Sounding Off

A few weeks back, I downloaded a copy of the beta of an Adobe soundediting software called Soundbooth. It ought to be easy according to the promo material–as easy as it was back in the month after I paid for Cool Edit 2000 before Adobe bought it, called it Audition, and then charged me $120 to upgrade, which at the time was out of my budget.

Cool Edit (which Soundbooth is touted as the successor to) was an intuitive program for a casual sound-tweaker like me. You could cut and copy, slide tracks and fade them separately to overdub one sound (voice, for instance) with another (musical interludes, openings and closings.)

If it works, fix it, Adobe seems to have decided. Every sound editor I’ve tried (but not bought) since is a hassle. Soundbooth, for now, is no better, and I haven’t even seen a price for the finished product, but in line with other Adobe full package softwares, it will be more than I want or need for my purposes to spend. Heck.

All of this, to say I’m hoping to do more audio posting this coming year. It is one of my goals, you might say, and first up, I was going to upload an mp3 file (getting it in that form, also a hassle!) simply called “Resolutions” (about goal setting and success) as my new year’s wish for readers (blog and newspaper–where it will appear January 4th). I’ve uploaded the file–without the musical embellishments I’d intended. (5MB and about 5 minutes)

So let me be, in this way, the first to wish you a happy and “rich” new year. (The piece mentions the book “Think and Grow Rich“; if you’re interested in a fairly concise summary of the basic principles in this old but influential book, this is a good source.)

New Years Resolutions: Good Goals to You!