Do More With Software

Creative Business Card Ideas - Improve & Customize Templates

2013-06-18T14:16:00.000-06:00

I love creative design and looking at articles showcasing interesting, effective and creative business cards and logos. Although often the ideas featured, while incredibly creative, aren't using techniques that a majority of companies would find feasible to implement. But, even if you are a one man show just getting off the ground, doesn't mean that you can't be creative and add a little flare to your business cards that will make you stand out from the crowd. Here are a few ideas to start you thinking about the possibilities of what you can do even if you are making your own cards using a business card template instead of going to a high priced design firm:

Pick the Right Paper

Not all paper is created is created equal. The same design can have a different effect when printed on a different kind of paper. A heavier card stock will help create an impression of strength and stability. An interesting or unusual texture will stand out and grab a closer look. Use a vellum or a transparency sheet to let the light shine through, or create an earthy feel with a natural paper. Small changes like the type of paper you pick can help support your brand and help your business card stand out.

Change the Color

One of the fun features in CardWorks business card software is the option to change the color scheme of a template expanding the range of possibilities. This not only gives you more choices and flexibility in finding a single card design for business; this can be a fun way to add a little variety by printing several cards using the same layout but different color schemes.

Change the Cut

Even with a template, you can change the size of your business card. A fancy cut may not be reasonable, but with some designs taking a little more off one of the sides would only require moving a few items. Business cards have a very standard size, so changing the proportions will be a noticeable change that will help your card unique with little extra effort.

Add Some Personality

Even the text on your business card is a place to spice things up. You have probably seen companies that use creative titles like "Sandwich Artist" or "Sales Ninja." In addition to the job title you can also consider using the space that was designated for a company slogan or tagline to add a call to action or quote to make you more memorable.

Add A QR Code

The templates available for CardWorks business card software have space for a photo. Adding your picture can make a business card feel more personable, but to change things up, you can also use that image space to add something else like a QR code that will open your website or go to a special offer. This will make your business car more engaging, and pique people's interest and curiosity.

Display Your Location

In The Tipping Point one idea Malcolm Gladwell discussed was how adding a map showing the location of the college health center on an immunization flier increased the the number of students who came in the door, even though students would have already known where the health center was. A map can help people figure out how something fits into their lives/plans, and remind them where to go. Help people find you by changing the image on the back-side of your business card to be a map. Instead of using the default back-side of a template or leaving the back blank, load a map to be the background image to help customers remember where to find you.

Try PhotoPad photo editor to clean up your photo, crop a map or edit any other digital images before you place them on your business aard in CardWorks, then have fun taking those business card templates to the next level and making them the right fit for you and your business.

Happy Birthday to the GIF

2013-06-15T14:49:00.000-06:00

Example animated GIF from wikipedia

I saw on Mashable this morning, while doing a little web surfing and having my coffee, that today the GIF format turns 26. As a company that has several popular file format converters, how I could I not also pay homage to this infamous format too?

For those of you who are interested, you can read the article on Mashable about the life and history of the GIF format,—lovingly nicknamed "Great Internet Fun" by the contributor in place of the more proper "Graphics Interchange Format"—and its early life of controversy. But, for many it is probably enough to think of a few of your favorite, and often humorous, animated clips brought to you by the GIF to put a smile on your face, and what better commemoration could there be? Of course you could also share some of those those favorites today to continue the birthday celebration.

And if you are looking to make your own animated gifs, you may want to check out our post on converting video clips into animated gifs with a little help from Prism video converter.

How To Generate Audio Tones

2013-06-13T17:38:00.000-06:00

If you need of a simple audio tone or frequency, Tone Generator is an efficient tool to create the audio wave you are looking for.

Typically a tone generator is used for tasks like creating test tones for calibrating sound equipment, but there are plenty of other applications, like sound therapy or repelling mosquitoes. Whatever you are doing, the NCH Tone Generator can easily generate everything from sine and sawtooth waves to impulses and more.

