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!

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Sorry to hear about problems with SoundBooth. I used SoundEdit 16 for years and loved it but they stopped upgrading it and I finally had to find something new. After testing various free trials from all kinds of companies, I settled on Adobe Audition and I love it. It was pricey but I find it simple to use. I not a power user, so I tend to just use basic features. As my needs change, however, I can find features in Audition that meet those needs.