Screaming Bee LLC 6907 University Avenue Suite 252 Middleton, WI 53562 Voice Again Documentation Revision 4/13/2009 These documents represent the details on how to use Voice Again. These include a basic introduction to the Voice Again product, overview of the functionality of the application and detailed documentation of each feature. Copyright Screaming Bee LLC All Rights Reserved 2009 1
Contents What is Voice Again 3 Setting Up Voice Again for the First Time 4 User-Interface Overview 5-6 Quick Start Tutorial 7-9 Importing Audio 10-15 Playlist Management 16-17 Track View: Playback and Navigation 19-20 Adjusting Speed and Pitch 21-22 Managing Annotations 22-25 Audio Settings 26 Working with Projects 27-28 Creating Audio Files 29-32 Customizing Voice Again Studio 33-34 Menu Functionality 35-37 2
What is Voice Again? Voice Again is a software tool designed to assist in analysis, transcription and documentation of voice recordings. The software can slow down or speed up a recording making it easier to transcribe interviews or dictations. It also allows for text annotation of the recording for convenient navigation to different parts of the recording. Users can import a variety of audio files into a project. In addition, audio can be imported directly from CD Audio. The advance noise reduction algorithm allows a user to clean-up distracting background noise in the audio. The Track View allows users to zoom-in the audio to provide better graphical details of the recording. The navigation controls allow users to quickly scroll and select a specific location in the audio. Playback controls allows users to listen to any portion of the recording. Voice Again provides advanced speed control tools which let a user slow down a recording up to 10 times. The speed modification algorithms are optimized for voice, providing a high degree of clarity. Slowing down audio makes it easier to listen to a fast-paced section of a recording that would be difficult to transcribe at normal speed. Annotation tools allow users to mark sections of a recording with text. This allows the user to put special notes in the timeline which make it easier for navigation. The annotations can also serve as a way of documenting a recording. In addition to playing back a recording, a user can render to a number audio formats. Currently Voice Again can produce Microsoft Wave (WAV), Ogg Vorbis (OGG) and Windows Media Format (WMA and WMV) content. 3
Setting Up Voice Again for the First Time System Requirements Window 2000/XP/XP64/Vista Pentium 4 1.0 GHz CPU 1.0 GB RAM 30 MB hard-disk space for program installation DirectX 8.0 Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0 16-bit Sound Card Speakers VGA Display Internet Connection Installation 1. Download the latest Voice Again installer program from our Website: http://www.screamingbee.com. 2. Double-click on the VoiceAgain_Install.exe icon to start the installation. 3. The Voice Again Setup Wizard will appear. Follow the wizard's instructions. 4
User-Interface Overview The Voice Again user interface consists of four main areas: the Playlist, Track View, Speed and Pitch controls and Audio Settings. Playlist The Playlist (#1) provides a list of audio files that have been loaded into the Voice Again project. You can add any number of audio files to the playlist. Clicking on an item in this list will load the audio information into the Track View. Track View The Track View (#2) provides you with a graphical view of the audio file. It provides a timeline of the recording as well as a way of navigating and playing back the audio. Zoom controls allow you to zoomin to increase the detail of the graphics for even more accurate navigation. 5
Navigation controls allow you to quickly move to different parts of the audio. Annotations show up as graphic markers in the Track View. You can add text to the annotations to assist in navigation. Once you have navigated to a certain location in the file, you can play back the audio either as singleshot or repeat. Combining repeated playback with the speed control allow you to listen and analyze the audio efficiently. Speed and Pitch Controls The Speed and Pitch Controls (#3) provide you with tools to change the speed or pitch of a recording. Slowing down a recording is especially useful for carefully analyzing audio for details that wouldn t be as easy at normal speeds. Speeding up a recording is useful in quickly skimming audio to save time. Pitch controls can be helpful for raising or lowering a voice for clarity. You can slow playback of recordings as much as a factor of 10X (10% normal). Typically slowing a voice recording by 2X (50% normal) to 4X (25% normal) can be very useful for listening to details. You can speed recordings as much as a factor of 6X (600% normal) to gloss over recordings in order to save time. Pitch can be modified by a factor of plus or minus two octaves. This provides you with a wide range of pitch shifting. You can also add Formant Correction option to maintain a more natural sound to the voice when shifting the pitch. Audio Settings The Audio Settings (#4) provides global audio volume and pan control. The volume control adjusts how loud Voice Again will output sound to your speakers. The pan control adjusts the relative left-to-right output for stereo recordings. 6
Quick Start Tutorial This guide will provide a brief introduction to Voice Again. It will provide an overview of the essential controls and functionality of the program. Starting Voice Again When you first start Voice Again, you will start with an empty project. Importing Audio into Playlist Voice again can import a variety of audio file formats including Microsoft Wave (WAV), Ogg Vorbis (OGG), Windows Media Format (WMA) and MP3 Audio (MP3). You can import audio into the playlist by clicking on the File>Import Audio menu item. This will launch the Import Audio Wizard which allows you to pick a file and optionally apply noise reduction. Once you finish the wizard, the audio file that you have chosen will be added to the playlist. 7