Tone Generator is very easy-to-use, but here are some of the basics to help get you started:

By default Tone Generator opens with a single 440Hz frequency.
Add up to 16 total frequencies to be played simultaneously using the Add Tone button below the tone details list.
Change the waveform type with the small icons at the top of the interface.
Update a tone's frequency by double clicking it on the tone details list. This lets you input a frequency in Hz, alternatively select a preset with the note selector.
Listening to the current settings/frequencies by simply pressing Play.
Save as a .tdf tone file to use again or load into a tone list for creating sequences.
Save a .wav file for later use, or other audio software (e.g., convert wav to mp3 with Switch for loading those sound therapy tones to your mp3 player).
Select Edit to open the waveform as a new file in WavePad.

Easy CD/DVD Copying and Burning

2013-06-11T17:32:00.000-06:00

As new features and operating systems come out, some things start to go away. You probably don't miss floppy drives much, but one thing that is getting harder on a Mac is an easy way to burn things like your home movies to DVD. If you have videos, music or even data you want to burn to CD, DVD or Blu-ray, take a look at this preview of how easy it is to create and copy disc with Express Burn.

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival June 4, 2013

2013-06-04T21:33:00.000-06:00

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

Denise Thompson presents How to Choose the Best First Student Guitar posted at Find A Babysitter, saying, "Learning to play a musical instrument allows your child to strengthen a wide range of their auditory skills, benefiting her throughout her adult life if she continues to play."

Björgvin Benediktsson presents Methods For Recording Acoustic Guitar posted at audioissues, saying, "Recording an acoustic guitar requires different methods recording an electric guitar."

David Thompsonn presents Exploring the Merits of Children Learning to Play an Instrument posted at Backup Care, saying, "Once a child reaches middle school, the school will often offer orchestra or band as an elective class. If your child isn’t particularly driven or musically inclined, why would you want to encourage him to play an instrument?"

Peter Kirn presents Music for Dance, Music and Movement posted at Create Digital Music, saying, "Movement and machines are the reason I do what I do, exploring new sounds in a way that is human and gestural."

sigh presents Sounding a Social Game posted at Behind the Scenes of Lucky Lady Games Studio, saying, "So now that all the essentials of the Lucky Lady Casino is arted up & in production, we have focused our energies towards another sensory must-have in game design, sound!"

Jenifer Sarah presents Jet Audio free download latest version of MP3 player 2013 posted at Software Collection, saying, "Jet Audio free download is one of the smartest Mp3 player available on the internet. You can play your all audio and video files with this latest version of Jet Audio free download. The best thing about this Jet Audio free download is that you can also convert your favorite video files into many formats. The audio controllers provided in this version of Jet Audio free download are amazing."

You might also be interested in:

That concludes this edition of Do More with Audio. If you have an audio story to share or advice, tips or tricks to share, we hope you will submit your audio posts and articles to the next edition.

Saving Loops and Samples for DJs

2013-05-28T14:10:00.000-06:00

Feedback from our customers is very important in helping improve our software product offerings. Some of the best features in our products have been suggested by people who have used our software and have ideas on how to make it better. One of the most recent updates to our Zulu DJ Software came about as a result of feedback from DJs.

Zulu now features an enhanced, easy-to-use sample bank that lets you load up to 32 loops and samples that you can easily access while tracks are playing on the main decks. The Loops and Samples tab is located in the lower pane along with the Playlist.

DJs can use the Loops and Samples bank for any kind of short recording that they want to drop in while a song is playing, or even use it in between songs for announcements. The recordings can be played once or can be set to loop mode to continue playing until paused or turned off. Each sample also features volume control and buttons for sync and pitch. The sync button allows you to sync the sample file beat to the beat of the currently loaded deck. Use the pitch button to prevent pitch changes while you sync the beat.

Whether you're DJing a wedding, adding life to a party, working as club DJ, or just having fun at home, the enhanced Loops and Samples bank in Zulu DJ Software will help you sound your best.

WavePad Now Available for Android

2013-05-24T15:57:00.000-06:00

The long time NCH favorite, WavePad Sound Editor, is now available for Android phones and tablets. With releases of the popular, easy-to-use audio editor already available for Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad we are extremely excited to round things off with the Android version.

