Audio
Compare the New York Times old HTML-based web slide shows. They use text to convey the story instead of audio. They are powerful, but...
Experience the new New York Times flash-based movies. They use audio instead of text you read. Sometimes they embed a small, web-formatted video clip inside a photo. The audio adds much more emotional impact. You feel as if you are there.
The New York Times used Macromedia Flash to combine audio, video and images. But, how do you create the audio to import into Flash? Or create the audio to be stand-alone without all the Flash stuff? Read on!
So, how do you capture live audio through a microphone (or mixer), or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, CDs or minidiscs? Equally important, how do you convert this audio into a format that you can easily listen to on your website? And do this for FREE? The easiest cheap solution is by using the open source (that is, free) software Audacity.
1. Audacity works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Go download a copy on your computer. Now install it.
2. Audacity allows you to "capture" audio from a microphone or CD or other source and digitize it and edit it. Now you need a related software to convert this audio to MP3 format -- the format you probably want to use on your website. Download this software named Lame MP3 Encoder. It is compressed; uncompress it (need a free uncompressor, try Zipper for Windows; and StuffIt Expander for Mac, warning the compression program, StuffIt, costs money). After uncompressing the one downloaded file you will see lots of little files. Take the one called lame_enc.dll (Windows) or LameLib (Mac) and save it where you'll remember on your computer. Personally I saved it to my Audacity folder (C:\Program Files\Audacity) to make it easier to remember.
3. Now, let's set up Audacity and Lame to work together (you only do this once). The first time you use the "Export as MP3" command, Audacity will ask you where lame_enc.dll (Windows) or LameLib (Mac) is saved. Scroll to the proper location and choose it.
4. Okay, you probably want to record something and add it to your website. You need a microphone. Here's suggestions for a professional-sounding one. I recommend starting out with the free one that came with your computer or a $30 little computer one from Radio Shack. Or, go into Sam Ash Music Store on 14th and 6th Avenue and get their much more substantial "real looking" cheapest mic (at the moment a $30 model). If you get a "real looking" one from Sam Ash, be sure to ask if it can plug in the audio port in your computer (on the back, a little hole with a picture of a tiny microphone next to the little hole your speaker plug into); you might have to buy a $5 adapter.
5. Now fire up Audacity. Click the "Record" button and say something. You won't like it. Go EDIT --> SELECT ALL, then EDIT --> DELETE. Do it again... and again... until you get something you like. Now go, FILE --> SAVE AS MP3, and name the file and save it to your website directory. Now, assuming this is the first time you have used Audacity, it will ask you to locate lame_enc.dll (Windows) or LameLib (Mac); browse to it and double-click it, fill out the next window with more details about your sound clip and presto! it's done.
6. Now, fire up Dreamweaver (or Contribute) and create text or an image
to use as the link for your audio file. Then in the Link section in the Properties
bar scroll to the actual sound file and select it. In other words, linking
to an audio file is just like linking to another HTML file. Check out:
listen to my first practice file!
7. What if you want to "embed" the sound file so it plays automatically? Well, that can annoy people. It can slow people down a lot if it is a big file. But, if it is a short, small file you can do it. The HTML codes to get sound to play automatically for Netscape and Internet Explorer are different. Therefore, you must type in two separate codes to ensure that both Netscape and Internet Explorer users will hear the background sound.
Netscape uses the EMBED SRC command whereas Internet Explorer uses the BGSOUND SRC command. To get the sound file the_sound_file.mp3 (or .midi or .wav) to play automatically you would need to type the following so that both Netscape and Internet Explorer users could hear the sound file:
<EMBED SRC= "the_sound_file.mp3" WIDTH=144
HEIGHT=60 AUTOSTART="true">
<BGSOUND SRC= "the_sound_file.mp3" AUTOSTART="true">
Note that Netscape users will see the sound menu bar at the top, where as, Internet Explorer users will not see the sound bar at all! Make sure you use the numeric values above for the width and height (i.e., width=144 height=60) otherwise people using Netscape won't be able to fully view the sound menu bar. Of course, if you don't want them to see it, make the values "0".
How do you get the sound file to play continuously?
In order to get a sound file to play continuously you must add:
a. loop="true" to the EMBED command for Netscape users
b. loop="infinite" to the BGSOUND command for Internet Explorer users.
So, if you wanted a sound file to play continuously, you would type:
<EMBED SRC= "the_sound_file" WIDTH=144 HEIGHT=60 AUTOSTART="true" loop="true">
<BGSOUND SRC= "the_sound_file" loop="infinite" AUTOSTART="true">
8. Lastly, there is a cool website that teaches you how to get more professional sound including how to set up a cheap recording studio, speak more professionally, minimize the "P" sound and more at http://audioanswers.blogspot.com/. Good luck!
Also, if you are doing longer recordings and your file sizes are too large, check out this more extensive audacity tutorial that teaches you how to set the preferences. This tutorial also shows you how to set up a mike on your computer if you are having any problems. Thanks to Mike Ludington for this one!
Want to do streaming audio -- defined as having the music start playing even before the file is entirely downloaded? Learn how on Boutell.com. Thanks, Thomas!