Designing Web Audio [Paperback]

Josh Beggs (Author), Dylan Thede (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2001

Designing Web Audio is the most complete Internet audio guide on the market. It's loaded with informative real-world case studies and interviews with some of the world's leading audio and web producers. It contains step-by-step intstructions on how to build multimedia web pages using the most popular web audio formats. This book also includes a wealth of basic digital audio and sound wave theory, practical tips and techniques for recording and editing audio for the Web, and an invaluable buyer's guide to building an effective sound studio.

Designing Web Audio explains how digital audio is encoded from microphone to hard disk; how sound is processed using compression and equalization; and how to turn audio source material into a great soundtrack using loops and ambient soundscapes. Designing Web Audio demystifies its subject with informative step-by-step techniques for encoding, compression, and streaming audio over the Web.

This book includes the following:

• The most up-to-date, step-by-step guides to the latest popular streaming media formats for building multimedia web pages including RealAudio, Shockwave, Flash, MP3, MIDI, and RMF (Beatnik).
• A step-by-step guide to building multimedia Synchronized Media Integration Language (SMIL) presentations using the new RealSystem G2. (This is the only book on the market that offers information on this.)
• In-depth coverage of the sound design principles for building effective multimedia web pages with sound, including examples of real-world sound design techniques used by leading film and CD-ROM sound designers.
• Informative case studies featuring leading companies such as N2K, Fox News Corp, TechWeb, and Sonicopia, and how they are enhancing their web pages using Flash, RealAudio, Shockwave, or Beatnik's audio technologies.
• Tips from two Academy Award-winning sound designers that will help web professionals use audio more intelligently.
• In-depth consumer buyer's guide with street prices and tips for buying the best gear at the lowest prices to produce high-quality Internet audio in-house.
• Thorough practical coverage of digital audio theory and basic recording and editing techniques.

The easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on using the leading audio formats makes Designing Web Audio an invaluable resource for web developers and people who want to stream their own music over the Web.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While the day when Web documents will engage all five of the senses remains far away, Designing Web Audio makes it clear that there's much more to creating stylish pages than pretty graphics and carefully chosen fonts. Internet broadcasts of music and voice make use of the network in a way that was impossible three years ago. Music and audio effects, selected with an artist's ear and implemented with careful engineering, can add a lot to surfers' page-viewing experiences without placing undue strain on their Internet connections. Authors Josh Beggs and Dylan Thede--with combined experience in the Internet and commercial recording industries--show (technically, and to some extent artistically) how to send sound over the Internet for the enjoyment of all and sundry.

Designing Web Audio recognizes that many readers won't know much about recording and editing techniques, and so devotes some space to microphone placement, levels, equalization, and other techniques that aren't specific to Internet audio. Once that's out of the way, the book digs into specific encoding and broadcast tools, such as RealAudio and Beatnik. Coverage of these tools is comprehensive, and code samples complement explanatory text. Embedded audio, Macromedia Flash, and synchronized audio-video presentations are also explained. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• Sound, voice, music, and how to communicate them over the Internet
• Good recording and editing practices
• Streaming media
• RealAudio
• RealSystem G2
• Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL)
• MP3
• Macromedia Flash and Shockwave
• Beatnik

Review

'It is written in a easy to follow style, while providing plenty of information, case studies and food for thought... O'Reilly publish well written, informative books, this one is no exception.' - Neil Bothwick Linux Format, June 2001 - Rating 7/10 '...is a well-judged and well-pitched volume, informative, readable and clear. It manages to bridge the gap between concepts and details... Designing Web Audio really is an intermediate introduction to just about anything you could want to do with audio on the web. Interface noises, background music, streaming spoken word...It's all there, dealt with thoughtfully and in surprising depth. Usability and realistic expectations are kept in focus throughout. ...it is a solid choice for someone interested in the field of web sound, and could take the reader from audio-na?ve to reasonable savvy in whatever area their interest lies.' - Gavin Inglis, news@UK, June 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Revised edition (January 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565923537
• ISBN-13: 978-1565923539
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,613,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is A Masterpiece!, February 6, 2001

By 

Jim Moran - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing Web Audio (Paperback)

Advances in Web audio technology are nothing short of amazing. New software programs, new programming languages, and improvements with bandwidth have produced phenomenal results. Josh Beggs and Dylan Thede have written Designing Web Audio to provide professional-level Web development instruction in areas of Web audio theory, soundtrack creation, programming, and broadcasting - Webcasting.

Readers will learn how audio sounds are created, how microphones and other input devices work, what the latest streaming audio file formats are and how they work, how leading audio file editors work, how to create effective multimedia Web pages and multimedia presentations, how to write basic audio file programming scripts, and how to create Webcasts. Many helps, tips, and sample scripts are included to assist readers to achieve the best possible results!

The authors explain in significant detail the many considerations involved in creating and using Web audio. Factors such as determining the overall purpose of a Website, determining the target audience, recognizing bandwidth limitations, hardware and software used, system and browser platforms used, mode of delivery, audio content, and legal constraints are all important matters to be analyzed and taken into full account before getting started.

The book features a convenient buyer's guide to selecting and using audio file editing and presentation programs, recording studio equipment, and sound effects libraries. Readers receive solid instruction on how they can create professional Web sound studios costing anywhere from several thousand dollars on up to $20,000 or more. A number of leading software and recording equipment options are presented to help serious readers select and put to use the latest audio software and recording tools. Checkout the buying tips!

Familiarity with audio file formats is essential. An excellent appendix compares the latest audio file formats: MP3, RealAudio, Windows Media, QuickTime, Liquid Audio, Flash, Director Shockwave, Beatnik, MIDI, WAV, and AIFF. With this information available to them, readers will be able to select and use the Web audio broadcasting formats best suited to meet their own particular needs.

This book is a masterpiece. It provides thorough coverage of today's latest Web audio technology. It's laid out well, it's clearly written and illustrated, and it will produce professional results. It's ideally suited for professional Web developers and musicians who have significant experience working with computers and the Internet. This is an outstanding Web audio resource!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More Audio-to-Web than Web-to-Audio; Missing Files, January 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Designing Web Audio (Paperback)

I've been eagerly awaiting this book, because as a web designer I've been looking for an authoritative (ie, O'Reilly) work on the topic. The book was good to prettygood - nothing in here from a coder's perspective that you wouldn't already have from HTML and Flash experience, but a lot of info for people setting up sound systems to record for the web - this is more a book for audio types moving to the web than for web types trying to embrace audio.

What I was really disappointed in was that the sound files the books lists as being on the website (see the book, p.17) aren't available as described.

You know, I skimmed this book while nursing my latte at Borders, I sped-read the chapters of most interest to me, and I saw that they had cool sound files on their website - and I bought the book rather than chumping out and just going to the website, because I want to support the people that are helping me.

When I went to the site and found that the sound clips aren't up as promised, I felt like the one who'd been chumped. This is NOT the standard experience when dealing with O'Reilly products. I wish I had not bought it.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Missing Sound Files To Download Are There!, February 2, 2001

By 

"micxz" (sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing Web Audio (Paperback)

.... I downloaded all the needed files for chapter 10 from:

....

I also wanted to say I am very happy with Designing Web Audio. I learned how digital audio is encoded from recording studio to computer. It gives step-by-step info for compression, encoding, and streaming audio over the Web. Thanks to: Josh Beggs, Dylan Thede, Richard Koman.