Like the other versions, the WavePad Audio Editing Android App provides the same easy audio recording and editing tools you want, simply on another platform. So no matter what your preferred operating system is, or if you are at the desk or on the road, audio enthusiasts everywhere can rely on WavePad Audio Editing Software to be there to record and edit music, interviews and other audio.

Bringing Fond Memories Back to Life

2013-05-21T14:24:00.000-06:00

Guest post by John Albergo

My dad was an engineer and a shutterbug, which meant that our vacations were meticulously captured through the lens of his German Leica. This was both a blessing and a curse.

Up close and personal with a buffalo

First, the blessing: Our summer car trips covered the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Alberta, and Dad captured everything on film—35mm slides, to be specific. The engineer in him demanded perfection, which resulted in beautiful photos of incredible, indescribable landscapes that most people never see. Even as children, we were awestruck by the forces of nature that merged to create these scenes—Yellowstone Park, Old Faithful, Twin Falls, the Grand Tetons, Glacier Park, the Badlands, rivers, forests, plains, snow-capped mountains and, of course, wildlife.

John's brother Pat, at Badlands National Park. "Take just a few more steps back..."

Now the curse: Fast forward to 2012. I inherited more than 1,000 slides, all neatly organized into cartridges, that were taking up space in my basement. Suddenly, there was a renewed interest in slides that no one has seen in years; now everyone wanted to see them again. I had to figure out how to digitize and share them across several states. It would have taken me weeks to scan, edit and clean up all of the old slides, so I opted to have them professionally scanned. (Hint: Some photo and film digitizing services send their work overseas on container ships, which can take months, so I chose a company that does everything locally)

Rather than simply send everyone CDs with a bunch of images, I wanted to create a slide show in which they could identify what the photos were. I downloaded a trial of PhotoStage Slideshow Maker and created a show with a few scanned images; I was sold immediately. Creating and editing a slide show is simple. Once I created a slide show, altering the duration of each slide took only a few clicks, allowing me to time the music I added to the show down to the second.

That was nice for starters, but the real test was when I got nearly 500 hi-res images back from the scanning service. I found that uploading even a high volume of images into PhotoStage is fast, and it allowed me the option of transferring everything in sub-folders that indicated where groups of photos were taken, such as "Glacier Park" and "Little Bighorn." The folders show up in the menu system of DVD players, allowing viewers to select sideshows by location or subject. Once I created and saved the show, it was just a matter of copying it to a CD or DVD.

Memories Preserved for Lifetime

Whether your family's cherished memories are sitting in boxes of photos, neatly arranged photo albums or encased in slide carousels, that's all they're doing—just sitting there. And they can fade over time or, heaven forbid, be destroyed by natural disasters. Once you digitize them, PhotoStage lets you recreate and preserve those memories and enhance them with music, titles and other effects. Everyone in my family can now view these photos as a reminder not only of our beautiful country but how truly fortunate we were to have a Dad who wanted us to see it.

John Albergo is a writer with more than 15 years of experience in business communications, spanning IT services, software licensing, health and safety programs, and general business. He's also a bit of a shutterbug and even had his own darkroom while in high school.

Just for Fun: Quotes About Music

2013-05-17T18:35:00.000-06:00

A little fun for your Friday, here are a few music quotes we've come across to help inspire you as you are creating music whether on an instrument or with music software.

Create a Panorama with Photo Stitching

2013-05-15T15:10:00.000-06:00

If you don't have a panoramic camera, you can still make panoramic photos by stitching several photos together. To successfully create a panorama you will need to take two—or more—pictures that overlap. Photo stitching software will need to scan the images to find points that match up in order to fit them together. A good rule of thumb is to take the pictures so that about a fourth of width overlaps other images.

For the best results, in addition to making sure the images overlap you also want to be sure you don't move or change any camera settings like the zoom, between the pictures in the panorama series. Changing your position or other settings will make it difficult, if not impossible, to stitch the photos together.

