MakeUseOf » sounds

Here Are 5 Resources For Royalty Free Music

Joshua Lockhart — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:30:39 +0000

A while back, we received a question on MakeUseOf Answers asking where in the world one can get royalty free music. Naturally, as someone who is constantly searching for this Holy Grail, I jumped on it.

So, dear MakeUseOf readers, I felt that this is a question worthy enough to expand upon. I’m quite sure that some of you out there are wondering where to find royalty free music whether you’re a videomaker, a game developer, or one of those neo-artist stage performance poets that uses a combination of visual imagery, weird music, and the occasional bit of innocent nudity. So with that being said, I’m here to bring you some quality royalty free music.

Vimeo Music Store

The Vimeo Music Store is a brilliant tool to use when in search for music for your videos. Although there are several free items available via the Creative Commons, there are actually a few songs that you can pay for either personal use ($1.99) or for commercial use ($98). The Vimeo Music Store is a nice consolidated catalog of music from all genres, and the best part about it is that each song on the store is available to use for your videos. This way, you do not have to do as much digging. However, you will have to lurk around if you want to find free royalty free songs, and it’s a little harder if you want to use them commercially without paying a dime.

SoundCloud

I recently discovered the beauty of SoundCloud, and the fact is this – they have an entire section of their site devoted to the Creative Commons. What does that mean for you? Well, my friend, it means there is a ton of music out there waiting on you to use it in a personal project. SoundCloud also offers quite a bit of search classifications, so you can find songs with CC licenses that allow for commercial use or without the share alike option. It seems like a good deal to me, and I’ve been using their music for quite a few projects lately.

Free Music Archive

The Vimeo Music Store pulls some of their music from the Free Music Archive, but I decided to go ahead and throw it in as a separate entity for a couple of reasons. One, it seems like the Vimeo Music Store doesn’t include all of the songs on here, for it constantly updates. Two, it also seems like there is some differing information between the sites.

For instance, I used a song that I got from the Vimeo Music store for free, and on their site, it said I could only use it for noncommercial purposes. However, when I saw it on the Free Music Archive, it said I could use it for commercial purposes with attribution. Either way, both are excellent sources of music, and I would recommend this site for sure. Granted, I cannot guarantee everything on this site will be available for you to use.

Incompetech

We couldn’t have this article without mentioning Kevin MacLeod, the mastermind behind Incompetech. MacLeod’s website offers quite a bit of music for your royalty free needs, and it is absolutely fantastic. He does offer a PayPal donation system (as does AudioNautix, actually), so if you feel the need to support him, you can do so. However, his music is great for whatever you need, and there is nothing else I can really say except that you should go give it a listen.

AudioNautix

After submitting my answer to MUO answers (which included the Vimeo Music Store), I went back to see if anybody else had brought anything to the table. Fortunately, someone did, and that was MUO reader ha14, who suggested AudioNautix, another site for royalty free music. The site offers everything including tracks for cinematic works and documentaries, but what i really liked about it was simply how easy it was to understand the usage rights of this music. You can pretty much use it for anything, so… go do that. Right now.

Conclusion

These are simply my top four picks for royalty free music (with ha14′s tacked on), and each of them have quality stuff. You normally won’t see a whole lot of good music that you can use in projects, and each of these resources has a different flavor for everyone.

What other royalty free music resources do you use? What do you like or not like about the ones mentioned here?

Image Credit: imelenchon

Add More SMS Ringtones To Your iPhone For Free With SMS Tones

Dave LeClair — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:31:32 +0000

One of the most talked about features of Apple’s new mobile operating system is the ability to add custom SMS and alert tones to your iPhone. Back in the old days the iPhone limited users to only a few SMS tones, which is why everywhere you went all you heard was that annoying tritone sound. Thankfully, with iOS 5, Apple included many more ringtones right off the bat, and you can add more to give yourself the greatest texting experience.

Finding new tones to put on your phone is another issue, since you have either to make them yourself, buy them, or find someone who is putting them out for free. Thankfully, there is a free app in the iPhone app store that makes adding new SMS tones free and easy, aptly named SMS Tones. While it does not have millions of SMS Tones to choose from, it certainly has enough to keep you busy and keep your phone sounding fresh.

