Audio post-production worker
Audio post-production worker
This pattern composes Compute, Network, and Object Storage.
What this template deploys#
- Private network and router for egress-only worker access
- Two Object Storage buckets (input and output)
- One Compute worker instance with cloud-init that installs FFmpeg, the AWS CLI, and a polling worker service
- Optional whisper.cpp transcription when
enable_transcriptionis true - 0 floating IPs by default (worker reaches buckets over outbound HTTPS)
Upload raw audio to the input bucket. The worker writes loudness-normalized MP3 files to the output bucket and optionally POSTs to webhook_url.
Prerequisites#
- OpenTofu or Terraform >= 1.6.0
- OpenStack application credentials (
source openrc.sh) - EC2-compatible Object Storage credentials (
openstack ec2 credentials create). See S3 storage ACL template for the bootstrap shape.
Parameters#
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
key_name | SSH keypair name (must already exist in your project) | required |
s3_access_key / s3_secret_key | EC2-compat Object Storage credentials passed to the worker | required |
input_bucket_name | Bucket for raw uploads | required |
output_bucket_name | Bucket for mastered output | required |
worker_flavor | CPU flavor for FFmpeg | c2a.large |
webhook_url | HTTPS callback after each job (empty disables) | "" |
enable_transcription | Upload SRT sidecars via whisper | false |
poll_interval_seconds | Seconds between bucket polls | 60 |
target_lufs | Integrated loudness target | -14 |
image_name | Boot image name | Ubuntu-24.04 |
external_network | Shared external network for router gateway | PublicStatic |
private_cidr | Private subnet CIDR for the worker | 192.168.70.0/24 |
instance_name | Worker instance display name | audio-worker |
s3_endpoint | Quake AI S3-compatible endpoint URL | https://object.us-east-1.rumble.cloud |
s3_region | S3 region identifier for the AWS provider | us-east-1 |
Cost and sizing#
Size worker_flavor for concurrent FFmpeg jobs you expect. The template uses CPU-only processing (no GPU). Object Storage charges follow your plan allowance for stored and transferred bytes.
When to use this pattern#
Batch-normalize podcast or voiceover files uploaded to Object Storage without standing up a separate media SaaS. For general cloud-init background, see cloud-init and first-boot configuration.
Estimated cost#
Monthly cost estimate
Pricing calculator ↗Sized as a custom package on dedicated vCPU.
Monthly total for the required template above. Use the configurator below to add optional pieces and see the total update.
What each resource is for
Worker node
c2a.large · 2 dedicated vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 0.5 Gbps
Compute shown per role at custom-package rates ($29/dedicated vCPU, $7.25/shared vCPU, $1/GiB RAM). The headline above is the billed total: the cheaper of a named plan and the custom package, plus add-ons.
Included in baseline
c2a.large
2 dedicated vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 0.5 Gbps
Compute + RAM rate basis
2 vCPU + 4 GiB RAM at $29/dedicated vCPU, $7.25/shared vCPU, $1/GiB RAM (regular). Totals apply the flat −$5/mo package promotion.
Block storage (40 GiB)
40 GiB at $0.08/GiB/mo
Package promotional discount
Flat −$5.00/mo on the custom package (same promotion as named plans).
Object storage (usage-based)
Object storage
2 buckets. The first 1 TB is included, then $10.00 per TB each month. You pay for what you store, so this line depends on usage.
Assumes: 2 TB stored is $10/mo; 5 TB stored is $40/mo. Within the included allotment it stays $0.
Included at no charge
These line items are zero on Quake AI. Many other providers meter them separately.
Data transfer (inbound and outbound)
Unlimited data transfer on every plan; Quake AI does not meter per-GB egress.
AWS, GCP, and Azure meter outbound transfer per GB. DigitalOcean and Hetzner include an allowance on compute plans, then charge overage.
Learn moreObject storage upload and download
No separate charges for uploading or downloading object storage data.
