Boost Your Web Sales With Streaming Audio

Boost Your Web Sales With Streaming Audio

by: Steve Nichols

What do you do with your intranet or internet site once you’ve added words and pictures? How about adding audio as well?

Audio is friendly, direct and ideally suited to getting complex messages across in a short space of time.

Itกs now getting easier to add audio to the net, thanks to increasing bandwidths and innovative new ways of compressing data.

The problem has been that CDquality audio has traditionally been the preserve of ISDN and ADSLequipped users. Basically, there has been too much data to fit down the pipe.

But, borrowing on the same techniques that are used to compress digital photographic images, it is now possible to compress sound to make it fit down a standard dialup 56KBps modem line.

The trick is to compress the audio in a way that doesn’t sound offensive to the ear, but can still pass along the line at about 3 kilobytes per second, given that a dialup modem downloads at about 4ish kilobytes per second.

The next trick is to use streaming technology that can start to play the audio while it is still downloading. As a long as it is downloads fast enough you don’t get annoying stops and starts. You should also end up with a กbufferก. In many cases, the whole audio file will have downloaded long before the user has finished listening to it.

The volume of online streaming audio grew by 118 per cent last year, according to market researchers USbased AccuStream iMedia Research and the top ten internet radio stations received an average of 137.5m tuning hours in the same period, up from 63m in 2003.

Typical audio formats are Real’s Radio Player (as chosen by the BBC), the ubiquitous MP3 (as featured on thousands of youngster’s personal hifis) and Macromedia Flash.

MP3SoundStream (http://www.mp3soundstream.com/cgibin/cppro/go.cgi?snichols1) uses Flash and works well as 98% of computers already have the Flash plugin and the rest can easily download it. Flash takes the MP3 file, combines it with an audio controller button and streams it for you off any server, which means lowcost and ease of use.

So once you have the technology in place, what can you record? The answer is anything. Adding audio to an intranet lets you record a weekly message from the CEO or a sales message. Or why not have a weekly news roundup?

The audio can either be recorded straight into your PC via a microphone and soundcard, or recorded on a Minidisc recorder and then digitised into the computer. Once there you can add music, voiceovers, cuts and fades with a program like Adobe Audition or Sony Soundforge. Music can be bought online for just a few pounds and you can even use free audio editing programmes, like Audacity.

What was once the preserve of the BBC and other highend radio studios is now available on a desktop computer near you but only if you have the skills to match.

FAQs (291 words)

Q. What is streaming audio?

A. It is audio delivered to your computer that can be listened to while it is still downloading.

Q. What’s the advantage over other audio formats?

A. You don’t get an annoying delay while the whole file downloads.

Q. What do listeners need to have on their computer?

A. A soundcard and speaker(s) or headphones, their normal browser software and a socalled plugin – a small piece of software that converts the data into sound.

Q. This all sounds expensive. Is it?

A. Not really. You can get free programs to record your sound, a computer microphone costs less than a tenner and there are free audio editing programs available on the net. You then need to convert the audio file to a streaming format, but there is an increasing amount of software available to do that too. You also need to think about a MiniDisc recorder as these have superseded cassette tape for most applications. Royaltyfree background and intro music is available on CD and via the web for a small fee.

I recommend MP3SoundStream (http://www.mp3soundstream.com/cgibin/cppro/go.cgi?snichols1). Its great, very easy to use and only costs $39.95. Another alternative is Sound Streamer at $34.95 (http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/soundstrmr).

Q. What is the quality like?

A. Judge for yourself visit http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info10.htm and listen to the demonstration programmes. The trick is to get the quality as high as you can, but still make it playable on an average modemequipped home computer. Once everyone has broadband it will be CDquality for all.

Q. How do I find out more?

A. There is a great ebook available called Audio C4 (http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/audioc4). It only costs $29.95 and is worth its weight in gold. There is a list of other useful links at http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info11.htm

ENDS

Publishing Guidelines:

You may freely reprint this article in a print or online magazine, ezine, or newsletter provided you leave the byline intact. Please don’t change the content.

About The Author

Steve Nichols is a freelance journalist who runs InfoTech Communications (www.infotechcomms.co.uk). A background in radio means that Steve was ideally placed to take advantage of the arrival of streaming audio via the web.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 17, 2004

by Steve Nichols

When is Too Much Color Too Much?

When is Too Much Color Too Much?

by: Paul Hood

At the onset of creating a digital document for printing, you must have decided if you are going to use two or more colors for your type. It is important that you must have familiarized yourself with the basics of color and color combinations and its effect on the appearance of your text. Knowing beforehand pertinent knowledge can save you a great deal of energy. Not to mention headaches.

Lifetips states that ขWhen designing a digital document for printing, try not to use a build of more than two colors for your type. When a color is needed which uses more than 2 colors, this may cause colored drop shadows, due to registration. While in the design stage, try to pick a PMS which is built using only one or two colors.ข

The importance of having a sound plan as to what design you will follow throughout the project cannot be stressed enough and here Lifetips once again hits home. As it is, printing particularly small types in more than one color can be very difficult. Doing this will result in fuzzy or hazy images which is likely not what you had in mind. The best thing to do, as Lifetips says, is to make sure that you have made a plan and a good design for your print type.

Even the best of plans go awry, so if you are already there still are things that can be done to solve the problem. In cases when you have to print types in two or more color, be sure that the type to be colored is not smaller than 12 point. Small types ideally have to be printed in just one color. Larger types can be printed with two or more color provided that one of the colors be very light.

Above are sound tips that will be very useful for your printing tasks. Using the right color with the appropriate size of types will yield satisfying results. But then again, nothing beats a sound plan.

About The Author

Ariel Velasco goes by the author alias of Paul Hood. This author is into books and writing. Reading is an essential part of his life and this has lent a considerable influence in his writing. Well traveled and would always want to travel more. He loves learning more about people and their ways. Took up a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology to further this fascination and had a fulfilling educational experience having been exposed to a wide spectrum of people. Always ready for new opportunities to learn and have a great deal of interest in different fields of expertise.

For additional information about the article you may visit http://www.uprinting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 03

by Paul Hood

Tips for Buying a PC

Tips for Buying a PC

by: Pawan Bangar

Buying Your PC

Buying a PC that’s right for you and your family is not all that simple task. More so if you’re going to buy an unbranded or an assembled one. But branded or not, you have to get you facts right before you shell out your money. First, why do you want to buy a PC? Is it because almost every one has one these days, or that you have the money to spare. If these are the reasons are that you want to end up spending a lot of money on something you’re unlikely to use. But if your reasons are that you want it for home based business, or for your kids for their education, or to work at home, or that you want to surf the net, you are on the right track. Now let’s get down to specifics.

What do you need it for?

Take a piece of paper and write down what all you need to do with the pc.

Spreadsheets, Word processing, Surfing the Web, sending email, playing games. Running multimedia, Watching movies, playing music ,CAD drawings, graphics designing, Web designing. Programming and Online learning.

