Showing posts with label tips and tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips and tricks. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

WavePad Audio Editing Tips & Tricks

WavePad Audio Editing Software Tips and Tricks
Below you will find a compilation of some the audio effects and sound editing basics for the WavePad audio editor that you will want to know and test out for yourself as you delve into the world of audio editing. Another great way for those new to audio editing to get started is by watching the WavePad sound editor intro video tutorials so you can see the audio editor in action.


Split and Cut Audio Files
You can split a file at any point you choose by simply clicking the Split button on the Edit tab. This will create two audio files split at the point you had the cursor. Be careful when you use this function, the action cannot be undone. Additional audio splitting options include splitting at bookmarks, splitting at silences and similar Trim options that delete sections instead of creating new audio files.

Amplify Audio Volume
To make audio sound louder, instead of simply turning the volume control up you want to amplify the file. You will find Amplify on the Effects tab, which will open a window where you can either adjust the amplification using the slider or by selecting a preset level from the drop down menu. Selecting 200% will double the volume, 50% will cut the volume in half.


Equalize Audio
Amplifying affects the full spectrum of the audio in a file, but if you want to increase or decrease certain frequencies, for example, boosting all of the lower bass frequencies, then you want to use the Equalizer. The Equalizer is also on the Effects tab and opens a graph of the frequencies going from low to high frequencies as you move left to right. This gives you very finite control of the frequency ranges you want to control. Moving a point up will make the frequency stronger and moving a point down will make it weaker.

Normalize Audio
Normalizing an audio file is similar to amplifying, except that normalizing increases the sound of the loudest peak to the maximum level without causing clipping in digital audio. This is frequently used as a last step before saving a final version of an edited song or recording. To normalize an audio file, you will find Normalize on the Effects tab.

Fade In and Out of Audio
Fading in and out of an audio file will help acclimate the ear to the background noise of a file. To fade in, select a region at the beginning of your file, then select "Fade in" under Fade on the Effects tab. Similarly you can select "Fade out" with a region at the end of your file selected. A good tip is to fade in quicker than you fade out because the ear expects to hear the initial audio quickly, but abrupt transitions to silence at the end can be jilting.


Remove Background Noise
Since not every audio recording is made in a sound studio environment, you often get unwanted background noise in recordings. To remove background noise you want to take advantage of the Cleanup options on the Effects tab. Specifically, under Noise Reduction try using Audio Spectral Subtraction and then Multi-band noise gating. If the presets don't give the results you want, try using lower levels on these reductions until you find a combination that leaves only audio you want to keep.


Remove Vocals
You will find an option to Reduce Vocals under the Voice button on the Effects tab. This will open a dialog box that allows you to change the pan position and width, the vocal level, and preserve the bass. Generally the default settings will work the best, but different songs may require different settings to effectively reduce or eliminate the vocal frequencies, so if you don't get the results you want, try adjust these settings until you are satisfied with the result.


Layer Audio & Voiceovers
WavePad won't allow you to record directly over another file; highlighting a file and clicking record will replace the selection. Depending on how much mixing you want to do, you may want to consider moving to MixPad audio mixing software, but for some basic audio mixing within WavePad you want to use the Paste Mix feature. Copy the audio you want to add to your file to the clipboard, then select all in the file you want to add it to, then select Paste Mix on the Edit tab. This will open a window with options on what to do if your files are not the same length. When you click OK the two pieces of audio will be combined.


Sound Effect Library
Find audio clips and sound effects to add to your audio projects in the NCH Sound Effect Library. Open the Sound Library from the Tools tab. This opens a new window where you can preview and download sound effects and royalty-free music clips.


Audio Effect Plugins
In the Windows version of WavePad you can add DirectX and VST plugin effects to further expand your audio editing capabilities. Find the options to add and use VST and DirectX plugins on the Effects Tab. VST Plugins will open their own interface where you can adjust the settings, while you will need to go into the settings when selecting a DirectX plugin for the effect to be applied when you click OK. Get started with this list of free VST plugins you can download and use with WavePad.


