"Secret Weapons Of Audio Editing - Part 2"

In our previous newsletter, we discussed techniques for preparing non-looping audio material for internet streaming.  In this issue we will continue on that topic and get into additional techniques for improving the quality of your audio.

How High Is Your EQ?

One of the most important techniques for optimizing the quality of an audio recording is the proper use of equalization, or EQ.  For the uninitiated, this simply means the addition or subtraction of high and low frequencies - i.e. bass and treble to enhance or compensate for a less than optimal frequency response in your source material.

There are several reasons why your music or dialogue track might need adjustments in EQ: poor-quality mastering of the original audio material; poor quality capture of dialogue - i.e. not the best microphone choice or placement; or one of the most common reasons - a low-quality sample-rate or .mp3 conversion, which can cause a loss in frequency response.  This is due to the fact that as a lower conversion setting (bit-rate) is used to create and .mp3 file, a corresponding loss in primarily higher frequencies can result.  Adding back in a wider frequency response to a low bit-rate recording is more difficult and produces poorer results than properly mastering audio BEFORE .mp3 conversion, so anticipating your final bit-rate needs for .mp3 recordings is an important step, assuming that you are beginning with a CD-quality recording - i.e. .aif or .wav file at 44.1 KHz / 16-bit.  This is because it is much easier to compensate for loss in EQ in advance, than having to add back in frequencies that were lost during .mp3 conversion, which can often result in audio artifacts and no appreciable benefit to audio quality.

Just A Little Bit, Please.


We will be covering bit-rates for .mp3's in a later issue, but for now, let's assume that we are working with an .mp3 file that has been converted at a bit-rate of 128 Kbps or lower.  While there may have been some loss in lower frequencies, it is likely that the most benefit can be achieved by boosting frequencies from about 2-3KHz by about 2-3 db.  This is a very general recommendation and by no means would be appropriate for all audio source material.  However, it should give you a starting place to explore EQ settings and motivate you to take a more active role in listening to EQ in general when evaluating your audio.

In our next issue, we will continue our discussion of EQ and how to improve the audio quality of your recordings.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Secret Weapons Of Audio Editing - Part 1"

In our last newsletter, we completed our discussion of looping techniques for achieving seamless loops for your music tracks.  In this issue we will get into some more techniques for improving the streaming and playback of audio for your website.

Avoid The Clicks.

When selecting music or dialogue tracks for playback on your website, you will often be selecting segments or edits of longer tracks.  While we have already discussed looping techniques in past newsletters, there will also be instances where you will not be creating loops and only be concerned with playing an audio segment from beginning to end.  Often this will involve starting and/or ending at a point where audio is playing.  There may not always be a point where you can start/end a track during silence, so it is important to edit the audio to begin and end without an abrupt jump in volume - or worse, with an audible 'click'.  The most common technique for doing this is to use a 'fade-in' (at the start) and a 'fade-out' (at the end).  Assuming you have the appropriate audio-editing software, you can adjust not only where to place the fade, but also the duration and slope of the fade.  Using a fade will insure that your audio begins and ends at 'digital zero' which equals silence.

The length of the fade is important to consider, depending on the source material.  For instance, if you are editing a dialogue track, you will likely be using a very short fade-in - often a fraction of a second, just long enough to start from digital zero to the beginning of the waveform.  If you are editing a music track, then a longer fade-in/out may be more appropriate, also depending on the musical style.

Silence Is Golden.


In addition to using fades to edit your music or dialogue track, you may also consider adding a short amount of silence before the start of the audio - perhaps a quarter to a half a second (250-500ms).  The reason for this is that sometimes when audio is streamed over the internet, the process of buffering by your computer and audio hardware will cause the audio to be muted briefly at the start of playback, causing a listener to miss the start of the audio track.  By adding a brief amount of silence at the start of the track, we are compensating for this possible muting effect and insuring that the beginning will be heard.

When dealing with dialogue tracks, there may also be instances where silence can be used to clean up background noise between long pauses in the dialogue, making for a cleaner, more professional result.  I mention this now because it is an edit you might as well make while working on the start and end of a dialogue track.

In our next issue, we will continue our discussion of specific editing techniques for your audio.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Music Looping Techniques - Part 3"

In this month's newsletter, we will continue our discussion of looping and editing techniques for background music loops for your website

Tune That Loop.

Having established appropriate start and end points for your music loop,we now need to fine-tune the loop so that we eliminate any audible clicks or pops when the loop goes from the end back to the beginning.  This usually involves zooming all the way into a loop-view window where you can see the waveform rendered as a wavy line.  The goal is to get the end point to meet the "zero" decibel line (i.e. silence) at the same point as the start point.  While this may yield satisfactory results, an audible pop may still occur based on the different relative volume levels of the end segment and the beginning segment of the loop selection.

The Crossfade.