Most object storage providers meter egress and API requests separately from stored capacity.
Learn morePrivate networking
Private networks, subnets, Neutron routers, and security groups are included with the plan.
VPC objects are usually free to create elsewhere, but NAT gateways bill hourly plus per-GB processed. Quake AI uses router SNAT with no separate NAT line item.
Control-plane API requests
OpenStack API calls for provisioning and management are included.
Some managed services on other clouds meter API calls or charge for premium control-plane features.
Configure your estimate
Check the add-ons you plan to deploy to build a monthly total. Nothing is selected to start, so the total below begins at the baseline.
Starting template
The required baseline, always included.
Pick how much you expect to store to fold it into the total.
Dev/test vs production
Start on shared CPU for dev/test, then promote to dedicated for production with a flavor resize. The network, storage, and template stay the same.
Dev/test on shared CPU
Burstable s1a flavors; suited to prototyping and low or bursty load.
Production on dedicated CPU
The headline estimate above; predictable steady-load performance.
Saves $45.50/mo while you build on shared CPU.
Shared flavors carry less RAM (c2a.large (4 GiB RAM) -> s1a.small (2 GiB RAM)). A resize reboots the instance; data on attached volumes persists. Size the dedicated flavor for the RAM your production workload needs.
Pricing data last validated: . For current rates, check quake.ai/pricing.
Template source#
Show source (7 files)Hide source
data "openstack_images_image_v2" "os" {
name = var.image_name
most_recent = true
}
data "openstack_networking_network_v2" "external" {
name = var.external_network
}
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "input" {
bucket = var.input_bucket_name
}
resource "aws_s3_bucket_acl" "input" {
bucket = aws_s3_bucket.input.id
acl = "private"
}
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "output" {
bucket = var.output_bucket_name
}
resource "aws_s3_bucket_acl" "output" {
bucket = aws_s3_bucket.output.id
acl = "private"
}
resource "openstack_networking_network_v2" "private" {
name = "${var.instance_name}-private"
admin_state_up = true
}
resource "openstack_networking_subnet_v2" "private" {
name = "${var.instance_name}-private-sn"
network_id = openstack_networking_network_v2.private.id
cidr = var.private_cidr
ip_version = 4
enable_dhcp = true
dns_nameservers = ["8.8.8.8", "8.8.4.4"]
}
resource "openstack_networking_router_v2" "router" {
name = "${var.instance_name}-router"
external_network_id = data.openstack_networking_network_v2.external.id
admin_state_up = true
}
resource "openstack_networking_router_interface_v2" "private" {
router_id = openstack_networking_router_v2.router.id
subnet_id = openstack_networking_subnet_v2.private.id
}
resource "openstack_networking_secgroup_v2" "worker" {
name = "${var.instance_name}-sg"
description = "SSH from admin CIDR only; worker is egress-only to Object Storage"
}
resource "openstack_networking_secgroup_rule_v2" "ssh" {
direction = "ingress"
ethertype = "IPv4"
protocol = "tcp"
port_range_min = 22
port_range_max = 22
remote_ip_prefix = "0.0.0.0/0"
security_group_id = openstack_networking_secgroup_v2.worker.id
}
resource "openstack_networking_port_v2" "worker" {
name = "${var.instance_name}-port"
network_id = openstack_networking_network_v2.private.id
security_group_ids = [openstack_networking_secgroup_v2.worker.id]
fixed_ip {
subnet_id = openstack_networking_subnet_v2.private.id
}
depends_on = [openstack_networking_router_interface_v2.private]
}
resource "openstack_compute_instance_v2" "worker" {
name = var.instance_name
flavor_name = var.worker_flavor
key_pair = var.key_name
user_data = templatefile("${path.module}/cloud-init/worker.yaml", {
s3_endpoint = var.s3_endpoint
s3_region = var.s3_region
s3_access_key = var.s3_access_key
