Indiana University: IT Training Tips Blog

One of the most challenging aspects of being creative is finding all the assets that one needs to put together an impressive project.  Some are easier than others.  If you need a picture of a tree in your project, you probably have a camera, and a tree nearby to get the job done.  If you need a sound clip of someone speaking, you might have a microphone and just do it yourself.

But what if you need the sound of a helicopter flying by?

Well, Soundbooth is here to help us out, through it's Resource Central panel. In Resource Central in Soundbooth, hundreds of incidental and strangely specific sound files are available for download for use in your project, with few restrictions. (Read the Terms of Use here)

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Recently, while working on a project, I had need of a creepy bit of music.  I didn't have an orchestra at my disposal, and I'm not a composer, so I used what I had:  a couple of acoustic and electric guitars, a little bit of creativity and Soundbooth.  With that, I came up with my final sound:

creepy effected.mp3 - The final sound

Soundbooth is an audio editing and creation program that is available through the Adobe/IU licensing agreement.  It is part of the Production Premium suite.  It can record, edit, and add effects to sound files.

Starting out, I decided since I was very out of practice with guitar, I'd just record a simple three note phrase.  I practiced with some different arrangements and ended up with what I thought was a suitably creepy beginning.  To make sure I had a good amount to work with, I played it three times into the microphone. Here is the sound that resulted:

creepy.mp3 - Feel free to download and follow along in your own copy of Soundbooth CS4.

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