While FrontLook Series 2 and 3 supply a healthy selection of
audio files, it is often desirable to add or edit custom sounds for your FrontLook
Applet. In this article will talk about the tools and procedures used in
recording and converting sound files for FrontLook Java Applets.
Download the GoldWave* Sound Editor
GoldWave is a great shareware sound editor that is easy to use and can
easily produce good Java applet sound files. The nice thing about the
shareware version of GoldWave
is that you will be able to convert your sound files
for free, although GoldWave is well worth its $40 price tag. You can download a copy
of GoldWave at the following URL:
http://www.goldwave.com/release.html
After downloading the GoldWave, follow the install instructions.
Recording a Sound
If you would like to record your own sound, the Windows operating system
provides a sound recording program to do so. Just go to your Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment
and select the "Sound Recorder" item to bring up the Sound Recorder
dialog. In this example we will use the GoldWave sound recorder.
Bring up the GoldWave sound editor and then select the
File->New menu item. A dialog will appear to set the parameters of the
sound recording. Press the "Voice" Quick Settings button which
will set the sound parameters to Mono and 11,500 Hz. This sampling rate
will be fine for applet recordings. Press the OK button to create a new
sound window.
New Sound Parameters Dialog
Now make sure the "Device
Controls" window is present as pictured below:
Windows Sound Recorder Window
If you can't see this window, then select the
"Tools->Device Controls" menu item.
Assuming your sound card supports audio recording and
you have a microphone hooked up to your sound card, you can press the
record button in the Device Controls window to record your sound.
Using the Device Control Dialog to record a sound
After doing so, select the
File->Save As... menu item, name the sound file as an .au file as illustrated
below and save
it in a known place on your hard drive.
Setting the Save Dialog for Applet audio files
Capturing an Audio Segment from a CD
It might also be useful to capture a segment from a favorite song or
effects CD. This is easily accomplished via the GoldWave Editor. Just
place your CD in your CD-ROM drive and once the music is playing, follow
the instructions as outlined in the above recording section.
Converting to the Java Applet Format
If you already have a sound file (like a .wav) that you would like to use
with a FrontLook Applet, you will need to convert it to the .au format.
Open the GoldWave Editor and select the "File->Open..." menu
item. Locate your sound file and press the OK button.
Selecting a sound file to edit and convert
The sound file should come up in the wave form window.
Saving/Converting a sound file
Editing the Sound
With the GoldWave editor, you can reduce the length or volume of your
sound file, add special reverb effects, mix sounds together and much more.
For this newsletter tip, we will only create or convert a sound file for
the Java Applet. See the GoldWave help file for more on
sound editing.
Importing the Sound File into FrontLook
Once the sound file has been saved to your hard drive in the .au format,
it is time to import the file into FrontLook sound library. To do this,
Use FrontPage and FrontLook to bring
up or insert an applet on a web page. Then go to the Background panel and
select the Background Audio popup menu as illustrated below (note: any
audio popup menu can be used to import sound files):
Adding a sound file to the FrontLook sound library
An Open Dialog will appear, locate your saved .au sound
file and then press the Open button.
Selecting your saved sound file
The sound file should now be selected and is now the
part of the sound library.
And that's it for this
month's tip, be sure to check out our other tips.