Make your list. Why? Because different needs need Different PCs. You really don’t need the latest computer if all you’re going to do is browsing, no matter what the vendor tells you.

When you make your list be sure to look a little ahead and see what all other things you might be using the computer for. For instance, do you think you are likely to take up graphics designing? Or will the kids start playing all those highend games?

How much money do you want to spend?

Get hang of the money you can spend on the PC. Then you have to look for the PC that suits your needs and your budget. This may need some balancing even, if your requirements are huge and the budget isn’t. This will also decide if you should go for branded PC or an assembled one.

Brand or assembled?

This is a question that has gone on for a while now. A year ago, branded ones. We recommend that you go for a PC for which you can get assured service and support. Fort a more detailed analysis, catch our July story called Branded or Not?

What is it?

This is the part that has the computer’s basic circuitry and components. The processors, meomory, BIOS, expansion slots, etc all go on the motherboard.

What’s available?

Right now you have two broad choices for a motherboard. The motherboards based on Intel 810 chipset have the graphics and audio capabilities on to the board itselfthat’s what they mean by integrated graphics and audio onboard. In case you’re looking for better graphics (say, you will be moving to highend games, or graphics, or CAD or need better sound environmental audio, soundediting), you’ll have to get some highend video and audio cards. Which such a motherboard won’t support. You could, in such cards.

What to ask the vendor :

What are the upgrades possible on this motherboard? Which processors are supported? How much are the upgrades going to cost?

What is it?

The brain of the PC. You don’t always have to go for the fastest. And just having a processor that’s fast won’t do. The rest of the system has to keep up with it.

What’s available?

Among the lowend ones available are Celeron, AMD K6.2 and K63, and now AMDขS Duron. They are available in different clock speedsgo for the one you can afford. A Celeron 600MHZ. Among the highend processors are Pentium III and AMD’s Anthon. A PIII 667 MHz.

Also remember that a processor alone can’t make the PC zip. For instance, A PIII on an 810 motherboard that doesn’t have much graphics capability isn’t of much use.

How much do you need?

If you are going to work on office application like word processors and spreadsheets, and some browsing, a Celeron or an AMDK6 series, or Duron would do. For work that needs more processing power you have to go for a Pentium III or an Anthon. You’ll find some Pentium IIs in the market but Intel Doesn’t makes them anymore.

What is it?

This is the place where all your program and data will b stored on the PC. Your PC’s performance will depend upon the rate at which your hard disk can read data and give it to the other parts. The speed of a hard disk is measured in rpm. These days most hard disks come with a speed of 7200 rpm. And some other available in hard disk 7.5 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB, and for more on how to take care of your hard disk, check out The Hard Disk Guide in this issue.

How much do you need?

Most PCs now come with 810 GB of hard disk space. With fat OSs and fatter office suites and games, you’ll need some bit of space. 17 GB is quite common, now even 30 GB doesn’t raise eyebrows. So do take those offers of 1GB with a huge bag of salt.

What is it?

The place where information is stored for a while so that the processor doesn’t have to keep hunting for it on the hard disk.

What’s available?

The more you have the better it is. A lot of PCs still come with 32 MB RAMwe advise you to go for 64MB at the very least. If you’re a gamer or into heavy graphics, you’ll need 128 MB.

How much do you need?

The more you have the better it is. A lot of PCs still come with 32 MB RAMwe advise you to go for 64 MB at the very least. If you’re a gamer or into heavy graphics, you’ll need 128 MB

What is it?

This is a card that carries out the processing for all that’s related to the display. You could have a fast processor, lots of ROM and hard disk that keeps pace with it all. But if the display can’t match all thisthe speed at which the things have got processed will take ages to show up on screen. The card has its RAM called video RAM (VRAM).

What’s available?

As we said earlier, some motherboards have this function inbuilt, but others need you to have a graphics card for this. You get a range of cards now.

How much do you need?

If you’re into heavy gaming and graphics and CAD and 3D modeling, you need to have a card with at least 8 MB VRAM, 16MB if you can afford it. For other purpose, 4 MB VRAM is good enough.

All software comes on CDs. A lot of computers magazines that teach you how to use computers come with CDs. So a CDROM drive is a must. Now you have the option of going for CDRW drives or even DVD drives. And some vendors have the check to see PCs without them.

Higher X ratingssuch as 48X, 52X for a CD drive doesn’t mean that the drive will run at blazing speeds. In fact for routine things opening a CD tray, making a CD auto runan 8X will do just fine. But if you were to rip songs from your audio CDs to convert them into MP3s you would need a faster drive.

A DVD drive is great if you are going to be watching a lot of movies on your PC but make sure video card and sound card and speakers match up to it.

Go for a CDRW drive if you are going to be burning a lot of CDskeeping backups, making MP3 CDs, and so on.

The basic PC:

For running productivity applications: word processors, spreadsheet, presentations, Surfing. Using email, using personal information mangers. Play music and videos, some light games and multimedia CDs

Specs:

Celeron 550 MHz or above/AMD K6 series or Duron 550 MHz or above

64 MB RAM

15ข color SVGA monitor

1012 GB ATA/66 hard disk

On board video abd sound

48 x or higher CDdrive

101keys Keyboard

3button mouse

56 kbps modem

The highend PC –

For heavy gaming, graphics, multimedia creation, sound editing

Specs:

Pentium III 700 MHz/ k7 700 MHz or higher

128 MB RAM

17 GB ATA/^^ hard disk drive

video card with 32 MB VRAM

101keys keyboard

on board sound (for those into sound editing and composing, a highend sound card like Creative SoundBlaster Live is needed)

17ข monitor

Scroll mouse

56 Kbps modem

Sound card and Speakers:

The sound card processes the sound that you hear on your PC. These days sounds cards not only make multimedia application sound great, they also let you compose record and edit your own music.

Monitor:

14ข monitors are out. You can get in your some other type of the monitor in 15ข, color monitor, 16 inches and 17 inches monitor are available in the market.

PORTS –

Ports are where you plug in peripherals. The mouse and keyboard go into their respective ports. Serial ports take in modems. Parallel ports take in printer, scanners, etc, There are now USB ports for USB printers, scanners, digital cameras, etc. Now there are Fire Wire ports t00but these are useful for those into videoediting and such tasks that need a lot of data to be transferred in a shot.

Keyboard and Mouse

There is a range of mice to choose from Look for one that you fell comfortable working with. There are different types of keyboards. Again look for one that doesn’t require you to thump hard to type, feels ergonomic. You could also go for devices go for devices that have programmable buttons/keys.

Software

You need an operating systemthe common one is of course, Windows 98. Now the latest version of Windows for the home is Windows Me.

You need an office suits, or at least programs that do word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. You need a browser to the Web, and an email program. You’ll also need an antivirus, some system diagnostic tools, some graphics programs, and some useful things like media players (to run your movies and play music), file compression tools like WinZip. Then of course, there is a world of games and multimedia titles to explore .

