39542 Web Animation

Spring 2007 Semester | Mondays 6:15 p.m. to 9:05 p.m.

Classes

Some General Recommendations When Working With Sound

1. Perform audio optimization BEFORE bringing into Flash
   1. Prevents other users from having to look around for sound settings
   2. Flash is intended for animation, not advanced audio editing
   3. Smaller audio files = smaller Flash authoring file sizes
2. Use MP3 compression
   1. RAW offers no compression
   2. ADPCM is for Flash 3 support
3. Ditch the stereo unless needed
   1. This will significantly reduce file size
   2. Most users don’t benefit from stereo
4. Test, test, test!
   1. Try your Flash movie on different Internet connections
   2. Test on both old and new computers

Types of Sounds in Flash

1. Event Sound – used and reused
2. Stream – locks audio to timeline – forces performance, plays automatically
3. Start - – stops other instances of sound from playing before starting
4. Stop – stops instances of sound from playing

Online Audio Resources

Where to get audio editors:

SoundBooth Beta	Adobe's Simple Audio Editor. Requires registration
Audacity	A cross-platform, open source audio editor
Apple iTunes	Yes, iTunes. This software is great for converting formats

Where to get free use sounds:

Archive.org
SampleSwap	Free audio samples (must be registered)
FreeSound
CCMixter	Community music site using Creative Commons License
FlashKit	A great resource for sound loops

Examples

Sound Controls (zip)

Streaming Sound (zip)