FFT Sound Analysis
All of the audio editing features outlined above are all easy to put into action, but don't let that fool you into thinking that WavePad doesn't have a lot of power under the hood. One of the more advanced areas you can explore are the powerful audio analysis tools for examining the spectral content of audio. Learn about the FFT and TFFT audio analysis graphs and what they represent to start to get your feet wet. These tools can be used in many fields, including linguistics and mathematics, in addition to sound engineering.


If you have any other tips, favorite features or advice of your own, please comment and share them below.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Software Easter Eggs

Software Easter Eggs
It's the time of year when stores are lined with pastels, jelly beans and chocolates shaped like eggs and rabbits, but in the software world an "Easter Egg" isn't a colorfully dyed hard-boiled egg. A Software Easter Egg is a fun little surprise hidden inside of the software program. These features are typically un-documented, so you have to be in-the-know to uncover them.
One particularly famous example is the flight simulator that was hidden inside the 1997 version of Excel. So, in addition to crunching numbers you could brush up on your piloting skills. Find more software Easter egg examples on the Lifehaker Easter egg top 10 list.
NCH doesn't have any of these kinds of Easter eggs hidden in our programs which we have tried to streamline as much as possible to keep everything as easy and straight forward as we can, but in the spirit of hunting for—or finding—hidden features, here are some lesser known, or less used features you may want to try:
  1. Resize zip files to meet email size restrictions, or split large zip files into pieces with Express Zip software.
  2. Record video from anywhere with Debut video capture software. Most recording programs focus on a single source, but with Debut you have the best of all worlds with support for a multitude of video sources.
  3. Send recurring invoices and statements in addition to one-off invoices Express Invoice invoicing software which can save you time with managing long term clients and accounts.
  4. Practice transcription, we provide dictation practice files that can be downloaded individually for Express Scribe, or KeyBlaze typing tutor has audio dictation exercises already built in.
  5. Convert videos to 3D with VideoPad video editor for some extra dimension in your home movies.
  6. Broadcast DJ mixes by connecting Zulu DJ software with the streaming power of BroadWave audio streamer to share your remixes online.
  7. Be sure to turn on Auto Complete in FastFox instant text expansion software to get the power of auto complete suggestions everywhere you type from emails and word documents to your web browser.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Audio Effect Plugins for WavePad Sound Editor

In addition to the wide range of audio editing features and effects built into WavePad Audio Editor, you can also add plugins to further expand your Audio Editing possibilities. WavePad supports both DirectX and VST plugin effects, providing access to thousands of additional audio tools and effects.

VST Plugins
WavePad VST and DirectX Audio Effect PluginsVST or Virtual Studio Technology, is a standardized way of adding effects to digital audio editing programs like WavePad. To add a VST effect to WavePad choose VST on the Effects tab, which will open the VST plugins window. In this window browse to the directory on your computer where you have saved your VST plugins (note that the plugins must be DLL files). When you have a folder selected, the list of VST effects in that directory will populate the VST Plugin list, so you can use the drop down list to select your plugin. When you click OK, the VST plugin will open in WavePad and you can make any adjustments to its parameters and continue to edit the waveform, but now the audio you hear is being processed by the VST effect. To save the effect, click the Apply button on your effect which will close the effect and save the audio with the effect added.

DirectX Effects
Similar to VST, DirectX plugins are another standardized way to connect audio synthesizers and effects to audio editors. These plugins do not have their own interfaces, but pass and process the audio behind the scenes. Also, as with the VST plugins, you will find DirectX on the Effects tab, and clicking on it will open a window with a list of the DirectX plugins detected on your computer. Select the effect you want from the drop down menu and click Settings to make changes to the configuration settings, and click the OK to apply the DirectX effect to your audio.

There is a world of extra effects out there that you can use when you start exploring VST and DirectX effects. To get you started we have a list of free VST plugins available online for you to download and try with WavePad, but this is just the beginning. There are lots of other plugins available that you can use with WavePad Audio Editing Software to further enhance your audio editing projects.

Note: currently plugin support is limited to the Windows version of WavePad

Monday, March 4, 2013

Do More with Video - Blog Carnival March 4, 2013

do more with video Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Video:

Jason Brubaker presents How To Avoid Filmmaking Headaches posted at Filmmaking Stuff, saying, "A filmmaker has a gazillion things to do, but it is important to make sure the legal clearance paperwork doesn't get dropped. You need to have legal clearance for everyone and everything associated with your movie."