Download The App

Head over to the iTunes app store and search for SMS Tones Free or simply click here, and download the application. As I said before, the application is available for free, and they offer a $.99 upgrade that gives access to many more SMS Tones. The free version grants access to over 40 tones, so there is plenty to keep you busy for a while.

Choose Ringtones

When you open the application, you are greeted by the list of available ringtones. Oddly, they are not in alphabetical order. Still, sifting through them to find the one you are looking for is not hard.

To hear what the tone sounds like, simply tap it once, and the application will take a second to load the preview. You can play the preview for as many SMS tones as you like without committing to add any of them to your phone.

Once you play a preview of a tone, a little circle will appear next to the name. If you want to add a ringtone, simply click that circle and the ringtone will be queued to add to your phone.

Getting Ringtones On The iPhone

Sadly, simply adding the ringtone in the app is not the last step for adding it to your iPhone. Apple requires you to add ringtones through iTunes via synchronizing, so even with this app you still have to go through that process.

First, have whatever ringtones you want selected, this way when you connect your iPhone to iTunes the tones will appear under File Sharing.
Go to the File Sharing tab in iTunes and copy the ringtones anywhere on your computer.
Then, drag the files back to your library in iTunes, and make sure ringtone synchronizing is on before you sync your device to add the new tones.
The last step in getting the ringtones on your device is to click Sync in iTunes and let your iPhone run through the sync process.

Now that you have finished putting the SMS tones on your iPhone, go to Settings and then Sounds. From there, you will be able to change your alerts for SMS, Email and most other sounds the phone makes. The new items you downloaded will appear in the list, and be ready for use on your iPhone.

Conclusion

With SMS Tones, adding some cool new sounds to your phone is free and easy. Simply follow these steps, and in a few minutes, you will be able to free yourself from the built-in tones that everyone has, and give your phone a little more personal flair.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

$5 App Review: iMaschine, A Powerful, Portable Groove Sketchpad [iOS]

Tim Brookes — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:30:53 +0000

Occasionally here on MakeUseOf we think it’s nice to feature an app that’s worthy of both our and your money. Usually these apps are one-of-a-kind, where no decent free alternative exists – and I think iMaschine falls into this category.

iMaschine is a new app for your iPhone from the clever chaps over at Native Instruments who are responsible for all manner of professional-level music software and hardware – Traktor and Maschine, to name but two.

So you’d expect this app to be pretty good right? If you like to groove on the go, read on to find out if iMaschine is set to become your next App Store purchase.

Groovin’ on the Go

iMaschine is a simple app to suss out, and one that can be used to create all manner of beats and loops. You’re provided with 4 tracks on which to tap out a rhythm, each can be customized to use a pad (pre-determined samples on a 16 button “sampler”), keyboard or a simple mic-in.

Tapping and holding A, B, C or D allows you to change the track’s input, so if you’d like to layer up some vocals, a guitar backing and a few handclaps you can choose 3 mic inputs and create a completely acoustic loop.

On the other hand, 4 pads provides an opportunity to create some highly complex drum patterns using the in-built kits and samples. Each of the 16 buttons on a pad can be changed, re-recorded and be used in one-shot mode (whereby the whole sample plays once pressed, instead of having to hold the button).

Your $5 goes quite a way in terms of included sounds, kits and projects. There are 10 projects included which you can load and check out to see what’s possible. On top of these there are 25 kits (not just drum samples, but chord hits and dubstep wub-wub noises too!) delivering more than 400 individual sounds.

Building Up A Beat

The app itself is fairly intuitive, though you’ll need to play around for a few minutes to start with. Once you’ve selected an input the 5 buttons along the bottom of the screen come into play. The first is a simple note repeat, making it easy to just hold down a sample and have it repeat seamlessly.

The second controls velocity and the third allows you to remove, double and change your pattern. It’s worth noting at this point that your pattern will automatically loop, and the longest pattern you tap out essentially dictates the length of the loop – simple stuff.
The fourth button enables the recording and editing of each sample individually and the bottom right allows you to change the whole kit or keyboard sound. It might sound a little complex, but it’s really not and only takes a few minutes to master.

Along the top the first button allows you to save, load and so on. BPM can be set by tapping the number atop the screen, play and record are fairly self explanatory and the top right button is the mixer, which I’ll mention later.

