Now read on…

This post will cover how to integrate your audio-with-metadata files into Adobe Presenter. In my next article I will discuss using markers to generate content for Captivate – the processes are different. While the process is quite straight-forward, it’s easier to show you this process in a demo than describe it in a linear fashion using text and images (after all, this is an E-learning blog, folks!).

First some background: as you probably know, Presenter enables you to publish Microsoft PowerPoint-created content in a Web friendly format. The Presenter Audio Editor supports editing voice-over narrationvia its functionality in PowerPoint.

As well as using an external audio editing program, you can perform basic audio and animation editing tasks within your presentation, including:

• Viewing the presentation audio, including slide and animation markers
• Playing, recording, deleting, and editing audio, including adding silence
• Inserting commands to control playback
• Adjusting volume and processing options

Using audio markers
Adobe Presenter displays a visual representation of a presentation’s audio, along with markers that represent commands for controlling playback. Audio is edited incrementally, one slide at a time.

To view audio markers, open the PowerPoint presentation you want to edit. Click the Adobe Presenter menu or ribbon and click the Audio Edit button. The Audio Editor is displayed (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Audio Editor in Presenter

Using the Slide Navigation drop-down list, select a slide to edit (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Slide Navigation drop-down list

The Audio Editor displays a visual representation of the audio file called a waveform. Markers along the top of the waveform represent commands you can use to control the timing of slide transitions, animations, and other events during playback of your content.

In Presenter, you can add four types of markers in the Audio Editor (see Table 1):

Table 1. Markers applied to the Audio Editor

Playing, recording, deleting, and editing audio

Use the playback controls in the Audio Editor to review the audio for the presentation. You can also record new audio, delete selected sections, and insert silence.

Adjusting volume and audio processing options

The Adjust Volume dialog box is used to adjust audio playback levels. Adjust Volume also enables you to use some basic audio processing options including normalization (finding the optimal audio volume) and signal boost for quiet audio. The default settings should be fine if you’ve recorded your audio properly. I suggest that you experiment with these settings to understand how changes to these options affect the audio quality of your rendered presentation .

You Try:

To adjust audio volume and digital signal processing options:

1. Click the Tools menu in the Audio Editor and select Volume. The Adjust Volume dialog box is displayed.
2. Adjust the settings and click on OK.
3. Click the File menu and select Exit.When you exit the Audio Editor, Adobe Presenter prompts you to save your changes.
4. Click Yes to close the dialog box and return to PowerPoint.

Adding Audio with Marker to Adobe Presenter

Note: Even though this demo is about adding audio to a presentation, for copyright reasons there is no narration track associated with the file.

Next: Importing audio in to Captivate.

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How do you insert markers and how do you synchronize with captivate slides?

So over the next few days I’m going to outline the process of using markers in audio files, and how these markers can be used to simplify the process of synchronizing audio narration with visual content in presentations created not only in Captivate, but also in Presenter too.

Now read on…

In this post, I am going to focus on using audio markers in Sony Sound Forge, a professional sound-editing program or non-linear editor (NLE). The Sound Forge audio editing suite is the most powerful in a range of audio editing programs owned by Sony and originally developed by Sonic Foundry. I have been using Sound Forge in one form or another since the late 1990’s and in my view, it is the most flexible and adaptable tool in the audio editing market space (see Figure 1). Sound Forge includes a diverse and powerful set of digital audio signal processing tools, as well as many effects for manipulating audio.

Many e-learning professionals use other NLEs (including the open source program Audacity) to create and produce their audio. I would recommend any of the tools I mention in this article as acceptable for audio content creation.

Figure 1. Sound Forge waveform editor UI (click to enlarge)

Sound Forge software allows you to edit, record, encode, and master nearly all forms of digital audio including WAV, AIFF, and MP3. According to the Sound Forge website, the application has tools for:

• Sound Design and Mastering
• Stereo and Multichannel Recording
• Audio Editing and Workflow
• Powerful Effects Processing
• Audio-for-Video
• Dolby Digital AC-3 export

I’m not going to discuss the fundamentals of audio editing here, but we can say that to a great extent, audio editors are like ‘word processors for sound.’ All the good ones, including Steinberg WaveLab, Audacity and Adobe Audition employ the same user paradigm, and as a result the features of one are pretty much replicated in all the others. 

In audio editing, the purpose of a marker is to highlight a specific moment or event on the timeline so that you can return to it later. You may want to highlight a extraneous noise like a cough or click for deletion, or mark two points in a selection to copy or remove it. In audio narration, markers are typically used to set the transition between two sentences, slides or  onscreen event (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Sound Forge marker (click to enlarge)

Using Sound Forge

Some basics…

Opening a File

Sound Forge can edit WAV, MP3, AIFF and a range of other file types. To open a file, just click FILE-> OPEN. The file will open in either mono or stereo, depending on the specific file format.