Lance Carr presents Shooting Better Home Videos posted at The DIY Video Editor, saying, "Part one of a six part series of articles on shooting better videos."

Matthew York presents Video Is Everywhere! posted at VideoMaker, saying, "there�s some seven billion people on the planet; more than 311 million in the U.S. YouTube tells us that in 2011 it had more than one trillion views � approximately 140 views for every person on Earth."

You might also be interested in: That concludes the first edition of Do More with Video. If you have a video story to share from home movies to video production submit your video blog posts for the next edition.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Simple Ways To Protect Your Online Data

Guest post by Rick Delgado

Cyber-crime is becoming a more prevalent problem every year in the United States. This is because much of what used to be performed in face to face interactions is now done online. For example, you probably did most of your holiday shopping last year while sitting down at your computer. Criminals are well aware of the type of information you are providing websites with and are taking greater efforts to access that information.
Preventing a problem is always better than trying to clean up afterwards. Knowing how to protect yourself online will save you a lot of stress and problems.
With so much risk attributed to the internet, it is essential to take necessary precautions. In addition to heavy duty network security programs, or encrypting data before emailing sensitive information, there are simple steps you can take to make sure criminals can't steal sensitive information. Consider some of the following:

Use Privacy Settings
Social media sites allow you to choose how private you want your profile to be. It is smart to only allow people you know and trust to view your social media sites. Identity thieves will often study someone's Facebook or Twitter account to help them take on your identity

Don't Use Personal Information on Social Media
In addition to making your social media private, don't put potentially sensitive information about yourself on it. Even a birthday can give a cyber-criminal clues to a password or verification question on your bank account's website. While it seems harmless, it might be a good idea to leave that information out. Your family and friends should know your birthday anyways.

Use Several Usernames and Passwords
Don't use the same password for your Facebook and bank account. Criminals use algorithms to figure out passwords. If they do happen to figure one out, they still won't be able to access information from all your accounts. Also change your passwords frequently for an added layer of protection. Don't make your passwords obvious either.

Be Cautious of Foreign Facebook Apps
Apps have the potential to access a lot of personal information. Some of these apps are specifically designed to take your information and sell it to criminals. Be cautious of which apps you buy and what country the app is from. You are likely to be safer with apps made in developed countries like the United States.

Don't Trust Public Computers
Don't use public computers, like those in libraries or internet cafes, for sensitive financial transactions. That information could be stolen through the network. If you do use public computers, make sure to log out when you leave. If you don't, people can trace your history or log into your accounts.

Lock Your Phone
People who use smart phones are more likely to have information stolen. Have a lock or password on your screen. Don't leave passwords up on important websites. You have a lot of important information travelling around with you in your pocket. If your information isn't properly secured and you lose or misplace your phone, you could be in serious trouble.

Close Old Accounts
It is always a good idea to reduce your digital footprint. For example, if you no longer use certain social media sites, delete them. The less information you have about yourself on the internet, the harder it will be for identity thieves to trace you.

Keep An Eye on Your Accounts
Once criminals access your information they will make purchases with your credit card. Review your finances frequently to make sure there aren't any unaccounted for transactions. If you do notice any, report them immediately to your bank so you don't lose any more money.

You can never be too careful when it comes to protecting yourself and your family from hackers, identity thieves, and other cyber threats. Your virtual security is extremely important, and can keep you from becoming a victim of not so virtual crimes.


About the Author: Rick Delgado is a freelance writer who specializes in the latest advancements in technology and gadgets, and is an expert in preventing online fraud.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Quickly Cut Music and Audio Files

