Streaming Audio Recorders

1. i-Sound WMA MP3 Recorder 6.x - On Sale
www.abyssmedia.com

i-Sound Recorder turn your computer into complete audio recording studio. You can record sound from internal or external source into MP3, OGG, WMA, APE, WAV format sound file directly without costing any other disk space. With VOX feature program can become ideal solution for automatical digitizing LPs and Cassettes.

2.Handy MP3 Recorder 4.0 - On Sale
www.audio-recorder.biz

Handy MP3 Recorder is an award winning high-quality sound recording software for windows. It enables you capture any sounds of your PC into MP3 or WAV files quickly and easily! By using Handy MP3 Recorder you can record sounds from MIDI, Internet broadcasts, streaming media and your microphone.

3. Ease MP3 Recorder 3.6 - On Sale
www.audiotool.net

Ease MP3 Recorder Ease MP3 Recorder may record sound which are played through your sound card and any other sound sources like microphone, VCR, Audio tape player etc. You can use it to grab any sound including music, dialogs from movies, game sounds and etc from your local computer or the internet. Captured sounds can be saved in WAV or MP3 format, using real-time conversion (without creating temporary files). The program offers direct support for RealPlayer, Winamp, Windows Media Player , Power DVD, Flash, Quick time and many others.

4. Audio Record Wizard 3.99 - On Sale
www.nowsmart.com

Audio Record Wizard is a sound recorder software, which offers professional recording features with mp3 support. The audio recorder program is designed to work directly with your sound card, so it can record almost all audio from your sound card at near-perfect quality. So, you can record sound from a microphone, line-in, and just about any other programs (like winamp, realplay, windows media player). audio record wizard can also record directly to mp3 format if you choose, saving you valuable disk space.

Ron Brown sells audio recording software at <a target="_new" href="http://www.best-mp3-recorder.com">http://www.best-mp3-recorder.com</a>

Dont Use Web Audio The Wrong Way

Have you ever wrestled with a set of instructions, but then got so frustrated with it all that you threw them aside in a fluster and tried to figure out how to do it? yourself?

Resulting in?Making a great big mess of it all?

Similarly, if you really want to use Web Audio the right way, the way that WORKS, then you need to know what DOESN'T work.

Here's what many people do, pretty systematically? to hinder their marketing and audio responses:

1. Speaking into the microphone without a care for what they're saying, how they're saying it and, without any regard to who's listening! That's pretty scary. Mumbling along without paying any attention to the small details. It's what could sink the hopes of many? FAST!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - Write out a little script. Then, rehearse it. After that, record it several times. Finally, choose the best of the lot and use it. See, I told you it was pretty simple.

2. Some feel that hiring a 'PROFESSIONAL' or 'DJ', to record the voice audio, is the way to go. Now, for some, that may seem a reasonable way out, but what's likely to happen is that the websites' PERSONALITY loses its authenticity. Somehow, most of us can detect when things seem out of sync. When things seem a little too? SLICK!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - If you really want to get someone else to do the voice audio for you, then make sure they've got a warm, natural personality that shines through in their voice. It'll win people over.

3. Sending the recorded audio message to your website, and then? FORGETTING ABOUT IT! Have you ever dialled a phone number, got an answer machine message that was either way out of date or just plain irrelevant? What an unprofessional image to portray. Well, that's why NOT attending to what's on your messages, could cripple you more than you'd know!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - Keep your audio updated! I'm not saying that you have to micro-manage it and change it every other day. But, keeping your messages fresh, alive and full of valuable, useful and usable information that addresses the needs of your audience? is what'll keep them loyal, attentive and eager to receive your future messages!

4. Leaving your audience mentally floating, not knowing what to do next. Have you ever experienced a scenario similar to this one: Whilst waiting on a train platform, an announcement is made to the waiting passengers as follows,

"due to a fault on the line, please expect further delays".

