Adobe CAPTIVATE 2, Use Manual

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88 Chapter 5: Adding Audio and Video
Microphone technique
Have a glass of water nearby so you can avoid “dry mouth.” Before
recording, turn away from the microphone, take a deep breath, exhale, take another deep breath,
open your mouth, turn back toward the microphone, and start speaking. This trick can eliminate
breathing and lip-smacking sounds frequently recorded at the beginning of audio tracks. Speak
slowly and carefully. You may feel that you are speaking artificially slowly, but you should be able
to adjust the speed later by using your audio recording software. Finally, bear in mind that you
don't have to get everything right the first time. You can listen and evaluate each recording and re-
record if required.
Audio editing Editing sound is similar to editing text. Listen carefully to your recording. Delete
any extraneous sounds and then use the options available in your software to polish the track. Add
any music or sound effects you require. Make sure you save your audio track in the correct format
(MP3 or WAV files).
Adding audio files to Adobe Captivate When you are finished recording the audio file, add it
to the Adobe Captivate project.
Additional feedback After you add the audio to the Adobe Captivate project, listen to it again.
Play the project as users normally would. Finally, ask others to preview the Adobe Captivate
SWF/audio file. If necessary, edit the audio file again.
Setting audio recording options
Audio files present the common challenge of balancing quality against size. The higher the sound
quality, the larger the file size. The more you compress a sound and the lower the sampling rate,
the smaller the size and the lower the quality. Adobe Captivate lets you control the way sound is
recorded and compressed based upon your input and output requirements.
Creating audio in Adobe Captivate is essentially a two-part process. You record audio in WAV
format, and then Adobe Captivate converts the WAV file into an MP3 file. When files are in
WAV format, they have a degree of flexibility. You can edit and adjust them “downward,”
compressing them into MP3 files uniquely tailored to their playback scenario.
When working with audio, keep your users in mind. If a user is likely to access the Adobe
Captivate project by using a dial-up modem, use a higher compression/lower sampling rate, such
as 56 Kbps. However, if you are distributing the project on a CD-ROM, you can use a lower
compression/higher sampling rate, such as 144 Kbps. In the best development case, experiment to
find the optimal balance between sound quality and file size for your users.
To set audio recording options:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
To open the Record Audio dialog box, do one of the following:
■
In Storyboard view, click Audio in the toolbar.
■
In Edit view, click Audio in the toolbar.
3.
Click Settings.
The Audio settings dialog box appears.