Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 02 Issue 14
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 2, Issue 14
I'm sitting here in the living room with my laptop watching my
baby daughter roll around the room and explore her world. Her
physical development continues to amaze me. I give her another
week or so before she figures out the crawling thing. Just as
impressive is her vocal development. She can range from the
sweetest little coo that would melt your heart to a full-fledged
banshee scream which would melt glass.
In listening to her this morning I realized how important sound
is in our lives. Sounds convey sorrow, warning, and joy. The
voice of a loved one coming through the telephone brings us
closer whether we are a county or a continent away. Now the cool
thing is, the computer has given us a lot of power to create and
edit sound content. In fact, there's a pretty powerful audio
tool out there right now called Audacity. We're going to take a
quick look at it this issue.
----------------------------------------------------------------
In This Issue...
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Article: The Sound of Audacity
2. Blog Posts
3. Shameless Self-Promotion
4. The Fine Print
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Article: The Sound of Audacity
----------------------------------------------------------------
I've been working on a new project recently. I'm not ready to
reveal the details yet, but let's just say that there may be
audio content involved. That being said, I had to download the
most recent version of my favorite audio editing program,
Audacity (the most recent stable version is 1.2.6). Let me tell
you, if you have any desire to record or edit sound, get this
program (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/).
A friend of mine, Master Ian Hafner of Keith Hafner's Karate has
been a musician for years (http://www.iankeithhafner.com/).
Recently we were discussing the Audacity program. He told me
that when he started making and producing his own music, he
shelled out thousands of dollars for analog editing equipment.
Shaking his head he told me that now, with his computer and
Audacity, he can do everything for which he needed that old
expensive equipment.
Most of us probably don't have needs which rival an actual
musicians, so for what we need, Audacity should more than make
the mark. I use it primarily to record and edit spoken clips.
It works quite well with my cheap microphone. The interface at
first might seem overwhelming, but if you only focus on the big
"tape recorder" buttons, you should be just fine.
After you've recorded or imported an audio clip (it can read most
common audio formats), editing is almost as easy as using a word
processor. The audio information is presented as a histogram.
You can highlight sections of the graph, play only that section,
delete it, copy it, paste it, etc. As I said, very similar to a
word processor.
For those who are more adventuresome, Audacity has a whole
boatload of audio effects you can play with. It has everything
from amplification to noise reduction. Fade-ins, fade-outs, you
can do it all with this tool.
After you are done with your editing, you can save your
masterpiece in a variety of audio formats, including MP3 (the
format used by most audio players). Personally, I tend to keep
my audio projects in the Audacity format. When I need a
particular format, I do a "Save as..." just like I would do for a
document under MS Word.
Really, I haven't found anything to complain about in the
Audacity software. It's powerful, relatively easy to use, and
it's free. What more could you ask for?
Give Audacity a try and tell me how things work for you. What
kinds of projects could you use it for? Drop me a line and let
me hear your ideas.
Copyright 2008, Greg Peters
----------------------------------------------------------------
2. Blog Posts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confusion" Blog from the
last year:
Thursday, March 09, 2006 -- Free Software, Part 2
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2006/03/free-software-part-2.html
"In part 1 of the story, I briefly talked about the wonders of
OpenOffice.org -- a great office productivity suite which, while
not perfect, is more than sufficient for 90% of us. So, what
other treasures are out there?"
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 -- Silly Phone Fun
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2008/01/silly-phone-fun.html
"Have you ever had a phone message that you really wanted to
keep? Maybe it was your family singing happy birthday to you,
maybe some friends telling you that they were officially engaged,
or maybe it was a bizarre message for your cats from your
delightful sister-in-law -- letting them know that she would
bring the tequila and catnip. Whatever the message, it sure would
be nice to be able to save those moments for posterity, wouldn't
it?"
----------------------------------------------------------------
3. Shameless Self-Promotion
----------------------------------------------------------------
The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg
Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data
Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better
web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us
on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your
webmaster.
----------------------------------------------------------------
4. The Fine Print
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe:
You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at:
http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine
Questions:
If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the
Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at:
gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com
This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact
information intact, without specific permission, when used only
in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired,
permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with
notification to the original author.
We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited,
and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your
privacy is safe with us.
