Computer Graphics Survey

Sound Recording

Using SoundEdit 16 2.0 on Mac OS Computers

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Before beginning the project


Tutorial Goals


Sound contents

  1. Ambience noises and/or background music.
  2. Sound hits synchronized to specific events in the animation.
  3. To audition sounds to decide on what to record:
  4. When ready to acquire the sounds, launch the SoundEdit application, found in the Sound folder on the hard drive.
    the SoundEdit application icon

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Converting sound files from an audio CD

  1. Make sure the CD is in the CD-ROM or DVD drive of the computer.
  2. In SoundEdit, use the Convert CD Audio command in the Xtras menu to choose an audio track, then click 'Open'.
    dialog used to select the Audio CD track to be converted
  3. In the 'Save' dialog that appears next, find your folder (so the converted file will be stored in it), enter a filename, then click 'Options' to display the Audio CD Import Options dialog:
    Options dialog for audio CD import
  4. SoundEdit will save the converted sound to the filename and location that you specified, and open it in a new document window. A waveform graph representing the sound will appear in the window.
    a newly recorded sound

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Recording from an external source

  1. In SoundEdit, use the Sound Format command in the Modify menu to choose 8 bits for the Sample Size, and the lowest one of the Rates marked with a microphone icon (there may be only one such rate on some machines). Make sure to leave Compression turned off (later, Director will compress the soundtrack while converting the animation to Shockwave). For improved sound quality (but possibly less-efficient compression), turn on the 'Use Dither' checkbox.
    choosing a hardware-supported sampling rate
  2. Use the Ruler Units command in the View menu to choose Frames as the unit. In the field that appears next to Frames, enter the frame rate you selected in Director for your animation.
    setting ruler options to match animation frame rate
    Unless you made changes to the default settings (using Director's Control Panel), your animation's frame rate is likely 15 fps (frames per second).
  3. If necessary, use the Window menu to display the Levels palette. You may also have to expand the palette (clicking on its zoom box) to see the control sliders (as shown in the picture below). Start your sound source (or rehearse talking into the microphone), and adjust the recording sliders (indicated by the microphone icon) for the best levels: loud enough to show many green bars in the meter, but not so loud that yellow and red bars appear. In the example pictured here, the left channel (topmost in the display) is set too loud, while the right channel is too soft.
    sound check in Levels palette
  4. Press the record button when your sound source is properly cued up.
    record button pressed
  5. Press the Stop button when done recording.
    stop button pressed
  6. A waveform graph representing the newly recorded sound will appear in the document window.
  7. If the computer you used did not support a low enough sample rate, the file will be quite large. While the window with your recording is active, choose again Modify-->Sound Format (this will now apply to the existing sound data). Choose 8 bits, 11.025 kHz, compression 'None', then click 'OK' to downsample the recording.
  8. Use the Save command in the File menu, choose Audio IFF as the file format.
    saving as an AIFF file

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Sound cleanup

  1. Adjust the waveform display (using the slider at the bottom of the document window) to better see the parts you are interested in:
  2. Click in the waveform display, and drag to highlight the portion of the sound that you want to clean up.
  3. Verify that the selection matches the sound you want by using Play (in Control menu): only the selected portion of the sound will be heard.
  4. To easily identify and retrieve the selected portion of the sound, create a Label (in the Insert menu). When the highighted default label appears, enter a brief name for the selection.
  5. While the segment is selected, it can be color-coded using the Color submenu of the Modify menu.
    color-coded and labeled waveform
  6. To remove part of a sound, shortening the entire sound:
  7. To remove part of a sound, leaving a pause in its place (the overall length of the sound does not change):
  8. To keep a portion of the sound, while eliminating the rest:
  9. To rearrange the sequence of sounds:
  10. To replicate a sound:

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Generate synthetic sounds

  1. Use commands in the Insert menu, such as Tone, Noise, and FM Synthesis
  2. Use commands in the Effects menu to 'shape' the sound. Major changes can be effected with the following:

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Notes

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)

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Speech

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Information specific to the ACG Lab

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