Record Audio for Flash Animation, including MP3 for Flash MX

SoniClear SalesVoice makes it easy to create professional-quality voice recordings for narrating Macromedia Flash animations. Two unique features make this possible: Undo capability during recording and VoiceBoost audio enhancement.

Undo for Perfection

When you make recordings in SoniClear SalesVoice, you can record the script in sections. After you complete each section you can review how it sounds and re-record it if you are not satisfied. Most people are not trained to read long scripts without making mistakes. With SoniClear, you do not have to be a voice actor to produce a flawless presentation.

VoiceBoost for Studio Quality

The digital signal processing in SoniClear makes your voice sound like it has been recorded in a professional recording studio. VoiceBoost performs all of the functions of a $3,000 recording studio voice processor, automatically, and without requiring any special audio engineering experience.

Experience Flash with a Voice

Click Here to view a simple ADPCM and MP3 streaming example (requires the Flash MX plugin). Another example is the PowerPoint-style presentation: MeeingPro for Government. This uses a voiceover to describe the benefits of SoniClear MeetingPro for government applications.

Add Voice To Your Animations

Try out SoniClear SalesVoice for yourself and experience creating Flash animations that have a commanding voice. Download the SalesVoice Free Trial today and follow these simple How To Instructions.

How To Instructions

You record your voice track in SoniClear as a standard WAV audio file. Macromedia Flash can import the recorded WAV file. Once it has been imported, it can be triggered on the timeline or loaded from ActionScript.

Download and install SoniClear SalesVoice, and start the program.

The default source of audio is from your sound card microphone. If your computer has a built-in microphone (typical for laptops) the program will record automatically from it. Otherwise, plug a computer microphone into the mic-in jack of the sound card.

If you are using some other sound source (such as a USB microphone or line-in from a microphone preamplifier) you will need to review the documentation instructions (see Help/SoniClear Help in the program, or the SoniClear Online Documentation).

Now create a new file for recording. Click the New button, enter a file name, select Presentation as the recording type, and click OK.

This will display "Ready to Record" in the status window, along with the length of time that you can record (based on the amount of free space on your disk drive). The program is now ready to record your voice track.

Click the red Record button and start speaking. The first time using the program you will probably need to adjust the record volume. If you are using the standard microphone source in your sound card, you simply adjust the "level" slider. The best level is when the record meter registers generally in the middle of the range. Too low or too high of a meter reading will result in poor audio quality.

When finished reading the script, click the Stop button. You can review the audio by clicking the Play button. If you do not hear anything be sure the audio to the computer speaker is on. This can be adjusted by clicking on the speaker icon in the lower right corner of the computer screen.

If you are satisfied with the sound, the recording is finished. If not, you can click the Undo button and record again. Keep repeating the record and undo steps until you are satisfied with the result.

A useful SoniClear technique for recording voice tracks is to record in sections. Each time you record and then stop, you have the option to listen to the section just recorded and erase only that portion. Divide the script into natural groups of information. Record a section by clicking the Record button, read the script for that section, and then click Stop. Listen to that section by clicking the Play button. If the recording is satisfactory, continue with the next section by clicking Record. If the recording is not correct, click the Undo button. This will remove only the last recorded section from the file. You can then re-record that section.

SoniClear automatically enhances the WAV file with VoiceBoost processing, while you speak. There are no additional processing steps to do or commands that you need to make. SoniClear will produce the best quality sound possible, given the original quality of the audio that is being sent into the computer. A number of factors can affect the sound. The quality of the microphone is the most important point. In addition, sound cards vary widely in their quality, in terms of noise level and distortion. Refer to our notes about microphones on the Microphone Support Page. Suggestions on how to get the best quality sound is also included in the program documentation (SoniClear Online Documentation), and on the Troubleshooting Support Page.

There are several ways to add the recorded track to your Flash animation. The simplest is to import the WAV audio and trigger it as an event on the timeline.

Create a new test animation in Flash. From the File pulldown menu, select Import. This will display a file selection dialog box. Make sure to select either "All Files (*.*)" or "WAV Sound (*.wav)" so that you can see the file recorded in SoniClear. Select the voice track you recorded (the default location is MyDocuments) and click Open. This will place the audio file into the Library.

Create a new layer and label it "Audio". Select the keyframe in the Audio layer where the sound should start playing. Then drag the audio file icon from Library window to the stage. This will insert a reference to this library item in the Audio layer and playback will automatically start when that frame is entered. The audio encoding method can be changed by editing the WAV file properties in the Library window. The default is ADPCM, which is best for triggered events.

Macromedia Flash MX has a number of options for dynamic loading and playback of MP3 files. ActionScript can be used to load the file for playback from cache, or the file can be streamed from the web server.

SoniClear is ideal for producing the MP3 files needed for Flash MX. From the SoniClear File pulldown menu select Export to MP3. Accept the default file name (or enter a different name), and click Encode. The MP3 file can then be streamed in Flash MX with ActionScript code such as this:

// create a sound object
audiofile = new Sound();

// stream the mp3 file from a server
audiofile.loadSound("http://soniclear.com/flashaudio.mp3",true);

Click here to download the FLA code for the simple Flash Audio Demo, . This demo does not take into account issues such as load timing, streaming delay, and faster playback after being cached. However it should give you a start on the possibilities.

A number of good books discuss the subject of playing audio in Flash. One book that has more detailed coverage is Flash MX Audio by Kozak, Clement, Dolecki, and Swann (available online at Amazon.com). They cover every aspect of Flash MX audio that you need to know to create professional-quality audio on your website.