The key to creating funky loops is layering and building up a sound incrementally. Make a mistake? No problem, clear the pattern and re-record without affecting your other tracks. Try recording an intricate pattern at a low BPM and then jack it up to drum and bass standards for a real ego boost!

Effects, Live Use, Customizing and Usability

The mixer allows you to change each input’s level and also provides access to effects. Two effects can be defined and then applied to each track. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of effects, but simple low-pass filters and delays can help fine-tune your desired sound, and for an iPhone the results certainly aren’t bad.

Another possible use for iMaschine is live performances, either during DJ sets for simple one-shot samples or as a fully customizable mobile sampler. By connecting your iPhone to your PC you can use iTunes file sharing to add your own 16-bit WAV samples which can then be imported into a kit and saved for quick access later.

Occasionally whilst using the app I found the odd sound didn’t register, and thus I missed a beat so to speak. There are a few other reports of this on the App Store, though on the whole it’s not a frequent problem and one I’m sure could be solved in a future update. Crashes have happened, though they are infrequent and the app resumed exactly where I left off. Aside from this, I had no other issues with iMaschine after prolonged use. It’s addictive, what can I say?

Conclusion

Considering this app only costs $5, you get an awful lot of bang for your buck. There are additional sample packs for download, though you’re more than welcome to cut up your own and create completely unique kits. For Maschine veterans there is even an export option so you can continue your project on the desktop.

iMaschine is a great toy, tool or addition to your music workstation. It’s a creative time-killer which is both fun and rewarding to use, and thus has earned its very own MakeUseOf seal of approval.

Download: iMaschine @ App Store ($5)
Visit: iMaschine @ NativeInstruments.com

Have you tried iMaschine? Do you own any other Native Instruments products? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

How To Take Control Of Your Ringtones With Ring Commander [Android 1.5+]

Erez Zukerman — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:31:56 +0000

Ringtones are a very subjective thing, so it’s nice that Android comes with such a large selection of them. But once you’ve settled on a few ringtones you like, having to scroll through a lengthy list of irritating sounds just to swap between those few can get old pretty fast.

For some reason, Android’s designers didn’t include a way to easily delete built-in ringtones, or even remove songs you’ve turned into ringtones. Enter Ring Commander. For a buck, this little gem provides you with absolute mastery over your ringtone and alert tone lists, letting you prune them to a much more manageable size.

Okay, not much here in the way of bells and whistles (pun very much intended). It’s a utility, so it looks fairly….utilitarian. You’re looking at my already-pruned list – as you can see, I like sounds with space-related names (not because of the names, but they’re just the best ones, really).

Tapping the Play icon next to each tone plays it; if it’s a ringtone, it’s going to play over and over and over again, until you hit Pause (which actually means “stop”). If it’s a notification, you’ll hear it just once. Once you decide that’s an annoying tone you’d like to get rid of, just check the mark next to it:

Above you can see how I did this with notification sounds (Ta Da really is one of the most annoying ones, isn’t it?). Once you’ve selected all the sounds you wish to manipulate, tap the Update button and get this:

Absolute control! You can now remove those two sounds from the Notification list; easy. But you can also make them into alarms, or even ringtones if you’re feeling particularly sadistic (imagine having your phone ring with Ta Da).

Now, let’s say you made a change and then regretted it. Fret not – the files weren’t deleted. All you need to do is switch over to the Unassigned list and find the audio snippet you realized you do want after all.

Note how Ring Commander prints the path of the file under its name; this is helpful for putting the file back in the right place, so you don’t have to try to remember whether Big Easy was a ringtone or a notification.

I keep talking about ringtones and notifications, but you can actually use Ring Commander to change any sound your device can make. Let’s look at the list of categories:

It’s actually continues, but you get the idea. System Sounds is an interesting one:

With this little gem, you can have your phone squeak every time you hit the camera shutter button to take a picture; or you could have it play an audio file that says “Say cheese!“. Not that I would advise you to do anything like that if you want to keep your friends. A more likely scenario would be taking one of the system sounds and turning it into a notification sound. For example, the Undock sound on my system works quite well for incoming text messages.

Ring Remover

Ring Commander has a small brother – a freebie that goes by the name Ring Remover. It’s even more limited in scope than Ring Commander: It lets you remove songs you’ve added to the ringtone list by tapping “Use as phone ringtone“. That’s right – Android won’t let you do this on its own. If that’s all you’re trying to do, Ring Remover is tiny and free.