When you have photos ready to be stitched together open PhotoPad photo editing software and select Panorama on the Tools tab. This will open the Create Panoramic Image dialog where you can Add all of your overlapping photos and arrange them in order in the top preview window. When all of the photos have been added and are in the right order, you can click Update Panorama to stitch together a preview of the panoramic image. If you add or delete any source images the panorama will be deleted. When you are happy with the results in the panorama preview simply click OK and a new project will be created for the panoramic photo.

Note making panoramic images is a resource intensive process, so it can take a long time, and uses a lot of memory. If your computer runs out of memory, try scaling down the images, or using fewer photos.

Track Your Hours and Time Spent on Projects

2013-05-10T15:58:00.001-06:00

Eliminate the tedious process of creating time sheets after the fact by tracking your time as you go with HourGuard time tracking software and track not only your total time spent working, but the time spent on individual projects or tasks. This makes HourGuard ideal for freelancers and professionals who bill by the hour.

Simply create a list of tasks and sub-tasks. When you start working on something, select that task from the list and click the green Start Task button. Switching tasks will stop timing on the current task and start timing on the new one, or click Stop when you're done. Later you can generate reports for a period of time to see a breakdown of the time you spent on individual tasks.

Video Competition Tips & Advice

2013-05-08T14:41:00.000-06:00

Ready to take your videos beyond home movies? For VideoPad users who are ready to showcase their creativity and videographer skills, we've put together some advice and resources for getting your videos ready to compete.

There are a wide range of video contests out there, put on by all kinds of companies and products, in a variety of themes. The smaller contests will have smaller prizes, but they will also have less competition, so they are still worth considering. To find a contest that appeals to you here are a few sites to explore:

Once you have a contest picked out the real work starts. Be sure to take your time and do your due diligence instead of jumping straight into filming.

Do Your Homework

Make sure that you read the rules and judging criteria carefully. Knowing how a winner will be chosen will help you make a video that will fit the bill.

Scripting and Story Line

Having a good story is key, so take the time to brainstorm until you have a story you are confident in. You want a moving story that fits in with the contest theme and connects with the viewer. Humor is often one way to draw people in, but it isn't always easy to pull off and certainly isn't the only option. You can tug at the heart strings or appeal to people's sense of justice, etc. The goal is always to create a story people will want to watch through to the end.

Practice and Timing

Since you will almost always have a time limit, you need to make sure you can take your story from beginning to end in the time allowed. With a limited amount of time, subplots and tangents should scrapped, and you need to grab your audience in the beginning. You want to start with a strong hook, and keep things moving through the conclusion. When reading through your script and practicing, you should not only make sure you are familiar with the dialogue, working on making it sound natural and animated, you should also be testing how long it takes to read through. Does it fit within the video time limitations? As you go through this process you should think about if there are any awkward phrases you should remove, or other edits to either cut down the length or help with the rhythm of your story and keep things moving forward.

Dialogue and Audio

Audio quality in your video matters. It is an important part of a film as a whole, and poor audio can detract from a film and cause people to lose interest, so don't forget about the audio. Dialogue should sound natural and animated, which can be a challenge both in writing and performing, as well as in recording. You should strongly consider using an external microphone for recording high quality audio. You want the dialogue to be easy to hear and understand, and have a consistent volume between shots.

If you do use the built in microphone on your camcorder remember you can still separate the audio from the video so you clean the audio, remove background noise, normalize and make other adjustments. For a closer look at some important audio editing features you may want to use, see our list of WavePad audio editing tips and tricks.

Adding Music

Adding music to your soundtrack can help draw the audience in, but be sure to balance the volume with any dialogue. And make sure that you either get permission before using copyrighted music from the publisher, or steer clear of copy protected music altogether and use royalty-free music and original works. You may be required to provide proof of copyright/permission for the audio in your video with your submission; using copyrighted music without permission can not only get your video disqualified, it can cause legal problems, so getting and sending proof of permission for a piece of music is in your best interests.