I'm in no doubt at all that this announcement would have left the passengers feeling concerned, confused and wondering what to do next. What the announcer should have taken the time to add is as follows,

"as we have not received any information from our control centre indicating the expected length of delay, you may like to consider hopping on bus number 19, leaving the bus stop adjacent to the station entrance in 7 minutes time. Otherwise, please continue to listen for further announcements, which we will endeavour to make every five minutes. Please also accept our sincere apologies for the delay and any inconvenience this may have caused you".

SIMPLE SOLUTION: People are silently begging to be told what to do next. If you can lead them to a specific outcome, they'll be putty in your hands! Whether it's instructions to go to a specific toll free number to get more information, or something they have to activate, like a membership number, whatever it is? tell them PRECISELY how to do it.

Web Audio, used correctly, will have a dramatic impact on the way in which your customers respond to you. They'll be so 'stuck' on your website and addicted to your audio messages, that you'll soon be sending out birthday cards to them!

FLASH AUDIO WIZARD has a simple in-built technology that'll give you the website personality you've always dreamed of. It's simple to use. It's easy to get started. Why not get your website 'speaking', today? Just visit <a href="http://www.FlashAudioWizard.com" target="_new">www.FlashAudioWizard.com</a>

Copyright 2004 Nick James

About The Author

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 3 years Nick has sold in excess of ?1 Million of products and services. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week at: <a href="http://www.Nick-James.com" target="_new">www.Nick-James.com</a> New Product: <a href="http://www.FlashAudioWizard.com" target="_new">www.FlashAudioWizard.com</a>.

7 Ways to Use AUDIO to Increase Your Web and E-mail Sales

Thought about adding audio to your Web site yet? You should. While great copy does a good job of selling your services and products, audio will amplify the effect of your words.

Audio gives you a more personal connection with your Web visitors. Social psychologists tell us that humans are more likely to trust you if they can both see you and hear you. And prospects are more likely to buy from those whom they feel they know, like, and trust.

So let's think about how you can build that instant rapport with your prospects.

What Could YOU Do With Audio?

There are unlimited possibilities of what can be done with audio on Web sites and in e-mail, but here are seven simple ideas to get you started.

1. Greet Your Homepage Visitors.
Welcome first-time visitors to your Web site with your own voice. It's a much warmer welcome than text alone.

2. Create a Series of Audio Lessons.
Audio learning is hot! Teach your audience via your voice instead of just words on the page. Think about developing a series of mini-audio lessons for your prospects.

3. Share Your Interviews.
If you don't have an interview clip already, ask a friend or colleague to conduct a short, dynamic interview with you via phone. Record it and post it at your Web site. Or, do a series of interviews with other experts in your field and post them at your site to be listened to.

4. Samples of Teleseminars.
Want more signups for your free and/or paid teleseminars? Then start recording them. Pull out the highlights and post free clips of them at your Web site.

5. Pump Up Your Testimonials.
You probably already have customer testimonials on your site. Now amplify their impact with audio. Have your customers record their testimonials in their own voices, and post them on your site along with their names and photos.

6. Make Your E-mails and E-zines Talk.
Liven up your e-mails by making them talk to your prospects, subscribers, and customers. The members on your lists will feel like you are right there with them. (And remember, it will be that personal connection that encourages people to hire you or buy your products.) Be the first in your industry to do this, and watch your numbers rise!

7. Audio Postcards.
Reach out to your best customers and prospects for holidays, birthdays, or other special occasions by sending them an e-mail "postcard" accompanied with a personally recorded message.

So What's the EASIEST Way to Post Audio?

In the past, adding audio to your site wasn't that easy. You had to either spend hours learning how to do it yourself, or pay someone else to record it and host it for you. That's why I was never interested in audio before. I may be the E-zine Queen, but no way am I a techie queen. In fact, my VCR still blinks "12:00 ... 12:00 ... 12:00."

Here's the good news: There's a brand new program that makes recording and posting audio ridiculously easy . It's called Audio Generator and was created by Armand Morin, the same guy who created PopUp Generator and a slew of other innovative "Generator" products. I signed up immediately after he debuted this at the System 3 Seminar in Ohio a few weeks ago.