About The Author

Pawan Bangar,

Technical Director,

Birbals,

(Hbirbals,Seobirbals,Ebirbals,Ibirbals)

Cell:911753150734

Cell:+919815352253

email: [email protected]

Yahoo Messenger:[email protected]

MSN messenger:[email protected]

This article was posted on November 09, 2003

by Pawan Bangar

Flash Deadly Sins (that can kill your web business

Flash Deadly Sins (that can kill your web business)

by: Alan Steward

Looks like every client wants a Flash site these days but the reality is…as flashy as these sites may look, there are many negatives you may want to consider before delving into Flash.
Deadly Sin One Long Load Times
This is the most obvious problem with most Flash sites. Flash files can get large in a hurry and if the page takes too long to load, your visitor will move on without even seeing your site. Ideally, you would want your Flash web page to load just as fast as a ‘regularก page with text and images. And yes, it can be done!
Problem #1 Images
The whole reason why Flash was developed was to be able to use vector graphics on web pages. Vector Graphics are infinitely smaller than pixel based images, they can be resized to any size and animated without creating large file sizes. Unfortunately, many designers use regular pixel based graphics like photos in their Flash design and end up with huge files. Rule #1 for good Flash design should be…Use Vector Graphics only!
Problem #2 Sound
What is a good picture without sound? Once you have this great Flash animated page, you want to add sound to it. This is the #2 culprit resulting in large file sizes and slow loads. The trick here is to use loops. Flash Music Loops are ultra short slices of music, that when looped in Flash play great background music sound tracks that load fast and sound great. You can find Flash Music Loops at http://www.flashmusictracks.com These loops that are near CD quality and most are only 15k or less in size. They also offer a free Flash Music Player that allows for the music to continue playing even if the visitor switches to another page, you can even select a different music track or stop the music at any time while browsing, totally impossible with any normal Flash implementation. Another thing that helps keep file sizes down is to use lowres MP3 files for button effects and sound effects. You don’t really need 128k MP3 quality when most computerกs speakers will sound just as good with 24k or 32k MP3s. Another easy file size saver…use mono!
Deadly Sin Two Missing Links
This fact is often overlooked. When you use Flash Buttons and Links, search engines will no longer find your links on the pages. This can be extremely disastrous for your search engine rankings. Search Engines need to be able to follow links to successfully index your site. Plus, the more well placed links the robot finds on your site, the higher your ranking will be. When you use all Flash, you won’t have any visible links and you effectively kill any chance of being found on search engines.
Whatกs the answer here? Use a Flash/HTML hybrid page. Even if you have Flash links, still try to duplicate those links on the bottom of the page in HTML code so the search engines can find them.
Deadly Sin Three Compatibility
This factor used to be important but today itกs no longer relevant. In the early days of Flash, many web users didn’t have the Flash plug in and they moved on to another site rather than to download and install Flash just to visit your site. This is no longer an issue. 99% of all web users will have browsers that can กseeก Flash pages and you no longer have to design a Flash and NonFlash Version for your site. If your visitors run for the hills rather than stick around to visit your site itกs the load time, not compatibility that is to blame.
So what is a man to do? You want Flash but you still want quick load times and good search engine rankings. It can be done but you need to design your Flash site with all these factors in mind. It is possible to design Flash Pages that actually load faster than many ‘regularก pages with lots of graphics. A good hybrid design with enough HTML elements can get you ranked well with the search engines. The FlashMusicTracks website mentioned above is a perfect example. It uses Flash Banners and Logos only, everything else is HTML. The site looks good, sounds good and everything loads very fast.
So, you don’t have to be afraid of Flash killing your web business if you use Flash wisely.

About The Author

Article by Alan Steward, Webmaster and Sound Designer at http://www.musicleads.net.
You are free to use this article on your website or in your ezine as long as you do use it in its entirety.

This article was posted on June 26, 2004

by Alan Steward

The CD Mastering Process

The CD Mastering Process

by: Earle Holder

Feel free to download the entire manual detailing the mastering process from HarBal complete with pictures of all the tools needed to create a great sounding mastered cd .

http://hdqtrz.com/Files/HarBal_Mastering_Process.pdf

Please remember that you can experiment with different presets in Waves LMB. If you want light limiting use the กAdaptive Multi Electro Masteringก preset and follow the same process..

Whichever sound editor(Sound Forge, WaveLab, Cool Edit) you are using you should have a method to look at the statistics of your track.

Sound Forge ….Tools/Statistics

Wavelab Analysis/Global Analysis

I am sure there are others in the forum that can give you the path in their editors

You want to pay special attention to your RMS levels. You should adjust these based on the genre of the music.

I know there are a few mastering engineers out there that hate the loudness war (rightfully so) happening with certain types of music. But the fact remains, if your music isn’t matching in volume to another song in your genre it will appear weak sounding. These are just the times we are living in.

1. Check your RMS level in your mix….lets say the average RMS is 17.34 in your track.

2. We need to get it to 10 or 11 to suitably fit in with other similar songs.

3. Take out your calculator and input 17.34 and now subtract 10.00 you should get 7.34

This is the number we are shooting for. and will probably be the number you feed into your limiter. (Remember with RMS levels the lower the number the louder the song)

You can input this number as a negative into your limiter and your RMS level for your overall loudness will be 10.00

For example: Which song is louder RMS level 18.23 or 12.16

12.16 is louder

Quite a few mastering engineers use what they call a mastering chain and during the course of building or fattening the song they already have an idea what they would like the end result (RMS) to be.

As you get into mastering deeper you will find that it is more than just sticking a number into the limiter and your done.

A mastering chain should consist of the following: (Below are some options)

1. When you are finished mixing a track, input it into HarBal and check for peaks and valleys.

2. Open a wave editor (wavelab, sound forge)

3. Place the following plugins into the chain in this order and save as a preset.

a) Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ (or something similar)

b) Linear Phase Multiband Compressor

c) Stereo Imager Correct any phase issues and RMS mismatches

d) Limiter Always use this and set the outceiling for 0.1

Now keep in mind that you may not need to use every one of these each time and can simply bypass any of them.

Always, always listen to your song at 85db while mastering. This is not loud and it enables you to darn near HEAR your music almost flat. You can pick up a sound pressure meter from any Radio Shack (roughly $30.00). If your song is too bassy or trebly you will know immediately at this volume. I am sure there are some more engineers in this forum who can elaborate on this concept a little more scientifically.

Three meters you should always have open are: All software included with Wavelab

Phasescope To check the stereo image

Level Meter Checking the peak and rms levels constantly (Make sure you are buliding up the song without clipping) How is it sounding….constantly keeping the levels at 85db by bringing down my main volume. In other words even though I am increasing The overall volume I am still maintaining my listening level.

Spectrum Analyzer checking for sudden spikes and overall patterns

You should get into the habit of taking any commercial song and studying them while these meters are running. It will open a whole new world of understanding.

If you master your next project better than the last, you are only getting better. Get used to it. You will discover on a daily basis the real concept of mastering and the real reason why there are no perfect settings that can be used with every song.