To correct this problem, we can implement a technique called "crossfading".  A crossfade creates a short volume fade-out at the end of the loop and a short volume fade-in at the beginning, with a small amount of overlap between the two.  The idea is that the volume differences between the end and start points will be averaged-out so that the result will be a smoother volume transition from the end of the loop back to the beginning.  Most professional audio editing applications provide some sort of crossfade tool that allows you to set duration, slope and overlap of the crossfade.  There is no magic rule for achieving perfect crossfades - some will need a very short crossfade of perhaps 50 milliseconds, while others may require a crossfade of 500 milliseconds (a millisecond, "ms" is 1/1000th of a second).  Using the "undo" feature of your audio-editing application will allow you to experiment until you achieve the desired result.

In order to create a proper crossfade, you will need to make sure that you have not yet trimmed the audio file to the start and end points of your loop.  This is because the crossfade function needs a small amount of audio before and after the loop to use as an overlap segment.  If we did not have this, the crossfade would actually shorten the loop length (remember that it needs to overlap), and you would end up with a music loop that skips part of the beat when looping back.  I suggest leaving at least 2 seconds before and after the loop to give you plenty of material to work with, and the option of adjusting your start and end points if necessary.  Once you create a clean crossfade, you can then trim the file to the start and end points of the loop.

In our next issue, we will continue our discussion of editing techniques for creating great background music loops.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Music Looping Techniques - Part 2"

Last month, we discussed editing techniques for creating music loops from longer sections of a music recording.  This month we will get into the process of making edits to your website background music track.  It is assumed at this point that you have a professional audio-editing application such as Bias Peak, Steinberg Wavelab, Sony Sound Forge, etc..

Final Loop Prep.

Now that you have chosen a section of a song for use as a background music loop - one that is typically between 30 seconds and one minute in length, it is time to start making edits to the file so that it can loop seamlessly when played back over the internet.  It is assumed that you have also pre-processed the audio file using normalization and/or compression (see the March, 2011 article, "Preparing Background Music For Your Website - Part 2").  Once your file has been trimmed to length to use as a music loop, you may want to perform another normalization process in case your selection did not contain the maximum peak-level used for the initial normalization process.  I suggest a peak-setting of between -1.0 db and -0.7 db rather than 0.0 db, as an extra measure of precaution to avoid digital distortion during playback.)

Let's Loop.


Creating a seamless loop can be a tricky process.  The first step involves setting the start and end points of the loop.  Your first instinct may be to use the exact musical beats marking the beginning and end of a musical phrase.  Often this will work fine, but sometimes shifting the start and end points of the loop back and forth may yield better results, due to the ability for you to find "zero cross-points".  A zero cross-point is the place in the audio waveform where it is at zero-amplitude or zero-volume.  As you might guess, if the waveform is at zero-volume, you won't hear it - or for our purposes, you won't hear a pop or click when the music track loops back to the beginning; and this is our goal.  To find a suitable zero cross-point, you may need to zoom into the waveform view; or perhaps use some of the many available tools found in the various audio-editing applications.  Some of these tools can not only help you find a zero-cross-point, but can also help you find the best selection to use as a loop.

Even without the use of these 'loop-surfing' tools, there are other techniques for creating seamless loops using the exact start and end points you choose.  For example, even though the song will loop, you may want the listener to hear a musical beginning of a phrase when the song first begins playback.  In our next issue, we will discuss more techniques for creating seamless music loops.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Music Looping Techniques - Part 1"

In this article, we will discuss editing techniques for creating music loops from longer sections of a music recording.

Timing Is Everything.

In our February, 2011 newsletter, we discussed how to best choose sections of a musical recording for use as a background music loop for your website.  Because we want to keep buffering and streaming load-times to a minimum, it is best to choose a section of music - on average between 30 seconds to one minute in length.  While a first instinct might be to use the first 30 or 45 seconds of the music track, quite often this will not be the best choice, as we want the loop to appear seamless, which means we want to find a musical section that ends in such a way as to naturally lead back - musically - to the beginning of the loop.  Therefore, it is beneficial to spend some time with a stopwatch listening to various segments of the music track.

A Musical Ear.


Finding the optimal section of music to use for your loop can definitely benefit from an educated musical ear; one that can identify harmony, key changes and musical phrases, as good loop-points can often be found at natural musical cadences.  Even without a musical education, you can often identify these points based on a repeated section of music - verse, chorus, etc., where the musical phrase repeats - for example, every 8 bars.  Try to identify the overall structure of the song - for example: verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.  Then choose a loop based on how many of these sections you will need to fill 30 or 45 seconds - perhaps that might be verse, verse, chorus (looping back to the verse).

Now that you have chosen the section to use for your loop, you will need to make use of one of the many music editing software applications available for Mac or PC.  These include programs such as: Bias Peak, Sony Sound Forge, Steinberg Wavelab, and Adobe Sound Booth.