Bottom Line

Ring Commander is not a utility you’ll be needing every day; but for a one-trick pony, it sure gets the job done, and is bursting with useful options. If you’ve ever wanted to tweak any sound your device can make, this is how.

Various Little Known Quality Resources For Your Next Multimedia Project

Joshua Lockhart — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:31:15 +0000

Even in a world where Creative Commons exists, it always seems like there is not enough quality royalty-free material for us in the multimedia field. Thankfully, there are several places out on the Internet that hear the cries of every starving artist.

Today, MakeUseOf offers four little-known multimedia authoring tools for your next production. What we have here is the junk drawer of your virtual artistic toolshed, and whether you are a video-maker, a graphic designer, or an audio engineer, these sites are sure to help.

Movietools

Movietools is a rare gem that every video artist should know about. With an array of over 140 video loops consisting of backgrounds, virtual studios, lower thirds, and moving objects, you will never be at a loss for your next presentation.

File formats are only Windows Media Video files, so if you’re running a Mac OS, you might want to check out a free media converter. However, if you are willing to shell out a few extra bucks, you should look at the AVS Video Converter.

All files from Movietools are made in 848×480 for 16:9 scaling and 640×840 for 4:3 scaling. Also, the lower third and moving object loops have been pre-keyed for your video-editing software.

The Freesound Project

As mentioned before by MakeUseOf, the Freesound Project is a collectively growing community that donates sound files for you to insert into your media project. With nearly 116,000 files to date, there is nearly an endless supply of royalty-free sound.

As a given, each file is under the Creative Commons 1.0 Sampling license, and credit is required for each sound creator. Also, each file comes in the format of the user’s choice, so again, it might be good to find a sound file converter such as AudioExpert if you plan on using this online tool seriously.

Another little feature offered by Freesound is the Mootcher open-source programming library. This bit of open-source software allows you to write the FreeSound library into your own video or audio editing software.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Freesound Project focuses primarily on sound bits rather than music. It is possible that you will find music on here, but it is more likely to be a simple recording of a live performance at a parade or a festival of some sort.

The Internet Archive

Taking a cue from the Library of Alexandria, the Internet Archive is an attempt to digitally archive media files that includes moving images, sound files, photographs, texts, and pretty much anything that you can use to absorb information. That being said, it also offers a variety of media sources that can be used on your next project.

Not surprisingly, this site incorporates a great deal of downloadable media that is open to the public domain or is royalty-free. However, this is not to say that all of the media on this site is for you to put your hands on. Each file has its own specific license, and many of these incorporate Creative Commons. Make sure to check both the sidebar and the bottom half of each media page to find exactly what the creator or submitter allows. Some licenses are visible, but others are not.

Detonation Films

Whether you want to add some explosive transitions to your PowerPoint speech or a few action-packed sequences to your latest video project, the pyromania boys at Detonation Films have enough napalm and shrapnel to satisfy the Michael Bay in all of us.

Detonation Films is the ultimate zone for stock video of explosions, rockets, bullet holes, and more. Although many of their videos are for sale, there are a whole lot of freebies for you to download.

Most videos utilize a simple black background which can be done away with using a luma or screening effect, but there are a few with chroma-key green and even pre-keyed clips to easily layer on top of your source video.

In addition to their main site that is full of 4:3 video clips, there is also DetFilmsHD which offers a few pricier, yet sexier, hi-definition explosions.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these sites will aid you in your next big production whether it be a presentation at a conference, an audio mix, or the latest YouTube viral video. Visit them often, for they are constantly updating their material.

What kind of other sources of free media do you know about? Have you ever used any of these sources before with your own projects? What types of projects have you made using them?

Image credits: jppi

Edit & Record Compressed MP3 Files Without Decompressing With MP3DirectCut

Tina Sieber — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:31:05 +0000

MP3 is a digital audio encoding format, in which audio files are compressed to reduce the amount of data (i.e. shrink the file size), without losing sound quality in the ears of most listeners. The standard procedure of editing an MP3 file involves several steps: decompression of the file, editing, and re-encoding to MP3. The decompression and re-encoding process typically results in a significant loss of quality.

mp3DirectCut is a freeware audio editor and recorder that can work with compressed MP3 files. It allows you to cut, copy, and paste audio bits or change the volume without decompressing the audio file. In other words, you can edit your MP3 files without a loss of quality. Moreover, you can record MP3s and auto-detect pauses to cut and ID3 tag a file.