The trick is to listen to a song completely and KNOW which tools to use. This knowledge comes from an understanding of the functionality of those tools.

About The Author

Earle Holder is well known to American music artists, and is one of the few top legendary award winning mastering engineers who have managed to gain worldwide recognition for his work and is a rare individual, born with กgolden earsก, a definite prerequisite to becoming a great mastering engineer.

His home site is www.hdqtrz.com

This material is free to copy, print and distribute freely. This material, in any form, may not be used for resale and is the property of HarBal International www.harbal.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 27

by Earle Holder

Streaming Audio Made Easy

Streaming Audio Made Easy

by: Quentin Brown

February 1, 2004

Internet streaming audio is the most prevalent form of multimedia on the Internet today according to Creative, one of the leading companies in the sound hardware field. Over the last few years, streaming audio has moved from being a curiosity to a business strategy that is adopted by many media organizations.

Streaming Audio has always been available to the big corporate sites and techies. Now every one can use simple software to produce their own streaming audio from a web site.

Marketers and business people have always known that a wellplaced audio stream can increase sales and signups to their products and services. The problem has always been that the average person could not afford the high cost of special servers or programmers to be able to use this technology.

There have been a number of products around that provide streaming audio however as they have grown and developed so have the plugins required for listening to the streaming files.

With the new software available today anyone can add audio to their web sites without the need for any large plugins and complicated software. Simply add your audio file and choose a component to activate the stream and click go. These programs output all the necessary files, which you can then use to embed in your web pages with a quick copy and paste.

The web visitor can simply click and listen, even over a standard 56K modem.

So now that you’re considering adding the sweet sound of audio to your site, where might you want to use it?

Depending on your websiteกs content and theme, there are a variety of ways to incorporate your audio into it. For example:

You might place a welcome message on your front page, summarizing your siteกs highlights, informing visitors of what theyกll find, and thanking them for stopping by.

If you have an กabout usก page on your site, you might want to record a brief message to accompany your background info. This will help people feel as if they’re actually meeting you.

Since testimonials are a great enhancement to any site imagine if you actually added them in your customerกs own voice. If you use one of the phone recording services you could give them the number and they could easily record how they feel about your products/services.

If your site has been featured in an online interview or radio show, imagine including this audio in your site. Just think of it as your very own live press room.

Perhaps just adding some pleasant music for your visitors to listen to as they view your web pages.

There are many features that these new programs provide the user.

Produce as many files as you like.

No need for expensive programmers

Many allow you to host them on your own server you’re in control.

Greatly reduce the size of your audio file.

Streams over most modem connections

Easy to use interface

Added components for more variety

So now that you’re actually thinking of recording something and adding it to your site, how do you do it? There are many different ways, some more expensive then others. Letกs examine some of your choices a little more closely.

1) MP3 Sound Stream: http://mp3soundstream.com/

Creates streaming audio from MP3 or Wav files. Produces high quality output for only $39.95.

2) Audio Player Pro: http://www.audioplayerpro.com/

Starting at only $47.00. This produces a code that you can paste onto your website that will enable the viewersก default player.

3) Audio Generator: http://www.audiogenerator.com/

Streaming audio using just your browser. Easy to use, you can phone in your message or use MP3 files. Excellent sound quality. After recording your message paste some code onto your site and a button appears with your audio. $29.95 monthly.

4) Sonic Memo: http://www.sonicmemo.com/

Includes a stepbystep tutorial. Youกll have to create your own MP3 files and upload them to your server. If you record WAV files, youกll have to first convert them to MP3 format. This software sells for $97.00.

5) Instant Audio: http://instantaudio.com/

Just record a message by phone and your website or email is instantly audioenabled. To check their sound quality call the phone number listed on the site, leave a message, then hit the play button on the site to listen. This service will cost you 29.95 a month.

Your site has been sending nonverbal messages for years; now itกs time to break free and let it send a message everyone can hear. Adding audio to your website is not only easy to do, it can help you gain the trust of your siteกs visitors, thus increasing your conversion rate. So stop wasting your time and money, and start getting the sales you may be missing.

Quentin Brown

CEO MP3 Sound Stream

Streaming Audio Made Easy

http://www.mp3soundstream.com

About The Author

Quentin Brown has been involved with Internet Marketing for the past 7 years and continually helps people to resource and equip their online businesses for success. His latest offering is Streaming Audio Made Easy. http://www.mp3soundstream.com

This article was posted on February 09, 2004

by Quentin Brown

Formation of a Song

Formation of a Song

by: Ben Blakesley

As industry insiders, we sometimes forget that when discussing the recording process, the rest of the world really has no idea what we are talking about. Hopefully this will provide an explanation of the song formation process in layman’s terms so that there may be less disconnect between the professional and the consumer.

As with any creative process, there is no absolute hard and fast procedure that must be followed stringently, but there is a logical development that all recordings must go through, which includes:

Composition

Arrangement

Recording

Editing

Mixing

Mastering

That being said, this is an explanation of that general process and what takes place during each of these steps.

Composition

Composition is really where a song or piece is born. Preceding this step may be brainstorming and idea formation, but the song actually begins to take a real form and become an entity in itself during this stage.

This is what separates ideas and melodies floating around in the air from actual wellformed songs. There isn’t a whole lot to be said concerning Composition, other than it consists of forming a melody (and often basic accompaniment) that flows chronologically from a start to a finish. Lyrics (if applicable) will also likely be written at this time.

Arrangement

Arranging is taking the Composition that has been created and determining what instruments will be used for the recording, writing the parts that those instruments will play, and the tempo (speed, beats per minute) that the song will be played in.

To best illustrate this point, think of the song ขWhat a Wonderful World.ข The most famous version of this song is arguably the one sung by the great Louis ขSatchmoข Armstrong. Compare this to the Ramones version of the same song. Both are based on the same Composition, but with entirely different results based on the fact that they are Arranged differently using very contrasting instrumentation and are at vastly different tempos. (You can use any number of examples to illustrate this principle; ขYesterdayข, ขHappy Birthdayข, etc.). Arrangement, as with Composition, may range anywhere from informally assigning parts to instruments to drafting the parts using musical notation, all dependent on the preferences of the arranger and the formality of the project.

Recording

Now we start to get a little more technical.

The term Recording is often used to refer to this and the following three steps as a whole, but for simplicity’s sake, the term Recording is used here to mean ขputting performances to tapeข (or as is the case now, a digital format). This is also referred to as Tracking, Cutting Tracks, etc.

Recording Studios have long been somewhat of a mystery to industry outsiders, but basically what takes place during Recording is microphones and various (expensive) sound altering equipment are used to capture a sound being produced in an acoustically tuned room or environment and storing that sound information onto some sort of media (be it magnetic tape, a computer hard drive, or, in the old days, acetate discs).

Generally, a process called MultiTracking is used for commercial recordings in which each microphone (and hence, each sound, be it vocals, guitar, or cello) is printed discretely to the storage media to be manipulated at a later time.