Here's an example of how easy Audio Generator is: Say you want to add an audio greeting to your site this afternoon. Just call Audio Generator's toll-free hot line and record your message. Then, as soon as you hang up the phone, go log into their site. Ta da ... your message is ready and waiting, with a line of HTML code for you to copy and paste on your home page.

That's it!

Even better, you can do this an unlimited number of times and have unlimited clips on your site (or multiple sites). You can also upload digital audio files up to 30 minutes in length , which I'm going to do for samples of my teleclasses.

<a target="_new" href="http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/adtrack.as?AdID=38081">Click here to get the full story</a>, and see (and hear) The E-zine Queen's own audio testimonial at the Audio Generator site.

Remember, It's That Personal Connection That Matters

Take some time today to think about what YOU could do with audio at your site and in your e-mails to increase rapport with your visitors. Then choose at least one tactic to implement this month. It could be the best addition you've made to your online marketing efforts this year.

(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at <a target="_new" href="http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/" onMouseover="window.status='http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/'; return true;" onMouseout="window.status=''; return true;">http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/</a>

7 Ways to Use Website Audio in Your Marketing Arsenal

Most visitors to your website are using computers with audio capabilities. Recently introduced techniques make it easy to take advantage of this capability.

In the past, web audio was primarily decorative, consisting of musical fanfares or other clich?d sound effects. Now, you can use audio to multiply the impact of your message and create stronger bonds with your visitors.

Audio's power comes from its ability to engage more of your visitor's senses. The more senses you engage, the easier it will be to effectively communicate. Instead of just reading your words and looking at your picture, you can communicate with your voice ? and the voices of your clients.

The power of audio can be appreciated by comparing the newspaper column version of Tom and Ray Magliozzi's Car Talk with the program aired each week on National Public Radio. Although the newspaper column and radio program address the same topics, it's far more fun to listen to Car Talk ? where you can experience Tom and Ray's intonations and phrasing ? than to read the same words.

Here are some of the ways you can employ audio on your website:

- Welcoming messages. You can create closer emotional bonds with website visitors by personally welcoming them to your site and introducing some of the features they should explore.

- Testimonials. Audio testimonials are far more powerful that written testimonials, especially if you include a photograph of the individual speaking the testimonial. The next best thing to a face-to-face referral is a recording of a client explaining their satisfaction with your product in their own words.

- Guarantees. Your satisfaction guarantees gain impact when you deliver them in your own voice. Place them on your order form, at the point of sale. People are inherently cautious about ordering products and services from the Internet. Reassure them that their credit card and personal information are safe with you.

- Seminars and teleconferences. Short excerpts about upcoming events can make your event even more appealing. Snippets from past seminars can whet visitors' appetites for more.

- Tips. Add interest to your site by describing an audio 'tip of the day' or 'tip of the week' in your own words. Be sure to offer access to previous tips, too.

- Audio postcards. You can include audio invitations and testimonials as links in email sent to clients and prospects. To arrange an audio testimonial, simply provide your client with a phone number and password, and invite them to call up and express their satisfaction with their purchase from you. Audio postcards are a great way to stay in contact with your clients and prospects with an announcement of an upcoming product or service. They are also a quick way to acknowledge a special occasion.

- Streaming audio can be used to allow visitors to playback longer events, like seminars or teleconferences.

When you add audio to your website, allow your visitors to maintain control. Don't begin playing your message when the webpage loads. Instead, invite visitors to 'click here' to hear your voice. Keep your messages as short and concise as possible.

And avoid 'scripting' your introductions and guarantees. Write down the key ideas you want to communicate, but deliver them in your own words as conversationally as possible.

Web audio is no longer a futuristic luxury. Web audio is here now and it's as close as your telephone. It is an affordable and easily added feature that can set you apart from the competition and help communicate your message with added impact.

Roger C. Parker knows the secrets to promoting your business one page at a time. Find out the simple way to keep in constant touch with your customers, while saving you time and money. Visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.OnePageNewsletters.com">http://www.OnePageNewsletters.com</a> for your three free reports.

How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch

My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.

In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children's stories and offering them for download on the internet. The thing was, however, while I had someone to write the stories - my mother - and someone to market the stories ? me, I knew nobody who knew about how to record the stories professionally. I knew it must be reasonably easy, since I only wanted to create an audio book containing speech.

I started doing research on Google - but all the articles I found contained so much technical gobbledygook ? I was soon put off. So I went to my local music store for advice on what to buy. I decided to use my computer to create the audio books and this is what I bought:

1 microphone stand

1 pop-screen (that's a piece of material that is placed just in front of the microphone to stop your &quot;Ps&quot; from popping)

1 studio microphone

1 software program (Wavelab)

1 USB Audio/MIDI interface (TASCAM US 122 with phantom power)

1 pair of heaphones

It all came to 650 euros (800) dollars.

I connected my Audio/MIDI interface (this is basically a really good sound card in an external case) to my computer using the USB cable provided. I then set up my microphone and attached the microphone cable to the MIDI interface. After installing the software, I was ready to go.

The results have been great and I find Wavelab software powerful and incredibly easy to use.

Some Audio Book recording tips

I first get my entire copy ready before starting the recording. I pin the sheets of paper with the text that I am going to read in front of me onto the wall. Then, at about 8 inches away from the microphone, I start to talk. The more natural you can be the more interesting you will sound to your listeners. I found that the best thing to do is to stand in front of the microphone and make gestures in the same way as you would when talking to a close friend. If you stand there stiff like a statue, you'll come across in the same way in your recording.

Another thing that I like to do before starting the recording is to get myself into a really good mood. Again, this will add to the impact of your recording. I always listen to a few uplifting songs and get enthusiastic before starting. You should also try to make sure that you keep the same distance from the microphone.

And that's it ? I hope that this article will save you a little bit of time setting up your own home recording studio and I wish lots of success with your audio books.

The author of this article is Alan Twigg. My business is Playtime books, which offers new and contemporary audio books for the 3 to 10-year-old age group. You will find this site at <a target="_new" href="http://www.playtime-books.com">http://www.playtime-books.com</a>.

How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch

My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.

In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children's stories and offering them for download on the internet. The thing was, however, while I had someone to write the stories - my mother - and someone to market the stories ? me, I knew nobody who knew about how to record the stories professionally. I knew it must be reasonably easy, since I only wanted to create an audio book containing speech.

I started doing research on Google - but all the articles I found contained so much technical gobbledygook ? I was soon put off. So I went to my local music store for advice on what to buy. I decided to use my computer to create the audio books and this is what I bought:

1 microphone stand

1 pop-screen (that's a piece of material that is placed just in front of the microphone to stop your &quot;Ps&quot; from popping)

1 studio microphone

1 software program (Wavelab)

1 USB Audio/MIDI interface (TASCAM US 122 with phantom power)

1 pair of heaphones

It all came to 650 euros (800) dollars.

I connected my Audio/MIDI interface (this is basically a really good sound card in an external case) to my computer using the USB cable provided. I then set up my microphone and attached the microphone cable to the MIDI interface. After installing the software, I was ready to go.

The results have been great and I find Wavelab software powerful and incredibly easy to use.

Some Audio Book recording tips

I first get my entire copy ready before starting the recording. I pin the sheets of paper with the text that I am going to read in front of me onto the wall. Then, at about 8 inches away from the microphone, I start to talk. The more natural you can be the more interesting you will sound to your listeners. I found that the best thing to do is to stand in front of the microphone and make gestures in the same way as you would when talking to a close friend. If you stand there stiff like a statue, you'll come across in the same way in your recording.

Another thing that I like to do before starting the recording is to get myself into a really good mood. Again, this will add to the impact of your recording. I always listen to a few uplifting songs and get enthusiastic before starting. You should also try to make sure that you keep the same distance from the microphone.

