Adding voice

[weden]

I need to add voice naration to a KM presentation. Can anyone tell me how to do it?

Also, what is the best file format to use?

[FLASHPULSE]

Click "Action & Sounds"
Click "+"
Click "Sound..."
Import your sound.

I would use an MP3 file.

[weden]

My customer is going to record a narration for a presentation I'm creating in KM. He wants to send it to me on a CD. Is MP3 the most efficient format or is MIDI better?

[johnie]

MIDI typically (Its almost never ever used for this) isn't used for naration or voice.

If you have a MIDI you will have to convert it to MP3 or Wav to use it in KoolMoves.

You do have a choice to stream MP3 with KoolMoves although breaking up the naration and placing parts of it on each specific frames is a better way, in my opinion, to synch as the presentation can unsynch then resynch if need be.

[necromanthus]

Originally posted by weden
My customer is going to record a narration for a presentation I'm creating in KM. He wants to send it to me on a CD. Is MP3 the most efficient format or is MIDI better?

MIDI for voice ??? (it must be a joke).
There're few WAV to MIDI convertors,but ... for kids !
Use MP3 or ADPCM WAV.
;)

[johnie]

They have done MIDI for voice before. It was signing voice and not narative voice though. It is not done very often.

To be honest you don't need any special software to convert MIDI to WAV. All you need is a WAV recorder (One is included in Windows), and then simply bring up the Windows volume control, click Ooptions>properties. Click the recording radial and then click the box on Wav Out or Mono Out. Then you simply play the Midi while recording it.


Another option which is just as simple is to get a Y for your speacker. Hook a small cable from your speaker/line-out into your Line-In (If your card has such) or MIC.

[necromanthus]

First of all,a MIDI file has nothing to do with a sound file.
A MIDI file contains informations (tracks,notes,tempo,etc) about how to access
the system sound samples database (a WAV table).
Even if the user has a sophisticated WAV to MIDI convertor and is able to save
the sound samples in his own WAV table,remember that the visitor has a different
database.
So,it is a very bad idea to use MIDI for voices (or even for melodies).
For internet purposes,the best solution is to use (or stream) MP3 files.
(Windows SoundRecorder and any WAV to MP3 convertor is enough to do that)
cheers

[gusmus]

Hi Necro, Ive always wondered if it would be possible to lay a SMPTE code into a swf and use that to trigger a midi backing track. you could then sample your speech phrases and assign them to midi notes and from there lay down the backing track on a sequencer. it would mean having the same sized sound files as any other wav presentation but the files would be stored outside of the flash movie thereby keeping the flash files down to a reasonable size. Just thinking out loud as usual lol, but as SMPTE is an industry standard timeline code it may be worth experimenting with. Cheers

[necromanthus]

Originally posted by gusmus
Hi Necro, Ive always wondered if it would be possible to lay a SMPTE code into a swf and use that to trigger a midi backing track. you could then sample your speech phrases and assign them to midi notes and from there lay down the backing track on a sequencer. it would mean having the same sized sound files as any other wav presentation but the files would be stored outside of the flash movie thereby keeping the flash files down to a reasonable size. Just thinking out loud as usual lol, but as SMPTE is an industry standard timeline code it may be worth experimenting with. Cheers

Hi William.
It is possible to build tracks into a SWF and controll few sound samples (similar with the connection between a MIDI file and a WAVE table).
The big problem is that a SWF file has no access to the system WAVE table.You have to add the required sound samples inside the SWF,but the file size is growing ...
Anyhow,as I said before,MIDI is not a PRO solution for sounds.

p.s.
I'll try to build a sequencer using KoolMoves (probably next month).
cheers

[weden]

Nice discussion! So, the best solution is either MP3 or WAV. Which would be the smallest file size?

[docree]

MP3 usually has smaller size due to being compressed. A good tip is to record the vocal track at a lower frequency rather than converting to a lower frequency. I do this to avoid the garble that conversion sometimes causes.
Ugly

[weden]

Thanks Docree. My client will be doing the recording, so what frequency should he use?

[necromanthus]

Originally posted by weden
Thanks Docree. My client will be doing the recording, so what frequency should he use?

docree is right.
but weden,if I'm not wrong,you said something about CDs.
In this case there're no problems of space and download speed.
So,my advice is to use WAV files.
For voice, 22KHz and 8 bit per sample should be fine.
If you're an MP3 fan,use 56 Kbit for best results.
cheers

[docree]

16 khz is the usual "basic" studio audio.
Byte rate is up to you. In the case of cd Necro's settings are a good choice.
Doc previously known as ugly.

[weden]

My customer will record on CD and then mail it to me. I will then bring it into KM. I want a to keep the file size small but with good sound. I just know what to recommend to them about how to record it. Sounds like MP3 is is the best choice.

[FLASHPULSE]

For music, an MP3 at 128KBits is as low as I would compress. Anything lower then that will start to loose the higher frequencies.

[weden]

This will be all voice.

[FLASHPULSE]

Ok, I see that was the focus on this topic. Just thought I would give a tip on music just in case you were doing that as well, but I guess not. My bad. :)