Beyond Alaska Photo
Multimedia journalism in the Last Frontier

I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out, but activating the G9 mute function to silence the enormously irritating ‘operation sound’ also silences the playback of audio files.

So to enable audio playback without enabling the operation sound:

You can now go to ‘Sound Recorder’ under the Play tab and listen to the tracks you’ve recorded.

{pictures TK}

I created this is short handout to address some of the technical issues we’ve been seeing with reporter-collected audio in the Anchorage Daily News newsroom.

Before you get started
You can improve the sound quality collected by the Olympus DS-30 recorders if you use an external mic. Remove the microphone on top of the unit to reveal the mini-jack. Connect the XLR-to-mini-jack cord to one of our Beyerdynamics mic. Use headphones! Record.

What kind of file did you record?

Conversion programs:

OK. You’re converted. Now what?
Open Soundtrack (if you’re using Audacity, Mindy McAdams at at Teaching Online Journalism has a good how-to here).

You can find your raw tracks with the Soundtrack browser, which is located to the left of the main editing screen.

The Soundtrack controls are simple: there’s a selection tool (quick key A) and a blade tool (quick key B). Like Final Cut, Soundtrack allows you to grab and move the ends of a clip to remove or add material.

Overlapping two tracks creates an automatic crossfade.

Stacking tracks layers the sound. Rename tracks by clicking to the title. Selecting the speaker button to the right of the track name will mute the track.

Click the triangle located left of the track name to display the volume envelope.

Double click on the volume levels to create an audio key frame. Click, hold and drag the key frame to adjust audio levels.

When finished editing use the “set end of song” marker (under Mark > set end of song).

When you’re ready to move on, export your final track: File > Export > Export Mix.

Putting it together in Soundslides
Open soundslides on one of the photo mac computers.

First step is to hit the “New - Create a project” button and follow the instructions.

The program itself is very easy to use. Simply drag the pictures to arrange them. Moving the bars on the timeline adjusts the timing of the pictures.

Under the Template tab, make sure the ‘show header’ box is unchecked and the ‘play automatically’ box is checked. The other boxes are optional, though I like to add captions and credits if I can.

The TEST box will open your soundslide in your web browser.

Hit EXPORT when you’re finished. A folder called ‘publish to web’ will open on your desktop. You need to rename the entire folder with a descriptive project name (you can find the publish to web folder inside your project folder).

A few random links I ran across in my audio research. They’re getting a little old now, but consider them notebook items:

:: I’ll probably be setting up something like this in the near future, either at home or at the office.

:: Long, three-part piece with a lively discussion at the end.

:: A 32-page comic book covers how to make a radio story, $5. It’s the last item on the page.

Just a little tidbit that didn’t quite fit in the audio tutorial I’m writing for the Anchorage Daily News newsroom. This covers converting to MP3 but it also works to AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, or WAV.

To convert to an mp3:

•Import your file into iTunes.

•Highlight the file with a click, then go to Advanced > Convert Selection to MP3.

If it wants to convert you track to another format, you’ll need to edit the iTune’s preferences:

•Go to File > Preferences. Select the “Advanced” icon (looks like a gear).

•Select the “Importing” button. Under the “Import Using” drop down menu choose MP3 Encoder. Hit OK.

A multimedia project this week finally had me digging through the G9’s menu screens to get a better handle on audio recording (it’s only taken six months).

First up: mic location. You’ll find it on top of the camera, right next to the mode dial. The big thing on the left side of the camera is the speaker.

There are two recording modes with the G9:

This is the quickest way. Shoot a picture, switch to playback mode and hit the microphone button. This will allow you to record up to a minute of audio per picture. To record more you need to switch to a different image. I ran into trouble as I tried to capture multiple tracks of ambient sound — once I reached my minute the camera only gave me the option to play the selected sound memo, not record.

The record button is on the camera back, in the upper right corner. The screen shows the microphone settings. I’ve been using auto levels exclusively — I find there’s too much going on for me to set the levels manually. And auto seems to work pretty well.

Getting to this feature requires slightly more button pushing. In playback mode, hit menu then scroll to ‘Sound Recorder.’

The controls are about the same as they are for the sound memo, and you don’t have to worry about a time limit.

Be careful about bumping the sample rate when you’re on this screen!
I suspect I’ll continue to use the sound memo function when collecting ambient sound simply because it’s (slightly!) easier to use but will transition over to the sound recorder for voice overs.