And that's it ? I hope that this article will save you a little bit of time setting up your own home recording studio and I wish lots of success with your audio books.

The author of this article is Alan Twigg. My business is Playtime books, which offers new and contemporary audio books for the 3 to 10-year-old age group. You will find this site at <a target="_new" href="http://www.playtime-books.com">http://www.playtime-books.com</a>.

Adding Sound To Your Web Site - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

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. Let's 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 card's built-in 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 page's HTML code. There's 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 'continuous' 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) Pre-Made Flash Loops

The newest thing on the market are pre-built 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 <a href="http://www.flashmusictracks.com" target="_new">http://www.flashmusictracks.com</a> and currently there are three different loop packages available in all kinds of music styles from classical to techno. Using these pre-built Flash files is easy. Simply upload the "xyz.swf" Flash file to your server and add a few lines from the corresponding "xyz.html" 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.

(c)2004 Alan Steward

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 - <a href="http://www.musicleads.net" target="_new">http://www.musicleads.net</a>

Why I Hate Flash Audio and What I Did About It

I love spoken-word audio. I've been listening to seminars, lectures, and books on tape for years.

I love downloadable audio. Missed that teleseminar you signed up for? Just download the MP3 (or Real Media, or Windows Media, or QuickTime) file and it's almost as good as being there--maybe better.

But I really dislike streaming audio of the kind you can't download, and I find the new trend to use Macromedia Flash to provide audio clips online particularly irritating.

Why? Because I don't want to have to sit in front of my computer screen to listen to something. The only time I might want to do that would be if I were taking notes, or if the recording were a set of instructions on how to do something with a computer program. When I'm at my computer, I'm usually busy doing something that requires concentration (like writing).

I want to do my listening when I'm away from my computer and doing something that occupies my hands but not my full attention. In my case, that's primarily when I'm driving and when I'm cooking. And while I could theoretically prop my laptop on the passenger seat while I drive, I can't (yet, anyway) get a connection to the Internet while going 65 miles an hour. Besides, the car stereo has much better speakers than the laptop does.

The whole point of podcasting, after all, is to allow people to download and listen at their leisure, the same way RSS news aggregators let you collect blog headlines and other news at your own convenience. These streaming-only audio clips (.ram as well as Flash) don't give you that option. And that snarks me off.

And yes, I do realize that people want to protect their intellectual property and that's one reason they use non-downloadable streaming audio. I respect that. But I don't want to sell or otherwise redistribute their material. I just want to listen to it on my time. To users of streaming audio I pose the question: would you rather I just didn't listen? Would you really prefer that I just miss your marketing message altogether?

Because that's what was happening before I thought of a way around the Flash barrier.

In May I made one of my best investments of 2005 and bought a $10 mini-stereo audio cable. I plug one end into the laptop's headphone socket and one end into the cassette recorder's microphone port. Or I plug the other end of the cable into the microphone port on the laptop and record it onto my computer to play on my new MP3 player. (My current preferred recording software is the freeware program Audacity, available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ in versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.)

It works like a charm. I now have access to all kinds of things I never would have listened to before, all thanks to a simple cable.

Now all I need is one of those car stereos with an MP3 player built in.

(c) 2005 Sallie Goetsch

"Author-izer" Sallie Goetsch started helping other people with their writing at the age of nine. Before going into business for herself, she translated, directed, produced, and was sometimes forced to act in Greek and Roman plays, as well as founding an electronic journal. Her FileSlinger(TM) Backup Blog (<a target="_new" href="http://www.fileslinger.com/blog">http://www.fileslinger.com/blog</a>) was recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle. Visit <a target="_new" href="http://authorizer.fileslinger.com">http://authorizer.fileslinger.com</a> to learn how to become an author whether or not you can write.

Adding Streaming Audio to Your Website

Adding streaming audio to your web site can help you enhance the message you send to your customers and can serve as a wonderful confidence-building tool. In the past, audio was used primarily as a decorative effect, but advances in technology and the increased use of the internet by consumers have made it easy for you to add streaming audio to your web site and create a personal bond with your clientele. You can also add streaming audio to your newsletter or blog for a personal touch that will keep the interest of your readers and subscribers.