The Interface

mp3DirectCut has a clear interface, which provides easy access to all key features. Editing and playback buttons sit at the bottom of the window, navigation in the middle, topped by the MPEG audio data waveform.

Just underneath the menubar sits a list of smaller buttons that provide one-click access to further editing features, including ID3 tag editing or moving selection by frame. If you’re unsure what a button will do, hover with the mouse over it for a tooltip clue.

A Closer Look

When you open, edit, or save files mp3DirectCut may show a note, such as the one below. Similar tips can be found throughout the program. This is a great feature for new users, as the notes highlight important points and guide the user.

mp3DirectCut is very intuitive to use. You can edit mp3 files using the mouse, menu, buttons, or keyboard shortcuts. For several actions there is more than one way to get to the same result, making it easier to find it right away. As mentioned above, if you’re unsure what a button does, just have a peek at the tooltip.

For example you can change the volume of an MP3 file or only a section by dragging the grey grips of a cue up or down or click the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [UP] or [DOWN]. The brown color indicates that the volume was adjusted. You can then jump to the next cue to the left or right using the respective key in the navigation window or by clicking the keyboard shortcut [CTRL] + [LEFT] or [RIGHT].

To summarize, the program is straightforward and easy to learn using trial and error. If you’re stuck, there is always the user manual that you can consult. You can also find the link under > ? > Manual.

So to conclude, let me just highlight the…

3 Best Features

These are the best features as I see them.

Editing Several Files In Parallel

File > New program window will open an additional instance of mp3DirectCut, allowing you to edit several audio files in parallel.

High Speed Recording

With > Special > “High speed” recording you can record 33 rpm longplay records with 45 rpm playback and also set other grabbing speeds as needed.

Pause Detection… & Saving Split File

So you recorded an entire LP and now you want to split it up into single MP3 files? Go to > Special > Pause detection, and adjust the settings. When the tool is done adding the cues, close the Pause detection window.

You now need to change the cues to mark the end of a file. One after another, click each cue and go to > Edit > Names and part properties (or click the respective button), where you need to check > Cue. When you have done all cues, go to > File > Save split to save every region beginning with a cue to a new file.

If you need more help figuring out this program, know that mp3DirectCut comes with a good user manual, which also features a list of keyboard shortcuts and command line options.

Looking for more MP3 editing tools? Have a look at these articles:

What are your favorite features or what do you think is missing in mp3DirectCut editor? Please share your impressions in the comments.

Anvil Studio: A Free & Powerful Song Builder [Windows]

Jeffry Thurana — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:31:48 +0000

As a self proclaimed amateur musician who uses GarageBand, the most common question I get asked all the time from my fellow musicians is what’s the GarageBand alternative for Windows? When I answer that there’s none, most of them just can’t believe it.

That’s why, as happy as I am using GarageBand, I’m always on the quest to find free, easy to use, user friendly, beautiful, and yet powerful music creation software that runs under Windows. So far, I still haven’t found any that can match all of the requirements. Still there are alternatives worth mentioning. One of them is Anvil Studio. While it’s not as user-friendly (and not nearly as beautiful) as GarageBand, it’s free and it gets the job done.

A Full Featured Studio In A Small Package

One thing that I found amazing from this application was the installer size. It seems impossible that anybody could pack a full featured music creation software into a 2MB file. I even thought that I still had to download additional elements during the installation process.

The app promises users the ability to build songs from scratch, note by note, in MIDI, record external sound sources, and do multi-track recording. You can use MIDI instruments that you have as the input as long as you can connect the instrument to your computer. There’s also the “practice” feature to help users polish their musical ability.

I installed the app out of curiosity. The first thing that I got after installation was suggestions to get better performances. It turned out that my sound card setting was different from the app. So I followed the instructions to adjust the settings. You might get the same message if your audio setting is different too.

Let The Music Start

At first glance, I found the application interface to be crowded, unintuitive, and unpolished. Coming from GarageBand, I felt frustrated in trying to navigate around the app. But after some getting used to, it’s actually not that bad. The developer tries to help users by providing help text under every interface.

