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Sound Studio - Easy to use sound editing program Pick of the Week
Sound Studio iconThe macosxhints Rating:
8 of 10
[0 to 10 lights; 10 = perfect!]
This week's Pick of the Week was chosen due to its fine work on a weekend iMovie project. I had a few video clips where the audio was nearly inaudible, and was looking for a tool to help fix the problem. A brief search on the web led me to Sound Studio from Felt Tip Software. Using a two-step process (open the movies in QuickTime and export the audio track as AIFF, then open in Sound Studio), I was easily able to up the volume on the quiet sections and then re-import them into iMovie.

But adding an amplification effect is only one of Sound Studio's tricks. You can also apply filters to create a customized fade in (or out), normalize the volume levels, add delays, echos, and reverbs, and even reverse the direction on a clip. You can do all of this to the entire sound, or just a selected portion thereof. There are also many additional features, most of which are beyond my simplistic audio needs.

Sound Studio has a very generous 14 day trial which is unlike most trial periods that I've seen. Instead of starting a clock that ticks down each day after the first launch, Sound Studio only decreases the counter for each unique day you launch the program (but you can launch it as many times as you like on that day).

This may not be a pro audio level program (I wouldn't know, given my lack of expertise in the area), but it seems more than sufficient for what I would ever need to do with sound. And given the re-shooting time it saved me this weekend, I'll be sending in my registration fee this week.

[As an aside, thanks for all the nice comments regarding my time off last week, they are greatly appreciated ... I hope you all had a nice holiday!]
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Price wrong
Authored by: madgreek on Dec 30, '02 03:44:35AM

I went to their web site and the price is not $35 as you said, but $49.99. $15 is a big difference.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Sorry..
Authored by: robg on Dec 30, '02 07:47:36AM

I had an older version and a newer version on my drive, and was reading the older version's documentation. I've fixed the price now.

-rob.



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Even better is....
Authored by: Lysol on Dec 30, '02 08:33:42AM

Spark ME from TC Works (http://www.tc-works.com/home/content/en/PRODUCTS/spark/SparkME_X/render_doc)

I've done studio work with all kinds of stuff ranging from Macs to PCs to ProTools to whatever else and Spark ME is perfect for 2 track editing. It does most of the stuff that Sound Studio does and it's 100% free (you just need to register with them via email).

TC Works makes many nice plugins for audio software and I've always been happy with their processing quality. Spark ME is no exception. I also use it for QuickTime/iMovie stuff as well as any 2 track source I need to pull into my Tibook. It also supports VST plugins too.

Anyone using Sound Studio should check it out (I originally used Sound Studio before stumbling upon this). I think you'll find it works really well and fits the bill. Plus, ya can't beat free.



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Even better is....
Authored by: Squeak on Dec 30, '02 05:12:55PM

I've been collecting these apps for a while.
Spark is cool but OSX only, Soundstudio will run
on your Powerbook 5300 (well, it does on mine).
While we wait for new DIGI and MOTU software
and drivers. Metro just came out a couple days ago.
Btw, is anyone using n2mp3? that used to be my mainstay
but the OSX version has never worked for me and
the Proteron folks have given up responding to
email Tech support (not that they'd admit to it).
Back in the 8.5 days Audion and N2MP3 was the best of the
crop.
Squeak



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Try Amadeus
Authored by: momerath on Dec 30, '02 05:37:01PM
I tried SoundStudio for a while, but then I found a tremendously better program called Amadeus II. It has much much more functionality than Sound Studio, but it only costs $20. If you ever want a small sound-editing app with big sound functionality, try Amadeus. Really. You won't regret it.

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Try Amadeus
Authored by: Anonymous on Dec 31, '02 09:07:29AM

I agree. I use both Sound Studio and Amadeus. I prefer Amadeus. It is more stable and offers more functionalality. I am also a heavy user, using it on a daily basis with very large audio files (over 1GB in size). I need something that works and Amadeus more than fits the bill.



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Yes: Amadeus
Authored by: acalvet on Dec 31, '02 09:50:33AM

Right! Amadeus is the good one. After five minutes using it I registered.
I was one of those who were still using SoundEdit16 under Classic, waiting for something similar (simple, complete and cheap) for X. Today I stopped waiting.
Try Amadeus! (it also has localised language versions. Yeah)



[ Reply to This | # ]
audio tools
Authored by: o5jive on Feb 06, '03 03:08:27PM

You can do all of this for free if you don't mind the command line..

http://members.cox.net/shaffersys/audio_tools.tgz
(includes a tool to capture audio input)

You can use "sox" to add the effects/filters to a sample.

.. maybe someone could build a GUI on top of the command line tools that already do this type of functionality..



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audacity is the answer...
Authored by: nick on Feb 19, '04 10:51:38AM