You can also import a file into the playlist by using the Add Audio button below the playlist control. This will add the audio file to the playlist without noise reduction. You can also add audio files to the playlist by drag and dropping the files from your desktop or any folder onto the playlist control. Playing Audio, Annotations and Navigation Click on an item in the Playlist to display the audio in the Track View. To play the audio, click on the Play All button on the bottom far left part of the Track View. This will start the playback of the audio. You should hear the audio play from your speakers and the Track View will display a blue cursor where it is currently playing the audio. You can stop the playback by clicking on the Stop button. You can select a section of the audio by left click dragging over the Track View. This will create a highlighted region that shows where you are selecting the audio. If you click the Play from selection button it will start playback at the beginning of the selection and play until the end of the selection. Clicking the Repeat button will allow you to loop playback in the selected region of the Track View. 8
Annotations help you organize the audio in the Track View into regions which you can optionally add textual information. To add an annotation, select the region you would like to create with your mouse. Next click on the Annotations>Add Annotation menu item. This will put marker flags in the selected region. To navigate forward and backward in the audio, use the Navigate Forward and Navigate Backward buttons which are located to the right of the Play and Stop buttons. This will let you move between annotations. You can also use the Go to Beginning and Go to End buttons to quickly go to the beginning or end of the audio. The Instant Replay button lets you move the play cursor back by 2 seconds. Modifying Speed and Pitch You can modify the speed of a recording by moving the Speed Control slider left (slower) or right (faster). You can also use the speed control buttons which range from 25% to 200% for changing the speed. Slowing down a recording is useful for picking up details in the audio that would not be easy to hear at normal speed. Increasing the speed of a recording allows you to save time by quickly scanning the audio. The Pitch Control lets you change how frequency or pitch the recording will be played back. You can change the recording up to minus or plus two octaves. This lets you lower a high voice or raise a low voice in order to improve intelligibility. Formant Correction provides a way of producing a more natural sounding voice during pitch shifting. Creating an Audio Files Voice Again can render to WAV, OGG, WMA formats. To render one or more of the items in the playlist to one of these media types, click on the File>Render Audio File menu. This will bring up a File Render Wizard dialog. This wizard will let you choose one or more of the playlist items, the audio format, and the folder where these files will be created. 9
Importing Audio Loading an Audio File To get started, simply click on the "File> Import File..." menu item. This will open the File Import Wizard dialog. Click on the Next button to continue in the Import Wizard. 10
Choose Audio File: Choose an audio file to import. The Import Wizard can read WAV, OGG, WMA and MP3 files. Click on the Add File button and choose a file. Click on the Next button to continue. 11
Import Settings: By selecting the "Apply Noise Reduction" option, the import wizard will apply a noise reduction filter to the audio. This is helpful for improving clarity of a recording that has background noise, hiss, or hum. You can also adjust the audio output volume for recordings that are too soft or too loud. The Preview Audio button lets you preview any changes that you make. Click the Next button to continue. 12
Import Progress: The Import Wizard will process the audio file. If you chose the "Apply Noise Reduction" option it may take a few minutes to finish all the tasks. 13
File Import Complete: The file import process should be complete. Click on the Finish button to complete the loading of the audio file into the Playlist. 14
Loading CD Audio To load audio from a compact disk, click on the "File> Import CD Audio..." menu item. This will open the CD Import dialog. If you have an Audio CD in your CD or DVD drive, you will see a list of files. If you are connected to the Internet, the CD Import dialog will do its best to retrieve title, artist and song information from public CD databases and display them in the user interface. Click on the checkbox next to the CD audio files that you want to import and click the OK button. The CD audio files will be added to the Playlist. 15
Playlist Management The Playlist is the panel in the upper left part of the main user-interface. It contains a list of audio files that you have imported into the program. If you click on an item in the Playlist, the audio information and graphic display is then loaded in the Track View. Audio Information You can also access and change information for a playlist item such as Title, Details, Author, Copyright, by clicking on the Tools>Audio Information menu item. This will display the Audio Information: 16
Noise Reduction You can apply noise reduction to any item in the Playlist. To access this feature, click on a playlist item. Next, choose the Tools>Noise Reduction menu item. This brings up the Noise Reduction dialog: Choose Noise Reduction Applied in the top combo-box control to apply noise reduction. You can select the strength of the noise reduction and choose the audio output volume. To listen to the changes, click the Preview Audio button. The Bypass option allows you to listen to the audio without any effects applied. The Reset button resets the values of noise reduction and audio output to the original values. If you want to remove noise reduction, choose Noise Reduction Off in the combo-box control. To complete the changes, click the OK button to begin processing the audio. Depending on the size of the audio file, it may take a number of minutes to complete the operation. 17