The best place to start exploring is the “View – Mixer” menu where you can see the grand scheme of everything.

To start writing down your song, pick a track and go to “View – Composer” menu. You’ll get some blank notation lines. Creating your music is as easy as choosing the notes value (4th, 8th, 16th etc) and placing the notes on the bars, either by pointing to them using your mouse or by pressing the virtual keyboard.

Similar to GarageBand, you can also build the song using piano roll (“View – Piano Roll Editor” menu). Click to place the note in the location that you want, then drag the edge to determine how long the note should last.

Guitar players can switch to tablature view. Unfortunately, you can’t edit the notes in this view.

Taming The Tracks

Even though you could create a song with only one instrument, modern compositions are usually the combination of several instruments. This is where the ability to add tracks will really help. You can combine pianos, drums, vocals, guitars, etc., in your song by placing each instrument in its own track.

To add a new track, go to the “Track – Create” menu and choose one of the track types. For MIDI instruments, choose “Instrument Track“. To record real instruments or vocals, choose “Audio Track“.

The list of tracks is visible in the Mixer mode. You can edit elements of the track just by double clicking on the element.

For example, to change the instrument on Track 2, click the instrument column on track 2 and choose one of the available musical instruments.

Never forget to save your song. Go to the “File” menu to do so.

Playing & Practicing

If you want to, you can play external MIDI files using Anvil Studio. Go to the “File – Open Song” menu.

The best thing about playing MIDI files using Anvil Studio instead of an ordinary media player is the ability to view the MIDI in piano roll.

Or if you prefer, in the musical notes.

Another unannounced feature is the “Practice“. You can polish your musical ability by going to the “Practice – Notes” menu.

You can test your ability to read musical notes by clicking on the guitar at the right place or by writing down the note’s name using your computer keyboard.

Or you can also give your answer by clicking on the virtual piano in the right location. It’s not GarageBand’s Artist Lesson, but it’s a start.

After playing with the application for a while, I think that Anvil Studio is a very capable music builder. If you are an electronic musician looking for Window’s GarageBand, Anvil Studio could serve as an alternative. There are lots of features that we haven’t explored here due to the article limitation. I’ll leave them for you to discover.

Try the application and let us know what do you think of it. If you know of any other worthy alternatives to GarageBand, please share them using the comments below. Plus don’t forget to download our Recording Your Next Hit With GarageBand PDF guide.

How To Use Royalty-Free Music & Effects From GarageBand [Mac]

Bakari Chavanu — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:31:49 +0000

When Apple introduced Garageband as part of its creative suite of software in iLife ’04, it gave Mac users hundreds of royalty-free music loops and effects that could used by both musicians and non-musicians alike. If you’re familiar with the over 1,000 pre-recorded cuts, you can occasionally hear them in television commercials and Hollywood shows.

Of all the iLife programs, Garageband may be the least used by Mac users, but the software is not just for creating original songs. The royalty-free loops can be useful for all types of creative purposes, including background music for family slide shows, various YouTube presentations, wedding and birthday videos, ringtones, podcast introductions and outros, opening and closing credits, news jingles, and much more.

The only extra cost you pay for loops is the time it takes discover what you’re looking for. So if you have never tapped into this resource, read the following tips and techniques.

Where To Find Them

Garageband loops are of course housed in the application itself. Since its inception, Garageband has grown with many new and often intimidating features. But if you”˜re opening Garageband ’09 or the recently released ’11 version for the first time, you might feel a little intimidated by the choices.

So to get your hands on the loops, choose File > New in Garageband. Next, select New Project and then Loops, to open them in Garageband.

On the right side panel of Garageband, click the podcast sounds panel.

These same podcast loops can be found in the media panels of the last couple of versions of iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD, so you don’t have to open Garageband in order to access them.

Types Of Loops & Effects

There are 418 sound effects and loops to choose from to fit almost any media project. If you’re looking for short background music for a baby shower or a wedding slide show, for example, click on All Effects > Cinematic, and click the preview button for loops titled, Newborn and Patel Slide Long.

Click on the Jingles sections and you get hundreds of loops that will work great as background music for slideshows, opening and ending credits of videos, as well as podcasts.