WavePad music editing and cutting software provides several easy options for cutting music and mp3 files. Whether you want to trim off silence or cut out a section to use as a ringtone or split long recording into smaller audio files, here is a look at how you can cut, trim and split sections of you mp3, music and audio files.
    Music cutting software to easily Trim and Split Audio MP3 Songs
  1. Trim
    To trim, or cut off, the beginning and end of a file, simply select the region you want to keep, then you can use the shortcut CTRL+T or, choose Trim (delete all but the current selection) from the Trim drop down menu on the Edit tab. Here you can also see other choices for trimming down an audio file, including Trim start and Trim end that will respectively delete everything from either before or after the current position.
  2. Auto Trim
    If you are deleting silence from start and end of your audio you can save yourself the step of finding the start and end points and selecting a region. Instead use Auto Trim to scan the audio file and remove the beginning and ending regions that are below the Auto Trim threshold.
  3. Split
    To keep the sections on both sides of the current position as individual files, instead of trimming move over to the Split drop down menu, which is also on the Edit tab.
  4. Auto Split
    Just as WavePad can detect silences at the beginning and end of a song, it can also detect silences in the middle of a file. So, if you recorded a whole set you can select Split file at silences from the Split drop down to separate the recording at each silent section so you can edit and save each song individually.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Everday Text Expansion

What do you type the most? your email address? your mailing address? maybe your phone number? or your web address? Are there any words you struggle to remember how to spell causing you to slow down and correct misspellings or typos? Or maybe you frequently browse to webpages just so you can copy and paste the links to make sure you get them correct.

Spring loaded text expansion for everyday useWe are all constantly typing, from emails to forms online, and some of the things we are typing we have to type all of the time. FastFox text expansion software lets you save those words or phrases so you can not only enter them in faster, but also avoid typos. Think of it like auto complete that will work anywhere on your computer, or like a super powered clipboard that can save much more than just one snippet of text at a time. You pick your own shortcuts and what they are short for, then whenever you type the shortcut it will be automatically replaced. So, typing something like :em could be all you need to type to enter your email address, or you could just type :sig to add a signature to the end of an email, a comment you're making on a forum. Anywhere you type, if you enter one of your text shortcuts FastFox will automatically replace it with the expanded text.

The possibilities are endless, you don't need to be a typist or transcriptionist to find things that would make useful text shortcuts, just think, what do you type the most often? Once you've created shortcuts for those common items and phrases you will wonder what you ever did without them. Spend less time typing with this fast, everyday solution.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Boosting the Bass in Audio Files

Boosting Bass in Songs and Music Files with the WavePad Equalizer Want to boost up the bass in your music? The Equalizer in WavePad music editing software is your answer. Open your song in WavePad and select Equalize on the Effects tab. Equalizing allows you to adjust the level of frequencies in your audio amplifying ranges of sound frequencies. So you can change the volume of just the higher or lower (bass) frequencies in a song, as opposed to simply amplifying a song which will affect all of the frequencies.

Unlike a graphic equalizer you might see in a studio, with a multitude of knobs and dials for certain frequencies, the WavePad equalizer displays a graph of the frequencies going from the low frequencies at the left to the high frequencies on the right giving you very finite control of the frequency ranges you want to control. Move a point up on the graph to make the frequency stronger and lower a point to make it weaker.

To familiarize yourself with the equalizer take advantage of the presets to get started, but don't be afraid to play around with them and to adjust their settings to see how they affect your songs. To boost the bass start with the Low Pass filter presets. If you hit play you will hear the higher frequencies drop down, giving a boosted effect to the bass. Chances are the result won't be exactly what you wanted on the first shot, but this will provide a good starting place to make further adjustments. Changes aren't applied until you actually click Apply, so you can continue to tweak the graph as needed without fear.

Other preset filters include a High Pass Filter which is the opposite of the Low Pass Filter lowering the bass instead of the higher frequencies, a Band Pass Filter to maintain the frequencies in a specified range and lower the regions above and below that section, and several more that you can experiment with on your own, or go to the help for more details on the settings of each of these presets.

Try WavePad sound editor today to boost your bass and pump up the volume of your music.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Make "Picture-in-Picture" Videos with VideoPad

Create picture in picture video with videopad for pip video editingThe picture-in-picture (PIP) effect is commonly used in videos where more than one set of images is shown simultaneously in order to tell a story or convey additional information. Picture-in-picture is frequently used as part of news clips and in instructional videos.

The PIP effect can easily be achieved using VideoPad Video Editor software (version 3.0) by adding the video clip you want to overlay as your picture-in-picture onto the timeline so that it is positioned above the video you want to serve as the background in your video.

