Editing Audio Tracks


Captivate contains a rather basic audio editor that enables you to perform the following tasks:

  • Cut, copy, and paste sound selections elsewhere in the track or in another audio track.

  • Delete sections of the audio track.

  • Undo or redo your last action.

  • Insert silence into an audio track.

  • Adjust the volume of the audio.

  • Zoom in or zoom out on the waveform.

Another interesting feature is the capability to import audio tracks directly into slides using the Audio Editor.

Keep in mind that the inclusion of an audio editor in Captivate does not replace the need for a regular audio editing application for more than the tasks outlined. In many respects, this feature is great for touching up sound more than anything else.

To open the Audio Editor

1.

In either the Storyboard View or Edit View panel, select a slide that has audio attached.

2.

Single-click the Audio icon on the thumbnail to open the Audio pop-down menu.

3.

Select "Edit audio" to open the Edit Audio dialog box (Figure 6.11).

Figure 6.11. The Edit Audio dialog box is a basic sound editor.


Tip

  • If you prefer to use menus, select the slide and then select Audio > Edit Audio.


A Quick Tour of the Captivate Audio Editor

Here's a rundown of the buttons and other information presented in the Edit Audio dialog box, otherwise known as the Audio Editor:

  • Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete Click to add or remove selections of sound to the waveform.

  • Undo and Redo Click if you make a mistake.

  • Insert silence Click to add a prede termined length of silence to the waveform.

  • Adjust volume Click to normalize or boost the volume of a selection.

  • Zoom In/Zoom Out Click to change the visible detail in the waveform.

  • Options Click to open the Audio Options dialog box.

  • Waveform Displays the graphic representation of the sound.

  • Record/Insert new audio Click (or just press F5) to automatically record and insert a new sound.

  • Play Click (or press F3) to preview the sound file.

  • Stop Click to stop playback.

  • Status Indicates that the audio is ready to play.

  • Playhead Displays the location of the playback head in the waveform.

  • Selected Displays duration, in thousandths of seconds, of a section of the waveform, which you can select (see below).

  • Duration Displays the duration of the entire clip, not just the selection.

  • Scale Displays the view scale for the waveform. Clicking the Zoom In or Zoom Out icons changes this number.

  • Import Click (or press F6) to import an audio file into the audio track at the location of the cursor.


To select a section of the waveform

1.

Click in the waveform and drag the mouse across the selection (Figure 6.12).

Figure 6.12. Change a selection by dragging the left or right edge of the selection inward or outward.


2.

To adjust the selection, roll your cursor to either side of the selection.

3.

When the cursor changes to the double arrow shown in Figure 6.12, click and drag the edge to extend or reduce the selection.

To cut, copy, and paste a selection of the waveform

1.

Select the section of the waveform to be cut or copied.

2.

Click the Cut button or the Copy button to place the selection on the clipboard.

3.

Click once in the waveform where the selection on the clipboard is to be placed.

4.

Click the Paste button or press Control-V to place the sound in the waveform.

Tips

  • You won't be able to use Edit > Cut or Edit > Copy for this operation. However, you can use the keyboard commands Control-X (Cut) or Control-C (Copy) after you make your selections.

  • If you make a mistake, click the Undo or Redo button.

You can't copy an audio selection in one Captivate movie or slide and paste it into the waveform of another Captivate movie or slide.


Audio silence

In a waveform, silence is represented by a flat line. Use silence to start or end a sound file, or to break up sections of a sound file.

To insert silence into the waveform

1.

Click once in the waveform where the silence is to be added.

2.

Click the Insert Silence button to open the Insert Silence dialog box (Figure 6.13).

Figure 6.13. Use the Insert Silence dialog box to choose where silence will be inserted in the audio file.


3.

Enter a silence amount or use the up and down arrows in the Insert area to set how much silence will be added.

4.

Click the pop-down arrow and choose where the silence will be placed.

Your options are "Playhead position," "Start of audio," and "End of audio."

5.

Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the silence appears on the waveform where you specified (Figure 6.14).

Figure 6.14. Silence, indicated by the flat line between the waveforms, has been inserted.


To adjust the volume of the waveform

1.

Click the Adjust volume button to open the Adjust Volume dialog box (Figure 6.15).

Figure 6.15. Use the Adjust Volume dialog box to adjust the volume level of the waveform.


2.

Make the necessary adjustments in the following three areas:

  • Volume Use this slider to increase or decrease the sound level of the audio file. Drag the slider down to reduce the volume or up to increase the volume. (As you drag, the percentage increase or decrease in volume is displayed at the bottom, so you can adjust the sound precisely.)