To simplify it a bit, the ‘normal’ stereo recording that a consumer would hear is comprised of two tracks or channels, the Right and the Left. During the Recording or MultiTracking stage, there are virtually innumerable quantities of tracks or channels that can each be controlled separately from the other tracks. For instance if you have recorded a vocal part on one track and a guitar part on another, because they were recorded discretely in a MultiTrack setting, the volume of the vocals can be increased or decreased without affecting the sound or volume of the guitar track whatsoever.

In a typical session, what you would be left with after completing the Recording stage is any number of discrete tracks each containing an instrument. An example of a track listing for a rock song might be:

Track 1: Kick Drum

Track 2: Snare Drum

Track 3: High Tom

Track 4: Low Tom

Track 5: Overhead Left

Track 6: Overhead Right

Track 7: Bass Guitar

Track 8: Electric Guitar

Track 9: Acoustic Guitar

Track 10: Keyboard Left

Track 11: Keyboard Right

Track 12: Lead Vocals

Track 13: Background Vocals

Meaning that each of these tracks had a microphone assigned to it for the specific purpose of recording the desired source. (Notice that tracks 16 are for various parts of a typical drum set).

Also (not to complicate things further, but…) these instruments need not be recorded at the same time. The bass guitar player could record his/her part on Thursday, and the vocalist might lay down tracks a week later. Basically, because they are on separate tracks, the musicians do not have to be playing at the same time or even in the same place to create a finished product that sounds like they were looking right at each other. This also enables a multiinstrumentalist to record all the instruments themselves and create their own ‘virtual’ band where they are the only member.

Editing

Had this exercise been written 15 years ago, I would not have included Editing as its own section as it generally takes place during Recording and Mixing on an ‘as needed’ basis. But with the evolution and general industry acceptance of digital and nonlinear recording formats, Editing has become a much more important and functional stage in the creation of a musical work.

Simply put, Editing consists of changing the original recording by way of altering the timing, pitch, or speed of an individual track, or tracks to change the performance. One such common practice is referred to as ขcomping.ข Comping is the idea of recording multiple takes of one instrument with the intent of compiling all of the takes into one cohesive take for the purpose of eliminating errors or creating a ‘perfect’ take.

For instance, a vocalist may sing the same part over and over again making mistakes in different parts on each take. Rather than continuing to search for a complete perfect take, or settling for the best take and having to live with the mistakes, the recording engineer (the guy turning all the knobs ) will choose the best take and then after identifying each mistake within that take, pull the line, phrase, word, or even syllable from another take where the mistake did not occur and paste that into the correct spot on the best take essentially eliminating the mistake and making it sound like it was performed and recorded without it.

Digitally, this process is simple and can be completed with just a couple of mouse clicks. Using analog tape, it becomes much more cumbersome and requires a series of meticulous tasks to record to a third track while muting and unmuting the source tracks, or pulling out the old razor blade and slicing away.

This is just one example of the use and purpose of Editing. To go into the virtually infinite uses would be long and redundant as the editing limits in the digital domain are nearly limitless.

Mixing

The Mixing stage is necessitated by the differences in the format that is used in the Recording stage and the format that the end consumer is able to use. If you recall, when we finished the Recording stage, we were left with (for example) 13 different tracks, each with it’s own instrument. Each of these tracks by now has been edited to contain the best possible performance during the Editing stage, but they are still individual tracks and not one cohesive song that a consumer can pop in the CD player. For argument’s sake, we will only discuss Mixing down to stereo and not touch upon surround sound, 5.1, 7.1, 9.1, or any other format as stereo is currently the most generally accepted format (for now…). Mixing is the process of taking all of these individual tracks (in our example, 13) and by way of using sound altering effects, changing volumes, and manipulating perceived position Left and Right (panning), creating a stereo (two track) recording. Think of it in terms of a funnel. The individual tracks are the wide end, and they must be brought together to form two tracks (the narrow end).

Again, we will not go into the intricacies of Mixing in practice, but in order for all of the tracks to sound good together (play nice kids…), they must be twisted, manipulated, affected, squashed, and combed so that they sound just right and like they are all playing together in one space just for the listener instead of all separately and in padded booths like they actually were.

Once this is accomplished, we are left with a stereo (two track) recording with all the instruments sounding great together and the song is nearly finished.

Mastering

This is the final and most often overlooked step in the song creation process. In fact, if you were to ask a group of musicians what mastering is, chances are a good portion would not be able to tell you what it is and why it is so important.

Essentially, Mastering is preparing the final stereo recording for commercial consumption by pumping it up to a usable volume and making sure that the song will sound good on any sound system it plays on, from a home theater system that costs thousands of dollars, to your little tiny, terrible laptop speakers.

Mastering is most important if you have multiple songs and are creating an album or if you are preparing your recording for commercial release. This is because when the Mixing stage is complete, the stereo recordings you are left with were mixed to sound good on the speakers that they were mixed on regardless of how that sound translates to other spaces and speakers. Also, in the case of making an album, you don’t want Song #1 to be a whole lot louder than Song #2 or even Song #15. Have you ever listened to a CD where you were constantly adjusting the volume just to maintain a consistent pleasant playback level? This is a CD that has not been mastered (or was mastered poorly). The same applies for making the songs sound like they belong together in that you don’t want one song to sound ‘tinny’ (a.k.a. too much high end equalization) and another ‘boomy’ (a.k.a. too much low end).

So that explains why Mastering is important for album, but what about commercial releases? Imagine if your unmastered song were on the radio between two wonderfully mastered songs. You would get swallowed up. Your song may be too quiet, or have too much low end and basically just sound unprofessional by comparison.

As mentioned before, Mastering will also make sure the final product sounds good no matter where it is played or what system it is played on. When making a presentation of your final product to a client, record label, or even friend, you don’t want to say, ขSorry, I can only play this through Yamaha NS10 speakers.ข And you certainly don’t want to be taken by surprise and find out that it sounds bad everywhere but in the studio.

So there you have it. The real deal on how a song is created from Composition to Mastering and now the final product. No more mystery and technical jargon. So now that the cat is out of the bag, everyone can do it all on his/her own right? Wrong. Just knowing an automobile works on an internal combustion engine doesn’t mean you can start building your own cars. Audio professionals have spent years learning what to listen for and how to make things sound ‘right.’ Not information that can be gained in a fourpage discourse. Contact your local audio professional to get your project started, but at least now, you’ll know what you’re in for.

About The Author

Ben Blakesley is the Chief Engineer for Philadelphia based Javboy Records, which specializes in creating custom music solutions for production. Visit them at www.javboyrecords.com

This article was posted on August 02, 2005

by Ben Blakesley

Basic Problem in a PC

Basic Problem in a PC

by: Pawan Bangar

Basic Computer PROBLEMS

I have a p3 500MHz PC with 128MB RAM, 10.2 GB HDD Sony CD ROM 48x with window ME edition operating system. I have a problem when I insert my audio cd, it shows the error message: “window cannot access the specified device path or file. You may not have appropriate permission the access the item.” Please tell me the solution of this error how can we configure the Yahoo! Account in outlook express. What is the pop mail and SMTP address of the Yahoo! Mail?