s3_secret_key = var.s3_secret_key
input_bucket = aws_s3_bucket.input.id
output_bucket = aws_s3_bucket.output.id
webhook_url = var.webhook_url
enable_transcription = var.enable_transcription ? "true" : "false"
poll_interval_seconds = var.poll_interval_seconds
target_lufs = var.target_lufs
})
block_device {
uuid = data.openstack_images_image_v2.os.id
source_type = "image"
destination_type = "volume"
volume_size = 40
boot_index = 0
delete_on_termination = true
}
network {
port = openstack_networking_port_v2.worker.id
}
}
variable "key_name" {
description = "Existing SSH keypair name in the project for compute instances"
type = string
}
variable "s3_access_key" {
description = "EC2-compatible access key for Object Storage (Keystone ec2 credentials create)"
type = string
sensitive = true
}
variable "s3_secret_key" {
description = "EC2-compatible secret key paired with s3_access_key"
type = string
sensitive = true
}
variable "input_bucket_name" {
description = "S3 bucket name for raw audio uploads"
type = string
}
variable "output_bucket_name" {
description = "S3 bucket name for mastered audio output"
type = string
}
variable "worker_flavor" {
description = "Compute flavor for the FFmpeg worker (CPU-only)"
type = string
default = "c2a.large"
}
variable "image_name" {
description = "Boot image name"
type = string
default = "Ubuntu-24.04"
}
variable "external_network" {
description = "Shared external network for router gateway and floating IPs; defaults to PublicStatic (persisted FIP / production pattern). Override with PublicEphemeral for ephemeral demos."
type = string
default = "PublicStatic"
}
variable "private_cidr" {
description = "Private subnet CIDR for the worker"
type = string
default = "192.168.70.0/24"
}
variable "instance_name" {
description = "Worker instance display name"
type = string
default = "audio-worker"
}
variable "s3_endpoint" {
description = "Quake AI S3-compatible endpoint URL"
type = string
default = "https://object.us-east-1.rumble.cloud"
}
variable "s3_region" {
description = "S3 region identifier passed to the AWS provider"
type = string
default = "us-east-1"
}
variable "webhook_url" {
description = "Optional HTTPS URL the worker POSTs to after each successful job (empty disables webhooks)"
type = string
default = ""
}
variable "enable_transcription" {
description = "When true, run whisper.cpp and upload SRT/VTT alongside mastered audio"
type = bool
default = false
}
variable "poll_interval_seconds" {
description = "Seconds between input-bucket polls"
type = number
default = 60
}
variable "target_lufs" {
description = "Integrated loudness target for FFmpeg loudnorm (LUFS)"
type = number
default = -14
}
output "worker_instance_id" {
description = "Nova instance ID for the audio worker"
value = openstack_compute_instance_v2.worker.id
}
output "worker_private_ip" {
description = "Private IPv4 address of the worker (no floating IP allocated by default)"
value = openstack_compute_instance_v2.worker.network[0].fixed_ip_v4
}
output "input_bucket" {
description = "Object Storage bucket for raw uploads"
value = aws_s3_bucket.input.id
}
output "output_bucket" {
description = "Object Storage bucket for mastered audio"
value = aws_s3_bucket.output.id
}
output "floating_ip_count" {
description = "Floating IPs this template allocates (zero by default; worker is egress-only)"
value = 0
}
terraform {
required_version = ">= 1.6.0"
required_providers {
openstack = {
source = "terraform-provider-openstack/openstack"
version = "~> 2.0"
}
aws = {
source = "hashicorp/aws"
version = "~> 5.0"
}
}
}
provider "openstack" {}
provider "aws" {
region = var.s3_region
access_key = var.s3_access_key
secret_key = var.s3_secret_key
skip_credentials_validation = true
skip_metadata_api_check = true
skip_requesting_account_id = true
endpoints {
s3 = var.s3_endpoint
}
}
key_name = "audio-worker-deploy"
input_bucket_name = "my-project-audio-in"
output_bucket_name = "my-project-audio-out"