Filming and Editing

Important things to remember are that you want to maintain sharp focus and limit the amount of zooming and camera movement. Consider using a tripod during filming. Shaking can be removed from video using video stabilization, and if you are using handheld camcorders or cell phones this will be a necessary step, but using a tripod will eliminate the need for stabilization in editing.

For a closer look at some more VideoPad editing features you may want to use, see our post on video editing tips and tricks, but remember you want to entertain the audience, not to make them nauseous. Excessive camera movement or overdoing the effects can be distracting, and like everything else you want the transitions and movement to support the story, not draw attention to itself.

Double Check Everything

Before you send in you video be sure to double check everything. Did you follow all of the guidelines? Is the movie saved in the correct format and does it meet the time requirements? After all of the work you put in it you don't want to have your video thrown out because you forgot something. If you will be submitting your video on a DVD, do not include menus unless they were asked for. The judges will will be watching hundreds of entries, so this is another case where time matters and they will want the video to start playing automatically.

Submit Your Video

When you're sure you have dotted all your i's and crossed all your t's send in your submission. If it is being judged by the community be sure to let your friends, family and colleagues know to check it out and vote for you, otherwise it will now be out of your hands. But win or lose, you should have a video you are proud of.

If you have any more advice to share please comment, and Good Luck with your videos!

Do More with Video - Blog Carnival May 6, 2013

2013-05-06T12:24:00.000-06:00

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

Brian Green presents Five things Every New Filmmaker Should Know posted at Film Making Stuff, saying, "A few tips I learned while producing my first feature length movie that I think every first time film-maker should know."

Hal Robertson presents Diegetic Sound posted at Videomaker, saying, "Diegetic sounds are the sounds that on-screen characters are hearing. If you want to tell a story and make viewers care, diegetic sound can really help seal the deal and help draw in the audience. Sound is, after all, at least half of a film."

Lincoln Spector presents How to grab a freeze-frame from a video posted at PCWorld.

Kyle Cassidy presents Shooting Tips for Beginners posted at Videomaker, saying, "Everyone starts somewhere, and what might be second nature to an old pro can be confusing to someone just starting out, so here are some tips for the beginner."

Duncan Wright presents Lights, Camera, Action, SEO! posted at BSA Marketing, saying, "Video as a marketing tool is now within the reach of most businesses,making video SEO a vital part of any search marketing strategy."

Dave Johnson presents Shoot now, focus later: Change the focus after you take a photo posted at TechHive, saying, "Cameras like the Lytro have changed the idea of focusing entirely, allowing you to change the focus of Lytro photos after they’re taken. Here is how you cam simulate Lytro photos with your current camera."

You might also be interested in:

That concludes the first edition of Do More with Video. If you have a video story to share from home movies to video production submit your blog posts about video for the next edition.

A WavePad Audio Editor Pre-Download Preview

2013-05-02T16:14:00.001-06:00

Once again thanks to CNET you can take a short "video tour" of some of the wonderful features that make WavePad audio editor such a favorite for editing all kinds of audio. This is just a quick peek at the program, remember that you can also check out our list of audio editing tips and tricks to get started and watch our series of WavePad video tutorials for some more in depth instructions via video.

PhotoStage Android Slideshow App

2013-04-30T09:16:00.000-06:00

The Android releases are continuing, now one of our long time favorites, and best slideshow software, PhotoStage, is now available for Android tablets. So you can make and share slideshows of your vacations before you return home. Quickly combine photos, video clips, music, record narration and more to make fun slideshows that will make everyone wish they were there too. You can download it now from the Google Play app store.

Keep In Touch

2013-04-24T15:28:00.000-06:00

Social networking websites and apps have made it so much easier to keep in touch. Like many of us you've probably been able to connect with old friends from high school or college, and made new friends around the world through sites like Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

At NCH Software we like keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones too. Whether you've been using our software for years or you're a new customer, we've tried to make it easy for you to connect with us using your favorite social networking site. We regularly post updates about new releases of programs, links to new blog posts, and other information we think you might find interesting. So pick your favorite social network and follow NCH to stay current on what's happening and keep in touch.

