Sound Advice: Audio in the Digital World

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Today's powerful computers, coupled with equally powerful software, allow us to do things on our desktop that were difficult or impossible just a few years ago. I have vivid memories of editing narration with tape and razor blades - and that wasn't too far in the past. Today, with just a few clicks, I can do what took several minutes back then. Many video producers have replaced studios full of equipment with just one production computer. The trick is learning to harness all that new-found power and use it to sculpt gorgeous sound for your videos. Let's look at some of the tools and learn to get the most from them.

Post It
Post-production is the process of combining all the elements of your video - from captured video and audio clips to graphics, narration, music and sound effects. All too often, the visual portion of the project gets the most attention, leaving little time (if any) to concentrate on audio section. That's a shame, because today's software makes it possible to produce a clean, professional soundtrack with a minimum of effort. Every traditional, standard audio tool and effect has its virtual counterpart already built into software, even my precious razor blades.

There are two potential environments in which to "post" your audio. The first is a dedicated audio program such as Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge or Syntrillium's Cool Edit. These packages provide full-featured recording, editing and effects processing. Multi-track platforms like Steinberg's Cubase VST or Cakewalk's Sonar allow for multiple channels of audio. With these programs, it's simple to combine several voices, music segments and sound effects into a nicely blended finished…