With this clip selected in the timeline, click on the "Effects" button then choose "Motion" from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box. Use the "Scale," "Position X" and "Position Y" controls to adjust the size and placement of your clip. You will be able to see the position and size change in the preview window on the right side of the Effects dialog box.

When everything is positioned the way you want it simply close the dialog box to apply your changes. Then, when you preview your movie, you will see your re-sized and re-positioned video clip overlaid on top of the larger clip.

Creating a picture-in-picture video in VideoPad is that easy. Use the same process to position images on the screen, making it an easy way for businesses to add their logo to videos.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Do More with Video - Blog Carnival January 7, 2013

do more with video Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Video:


Shamelle presents How To Use Video Scribing For Video Marketing posted at Promote Youtube Videos, saying, "Video scribing is a new method in the mix of organic message delivery. Also referred to as whiteboard animation, it lifts that drawing from its fixed place and time, and allows it to be uploaded, broadcasted and shared."

Color Correction, Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma posted at Easy Video Editing, saying, "Learn about how to manually adjustment videos to get the 'just right' look you want."

Jason Brubaker presents How To Get Into Filmmaking posted at Filmmaking Stuff, saying, Ttake stock of your resources and stop making excuses to push yourself forward into filmmaking."

Colin Mulvany presents What I learned shooting my first DSLR videos posted at Mastering Multimedia, saying, "Making the transition to DSLR video without any storytelling quality loss."

GoproView presents Gopro Hero 3 is Here posted at GoproView: How to be a Hero, saying, "The new version of the popular point of view video camera, Gopro, is now here."

Lance Carr presents DivX and H.264 Video File Formats Explained posted at The DIY Video Editor, saying, "Information about the most popular MPEG-4 based codecs for quality, speed and efficiency."

Amy Manzer and Mark Levy presents 9 Copyright Laws Every Video Producer Should Know posted at Videomaker, saying, "Technology has put the world at our fingertips. Creating and sharing videos has never been easier. If you're producing videos, it is crucial to be aware of copyright laws."

You might also be interested in: That concludes the first edition of Do More with Video. If you have a video story to share from home movies to video production submit your video blog posts for the next edition.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Speed Up Typing Using Keyboard Shortcut Software

FastFox text expander software used to insert your most commonly used text quickly and easily. Expand words, phrases, images, and more to avoid typing things repeatedly and improve your typing speed and productivity.

FastFox is perfect for everyone whether you are saving shortcuts for the correct spelling of complex terminology, storing email templates and answers to FAQs, or even save your address to fill in online forms more quickly. To help you get started we just put together a tutorial video to walk you through setting up your own keyboard shortcuts and introduce you to the auto complete text suggestion tool.


Download the free trial today. Once you get started using FastFox shorthand text expander to speed up your typing, you'll wonder what you ever did without it.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Do More with Video - Blog Carnival November 5, 2012

do more with video To continue in the footsteps of the Do More with Audio blog carnival that we have been hosting for the last two years we have decided to add a Do More with Video blog carnival giving people the chance to share any video filming, recording, editing, production, projects, tips and more. To get things started I did some online to find some interesting posts to share in this first edition, and we hope you will submit your own video posts for the next edition.

So with our further ado here is the first edition of Do More with Video:

Teaching Video Storytelling. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what must a video be worth? Read about one professor's formula for video storytelling.

2012 CamcorderInfo Best of Year Awards. If you are looking for equipment here is what the professionals at camcorderinfo.com would recommend to family, friends and you.

Can I Edit Video from a DVD? An interesting post about the possible compression problems that can arise from extracting video from DVD and then compressing it again.

How to Create 3D Videos. A post about both converting 2D videos into 3D and filming with 3D in mind for better results.

10 Most Popular Types of Viral Videos. If you are hoping to make your own viral video it might help to know what the top are viral video categories.

Music and Video in Windows 8: a work in progress. Promising first steps, but latest offerings don't always play well with others.

What Filmmakers Need To Know About Video on Demand. Traditional theatrical and DVD film distribution models are being replaced by video on demand platforms which will forever alter the ways movies are seen and sold.