# EC2-compatible credentials from: openstack ec2 credentials create
# s3_access_key = "..."
# s3_secret_key = "..."
# webhook_url = "https://example.com/hooks/audio-done"
# enable_transcription = true
# worker_flavor = "c2a.large"
#cloud-config
package_update: true
write_files:
- path: /etc/audio-worker.env
owner: root:root
permissions: "0600"
content: |
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${s3_access_key}
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${s3_secret_key}
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=${s3_region}
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=${s3_endpoint}
INPUT_BUCKET=${input_bucket}
OUTPUT_BUCKET=${output_bucket}
WEBHOOK_URL=${webhook_url}
ENABLE_TRANSCRIPTION=${enable_transcription}
POLL_INTERVAL=${poll_interval_seconds}
TARGET_LUFS=${target_lufs}
- path: /usr/local/bin/audio-worker.sh
owner: root:root
permissions: "0755"
content: |
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
source /etc/audio-worker.env
WORK_DIR=/var/lib/audio-worker
PROCESSED="$WORK_DIR/processed.keys"
mkdir -p "$WORK_DIR"
touch "$PROCESSED"
while true; do
mapfile -t keys < <(aws s3 ls "s3://$INPUT_BUCKET/" --recursive | awk '{print $4}' | grep -E '\.(wav|flac|mp3|m4a|aac|ogg)$' || true)
for key in "$${keys[@]}"; do
[ -z "$key" ] && continue
grep -Fxq "$key" "$PROCESSED" && continue
base=$(basename "$key")
stem="$${base%.*}"
infile="$WORK_DIR/in-$base"
outfile="$WORK_DIR/out-$base"
aws s3 cp "s3://$INPUT_BUCKET/$key" "$infile"
ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel error -i "$infile" \
-af "loudnorm=I=$TARGET_LUFS:TP=-1.5:LRA=11,afftdn=nf=-25" \
-c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 "$outfile"
aws s3 cp "$outfile" "s3://$OUTPUT_BUCKET/$${stem}-master.mp3"
if [ "$ENABLE_TRANSCRIPTION" = "true" ]; then
whisper "$infile" --model tiny --output_format srt --output_dir "$WORK_DIR"
aws s3 cp "$WORK_DIR/$${stem}.srt" "s3://$OUTPUT_BUCKET/$${stem}.srt" || true
fi
if [ -n "$WEBHOOK_URL" ]; then
curl -fsS -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d "{\"source\":\"$key\",\"output\":\"$${stem}-master.mp3\"}" "$WEBHOOK_URL" || true
fi
echo "$key" >> "$PROCESSED"
rm -f "$infile" "$outfile"
done
sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL"
done
- path: /etc/systemd/system/audio-worker.service
owner: root:root
permissions: "0644"
content: |
[Unit]
Description=Audio post-production worker
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=/etc/audio-worker.env
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/audio-worker.sh
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
runcmd:
- |
set -e
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
apt-get update
apt-get install -y ffmpeg curl python3-pip
pip3 install --break-system-packages awscli
if [ "${enable_transcription}" = "true" ]; then
apt-get install -y whisper || pip3 install --break-system-packages openai-whisper
fi
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable audio-worker.service
systemctl start audio-worker.service
# Audio post-production worker
CPU-only Compute worker that polls an Object Storage input bucket, loudness-normalizes audio with FFmpeg, writes mastered files to an output bucket, and optionally emits a webhook or whisper.cpp transcripts.
**Network class:** production — `external_network` defaults to `PublicStatic` for persisted floating IPs and multi-tier stacks; override with `PublicEphemeral` for ephemeral demos.