How To Use Them

The length of Garageband loops and effects are from under a minute to two minutes long. To use one or more of them, select and drag a loop into the editor and play it several times. Go back through the loop collection and find other loops and effects that you can use to build on.

One of the reasons they’re called loops is that they can be repeated as often as you like. Put your cursor at the upper-right edge of a loop (technically called, “region”) and hold it there until the loop pointer appears. Drag to the right to repeat the loop. Notches will appear showing the beginning and end of each repeated loop.

If you have some time and a good ear for music, you can of course combine loops to make them longer. Garageband includes several music editing tools and features to help your tracks sound pristine and professional. You can slice, duplicate, edit, and mix various sound effects to into loops, as well as add fade-ins and fade-outs to tracks.

Saving Loops

To save and use your loop projects outside of Garageband, you simply choose Share in the Garageband menu bar and select, “Send Song to iTunes“. When tracks are exported to iTunes, you can access them in the Media Browser of other iLife applications.

Upon saving a Garageband project, you can also select to save it to the iLife Media Browser, which means your particular project will show up in the other iLife applications.

Loops & iMovie Titles

Now let’s take a quick look at how loops and effects can be used with titles in iMovie. Launch the program and create a new project.

Select a Title theme and drag it into the Project storyboard.
Now click on the Music and Sound Effects in the iMovie toolbar.

For the purposes of this tutorial, select the Stringers collection of effects, from the pop-up menu.
Scroll to the bottom and select the Synth Zingers 04 effect. Drag that loop to the beginning of the title clip.

Now select the longer Synthetic Design 02 sound and drag it onto the title clip. It will fit the length of the clip.

Hit the iMovie play button and you will see and hear an example of how loops and sound effects can be used in iMovie video productions.

There are no limits to using Garageband loops and sound effects. Since the iLife suite is often included in all new Macs, there’s no reason not to give them a try.

Top 10 Online Sources For Funny Mobile Sound Clips

Saikat Basu — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:31:18 +0000

Humor is the best ice-breaker there is. Have you ever seen how heads turn when your mobile phone starts buzzing with a funny sound? Dressing up your mobile phone with cool wallpapers, and cooler applications is fine of course. But to take the banner of the “˜coolest’, think of funny sound clips.

You can use sound clips as ringtones, message tones, or just keep them around to spread some cheer. I cast my line in and tried to fetch some of the funniest sound clips you can download and use on your mobile.

The disclaimer with such an effort says that we all have different tastes of what’s funny and what’s crass. I tried to avoid the latter and reach for the former. Even if the funny sound clips fail on the humor scale, you can browse the sources and pick up the ones that make you smile.

Let’s start the count of funny sound clips and ringtones by revisiting a few of the 10 Websites For Free Mobile Phone Ringtones & Other Mobile Downloads.

Zedge

Zedge has a very large collection of free ringtones created and uploaded by its community of users. Nearly 25,000 funny ringtones find a place among its 5 million strong database of mobile downloads. If baby sounds make you smile, try out the Baby Rap. Or hear the impersonation of Mr. Bean.

Soundboard

Soundboard as the name says is a collection of audio clips in various categories. Each category has specific folders called “˜soundboards’ which are like entire MP3 albums. For instance, click on the Comedians category and see the soundboards listed. Make sure you are browsing the public soundboards which are free. I particularly like Jim Carrey and the collection of sound clips from “The Mask”.

Entertonement

Sound bites are put in collections. So you have one called “˜Funny’. Check out their About page where the people behind the website have embedded their favorite sound bites below their profiles. My favorite one is the Math Homework 911 call. But if you are a Trekkie, the Kirk-Spock love mashup on Love Trek might crack you up.

Mobile9

Mobile9.com also has a large category of funny mobile tones. Selected ones are also marked with a Popular or Featured badges. If you are not a teetotaler, the Beer Beer ringtone should be to your taste. Also try out Answer Me Quick.

Tehkseven

How do you think a drunk phone talks? Check it out with a free download from this site. The site covers a lot of models and brands. Select the one for your make and drill down to the Funny ringtone category.

FreeAudioClips

Free Audio Clips has a section devoted to comedy sound clips in the wav format. You can further choose from Answering Machine, Cartoons, Comedians, and Parody-spoofs. I wish I could recommend a few, but it’s better if you browse and pick yourself. The Answering Machine clips stir the funny bone though.

