Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Sound
The use of sound in an Alice project creates a far more interesting and dynamic presentation
Demo: Penguin Sound
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Vista & Windows 7
•Windows Vista OS introduced significant technical changes to audio compared to previous versions of Windows.
•These changes carry over to Windows 7.
•On Vista systems it's especially important to have dedicated drivers for your computer's sound device which are both specific to your computer hardware and specifically meant for Vista.–Use Windows Device Manager to update your driver.
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Copyright Issues
•Audio files are frequently copyrighted•Anyone making decisions about using multimedia in a class project should first consult the usage policy of their school or institution.
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
US Copyright Act
•The US Copyright Act contains relevant but complex sections that can inform teachers and students about using media in the classroom.• Cornell’s Legal Information Institute hosts information on– 17 U.S.C. § 106: Exclusive rights in copyrighted works
– 17 U.S.C. § 107: Fair Use– 17 U.S.C. § 110: Limitations on Exclusive Rights
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Fair Use Guidelines
•Purdue's OWL site:• Section 107 [US Copyright law] specifically distinguishes between commercial and educational use. Therefore, teachers and students are more protected when using copyrighted works for classroom assignments, lessons, or projects.–Purposes that are specifically mentioned in Section 107 include “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.”
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Guidelines (continued)
•Fair use is more likely to apply when the use is available for a limited time to a small group of people.–Therefore, showing part of a movie in the classroom is more likely to be protected than posting the same clip to the internet.–Make the new use available for the shortest amount of time to the smallest group possible.–Prevent others from duplicating the work for further use. Keep copyrighted works off the internet, or place them behind password protection to avoid outside access.
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Legal purchase
•When using a copyrighted work, get the original version legally. Buy the DVD, CD, or photo instead of pirating it off the internet.•Use a legally purchased film clip or song rather than one downloaded off YouTube or Limewire. Save your receipt, if possible.
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Partial use
•Reproducing only a small part of a copyrighted work is more acceptable than using an entire work.•Try to use no more than 10% or 30 seconds, whichever is less.•We suggest editing sound clips to be within this partial use guideline, particularly for Alice worlds that might be posted to the internet is some way.
Copyright 2010Wanda Dann, Don Slater, Steve Cooper
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Questions
Questions students ask: Can more than 1 clip (from different sound files)
be used? Yes Can a 30 second clip be played again and
again? Yes How to get a 30 second sound clip?
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Sound EditorAlice is not and does not have a
sound editorA sound editor is useful for
managing sound file size changing a sound file to an Alice
compatible format
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Download Sound Editor
Many sound editors are available onlineObtain sound editor software
Example: Audacity Freeware from
audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Sound File Size
Sound files are notoriously large Can be 20+ MB Takes time to load and play
• slows down or interrupts the animation• interferes with exporting a video
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Digital Sound
Digital wave form
Each dot in the figure above represents one audio sample.
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Sample RateSample rate is the rate at which samples are recorded, measured in Hertz (Hz).
Think of sample rate as the horizontal precision of the recorded sound. The higher the sample rate, the better the quality of the sound.
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Audacity Sample Rate
Sample rate can be adjusted
For Alice, we often use a sample rate of 22500 Hz
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
File Formats
Uncompressed Each number in the file corresponds to one
sample Audacity supports WAV, AIFF, and others
Compressed Audacity supports MP3 and Ogg Vorbis Not WMA and MPEG4 (AAU)
Alice supports WAV and MP3
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Learning Audacity Text Based Tutorials
Audacity Help Menu• Quick Start• Manual
Both web based
YouTube A wide variety of tutorials
• Many topics• Mixed quality
Search for “Audacity”
Copyright 2008Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, Don Slater
Penguin Sound
Has a 3+ minute sound trackModify to use a 30 second clip repeatedly