## Prerequisites
- OpenTofu >= 1.6.0 or Terraform >= 1.6.0
- Quake AI OpenStack credentials (`source openrc.sh`)
- EC2-compatible Object Storage credentials. See [Credential bootstrap](#credential-bootstrap)
## Honesty note
This template runs customer-owned scripts on a VM. Quake AI does not provide managed media processing or event delivery. The polling loop is a simple Object Storage list/copy pattern, not a managed queue service. No GPU is allocated.
## Credential bootstrap
Export EC2-compat credentials before `tofu plan`:
```bash
openstack ec2 credentials create
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<access>
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<secret>
export AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=https://object.us-east-1.rumble.cloud
```
Pass the same access and secret values as `s3_access_key` and `s3_secret_key` in `terraform.tfvars` so cloud-init can configure the worker.
## Usage
1. Copy this directory
2. Copy `terraform.tfvars.example` to `terraform.tfvars` and fill in bucket names and credentials
3. `tofu init`
4. `tofu plan`
5. `tofu apply`
## Variables
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `key_name` | string | yes | n/a | Existing SSH keypair name in the project for compute instances |
| `s3_access_key` | string | yes | n/a | EC2-compat access key (sensitive) |
| `s3_secret_key` | string | yes | n/a | EC2-compat secret key (sensitive) |
| `input_bucket_name` | string | yes | n/a | Raw audio bucket |
| `output_bucket_name` | string | yes | n/a | Mastered output bucket |
| `worker_flavor` | string | no | `c2a.large` | CPU flavor for FFmpeg |
| `webhook_url` | string | no | `""` | Optional completion webhook |
| `enable_transcription` | bool | no | `false` | Optional whisper.cpp pass |
| `poll_interval_seconds` | number | no | `60` | Poll interval |
| `target_lufs` | number | no | `-14` | Loudness target |
## Floating IPs
This template allocates **0** floating IPs by default. The worker reaches Object Storage over egress through the private network router.
## Documentation
Full reference: [Audio worker template](/docs/automation/templates/audio-worker)
Tutorial: [Deploy the audio worker template](/resources/tutorials/deploy-audio-worker-template) (companion tutorial prompt `20260603-212111-tutorial-audio-worker`)
Resources, parameters, and variables
key_namerequireds3_access_keyrequireds3_secret_keyrequiredinput_bucket_namerequiredoutput_bucket_namerequiredworker_flavor="c2a.large"image_name="Ubuntu-24.04"external_network="PublicStatic"private_cidr="192.168.70.0/24"instance_name="audio-worker"s3_endpoint="https://object.us-east-1.rumble.cloud"s3_region="us-east-1"webhook_url=""enable_transcription=falsepoll_interval_seconds=60target_lufs=-14
See also#
Usage Guidelines
The sample code, software libraries, command line tools, proofs of concept, templates, and other related technology on this page (including any of the foregoing that is provided by Quake AI personnel) is provided to you as Quake AI Content under the Quake AI Customer Agreement, or the relevant written agreement between you and Quake AI (whichever applies). Do not use this Quake AI Content in your production accounts, or on production or other critical data. You are responsible for testing, securing, and optimizing the Quake AI Content (such as sample code) as appropriate for production grade use based on your specific quality control practices and standards. Deploying Quake AI Content may incur Quake AI charges for creating or using Quake AI chargeable resources, such as running Compute instances or storing data in Object Storage. Your use is also subject to the Acceptable Use Policy.
For the full policy, see Usage Guidelines.
Last validated: 07.07.2026
See Also
Deploy the audio post-production worker template with OpenTofu
Shares: Cloud Init, Object Storage
Deploy the Creator-AI inference worker template with OpenTofu
Shares: Cloud Init, Object Storage
Deploy the live RTMP/SRT ingest and restream template with OpenTofu
Shares: Cloud Init, Object Storage
Deploy the CPU render-farm worker pool template with OpenTofu
Shares: Cloud Init, Object Storage
Creator-AI inference worker
Shares: Cloud Init, Object Storage