Dr Birbals: do you get this problem only in the case of audio CDs only or is it an every time phenomenon. If this problem is specific to audio CDs, then you must first check your sound card drivers and the compatibility of the player you are using to play audio CDs. Regarding configuration of Yahoo! Account in the outlook express, the procedure is simple. If this is your first account in outlook express, then on starting outlook express it will automatically start configuring an email account for you, which could be your Yahoo! account also. However, if you are using outlook express already and would like to set another account i.e. Yahoo! Then you should add identity and start configuring the account as normally you would do by the following simple steps. However, when you are asked to enter the POP address, then use pop.mail.yahoo.com. In case of SMTP address, please use the address smtp.mail.yahoo.com. Enter the user name, which would be the first part of your yahoo email ID. Then complete the rest of the step and this will finish the configuration.

I have assembled computer with Celeron 333MHz, Yamaha sound card, 32MB RAM and 4.3GB hard disk. I am using window’98 as OS. My problem is that whenever I make a call to the USA, the voice from the other side comes but my voice doesn’t go. What is the reason and how to solve the problem? My vendor advised me to add another sound card to solve the problem. Is it right? Guide me which card suitable for the same. I used Yahoo! Messenger for making a call.

Dr Birbals: in your case there is a good possibility that you are using a halfduplex sound card in your system. In the halfduplex sound card, the sound travels in only one channel, which means that if you are speaking then the sound of other person could not be transmitted, unless you stop speaking. However, in case of fullduplex sound cards, the sound travels in both channels, thus facilitating proper twoway communication. Therefore you must check, if your sound card is halfduplex, then you may need another fullduplex sound card, otherwise you do not need new sound card.

I have p3 (550 MHz) 810 motherboard, assembled computer. My PC speaker 480 w of dolphin makes a noise when I play a song, movie or any other program requiring sound output whether I play song in winamp, media player or anywhere.

Dr. Birbals: since you have not mentioned what kind of noise you are getting, so it is difficult to pinpoint your problem. However, generally the problem of noise is associated with the some kind of shortcircuit or loose connection. So get your PC checked for any such problem. Also please check the earthing of your electricity connection, as improper earthing could also result in some kind of noise with other problem in your PC.

I am having p3 550MHz Intel processor with 810 Vinton motherboard, 20GB HDD, 52xCDD, Motorola 56 KBPS modems with WIN ME as operating system. Recently I installed win 2000 professional but can’t be able to install the driver of modem. I tried installing the driver from the original Motorola CD but got the message “your driver may get clash with win 2000 version because the driver is not having digital signatures.” Please guide me what should I do to install the driver of the modem.

Dr. Birbals: digital signature an encryption and decryption process allowing both the positive identification of the author of an electronic message (who wrote the message) and verification of integrity of the message. Since this is a modem security measure, thus it has become a standard in modern operating system like windows 2000. There for you require drivers, which are compatible with windows 2000. There could be a possibility that the driver you are trying to install is not for windows 2000. Therefore in order to solve this problem, you should install the version specific to Windows NT or windows 2000. However as far as Motorola internal modems are connected, windows 2000 automatically detects it and install the correct version of driver from its database and thus it does not require you to install the driver manually. Thus, in light of this fact, it is better to let the windows 2000 detect the correct driver and install the same.

Q. No.1

I want to know that what do satellites in a PC speaker system do.

Q. No.2

Do they act as tweeters or just normal speakers so that the sound comes from all around the room?

Q. No.3

I have a creative sound blaster live sound card, it has support for satellites so I want to buy jetway artis speakers (with 4 satellite and subwoofer included).will the satellite create Dolby surround sound or will they just sound as four speakers placed at the vertices of the room?

Q. No.4

Is a 33.6kbps external modem slower than a 56kbps internal modem?

Q. No.5

Does having more RAM in your graphic card, mean better performance?

Dr. Birbals: basically, satellite nothing to do with PC speakers; it’s only the satellite speakers, which are related to PC’s. The satellite speakers are magnetically shielded speakers, which are meant for use with video monitors. It delivers powerful audio playback from multiple piece system, normally three pieces. The use of this technology brings about dramatic improvement normal speakers that come bundled with your PC. They do not act as tweeters, however, but has its own technology to improve the sound quality. It is not just limited to Dolby surround sound, because it features are much advanced. Regarding your query for modems. It is a matter of fact that the 56kbps modems are faster than the 33.6kbps modems. It is irrespective of the fact whether it is an external modems or internal modem. However at places, where the downloading speed is very slow, the difference between 56kbps modem and 33.6 modem will not be much. Regarding your query related to higher video memory, it is indeed true that the higher video memory means better performance.

I am using internet connection from the VSNL. My problem is that while I am online, the telephone automatically gets disconnected and I have to redial. Again after few minutes of being online, I am disconnected. I have got two phone lines. This problem is with one phone line while no such problem occurs with other phone line. Win’98 is my OS and my computer is p2 with 333MHz.

Dr. Birbals: it is clearly evident from your mail that the problem in your case lies in your telephone line rather than your computer hardware. You must get your telephone line checked for any kind of phone joints, cuts, and improper extensions. Normally, it is happens because of these factors only. However, if you are satisfied of these factors, then you may opt to change the line of your telephone right from the nearest DOT point to your PC. I am sure these things will help you in getting this problem corrected. However, in order to avoid too frequent disconnection, you may also add the string S10=50 in the advanced option in your modem configuration. But, this in itself will not be able to solve your problem, if there is a defect in your telephone line.

I have Celeron 533with 10GB hard disk and 64 MB RAM. I have windows ME operating system. I have a problem that when I want to connect to the net, my system hangs. Please tell me how I can solve this problem.

Dr. Birbals: the problem of system hanging could be due to several reasons; please write back at what stage of connection dose your system hangs. Whether it hanging on dialing, or it hangs while hard shaking with the ISP server or at the time of logging on to the windows. This information would be essential to answer your question correctly.

I want to know how to get m Yahoo! Mail in my outlook express. I entered pop.mail, yahoo.com as many incoming server and smtp.mail.Yahoo.com as my outgoing server. When I press send and receive I get “outgoing mail failed.” For incoming it asks me my password. I entered it correctly 3 times yet could not get the mail.

Dr. Birbals: while entering the pop and SMTP server please take care that it is enter correctly and there are no space in it. In the setting of outlook express, you can save your password, which will save you from the botheration of entering your password again and will also not return this error. However, in case of sending mail through outlook express using Yahoo! Services; it sometime gives this problem, which is specific to Yahoo services only.

I have p3 computer. I have a problem while working on net. Whenever I try to open any site, mantra online opens as a default. Please tell me why does it open as a default and how can I get of rid on it

Dr. Birbals: this is actually not a problem and can be corrected easily by some simple changes in your browser settings. If you are using internet explorer, then simply open the internet explorer and check on the tool menu. Now click on the internet options and in the home page address box, either choose site of your choice or choose about blank. This will help you get rid of this problem. Similarly in case you are using Netscape communicator, then to change the default page, click on edit menu and then click preferences. In homepage location box, either enter the site address of your choice or leave it blank. This simple measure will help you get red of your problem.