Streaming audio can be used in welcome messages placed on the first page of your web site. Adding a personal welcome message to your readers and explaining some of the features they can explore on your web site is an excellent way to enhance the experience of the customer. You may also want to add streaming audio to your web site in the form of testimonials from satisfied customers. Most computer users have the capability to hear audio messages and will find it a refreshing change from monotonous text that may or may not hold their interest. Your newsletter or blog will benefit from the use of streaming audio as well. You may want to add a new helpful tip in audio form each day to your blog, or include audio product updates in your newsletter.

Adding streaming audio to your web site, newsletter, or blog is no longer a frivolous addition. It is not difficult or expensive to add audio to your web site and you will find that your customers enjoy this new feature. The audio content should be conversational and pleasant, and sound as natural as possible. You can write down the topics and points you would like to cover in your streaming audio message, but record your message as if you were speaking to friends and family. Adding streaming audio to your web site, newsletter, or blog is the perfect way to give your customers a personal message that will give them confidence in your sincerity and integrity.

For more valuable resources for growing a successful business head over to <a target="_new" href="http://www.redrockva.com">http://www.redrockva.com</a> today!

How to Add Audio to Video

Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production have made it to the grass roots level thanks to the affordability and widespread use of powerful computers.

Inexpensive digital video cameras are widely available, and older analog video cameras can be connected to a computer through a video card to download movies to the computer for editing, storage, and distribution to friends and relatives over the internet.

It has become fairly easy to edit your own videos, and there are many software packages available aimed at the amateur. The Windows operating system has its own video editing package called Windows Movie Maker that allows you to produce professional-looking videos.

As you explore this exciting new world, you will inevitably come up with the need to edit the audio portion of your video file. The sound quality of most video cameras is not great, so you may want to process the sound or replace it all together with music or voice-overs.

It is very easy to separate the audio from the video. Free software packages that do this task include Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft (if you are working with WMV video files) and VirtualDub (if you are working with AVI files). Either of these programs (and many others) allow you to save the audio portion of video file quickly and easily. Once you have your audio file, you can process it for noise reduction, bring up the volume, add music or do any digital magic to it that you desire.

With many video editing packages, however, it isn't necessary to split the audio to a separate file. Even simple packages like Windows Movie Maker have basic audio editing functions, and you can add separate music or voice tracks and mix all of them together.

If you have a particular audio file that you would like to use in your video (maybe a special effect or a voice over that you have recorded separately) simply add that file to the list of media to be included in the video. Other media formats can be separate video files, picture files or graphics.

The audio file can be placed anywhere on the time-line, and you can use the same file many times without requiring any extra storage space on your computer. For precise placement, zoom all the way into your timeline and place the audio exactly in sync with the video. That's it! You are well on your way to making professional-looking videos!

Hans is editor of the <a target="_new" href="http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com/product-pages/Howto.htm">Audio Howto Section </a> of the <a target="_new" href="http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com/">Selected Audio Review Guide</a>

Internet Radio: A Sanctuary in the Rubbish Tip

The internet, it's a whole world of information and entertainment, but every day it fills up just that extra bit more with complete trash. At every corner, popups, banner ads, viruses, spyware, the list goes on, well I've had enough and I'm sure you share my opinion.

So, I hear you ask, what does the rubbish online have to do with internet radio. Absolutely nothing! It's a complete opposite. Back in November of 2004, every evening I sat at home bored to death writing English essays and completing Maths papers, and when I wasn't doing that you'd be guaranteed to find me plonked in front of the TV watching whatever rubbish the BBC scheduler had decided to inflict upon me that night, and don't even think about mentioning a social life, I didn't have an iota.