  • Normalize (select best volume) Select to have Captivate adjust the sound volume automatically. Normalizing audio helps keep the sound level consistent among slides. Think of Normalize as being a really smart volume knob that applies the volume shift of all of the sound to the level you set. This is a great way of adjusting volume without changing the dynamics of the sound.

  • Dynamics (boost quiet sections) Select to amplify quiet sections of the audio to help compensate for variations in audio volume. These areas are quite visible in the waveform. Loud sounds result in a large spike on the waveform, and quiet sounds have shorter spikes. In simple terms, the difference between these two levels is the dynamic range of the audio track. Changing the dynamics will alter the dynamic range. This is done through the use of two sliders:

    Ratio Specifies the maximum amplification to be used. The default setting of 2.0 sets the quietest sections of the audio to be amplified by a factor of two. A higher setting can improve movies with large differences between quiet and loud sections, but can also amplify background noise.

    Noise Threshold If you use audio editing software, this slider is comparable to a "noise gate," which is commonly used to get rid of background buzzes and noise that may have been recorded. This slider controls the amplification of background noise. Anything quieter than the noise threshold you set is not amplified. If background noise is amplified too much, setting a higher noise threshold may help solve the problem.

3.

Click OK.

The dialog box closes, and the waveform changes to reflect your choices.

To insert a new recording into the audio track

1.

Click once in the waveform where the new audio recording is to be inserted.

2.

Connect your microphone to the computer and click the "Record/Insert new audio" button.

The microphone levels appear in the Edit Audio dialog box (Figure 6.16).

Figure 6.16. You can record audio directly into the audio file.


3.

Record the sound.

4.

When you're finished recording, click the Stop button.

The new recording is added to the waveform.

Tip

  • If you make a mistake while recording, click the Stop button. When the recording appears in the waveform, click the Undo button.


To insert prerecorded audio into the waveform

1.

Click once in the waveform where the audio file is to be inserted.

2.

Click the Import button to open the Import Audio dialog box.

3.

Navigate to the folder containing the audio file, select it, and click Open.

The dialog box closes, and the audio file is inserted into the waveform.

Tip

  • If the imported audio file is placed in the wrong position you can either click the Undo button and repeat the above steps, or select the audio in the waveform and cut and paste it into its new location in the waveform.


Audio timing

In the Audio dialog box is a menu item named Edit Timing. This really doesn't describe what this item does. The name implies that you can edit the timing of the audio track in the slide. Not quite.

There will be occasions where the sound file's length is either longer or shorter than the slide's duration. This dialog box lets you adjust the duration of each slide in the movie to match that of the audio track attached to the slide.

Audio Timing Tricks

After you understand how the Audio Timing dialog box works, you suddenly realize there are a bunch of other things you can do with the audio timing feature. Here are just a few:

  • Add individual audio tracks to all of the slides in one location Your entire movie is laid out in front of you. Instead of importing audio to each slide in either the Storyboard View or the Edit View panel, click in the white area for each slide, and then click the Import button. This opens the Import Audio dialog box, and you can add an audio file to the slide.

  • Preview the audio track attached to your slides Click once at the start of the audio attached to a slide and click the Play button.

  • Edit the audio Zoom in on an audio track attached to a slide. You can insert silence or adjust the volume of the track.

  • Add narrations Connect your microphone, click inside a slide, and click the "Record/Insert new audio file" button.

  • Add the same audio files to a number of slides Select the entire waveform for the file to be used elsewhere. Copy the selection, click and drag across the white area of the target slide, and paste.


To edit audio timing

1.

In either the Storyboard View or Edit View panel, select Audio > Edit Timing.The Edit Audio Timing dialog box opens (Figure 6.17). At first glance, this dialog box may appear to be a bit confusing. Essentially it's a graphical representation of each slide's duration and the waveform of any sound attached to the slide. A slide's duration is the distance between the red lines. Each red line represents the start of each slide in the movie.

Figure 6.17. You can change slide timing to match that of the audio file in the Edit Audio Timing dialog box.


2.

Click and drag a slide marker to the edge of a sound to increase or decrease the duration of the slide.

3.

Click OK to close the dialog box and accept the changes.



Macromedia Captivate for Windows. Visual QuickStart Guide
Macromedia Captivate for Windows. Visual QuickStart Guide
ISBN: 321294173
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 130

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