preparing audio for the web

1. record or find

Record. The first step toward integrating audio into your site is to record or find the audio you need. If you're creating original content, you can record it on any medium you'd like, analog or digital.

"We're at an interesting time in terms of recording technology," says Tim Ziegler, founder of the music marketing service, Lost Rock. "There are a million ways to record an album right now. Some are very affordable, and some of them aren't. But all of them are good."

So you can record to any medium you choose: mini-disc, analog tape, Hi-8 tape, whatever. And while many musicians now record straight to digital, some are sticking to analog formats, Ziegler says, because the sound is "warmer."

For voice, it's easiest to record directly into the computer, using a microphone.

Find. You can also use "found" sound from just about any audio source: CDs, tapes, vinyl, etc.

Equipment needed:

This varies with the recording medium, but in general:

  • Computer with lots of RAM (random access memory), and hard drive space.

  • Microphone (or other input device)

  • Speakers

  • Recording/editing software

2. digitize

The next step is to convert your audio file from its current format (DAT, 8-track, CD, whatever) to a digital file on your computer. This is a job for the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter on your sound card.

If your source material is on CD, just insert it in your computer's CD drive. You can use just about any audio-editing software (or an MP3 "ripper") to convert the file to a .wav file (On the Mac: .aif. On Unix: .au).

Otherwise, plug in your tape deck, mixer, or stereo to the "audio in" port of your computer. Then use audio-editing software to convert it.

As you digitize, you'll have to pick your sampling rate, which partially determines sound quality.

The sampling rate in audio is similar to the frame rate in video: It measures how much information (per second) is captured from the original file. To create a digital file, the computer "samples" an audio track, taking snapshots of individual moments that will be laid together.

The sampling rate is the number of snapshots taken per second. The higher the sampling rate, the better the sound, and the bigger the file. CD-quality sound requires a 44.1 KHz sample rate, which means the computer takes 44,100 samples per second, recording 16 bits of data each time.

Equipment needed:

  • Player for source material (e.g. tape deck or CD player)

  • Mini stereo jack or similar cable

  • Sound card

  • MP3 ripper or other audio-editing software to convert files

3. edit

Once your audio is digitized, you can edit it in all the ways that traditional recording studios do: Setting and mixing tracks, rearranging song sections, adding fades, reducing noise, correcting pitch. You name it.

Let's reflect on how cool this is: "Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to make a record, you had to come up with $10,000, and you had to go into a recording studio, spend a lot of that money and record it," says Matt Margolin, a web producer who also plays a mean guitar. "Then you had to find someone to make the records and do the artwork. It was really a complicated process. It was expensive, it took a long time, and it was hard to do. There was a huge barrier to entry."

Today, those barriers are eroding. "Now, you can set up a home studio for a couple thousand dollars, and make your own CDs," Margolin says. "You're basically your own record label."

Equipment needed:

  • Audio-editing software, such as Macromedia's Soundedit16 or DigiDesign's ProTools. Cheaper options include programs like CoolEdit and SoundEffects.

4. choose a format

MP3 is the industry standard for distributing music online. But not all audio is music, and not all music is best-suited to MP3.

Depending on your project and your budget, other options may better suit your needs. See choosing a format for online audio, p. 211.

The best tool for the job:

  • Song files: MP3. MP3 offers great compression and playback quality, and it's currently the industry standard.

  • Live events: Streaming formats. To broadcast or webcast a live event, you'll need a format that can be streamed.

  • Radio-style programs: streaming formats. Longer, radio-style programs require a streaming format, even if they're pre-recorded. Otherwise, they would take too long to download.

  • Sound clips: QuickTIme or a simple format (.aiff, .wav, .au). To embed a short (under one minute) sound clip in your web page, you'll want a format that integrates well with the browser and which most users can play.

  • Background music: Flash or a simple format (.aiff, .wav, .au). If you want ambient music to play when people view your site (a risky strategy: See why background music can backfire, p. 210), a simple format can work, but Flash might be better. It lets you synchronize the audio to user actions.

5. compress

The final step in preparing your audio as in any media file is to compress it, so it can be transferred more quickly and easily across the Internet. Although audio compression is enormously complex, the process for you is simple enough.

To compress your audio:

  • Select the appropriate encoder.

  • Select the level of compression.

Select the appropriate encoder. Each audio format has its own method of compression, which is accomplished through software called an encoder. So if you're saving your sound file as an MP3, you'll use an MP3 encoder to compress/encode it. And if you're streaming your audio with RealMedia, your encoder will be the Real Producer software.

Select the level of compression. Whatever format you choose, you'll have to select the level of compression also known as the encoding rate. With MP3s and other static files, you'll weigh the trade-offs between sound quality and file size. With RealMedia, the file is compressed at different levels to serve visitors on different speed connections.

Equipment needed:

  • The encoder for your chosen file format. For MP3, this could be a combined ripper/encoder

  • Audio-editing software will include other, non-proprietary codecs

6. deliver

Once your audio is recorded, digitized, edited, and encoded, all that remains is to deliver it.

Two choices about delivery:

  • Static or streaming files?

  • Embedded window or pop-ups?

Static, stand-alone files are delivered in their entirety and must be downloaded completely before they're played. They may be emailed as attachments or embedded in a web page. They're generally higher quality than their streamed counterparts but take up more disk space.

Streaming audio is delivered and played in "real-time" on a user's computer and will begin to play moments after the download is initiated. Playback is erratic and sometimes rough, but the format can handle long programs that would be unrealistic as static files. You'll need a dedicated streaming server to deliver streaming files.

Embedded window or pop-up? When you add audio to your web site, you can sometimes determine how the player should appear on your web site: either as a window within the page, or as a separate pop-up window.



The Unusually Useful Web Book
The Unusually Useful Web Book
ISBN: 0735712069
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 195
Authors: June Cohen

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