September, 2007

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 is a new program where you can create and fine tune any audio for video. It's power is quite impressive and it's workflow is simple within the CS3 Production Premium Suite. However, you can only edit single tracks and there is no visual preview screen for noise reduction editing. Otherwise, it's an excellent tool for working within the Suite.

There are clip controls located at the sides that allow the user to fade in and out tracks. The History panel, as in all Adobe products, will keep track of any steps you take within the program. 

To clean up audio, it's a one-click function. Just click on the Clean Up Audio tab. There you'll find two buttons, one for Noise and a Capture Noise button, and the other is for cleaning up Clicks & Pops, and also Rumble. You can preview the edit as you go by pressing the Preview button. However, it is not visual but you can listen to it.

The next feature is what is called Healing Sound. There is the Spectral Display which helps you to see the frequency information more visually. You can make changes directly within the Edit window. If you need to remove a sound, just click on the Remove a Sound tab. There you'll find a selection of tools to use, the Auto Heal button, Resolution, Vertical Scale, and Playback features. Auto Heal is great for short sections of audio.

Next there are the Audio Filters. Click on the Effects tab and you'll see Stereo Rack Preset which is filled with a large number of audio preset effects to choose from. You can apply up to five effects at a time to your audio. If you choose to, you can save individual effects or a rack of effects that can be applied to single or multiple groups of clips.

Then there is AutoCompose Score. Within that window is a Browse button that takes you to Adobe Bridge where you can select and listen to music and soundtracks. If you double-click within Bridge, the score will open in Soundbooth. There you can see a variety of features such as Start Time, Duration, Variation which allows you to change seconds, Intro/Outro, Reference Clip which where you can import the movie clip selection, Fade Out seconds, Preset for High, Low, etc., Intensity, Synthesizer percentage, Ref. Clip and Score volumes, and Export Score which is self explanatory.

You can also record by pressing Control+R which brings up the Record panel. In this panel there is the Input area which shows the Device selection area, Settings which allows you to choose the Output and Input ports, Channels either Stereo or Mono, Port, a checkbox for monitoring input during a recording session, then there is the Save panel where you designate a name and do you want to save with Incrementing Number or Dates and Time. You can click record here. It's really easy to operate especially if you're new to recording.

There are thousands of sound effects included with Soundbooth through Resource Central where you can download them as you need them. There are a variety of types of music to choose from as well as sound effects that can be previewed right in Soundbooth. You can refine any audio using the Vocal Enhancer feature which lets you select male or female, or music. It also allows you to set the pitch of a voice or sound as well as lengthen or shorten a piece.

Soundbooth is also set up to work instinctively with Premier Pro, After Effects, and Encore. You can also create audio for the web and export it as an .swf file to Flash. When exporting to Flash, all markers will be accompanied by an XML which are fully editable in Flash.

As you can see, there is a lot of power within Soundbooth and it really has the capacity to achieve amazing results in a short amount of time. Easy learning curve so anyone can master it.

System requirements and languages:

Windows

• Intel® Pentium® 4 (1.4GHz processor for DV; 3.4GHz processor for HDV), Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon® (dual 2.8GHz processors for HD), or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista™ Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions)
• 512MB of RAM (1GB for DV playback; 2GB for HDV and HD playback)
• 10GB of available hard-disk space
• 1,280x900 monitor resolution with 32-bit video card and 16MB of VRAM
• Microsoft DirectX or ASIO-compatible sound card
• DVD-ROM drive
• QuickTime 7 software required to use QuickTime features
• Internet or phone connection required for product activation
• Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services

Macintosh

• Multicore Intel processor
• Mac OS X v.10.4.9
• 512MB of RAM (1GB for DV playback; 2GB for HDV and HD playback)
• 10GB of available hard-disk space
• 1,280x900 monitor resolution with 32-bit video card and 16MB of VRAM
• Core Audio compatible sound card
• SuperDrive required for installation
• QuickTime 7 software required to use QuickTime features
• Internet or phone connection required for product activation
• Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services

For more information visit www.adobe.com

Copyright (c) 2007, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved