Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival February 7, 2011

Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Audio:

Bobby Owsinski presents Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Production Blog: 5 Steps To Prep For Mixing posted at Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Production Blog.

Katie Tellefson presents 40 Blogs for the Cajun Enthusiast posted at Accredited MBA, saying, "With Cajun culture and history comes amazing music and even more amazing food. It isn’t every day that you get to nosh on gumbo or dance to the sounds of a fast-paced accordion, but with these Cajun enthusiast blogs, you’ll gain a better understanding of the culture and appreciate its quirks."

Steve Guttenberg presents Does lossless audio guarantee good sound? posted at The Audiophiliac.

Nathan Madsen presents Tips for Creating Audio for the iPhone posted at The Sonic Spread.

You might also be interested in:

• Put a DJ in the house
  
• Solving A Musicians Tuning Stress
  
• Streaming Audio Recorder Saves Time for Radio Producers
  
• MIDI Support Coming to NCH Software
  

That concludes this edition of "Do more with audio." Be sure to Submit your audio article, story or success to the next edition.

Break Free From The Groundhog Day Typing Tedium

Most people are familiar with the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray gets trapped living the same day over and over again. While it is a funny film, I can't help but sympathize with his frustration and how hard he tries to break out of the routine and tedium of living the same thing over and over again. One thing I like about my job is that every day is different. It is nice to have different things to do to help keep things fresh, but even more dynamic jobs can have a hint of a repetitive undercurrent. On the bright side, using FastFox text expansion software helps reduce some of the monotony by helping you get through some of those tasks faster. By saving frequently used text such as answers to common questions, descriptions of the company or various products, or even phrases that you are bound to misspell or waste time correcting, you’ll get on to the next challenge quicker. And since Punxsutawney Phil forecast an early spring, using FastFox shorthand software also means you’ll get to enjoy spring sooner.

Kinks in the Transcription Flow

We read comments from transcriptionists all the time about how much they love Express Scribe transcription playback software. It gives them complete control over the transcription process: slowing down dictation playback to a speed transcriptionists can keep up with, system-wide hotkeys so convenient shortcuts (such as timestamp) are only a couple of keystrokes away, a convenient file-management system to help keep track of which transcriptions are priority, and much more. Oh, and did we mention it’s free?

A few years ago, Olympus introduced the proprietary file format ds2. The move put a kink in many a transcriptionist’s work flow. In order to use the ds2 format freely, one has to be in possession of Olympus software: either with their transcription kit (but you already have a transcription kit—headphones, pedal, software, right?), or with their software that can convert the files (about $100).

The least expensive solution takes the control out of the hands of the transcriptionist, by simply asking the person making the recording to set their recorder to ‘Classic Mode.’ This will ensure the recordings are saved in dss format, a format recognized by Express Scribe. To assist the person creating dictations, DictateAustralia put together the following video tutorial: How To Set Classic Mode For The Olympus DS-5000 & DS-5000iD Digital Dictaphones. This should work for all DS-3400, DS-5000, and DS-5000iD dictation recorders.

Recording in classic mode is the ideal solution, but might not always be possible. For the times a transcriptionist receives dictations in ds2 format, they will need to convert the file to a format recognized by Express Scribe. There are ds2 converters available (not through NCH software, sadly), and many come with a free trial so you can test the software on your files before you commit to buy.

Unfortunately, at the moment we can't say for sure whether we will be able to add support for the ds2 format. But we do hope you continue to take advantage of Express Scribe in the meantime, whenever you possibly can. Additionally, we have other typing tools to help speed your transcription process along. Some are free, and all are useful.

Scary Halloween Tutorial: Spookify Your Screen Saver

3 Easy Steps for Making Your Own Halloween Screen Saver

With Halloween on the horizon, you might want your screen saver to reflect a serene cemetery scene, or a haunting moonlit evening. Follow these easy steps and we'll show you how to create your own personalised screen saver free.

1. Create a short Halloween movie or slideshow using VideoPad video editor and your favorite Halloween images and video clips. If you're new to VideoPad or video editing see our VideoPad tutorial to help you get started.

2. Save your movie as a wmv file in its own folder. To do this, click the Save Movie icon in the toolbar, choose the Computer / Data output format, and then select the wmv file format. Click the Browse button to choose the save destination. Don't forget to create a new folder for your screen saver movie.

3. Under the Screen Saver settings in Windows, select the Photos option, and click Settings. Browse for the folder where you saved your movie, click Save, then click Apply. Next time your screen saver comes on, you'll be spooked!

Now that you know how easy it is to make your own seasonal screen saver you can add easily add a little fun and flair to any occasion.

Check back soon for another Halloween tutorial: Make a Howling and Haunting Halloween Soundtrack.

Stop Typing the Same Things Over and Over Again

Have you ever noticed that there are some things that you type all of the time? Some of the most common things that I find myself typing all of the time include the company description of NCH Software, a signature for when I leave comments on blogs or forums, and even a couple of answers to FAQs that seem to be constantly popping up in my email inbox, just to name a few. Being able to store these pieces of text with FastFox Text Expander is a huge help. Instead of looking up the information from the last time I answered a question, or wasting the time to write the whole thing I've typed a million times before all over again, I just need to type a couple characters and FastFox automatically expands that keyboard shortcut I chose into the complete answer/description/signature that I stored. Then I can quickly move on, or make minor edits to the text for the specific situation, and still be done in a fraction of the time.

Text Expansion Software is often sold to transcriptionists because of the boost it provides in typing efficiency. It really is an invaluable tool for helping medical and legal transcriptionists transcribe faster and reduce errors with long or complex terms and jargon, but truth be told, almost anyone can find things that they themselves type repeatedly and can benefit from having an application like FastFox to reduce this constant repetition in typing.

Lions and Tigers and Ports, OH MY!

How to overcome your fear of port forwarding

When I was tasked with creating a tutorial series for configuring server-based software applications, my throat did a big cartoon-gulp—especially when I started reviewing all the problems a user could face when setting up their software. Port forwarding not only sounded like something from a Star Trek episode, but something you needed an engineering genius like Scotty to figure out. But then, bit by bit, it started making sense, and now I’m confident that with a little help, it will make sense for all of you, too.

The most important thing to understand is that the problem isn’t necessarily the software you’re using. It’s probably your router, firewall, IP address, or some combination of these, and it is going to take some time to figure it all out. But if you’re set on streaming video of your attempt to jump your bike over three cars, two buses, a clown and a flock of geese, it’s worth the effort, right?

To help you make your computer accessible to the public Internet for all your gaming, VoIP, business data retrieval, and media streaming needs, we have put together a tutorial page geared at helping you not only make the correct connections, but to fill you in on why it all has to be so complicated in the first place. You can view the tutorial series at http://www.nch.com.au/kb/10046.html.


If you don't want to be left out of all the fun, check out some of our server-based software, and see what kind of solutions you'll find for your business or home. For instance, BroadCam streaming video server allows you to broadcast live or recorded video over your website, and BroadWave streaming audio server lets you stream audio podcasts and more. Or for business, you might be interested in accessing and updating your inventory information stored in Inventoria from multiple locations. Our new tutorial series will help you get these server-based features up and running.

And I promise, you won't need Scotty.