Optimizing Videos Embedded on Your Site for Search Engines. When you are putting a video online you want people to find it, and that is where SEO comes in to play to help make sure your video is found and viewed.

You might also be interested in: That concludes the first edition of Do More with Video. If you have a video story to share from home movies to video production submit your video blog posts for the next edition.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Give Your Computer A New Voice

Alternative verbose text to speech voicesDo you ever have your computer talk to you? Not in the crazy �I'm hearing voices� way, but with software applications like Verbose text to speech software that you can use your computer as a screen reader or save text documents as MP3 files that you can listen to. If you do, you may be one of the people one of the people searching for better Verbose text to speech voices. The robotic sound of the default voices that come with most computer operating systems, like "Microsoft Anna," are one of the biggest complaints we see about text to speech software. So users may want to give their computer a new voice.

Verbose supports SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 compliant voices, so that is all you need to look for when searching for a more natural sounding voice for your machine. To help make your search even faster, if you are looking for an alternative text to speech voice, we recommend that you check out Cepstral who supplies many high quality, more natural sounding voices that you can choose from.Cepstral SAPI 5 voices All of the offered voices are SAPI 5 compliant. Once a new voice has been installed on your computer you can simply restart the program and the new voice will appear as an option.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival October 1, 2012

Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Audio:

Jon Savage presents When Songwriting Your Friends Will Lie To You posted at Songwriting Business.

Perry presents The Priceless Value of Music posted at ithuit.com, saying, "why is music the key to higher levels of consciousness? Find out!"

Dan White presents A DJ�s Guide to Audio Files and Bitrates posted at DJ Tech Tools, saying, "an article discusing the best options of digital audio files. Many DJs don�t notice a big difference in file type and bitrate until they�re blasting the track on a high-end club system and find the track just isn�t hitting hard enough. Read on to find out the best practices and how to be ready for the future."

Bernie Goldbach presents Use My Audioboo Voice for Audio Blogging posted at Inside View from Ireland, saying, "one of the biggest changes in blogging during in recent history has been the emergence of using multimedia technologies to extend thoughts to different communities, such as audio blogging."

John Paul Titlow presents How Journalists Are Using SoundCloud posted at ReadWriteWeb, saying, "musicians were the first to settle into SoundCloud, but the social audio-sharing service has been expanding in new directions and is now also a hub for radio-style journalism and commentary with an interactive twist."

Ken Theriot presents Recording Equipment Categories posted at Home Brew Audio, saying, "a handy little post that lists categories for recording gear, which could be a useful thing. Everyone knows about microphones or headphones."

kenetejumy presents The Person Who Does Audio Mastering Can Be As Important As The Original Artist posted at kenetejumy.

John PaolozziIn the Loop, a free workshop series introducing women to electronic production posted at CBC Music, saying, "there is a big gender divide in the electronic music community with men significantly outnumbering women. So we spoke with the women behind In the Loop, who have set out to challenge that divide, Christina Sealey? and Naomi Hocura to learn more."

Mickey Cheatham presents The Science of Music posted at STEAMD, saying, "a body of knowledge of music and what it is from a physical perspective and take the journey from records to tapes to CDs to whatever may be next. We can talk abut compression and expansion and tone controls and dynamic range and frequency response and timbre and color and tonal richness."

You might also be interested in: That concludes this edition of Do More with Audio. If you have an audio story to share or advice, tips or tricks to share, we hope you will submit your audio posts and articles to the next edition.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival August 6, 2012

Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Audio:

Ryan Newman presents How to transfer iTunes from one laptop to another? posted at Laptop Repair London Blog, saying, "London Laptop Repair blog article describes the step by step process of how to transfer iTunes from one laptop to another?"

AtoragoN presents How to Do Audio Editing: a guide for dummies - Part 1 and How to Do Audio Editing - Part 2 posted at Guitar Nerding Blog, saying, "Audio Editing is the single most important task to accomplish before you starting mixing. Taking the time to correct all the little mistakes on the audio track ensure the final result sounds the way it should."

Lifehacker presents Hack a Zoom H2 Portable Audio Recorder to Accept Four Inputs posted at Lifehacker.com.

kentheriot presents Audio Recording Tips For Newbies: Stereo Or Not? posted at Home Brew Audio, saying, "Do you know what stereo really means?"