I use my computer mostly for audioCAD work, which is precise; precious I store the whole data on my hard disk. Other members of the family also use the same computer. From the safety point of view, I want to have some reliable backup arrangement that can be updated for additional work from time to time. At present there are about 2500 files that I want to store in the backup also. Floppy disk are of low capacity, CD drive requires CDwriter and is expensive. So kindly advise suitable mode for backup.

Dr. Birbals: these days the hard disks normally have a large capacity so the easiest solution is to dedicate a specific partition of your hard disk for backing up your files. You can protect them with password and can even hide it so that it is not accessible to anybody. The second solution could be Zip drive, where you can keep your data in large capacity floppies and can even carry them with you. This option is a bit expensive, as you will have to additionally buy external Zip drive. However, the option of CDwriter is the best as you can store a large amount of data on your CD. Besides that the data on a CD is safest.

I have a p3, 667 MHz (based 100 MHz SD RAM) with 64 RAM on HP pavilion. My operating system is windowa’98 SE on 10.2 GB ultra DMA ATA 66 hard drive (about 7GB free space). I have an internet connection from the BSNL. I face a problem the system sometime freezes and then neither keyboard nor mouse work. I have to turn the power off. Please guide me whether increasing RAM to 128 will solve my problem?

Dr. Birbals: you must run scandisk first in thorough mode in order to check any problems in your hard disk. if the scan disk does not work properly in windows, then you must run it in DOS mode. If there is any problem, then scan disk will report about it. Moreover, you must also check the result for any bad sector in your hard disk as this could be one of the reasons for your problem. However, if everything is reported fine by scan disk, then the needle of suspicion would go to motherboard of your computer. This you will have to get checked from your hardware vendor. Your problem has nothing to do with increasing the RAM and thus increasing it to 128 MB will not actually solve your problem.

I have p3 500MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, win’98 SE internal modem (Motorola SM56PCI speakerphone). Usually when I try to connect to the internet, I get an error 678 showing the message “dialup network was unable to complete the connection. Double click the connect icon to connect again” and after sometime I am able to connect. Somebody told me that this problem is due to internal modem and if I use an external modem, I may be able to connect the very first time. You have mentioned some techniques to improve the modem. I tried to check my phone line using HyperTerminal, but when I selected direct to com x in “connect to windows”, I did not get the com x properties. I got a blank window instead. When I enter the said terms (ATZ, AT&FDT ISP’s number) it dials using tone dialing that I don’t have. So please tell me what to do with my internal modem to avoid that error and also how I can check my telephone line using HyperTerminal.

Dr. Birbals: this is very common confusion in the minds of many persons that the internal modems are not efficient and gives error. However this is not correct. Though undoubtedly external modems are better in terms of overall performance and ease of use yet the internal modems give identical result as far as the net speed is concerned. Whether it is internal modem or external modem, what is more important is chip set of the modem. If the internal modem good chipset like Rockwell, then there is no problem in it. The problem mentioned by you is not linked to the internet modem and there could be many reasons for such kind of error. Now the technique you are talking about is to check the line conditions and not the modem. So it will really not help you in analysng your modem. However for a precise solution to your problem, please write in detail including the message you get.

Whenever I start my computer I get message: “NO ISDN devices were found. Please install an ISDN device and run the configuration wizard”. I neither had ever installed nor wish to install ISDN device. Kindly advise how to get rid on this message to avoid clicking “OK” ach time.

Dr. Birbals: although for solving your problem information about your operating system and system configuration is necessary. However, it appears that while configuration your internet connection, you had opted for ISDN connection. I think of because of this reason you get the warning for ISDN device. As a solution of this problem either remove the ISDN connection wizard or reconfigure your dialup networking.

I have windows ME installed on my computer. I want to configure my outlook express to get my mail from my account on rediff.com but I don’t know how to configure. Please tell me what to write in the incoming mail server and the outgoing mail server fields.

Dr. Birbals: rediff mail is a webbased email services, so its pop and SMTP server names are not available. However, for configuring an email account in your email client, the information about these two servers is quite essential. So, practically it is difficult to configure rediff mail account in outlook express.

I have problem with playing the VCDs. It hangs the system, then it play for 4 to 5 seconds and hang again. The HDD and CD ROM drive’s LED glows continuously with full light when it hangs. All other CDs (program and audio) run well. I tried everything I know. I have installed right drivers for the device. My system is p200 MMX, 32 MB RAM, cirrus 5446 VGA with 2MB RAM, creative CD ROM drive and OS is win’95.

Dr. Birbals: this problem is normally occurs in case of low memory. So in order to get rid of this problem you need to increase your memory if possible a better VGA card with higher VRAM. Moreover, you also need to increase the size of the panging file size. Also you should keep a good space on your hard disk free. So the first thing you should try to do is free up some hard disk space. As a rule of thumb you should always keep at least 10 percent of your hard disk capacity always free, though higher is better. If this solves your problem, its well and good, else you would be required to increase the memory.

About The Author

Pawan Bangar,

Technical Director,

Birbals, (Hbirbals,Seobirbals,Ebirbals,Ibirbals)

#1047,Sector 42b,

Chandigarh.

Cell:+919815352253

email:

www.ebirbals.com

www.birbals.com

www.hbirbals.com

www.seobirbals.com

This article was posted on December 20, 2003

by Pawan Bangar

Free Ringtones For Your Cell Phone

Free Ringtones For Your Cell Phone

by: Peter Lenkefi

The internet is laden with free things and ringtones are not excluded from this list. You only need a browser to get tons of free ringtones for any make of phone you have.

Typically, you only need to visit one of the hundreds of sites offering ringtones and help yourself to dozens of download available. Though some sites may charge a token fee, many of them offer their services for free because most of the tunes they use are no longer under copyright. Even when tunes have been under copyright, rintgone crazy webmasters have managed to seek licenses to produce tones out of them free for fans.

If you locate a site, the next step is to get the ringtone into your phone memory so you can select it as a ringer. There are several ways to get the tones into your phone: You can use a data cable to transfer the files into your phone, transfer through the net by SMS or manually type the keys on your phone to get the sound.

A more sophicated technology is to use infra red technology like bluetooth to load the sound onto your phone.

Though SMS is supposed to carry text messages primarily, enhanced versions can carry ringtones or sound files to your phone.

Another method that involves a third party is to select a ringtone and the have it texted to you after offering your phone number.

A cell phone with melody composer will allow you to compose tones yourself by manually pressing the keys in sequence to the notes of the tone. In this case, the site will show you the notes equivalent on your keypad and you only have to keep pressing the sequence to generate the tone you want. After typing, you save onto your phone and make it available for use.