What changed? Later that month I overheard a friend talking about a radio show he regularly presented online, so I decided to have a listen. Well I enjoyed the show, but then I would, as would anyone hearing someone they knew as part of a broadcast, the strange thing was I enjoyed EVERY piece of music that was played. Now before then I was totally hooked on dance music, I just wouldn't listen to anything else, every time 'Top of the Pops 2' came on TV I'd change channel, any hint of 80's music and I'd be out of the room like a shot. I'd been converted without any explanation as to how.

However, there was something even stranger to follow. The station I had tuned into was an AMATEUR station made up of DJ's of all ages using their own talents and equipment to broadcast from around the UK & USA. Notice I stress the word amateur. Well, I kept listening for a while and it just kept getting better and I'm not joking. For the first time I was enjoying every bit of music I heard. My collection of dance CD's sat in the corner getting dusty and still, to this day haven't had the need to touch it.

But it wasn't just my music taste that had been changed by this experience, it was my whole life. I got involved, the usual shy me suddenly became part of an online family, the social flame inside me lit up for the first time. I was taking part, meeting new people and above all enjoying it! So what are you thinking now? Maybe that this article's just become an advert? Well in a way, yes, that's true. I've got so much out of this experience that I felt it was about time I spread the word, you just can't keep something so good to yourself.

So what am I doing now? Well, as I said, I got involved. Since way back in November I've had a go at presenting and production, and met more people than you could shake a stick at. Right now as I type this article I sit listening to the station that started this all off, and chatting to new friends I would never have met without this fantastic creation. So thanks to Marconi, Faraday, whoever it is that came up with combination of radio and the internet, it really is the best thing since sliced bread!

If you're surfing the net or doing chores about the house, give it a try, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Internet Radio, the clearing in the deep dark forest that is the WWW.

Andrew Bonney

Resources:
The station that made my life so much better, still thriving and growing each day: <a target="_new" href="http://www.offthechartradio.co.uk">http://www.offthechartradio.co.uk</a> The people who make Internet Radio so much easier and accessible, you can even start your own station: <a target="_new" href="http://www.live365.com">http://www.live365.com</a>

How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch

My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.

In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children's stories and offering them for download on the internet. The thing was, however, while I had someone to write the stories - my mother - and someone to market the stories ? me, I knew nobody who knew about how to record the stories professionally. I knew it must be reasonably easy, since I only wanted to create an audio book containing speech.

I started doing research on Google - but all the articles I found contained so much technical gobbledygook ? I was soon put off. So I went to my local music store for advice on what to buy. I decided to use my computer to create the audio books and this is what I bought:

1 microphone stand

1 pop-screen (that's a piece of material that is placed just in front of the microphone to stop your &quot;Ps&quot; from popping)

1 studio microphone

1 software program (Wavelab)

1 USB Audio/MIDI interface (TASCAM US 122 with phantom power)

1 pair of heaphones

It all came to 650 euros (800) dollars.

I connected my Audio/MIDI interface (this is basically a really good sound card in an external case) to my computer using the USB cable provided. I then set up my microphone and attached the microphone cable to the MIDI interface. After installing the software, I was ready to go.

The results have been great and I find Wavelab software powerful and incredibly easy to use.

Some Audio Book recording tips

I first get my entire copy ready before starting the recording. I pin the sheets of paper with the text that I am going to read in front of me onto the wall. Then, at about 8 inches away from the microphone, I start to talk. The more natural you can be the more interesting you will sound to your listeners. I found that the best thing to do is to stand in front of the microphone and make gestures in the same way as you would when talking to a close friend. If you stand there stiff like a statue, you'll come across in the same way in your recording.

Another thing that I like to do before starting the recording is to get myself into a really good mood. Again, this will add to the impact of your recording. I always listen to a few uplifting songs and get enthusiastic before starting. You should also try to make sure that you keep the same distance from the microphone.

And that's it ? I hope that this article will save you a little bit of time setting up your own home recording studio and I wish lots of success with your audio books.

The author of this article is Alan Twigg. My business is Playtime books, which offers new and contemporary audio books for the 3 to 10-year-old age group. You will find this site at <a target="_new" href="http://www.playtime-books.com">http://www.playtime-books.com</a>.