGETATION	WINDVege	WIND	Wind through foliage, vegetation, grass, trees, leaves, plants.