Of growing popularity in ringtones are mp3 rintgones which are actual music converted to ringtones. With this system, the voice recorder of the phone can be used to record any sound such as voice or actual music and then stored as a ringtone. Infact this method has enabled many exotic and sometimes latest pop music to be used as ringtones due to its ease of application.

Now some sites offering free ringtones.

http://www.ringtonesgalore.co.uk has a welllaid out site with tones in several formats including key press sequence. It Features pop music and classical tines.

http://www.ringtones4all.com has an overwhelming volume of free ringtones in WAP, midi and key press sequence formats. It has an easy to use interface which suits beginners.

Ringtones help individuals to express their personalities and uniqueness. With midi and mp3 formats available, any sound at all – including one;s own voice, can be easily converted to a ringtone in a matter of seconds.

About The Author

Peter Lenkefi

For more more information about free cell phone ringtones please visit http://www.cellphoneringtonesearch.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 17

by Peter Lenkefi

Adding Sound to your Web Site The Good, The Bad

Adding Sound to your Web Site The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

by: Alan Steward

Many webmasters like the idea of adding background music to their web sites but most shy away from doing it worrying about slow loading pages and large file sizes. There are many different ways to add background music to your site and some of them don’t require large files to achieve professional results. Letกs examine all the different ways to add background music to your site and rate them to find the best solution for you.
1) MIDI Files
MIDI files are very small because they actually use your sound cardกs builtin instruments to create the sounds. The problem is that most sound cards don’t have any decent sounds to start with, plus no two sound cards sound alike and therefore the results are very unpredictable. MIDI files usually sound like they’re coming from one of those cheap Casio keyboards. Using MIDI for background music is very likely to make your site seem amateurish. Want to know how to do it anyway? Just add the line to your site. (Replace xyz with the name of the MIDI file you want to use!) The Autostart command will play the file automatically when the page is loaded.
PROS; Very small file size, easy to implement
CONS: Unpredictable results, amateurish sounds
2) WAV Files
Using the WAV file format allows you to add professional sounding recordings to your site but the problem is that even if you use a low quality setting like 11k/8bit, the file sizes are still very large and it will take a long time for your music to load. And slow loading pages are the worst thing that can happen to a site. Implementing a WAV file on a web page is easy. Just add the line to your pageกs HTML code. Thereกs an additional command to loop the WAV file but WAV files do not loop cleanly with the embed command.
PROS: Many Quality Levels, Easy to implement
CONS: Large File Sizes, WAV Files do not loop
3) MP3 Files
MP3 files are highly compressed and don’t take that long to load but the problem is that MP3s need to bring up an external player program and which in some cases takes your visitors away from your site altogether. Also, MP3 files don’t loop cleanly.
PROS: Smaller File Sizes, Good Quality Possible
CONS: Needs external player software, not loopable
4) Flash
If you own a program that can create Flash files, you will have lots of flexibility in adding sound to your site. Flash lets you import WAV as well as MP3 Files and then creates quite small files from these sounds that will load automatically on your site. You can set the quality level and therefore decide how large you want the Flash file to be. Flash also allows you to loop short pieces of sound to create กcontinuousก background music files that can be quite small. But please note that only imported WAV files can be looped in Flash, MP3 files will not loop cleanly.
PROS: Great Flexibility, Small File Sizes, expecially when looping sounds
CONS: You need to buy expensive Flash software to create Flash Files
5) PreMade Flash Loops
The newest thing on the market are prebuilt Flash Music Loops. These files are professionally recorded, loop almost indefinitely and most of these Flash Music Loops are only about 20k in size so they load almost instantly. Flash Music Loops are available at http://www.flashmusictracks.com and currently there are three different loop packages available in all kinds of music styles from classical to techno. Using these prebuilt Flash files is easy. Simply upload the กxyz.swfก Flash file to your server and add a few lines from the corresponding กxyz.htmlก file to your web page and presto…instant professional sounding background music.
PROS: Extremely small file size, professional quality music
CONS: None
As you can see there are many different ways to add background music to your web pages and you don’t have to worry about slow loading pages if you choose the right file format.
Article by Alan Steward, a professional recording engineer and producer who worked with many Grammy award winning groups and musicians.
(c)2004 Alan Steward http://www.musicleads.net
You may freely redistribute or use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as the article is unaltered and unedited.

About The Author

Article by Alan Steward, a professional recording engineer and producer who worked with many Grammy award winning groups and musicians.
(c)2004 Alan Steward http://www.musicleads.net

This article was posted on May 15, 2004

by Alan Steward

Can I Hear Your Web Site?

Can I Hear Your Web Site?

by: Garland Coulson

A web site makes great eye candy, but can your web site engage senses other than sight?
Believe it or not, there are actually companies working to add smell and taste to your web sites and emails! For fun, check out www.trisenx.com.
At this time, adding smell requires that your web visitors have special hardware, but adding audio to your web site, emails or newsletters can be enjoyed by nearly everyone because most computers already have sound cards and speakers.
The good news is that it is very inexpensive to add audio to your web site, emails and newsletters and you may already have all the tools you need!
Finding or creating sounds.
You can search for sound effects to add to your web site using the sound search engine, www.findsounds.com.
Windows 98 and newer computers come with a program called Sound Recorder that you can find under the [start], then [accessories] then [entertainment] menu. If you have a microphone for your computer, only a $10 $99 purchase, you can use Sound Recorder to record audio clips you can add to your web site. I’ve used this system to create audio versions of my Internet marketing articles as well as audio introductions to different areas of my site.
Sound Recorder saves as a .wav file by default, but you can also save it as an .mpeg file
Adding the sounds to your web site.
Adding the sounds to your web site can be done easily using one of the many popular editing programs available. These editing programs let you work on your web site in a ขwhat you see is what you getข format similar to Microsoft Word. So you don’t have to learn html to add sounds to your site.
Here are two of our recommended programs for editing your web site:

For existing sites Macromedia Contribute allows beginners to update their own web site without learning web design, in an easytouse ขwhat you see is what you getข interface similar to Microsoft Word. At a cost of only $99 US, it is affordable for most entrepreneurs. http://affiliates.macromedia.com/t.asp?id=2017&p=go/dr_text_aff1
For new sites BuilderSpot enables you to quickly build your own professional website, complete with hosting, email, pictures, newsletters, shopping cart, message boards, forms and much more in just a few short minutes. Very affordable at under $20 US per month. For a FREE trial, visit http://www.qksrv.net/click9710148073214.

This is the easiest to use template web building system we’ve found, with the widest range of features. One of our clients used this service and had her web site up in the first week of our coaching program.
Adding sound to your web site can have a great impact. One entrepreneur in a discussion group I belong to said his sales went up 30% when he added audio to his site. My own web site has received many comments about the audio files I have available.
So add sound effects or a friendly voice to your web site and make your web site come alive!

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About The Author

Garland Coulson, ขThe EBusiness Tutorข is an acclaimed speaker, author and coach in the field of Internet marketing for small business and home business. For more information, visit The EBusiness Tutor web site at www.ebusinesstutor.com or call tollfree in North America at 18664130951.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 08, 2004

by Garland Coulson