	Follow NCH on Google+
	Follow NCH on Facebook
	Follow NCH on Twitter

Preview Switch Audio Converting Software

2013-04-19T10:03:00.000-06:00

CNET recently started making download preview videos to give you a quick taste of a program before you download. Take a look at the speedy Switch Sound Converter below. It really only takes seconds to convert audio and music files to mp3, aiff, wav, wma, or any one of the other audio formats—over 40 formats in all.

So now that you've had a peek, download Switch Audio Converter for your Mac or PC today for quick and easy audio converting whenever you need it.

How to Easily Resize Photos

2013-04-18T12:50:00.000-06:00

If you have a bunch of photos from your last vacation, or night out, you may want to share them all with friends and family. But, you may find that your batch of photos is too large to email. The solution is easy, you can resize or rotate all your digital photos in bulk with Pixillion image resizer and converter. If you will be editing photos you could resize them as you go, but the more pictures you have, the more time you can save by doing a batch photo resize.

So, to resize your photos, simply add them all to the list in Pixillion. At the bottom of the window click on Effects to open the format options. Here you can use the drop-down menu under Scale to set the photo resizing options. Once that is selected click OK to save your options. You only need to set this once, the effect(s) will be applied to all of the photos being converted in a batch, so Select All—or all the photos you want to apply those changes to—and click Convert. That is all there is to it. Pixillion photo converter will process all of the selected photos and save the newly resized photos for you ready for you to email, upload and share.

Free Mac Personal Finance Software

2013-04-15T13:22:00.002-06:00

Our newest program, MoneyLine Personal Finance Software, is available for Mac OS X. We sometimes wait before releasing a Macintosh version of a program, but we have seen and heard the outcry of Mac users who are frustrated with the lack of updates and support of Quicken for Mac. So we are stepping in to provide MoneyLine as the personal finance software alternative for Mac users, to fill that hole in personal accounting software choices for Mac users.

From downloading transactions directly from your bank and digitally balancing your checkbook to categorizing purchase transactions to see where your money is going and stay in control of your personal finances. We hope you agree MoneyLine Personal Finance Software is an easy, consolidated way to organize and track your spending. But, do let us know anything we can do to make it an even better solution for Mac money management.

Express Invoice Now Available for Android

2013-04-11T13:19:00.001-06:00

Adding to the NCH Android collection and giving you the ability to create invoices from anywhere, the popular, Express Invoice invoicing program is now available for Android tablets on both Google Play and on the Amazon app store. So business people who couldn't jump on the recent Express Invoice iPad release because they have an Android device don't need to feel left out anymore.

Take your billing on the road with you for easy, streamlined invoicing that is less of a chore. And for an even more comprehensive invoicing solution for multiple users, you can still use the popular desktop versions of Express Invoice invoicing software.

WavePad Audio Editing Tips & Tricks

2013-04-08T09:38:00.000-06:00

Below you will find a compilation of some the audio effects and sound editing basics for the WavePad audio editor that you will want to know and test out for yourself as you delve into the world of audio editing. Another great way for those new to audio editing to get started is by watching the WavePad sound editor intro video tutorials so you can see the audio editor in action.

Split and Cut Audio Files

You can split a file at any point you choose by simply clicking the Split button on the Edit tab. This will create two audio files split at the point you had the cursor. Be careful when you use this function, the action cannot be undone. Additional audio splitting options include splitting at bookmarks, splitting at silences and similar Trim options that delete sections instead of creating new audio files.

Amplify Audio Volume

To make audio sound louder, instead of simply turning the volume control up you want to amplify the file. You will find Amplify on the Effects tab, which will open a window where you can either adjust the amplification using the slider or by selecting a preset level from the drop down menu. Selecting 200% will double the volume, 50% will cut the volume in half.

Equalize Audio

Amplifying affects the full spectrum of the audio in a file, but if you want to increase or decrease certain frequencies, for example, boosting all of the lower bass frequencies, then you want to use the Equalizer. The Equalizer is also on the Effects tab and opens a graph of the frequencies going from low to high frequencies as you move left to right. This gives you very finite control of the frequency ranges you want to control. Moving a point up will make the frequency stronger and moving a point down will make it weaker.