Controlling Playback

Open a sound file. Use all of the buttons highlighted in Figure 1 (don’t forget to zoom in and out).

Selecting Sounds

Its easy to select a particular sound area. Just click and drag over it. If selecting a stereo sound, drag between the left and right channel to get them both (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Click and drag to select audio – stereo instance (click to enlarge)  

You Try:

1. Practice selecting areas of the wave.
2. Adjust the selection by dragging at the point where the selection ends.
3. Play the selection.
4. Copy and paste the selection to the end of the sound
5. Delete sections by selecting them and hitting delete on your keyboard.

You can also select in smaller segments (right down to the single bit level) by holding SHIFT on your keyboard and using the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys. The more you zoom in to the waveform, the higher the level of precision you can achieve.

 

Markers

Markers enable you to choose edit points and to help you to accurately events in the waveform timeline. To add a marker:

1. Click a point in the waveform.
2. Select SPECIAL >> INSERT MARKER from the menu, or press the M key

If you have many markers in your audio file, it’s useful to name them. It’s typical for audio narration for e-learning presentations to have many slides or events, and by extension quite a number of markers. I suggest that you name the markers for the slide or event that the following narration describes. To name a marker, right-click  its handle and select EDIT… (see Figure 4). Enter some appropriate text in the dialog box – here, I have called the marker "Course Outline."

Figure 4. The Edit Marker dialog box (click to enlarge) 

Marker Navigation

You can automatically navigate from marker to marker by pressing CTRL + LEFT ARROW to go back, or CTRL + RIGHT ARROW to move forward through the timeline.You can select the waveform between markers by pressing SHIFT + CTRL + LEFT / RIGHT arrow.

You Try:

Using your sound editor of choice, try out the activities described in today’s blog post. Click the link to download a fully functional 30-day trial version of Sound Forge.

 

Saving Markers

Markers are automatically included when you save your audio file. Some professional audio editors also enable you to save the markers as metadata in a separate file called an Edit Decision List (EDL) which is useful when you’re creating video presentations, but that as they say, is another story…

Next: Using markers with Adobe Presenter.
Soon: Using markers with Adobe Captivate.

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Technorati Tags: Adding Markers,Adobe Captivate,Elearning,E-Learning,Audio,Narration,Content,Captivate,Adobe Presenter,Sound Forge

Adobe Captivate is an e-learning tool (for Microsoft Windows) which can be used to author software demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and quizzes for distribution online or via CD-ROM.

Recording
Even before the term ‘Rapid E-Learning’ was coined (and Captivate was RoboDemo), this app was designed to be an e-learning authoring tool. As such, once opened, the author is  presented with three recording modes (Software Simulation, Scenario Simulation, Other),  depending on the activity you want to undertake. To capture content, the author carries out each step in the demonstration, in sequence. As with Camtasia, it’s possible to cycle between applications without interrupting the recording process. The author can pause or stop recording (at which point the software renders the media that has been captured) at any point. When the recording (or a section of a larger recording) is complete, Captivate opens in editing mode.

Post-production
Once the presentation has been captured, the content is displayed as a number of discrete slide, representing each interaction of the recording. A timeline is available to integrate audio, onscreen text, and other enhancements. Similar to Camtasia, the author can record audio while screen-capturing is in progress. In edit mode, the author can import, record and edit a voice-over narration and other audio elements into the presentation.

Deployment
Captivate saves files in a proprietary *.CP format, which is only readable by Captivate. Content is generated as ShockWave Flash (*>SWF), which can be played on most computers via a browser with the (nearly) ubiquitous Flash Player plug-in.

Uses
Once exported, content is easily distributed to a wide audience; as well a online delivery, content can also be distributed via CD-ROM or DVD, by e-mail, and on Adobe Connect. Learners can easily access Captivate content through learning management systems (LMSs) and content management systems (CMSs). Captivate is both AICC and SCORM conformant, facilitating learner usage tracking, as well as through scored quizzes and other interactions.

Instructional Uses
Captivate enables learning professionals to create new content and transform existing learning collateral in a (relatively) easy-to-use "one-stop" media creating environment. It’s unified API means that very little programming experience is needed to generate attractive, immersive e-learning content. 

Criticisms
As well as the positives, Captivate has some deficiencies; integrating, editing audio can be tricky, as can estimating slide duration; it’s a bit of a memory hog on long presentations, or content containing a range of media assets; it can take a LONG time to generate content. In terms of rendered files, it’s reliance on the SWF format, rather than, say Flash Video *.FLV) can make download times quite long when compared to its competitors. Finally, in an increasingly mobile world, devices like the iPhone cannot be used for playback.

Tomorrow:

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Captivate vs. Camtasia – Head-to-head in a Fight for the Byte – It’s an E-Learning Authoring Tool Deathmatch!

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By The Way: I’m toying with the idea of using Articulate: any experiences / war stories / opinions? 

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