Marc Settle presents Smartphones for News: how the Academy is helping journalists get more mobile than ever posted at BBC, saying, "Smart phone reporting is becoming more common in news reporting, and is particularly popular in radio, using audio apps to record interviews."

You might also be interested in: That concludes this edition of Do More with Audio. If you have an audio story to share or advice, tips or tricks to share, we hope you will submit your audio posts and articles to the next edition.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Create Custom Typing Exercises

Who couldn't use a refresher course on touch typing? If you have actually tried some lessons or typing programs recently, you may have found that the standard typing lessons don�t match up with what you want or need to work on. If that's the case, you should try importing your own custom exercises into KeyBlaze typing tutor software to really focus on your weaknesses and hone in on the kind of typing that you do.

Your custom exercise should be saved as a .txt file, so check out Doxillion document converter if you already have documents in another format. When you have your text files ready, go to the Tools tab in KeyBlaze and click the Import icon. Select the type of exercise you want to import, browse to the location, and click Import. The exercise, or speed test, will then be listed in the program ready for you to use.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Remove Background Noise from Audio with WavePad

If you have ever made an audio recording where there are a lot of things going on, like recording an interview at coffee shop, or meetings and lectures with lots of people in the room, you are probably quite familiar with the unwanted background noise that will be a part of your audio when you go back to listen. Sometimes just having a lower quality microphone will add to this background noise, even when you are in relatively quiet surroundings. But the good news is that WavePad audio editor provides an easy way to remove this unwanted noise so you don't need to move all your recording into a studio to get a crisp sounding file.

To remove that unwanted background noise, load your audio file into WavePad.
  1. On the Effects tab, click the Cleanup button and select Noise Reduction, Audio Spectral Subtraction. Click the preset drop-menu and select voice or music, then click OK to apply.
  2. Then again from the Effects tab, click the Cleanup button and select Noise Reduction, Multi-band noise gating. Select a preset, then click OK to apply.
Remove Background Noise from Audio Recordings with WavePad

If the presets aren't giving you the best results, try using lower levels on each type of reduction until you find a combination that leaves you with just the audio that you want to hear. Download WavePad audio editing software today to try the noise reduction feature for yourself.

Monday, May 21, 2012

How to Remove Vocals in a Song with WavePad

Music Vocal RemoverOne of the most popular features of our audio editing software, WavePad, is the ability to reduce or remove the vocals within a song or a piece of audio you have loaded. You can use the resulting file for karaoke, sampling instruments, remixing music tracks, or simply save to have an instrumental only version of a song.

When you have your song loaded in WavePad go to the Effects tab and click the Voice button. Select Reduce vocals from the drop-down menu. This will open a dialog box that will allow you to change the pan position and width, the vocal level, and preserve the bass. Generally the default settings will work the best, but different songs may require different settings to effectively reduce or eliminate the vocal frequencies. If the default settings don't do enough you can adjust these settings until you are satisfied with the result.

If you only want to reduce the vocals on the portion of the audio be sure to select the region first. By default if nothing is selected WavePad will apply the effect to the entire file, so you can skip the selection before choosing reduce vocals to edit the entire song.

Download WavePad music editing software today to try out the vocal reduction feature and make better background music, your own karaoke songs, or use the new version with a recording of your own singing rendition to mix in.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The TIVO of Internet Recording

internet video recording softwareOne of the great things about TIVO is that you schedule recording times and then you don't need to worry about missing your favorite show. Since Debut video recording software is perfect for capturing all digital video from, streaming video to video of your screen, you can easily turn Debut into a personal internet recording TIVO system by schedule recordings for when you are away from your computer.

Start by setting up your recording as you normally would by selecting your screen for the input, and setting the recording area. Then click the Schedule button followed by Add to set the date and time for your new scheduled recording. Once those details are saved all you need to do is make sure you leave the window or website you want to record cued up on your screen so it will be recorded at the appointed time. When you return the recording(s) can be found in the Find & Play list by clicking the Recordings button on the toolbar.

If there is something that you want your computer to record, while you are sitting at your desk or while you�re away, download Debut screen capture software today.