Normalize Audio

Normalizing an audio file is similar to amplifying, except that normalizing increases the sound of the loudest peak to the maximum level without causing clipping in digital audio. This is frequently used as a last step before saving a final version of an edited song or recording. To normalize an audio file, you will find Normalize on the Effects tab.

Fade In and Out of Audio

Fading in and out of an audio file will help acclimate the ear to the background noise of a file. To fade in, select a region at the beginning of your file, then select "Fade in" under Fade on the Effects tab. Similarly you can select "Fade out" with a region at the end of your file selected. A good tip is to fade in quicker than you fade out because the ear expects to hear the initial audio quickly, but abrupt transitions to silence at the end can be jilting.

Remove Background Noise

Since not every audio recording is made in a sound studio environment, you often get unwanted background noise in recordings. To remove background noise you want to take advantage of the Cleanup options on the Effects tab. Specifically, under Noise Reduction try using Audio Spectral Subtraction and then Multi-band noise gating. If the presets don't give the results you want, try using lower levels on these reductions until you find a combination that leaves only audio you want to keep.

Remove Vocals

You will find an option to Reduce Vocals under the Voice button on the Effects tab. This will open a dialog box that allows you to change the pan position and width, the vocal level, and preserve the bass. Generally the default settings will work the best, but different songs may require different settings to effectively reduce or eliminate the vocal frequencies, so if you don't get the results you want, try adjust these settings until you are satisfied with the result.

Layer Audio & Voiceovers

WavePad won't allow you to record directly over another file; highlighting a file and clicking record will replace the selection. Depending on how much mixing you want to do, you may want to consider moving to MixPad audio mixing software, but for some basic audio mixing within WavePad you want to use the Paste Mix feature. Copy the audio you want to add to your file to the clipboard, then select all in the file you want to add it to, then select Paste Mix on the Edit tab. This will open a window with options on what to do if your files are not the same length. When you click OK the two pieces of audio will be combined.

Sound Effect Library

Find audio clips and sound effects to add to your audio projects in the NCH Sound Effect Library. Open the Sound Library from the Tools tab. This opens a new window where you can preview and download sound effects and royalty-free music clips.

Audio Effect Plugins

In the Windows version of WavePad you can add DirectX and VST plugin effects to further expand your audio editing capabilities. Find the options to add and use VST and DirectX plugins on the Effects Tab. VST Plugins will open their own interface where you can adjust the settings, while you will need to go into the settings when selecting a DirectX plugin for the effect to be applied when you click OK. Get started with this list of free VST plugins you can download and use with WavePad.

FFT Sound Analysis

All of the audio editing features outlined above are all easy to put into action, but don't let that fool you into thinking that WavePad doesn't have a lot of power under the hood. One of the more advanced areas you can explore are the powerful audio analysis tools for examining the spectral content of audio. Learn about the FFT and TFFT audio analysis graphs and what they represent to start to get your feet wet. These tools can be used in many fields, including linguistics and mathematics, in addition to sound engineering.

If you have any other tips, favorite features or advice of your own, please comment and share them below.

New Free Personal Finance Software

2013-04-05T11:40:00.001-06:00

If you have multiple bank accounts and credit cards keeping track of all your spending can be difficult. Your money may be spread out, but that doesn't mean understanding of your personal finances needs to be disjointed.

MoneyLine personal finance software isd a brand new and free way for you to track all your bank accounts and spending in one, centralized location. Now tracking your finances couldn't be easier. With MoneyLine you can download statements and transaction details directly from your bank(s), reconcile accounts—or digitally balance your checkbook, log money transfers, and categorize purchases to help you stay organized and see where your money is going.

You work hard for your money, so make sure you know where that hard earned cash is going. Make managing your spending and balancing your checkbook less of a chore. Give MoneyLine a test drive and be sure let us know what you think and if there is anything else we can do with future releases to make managing your personal finances easier.