In our next issue, we will discuss editing techniques using any of these commercially available audio programs.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Preparing Background Music For Your Website - Part 2"

In part one of our discussion, we talked about what to consider when choosing a section of a song to use as a background music loop for your website.  In part two, we will be discussing some of the audio processes used to prepare and finalize audio for internet streaming.

Levels And Normalization.

One of the first editing considerations in preparing your background music track is volume levels.  We can talk about volume levels in a couple of different ways - 'normalization' and 'compression'.  First, it is a good idea to 'normailze' the overall volume level of the audio file - i.e. your song, so that the maximum dynamic range is available; and so that it will balance with other soundtracks playing on your computer - either over the internet, or locally on your hard drive.  Normalizing is an audio process found in many audio-editing applications on both Mac and PC platforms (Wavelab, Sound Forge, Bias Peak, etc.).  It works by analyzing the entire audio file and using the highest volume-peak as a reference for proportionately increasing the overall volume of the audio file; with the idea that we never want the loudest volume-peak to go over the 0db threshold, causing digital distortion.  Typically we want to normalize close to 0 db, or about -1 db, but there are several reasons we might want to set the threshold even lower.

Compression.



The overall volume level of the audio file is not the only volume issue we must consider.  Many music tracks are mixed to have a wide dynamic range.  That means that the volume levels - from loud to soft, vary greatly throughour the song.  When listening to music on a stereo system or larger, louder speakers, the lowest decibel levels are loud enough for our ears to pick up even very soft passages in a song or soundtrack.  On small computer speakers and even in your car, compression is often used to - you guessed it - 'compress' the dynamic range.  The main goal is to raise the the softest volume levels in a song so that they are more easily audible on smaller speakers.  This is why most of the music you hear over the radio is compressed to some extent; and why it is often a good idea to do the same for music streamed over the internet. 

Therefore, we cannot just make everything louder or we will create digital distortion as mentioned above; so in essence, we are not making the music track louder, just trading dynamic range for louder soft passages.  A sound mixer will often experiment with different threshold settings between normalization and compression to achieve the best balance between loudness, compression, and dynamic range.  While there are other audio processes that can be performed (EQ, noise-reduction, ambience, etc.), normalization and compression are the foundation for optimizing audio for internet streaming.



In our next issue, we will discuss techniques for creating loops from longer music tracks.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.

"Preparing Background Music For Your Website - Part 1"

Now that you have decided to enhance your website visitor experience with background music, it is important to plan (a) where the music will be played; (b) whether it will loop or play once and stop; and (c) how to edit and prepare the music for internet streaming. Because the first two concepts are a subjective decision based on your individual website design, we will focus on the last concept - how to prepare music for internet streaming, and specifically how that will apply to using looped background music.

Choose Wisely.
In our last newsletter, we discussed choosing music based on demographics - i.e. target audience, as well as selecting the style of music that best relates to the industry or business being promoted on your website.  In this article, we will discuss a few more technical points to consider.  It is assumed that whatever music track you have selected for use as a background music loop, that you have properly obtained a license to use it to promote your product or service on the internet.  While some libraries such as EZ Edit Music provide music designed specifically for internet advertising and website design without further editing necessary, many web designers choose to use other music that is not necessarily ready to implement in its current format.  

For example, if you choose to use a song that contains vocals, you need to consider (a) the length of the section you are using for the music loop and (b) the corresponding bandwidth requirements for quick streaming once the website loads into a browser, so as not to delay the playback of the music or interfere with the loading of other website elements.  If you select a shorter section for your loop, then the inclusion of vocals may make the resulting music loop sound too repetitive, as the lyrics repeat over and over.  Selecting a longer segment of the song may create loading issues for slower internet connections, so optimizing the length for your music loop, as well as whether or not to include vocals is an important decision.



Making The Cut.


For the reasons stated above, it is often more practical to choose instrumental songs rather than those including vocals for the simple reason that it is easier to create the impression of a continuous music track using a music loop created from a shorter segment of an instrumental song.  In addition, keeping the music loop under one minute in length is a good starting point for preparing audio streaming over the internet to accommodate a variety of bandwidth speeds, insuring more consistent loading of your website across platforms.

  Selecting which section of a song to use as a background music loop is a tricky proposition.  While your ear may desire to hear a particular phrase or section of the song, it may or may not be a good choice to include that as a recurring event in the loop if your priority is to create the illusion of a longer, less repetitive music track.  It is often a good idea to choose a section that is a bit more neutral musically and dynamically, so as to draw less attention to the individual musical elements that cue the listener as to when the loop is repeating.  Should you choose to include a particular musical phrase in your loop, consider that the loop may be less noticeable if you begin the track some time before that musical phrase begins.  Every song is different in this respect and presents unique challenges when choosing segments to use as loops.

In our next issue, we will continue this discussion and dig into the specific editing techniques used in preparing background music loops.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 
www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.