Mobiles24

If you are crazy for Borat, the fictional character from Kazakhstan and his comic utterances, check out the 42 strong collection of free mocking MP3 ringtones. You have to register (free) to download the ringtones to your PC.

MyTinyPhone

If pigs could swear they would curse like Porky Pig. Catch him in the act with the collection of Porky Pig ringtones here. How about Porky Pig ““ Son-of-a-B****!

LOL101

I bumped into this website while searching for Michael Caine (Michael Caine Blows Your Head Off) impersonations for ringtones. The site has a neat collection of MP3 audio files in its Funny MP3 section.

Simpson’s Sounds

Then if you are a fan of the Simpson’s TV show, check out this little collection of sound clips from the series. I liked the short but funnily insulting ““ Bitch, bitch, bitch. Sound files are in MP3 and Wav formats.

These ten websites give you ample choices to pick up and decorate your mobile phone with funny ringtones and sound clips. The examples given are just that – examples. When you sift through the websites, you will pick up your personal favorites. Let us know about them in the comments.

Image Credit: Geek And Poke

3 Ways To Filter Vuvuzela Noise From The World Cup

Simon Slangen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:30:05 +0000

The vuvuzela is a cheap plastic horn that’s recently begotten international fame during the football World Cup in South Africa.

Most people agree that a vuvuzela noise mildly irritating – as if there were a mosquito stuck in your ear. Multiplied by the thousands, it produces a deep, hypnotic rumble, straight from the gates of hell.

While not everyone may hold as big a grudge against it, the sound is testing the nerves of many a soccer fan worldwide. FIFA might still decide to ban the instrument in future endeavors, but until then, here’s how to get rid of the vuvuzela noise yourself.

(Optional) Rerouting The Broadcast Audio

For the first and second (and optionally third) method, you’ll need to find a way to route your broadcast audio through your computer. If you’re watching the game on your PC, all the better. Otherwise, look around for one of these: a stereo RCA to a 3.5 mm TRS jack. These can be found in most houses, and go over the counter for a few bucks.

If you’ve got another method of routing your audio through your computer, have at it. The most important part here is that we turn the TV audio output into a computer input.

1. Devuvuzelator

This little tool was cooked up by Jeff Bargmann from Stardocks, the same guy who was behind Fences. If you manage to run your broadcast audio through your computer, this is probably the simplest tool to remove vuvuzela noise. Simply download and run the app, without a required installation.

You can experiment with certain levels of strength (too weak, and you’re left with vuvuzela ; too strong, and the other audio gets distorted) until you’ve got the most favorable setting.

To hear the filtered audio, double-click on the speaker icon in your taskbar (or use right-click) to open the volume control mixer panel. Look for Microphone or Line In and turn the volume up. It might even be muted to avoid feedback with ‘real’ microphones.

2. LabVIEW Vuvuzela Filter

If the Devuvuzelator doesn’t work (or you want more advanced settings), you can use this alternative Vuvuzela Filter, designed with LabView. On the page, you’ll find a Windows installation that’ll take care of both the runtime environment and the filter. There are also (two) separate downloads available for Mac OS X.

If you know what you’re doing, you can adjust the number (and frequency) of harmonics. More harmonics can do a better job of removing the Vuvuzela noise, if your system can handle the strain. If you don’t hear anything, again make sure that the microphone volume is turned on, as described above.

3. Using EQ Filters

The german site Surfpoeten first figured out the frequencies that need to be ducked in order to surpress the vuvuzela noise. Both of the above are pre-made EQ filters that make use of this technique. You can, however, simply use a manual EQ filter to make your own. The application you use doesn’t matter. That’s why, although the set-up is easier, you don’t (always) need a computer. A lot of TV’s come packed with EQ options as well!

On Windows, one option is to install VSTHost with the ReaEQ filter. On Mac OS X, Garageband will suffice.

The frequencies you’ll want to duck are 465Hz and 235Hz, both reduced by at least 40dB. You’ll need to see what your computer can handle though. Using most applications, you’ll have to create multiple EQ filters, each with part of the offset (as can be seen in the screenshot above).

Do you think the noise of those vuvuzela’s is motivation enough to hook up your TV to your computer? Let us know what you think, and how these filter tricks fared you!