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival April 2, 2013

2013-04-02T09:48:00.001-06:00

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

Shaun Farley presents Creative Uses of Reverb posted at Designing Sound, saying, "Reverb is used to create realism and adding appropriate reverb will instantly help dialogue fit better into a scene. However, reverb can also be used in many other creative ways, here is a small collection of examples."

Denise Young presents 10 Benefits of Playing a Musical Instrument posted at Au Pair Care, saying, "There are many benefits to playing a musical instrument that go beyond improving hand-eye coordination and instilling a sense of responsibility in your child."

Ken Theriot presents EQ Basics posted at Home Brew Audio, saying, "Equalization&emdash;or EQ&emdash;is a big part of mixing and mastering music, but for those new to audio engineering it may be difficult to grasp. Here are some of the basics for using EQ effectively."

stayonbeat presents Free VSTs for Music Producers and Artists posted at stayonbeat.com.

Lee Pritchard presents Why you should remove breaths from voice over audio posted at Media Music Now, saying, "The problem is that once audio is produced with compression and EQ the breaths will actually become more prominent, making de-breathing essential."

Michelle Brown presents 10 iPhone Apps for Music Maniacs posted at Nanny, saying, "Apple and the app developers for the iPhone App Store are bringing instruments and equipment right to your mobile device, allowing you to use them anywhere and at any time."

Sydney Bell presents 10 of the Best Mash Ups posted at Longhorn Leads, saying, "Mash-ups are the combination of two songs sites like YouTube have boosted the art to mind-boggling popularity."

Peter Kirn presents Makey Makey + Fruits and Vegetables = Music posted at Create Digital Music, saying, "Simple circuits have long been able to make use of sensors in real-world items, but the Make Makey interfacing has made those circuits silly-simple. The project grew out of research at MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten. Here see Massive Attack's Teardrop, as covered by artist j.viewz on fruits and veggies using the Make Makey system."

Software Easter Eggs

2013-03-27T17:03:00.000-06:00

It's the time of year when stores are lined with pastels, jelly beans and chocolates shaped like eggs and rabbits, but in the software world an "Easter Egg" isn't a colorfully dyed hard-boiled egg. A Software Easter Egg is a fun little surprise hidden inside of the software program. These features are typically un-documented, so you have to be in-the-know to uncover them.

One particularly famous example is the flight simulator that was hidden inside the 1997 version of Excel. So, in addition to crunching numbers you could brush up on your piloting skills. Find more software Easter egg examples on the Lifehaker Easter egg top 10 list.

NCH doesn't have any of these kinds of Easter eggs hidden in our programs which we have tried to streamline as much as possible to keep everything as easy and straight forward as we can, but in the spirit of hunting for—or finding—hidden features, here are some lesser known, or less used features you may want to try:

Resize zip files to meet email size restrictions, or split large zip files into pieces with Express Zip software.
Record video from anywhere with Debut video capture software. Most recording programs focus on a single source, but with Debut you have the best of all worlds with support for a multitude of video sources.
Send recurring invoices and statements in addition to one-off invoices Express Invoice invoicing software which can save you time with managing long term clients and accounts.
Practice transcription, we provide dictation practice files that can be downloaded individually for Express Scribe, or KeyBlaze typing tutor has audio dictation exercises already built in.
Convert videos to 3D with VideoPad video editor for some extra dimension in your home movies.
Broadcast DJ mixes by connecting Zulu DJ software with the streaming power of BroadWave audio streamer to share your remixes online.
Be sure to turn on Auto Complete in FastFox instant text expansion software to get the power of auto complete suggestions everywhere you type from emails and word documents to your web browser.

Smart Text Auto Complete Software

2013-03-22T12:53:00.000-06:00

With FastFox instant text expander you can improve your typing speed and productivity not only with personalized keyboard shortcuts and shorthand abbreviations, but FastFox also learns what you type the most often and will make suggestions for completing phrases as you type with a popup alert in the corner of your screen. Just like the regular hotkey shortcuts, the auto complete feature will work while you type in any application, so you can select, insert and finish text phrases on the fly.

Bring the power of auto complete to all your typing with FastFox word expander software.