Audio Editing Software Review:
Adobe Soundbooth CS3 (page 2)

Soundbooth's Effects Rack gives you room for stacking as many as five effects at a time that will modify your clip in practically unlimited combinations. We focused on simply making our average-sounding narration sound as good as it could. This included finding the right amount of compression, equalization and hint of reverb. After exploring the many available presets, we found Mastering Mix 1 gave us just the right amount of everything with very little adjustment. We did find some of the presets that promise great effect and simplicity just a little too simple. The Vocal Enhancer is one such effect, giving us option only for Off, Male, Female or Music. The vast array of presets, however, do provide even a knowledgeable audio engineer with highly-functional tools to refine or repair nearly any audio clip.

Soundbooth's AutoCompose Score feature lets you quickly and easily add custom music to your production. Browse any of the 11 music categories to find the right tone for your project, double-click to import into Soundbooth, select a reference clip if you want to adjust the duration to match pre-existing audio or video and then start finessing the mix of the score itself. Soundbooth gives you a Basic or Keyframing dialog, and both methods give you control over instruments and melody lines. If you are starting to produce more Flash projects, you can also add cue points for Flash animation.

Adobe clearly has a specific audience in mind with its introduction of Soundbooth: an independent video producer who doesn't have the time, skills, software or the cash to pay someone else to do the audio post. If any of these traits sound familiar to you, Soundbooth is well worth checking out.

Format: HDD/ SD memory card
Processor: Multicore Intel Processor (Mac), Intel Pentium 4 (1.4GHz processor for DV, 3.4GHz processor for HDV), Intel Centrino, Intel Xeon (dual Xeon 2.8GHz processors for HD), Intel Core Duo or compatible processor (SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems)
OS: Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Mac), Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2; Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate (certified support for 32-bit editions only)
Display: 1280x900 monitor resolution with 32-bit video card and 16MB or more of VRAM
Memory: 512MB of RAM (1GB RAM for DV; 2GB for HDV or HD)
Other: Microsoft DirectX or ASIO-compatible sound card, DVD drive required for installation, 10GB of available hard-disk space, QuickTime 7.0 required to use QuickTime features, Internet or phone line for activation

• Powerful set of audio tools designed for the videographer-editor.

• Controls of effects may be too basic for some users.

Soundbooth is a simple, powerful tool made for video producers who don't want to become audio experts.

Contributing editor Brian Peterson is a video production consultant, trainer and lecturer.

Adobe
345 Park Ave
San Jose, CA 95110
www.adobe.com

$199

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