The Track View: Playback and Navigation The playback controls are simple to use and accessible from the Track View. In addition to the playback controls, the navigation controls provide an easy way of scanning through an audio file. Zoom controls provide a way of magnifying the graphics for improved accuracy in viewing and playing audio. Track View 1. Title Bar The title bar contains the title of the file that has been selected in the Playlist as well as the current location/time of the playback cursor. 2. Timeline track The timeline shows the graduated ruler with time markings. This is helpful in accurately setting the selection and annotation locations relative to the audio graphics. 3. Annotation track This contains any annotation markers which have been added to the Track View. You can add, remove and edit annotations by right clicking on this track and accessing the context menu. You also have access to the Annotation Manager which provides you with a list of annotations in a convenient list. 18
4. Audio track This area contains the graphics of the audio file. It provides feedback on where playback is occurring and allows for selection. Playback Controls 5. Toggle repeat Toggles repeat on playback. If this is toggled on then the playback will not stop but continue to play the selected region in the Track View repeatedly. 6. Play all This starts playback from the very beginning of the audio regardless of the selection. 7. Play from selection This starts playback from the beginning of the selected region. 8. Stop This stops playback and returns the cursor to where the playback first started. Navigation Controls 9. Instant replay This moves the playback cursor two seconds back. If the cursor is at the beginning of the audio track, then no movement occurs. 10. Go to beginning Moves the playback cursor to the beginning of the audio track. 11. Go to previous annotation Moves the playback cursor to the previous annotation marker; otherwise it moves the playback cursor to the beginning. 12. Go to next annotation Moves the playback cursor to the next annotation marker; otherwise it moves the playback cursor to the end. 13. Go to end Moves the playback cursor to the end of the audio track. 19
Zoom Controls 14. Zoom out Zooms the audio graphics out. 15. Zoom in Zooms the audio graphics in. 20
Adjusting Speed and Pitch Controlling Speed The speed control slows down or speeds up playback of an audio file. Slowing down the audio is very useful for transcribing a recording that would otherwise be too difficult if done at normal speed. For example, during an interview, the speaker might be speaking rapidly, making it a challenge for you to transcribe to text. Being able to slow down the rate at which the audio plays back will let you catch the speaker s words better. Speeding up audio is helpful if you just want to scan quickly forward through the recording in order to save time. It is also useful for long periods of silence that would otherwise consume time as you listen to a recording. The speed control consists of a slider that allows you to change the speed from very slow (Ten times slower or 10% speed) to very fast (Six time faster or 600% speed). It also contains speed buttons (25%, 50%, 100%, 150%, and 200%) that let you conveniently select specific preset speeds. At very slow speeds, a voice recording can become unintelligible due to dramatically stretching out of words. Intelligibility also suffers if you speed up a voice recording. The Smart Speed feature can improve intelligibility of a voice recording. To use this feature, click the Smart Time checkbox. Controlling Pitch The pitch control changes the pitch of the audio during playback either up or down. You may want to change the pitch of a recording up or down to improve intelligibility. A speaker in a recording may have a high, squeaky voice that is difficult to understand at that range. You can lower the voice in that instance. Another speaker may have a low voice or tendency to mumble. Raising the pitch slightly may help improve intelligibility in that case. 21
The pitch control consists of a slider that allows you to change the pitch of a recording by a factor of plus or minus two octaves. It also offers full Formant Correction, which can help to produce a more naturally sounding voice when changing the pitch. You can reset the pitch to neutral value (0.00) by clicking on the Reset button. 22
Managing Annotations Annotations provide a way of marking out relevant parts of an audio track with graphic flags and textual information. As you are transcribing a recording, annotations allow you to better keep track of parts of the recording that are important. By clearly marking regions of the recording with flags, you can quickly find sections of audio with just a single click of the mouse. During playback, you can conveniently navigate and review specific portions of the audio marked by the annotations. Adding Annotations To add an annotation, select a section of audio by left-click and dragging the mouse in the Track View. That will produce a rectangular highlighted area on the Track View. Next, click on the Annotation>Add Annotation menu item. Editing Annotations To edit an annotation, click on an annotation flag to select it. The number/index in the annotation flag should turn red indicating that the annotation is selected. Next, click on the Annotation>Edit Annotation menu item. This will open the Annotation Editor: 23
The Annotation Editor lets you change information about the annotation. This includes the name, which is the text that is displayed in the Track View. You can also add a description and modify the start and end time of the annotation region. After you edit, the Track View graphics will be updated. Removing Annotations To remove an annotation, click on an annotation flag to select it. The number/index in the annotation flag should turn red indicating that the annotation is selected. Next, click on the Annotation>Remove Annotation menu item. Annotation Manager To open the Annotation Manager, click on the Annotation>Annotation Manager menu item. The Annotation Manager displays a list of all annotations associated with an audio recording. In this display, you can select an annotation by left-clicking on an item in the list with your mouse. You also have the option of playing the audio associated with the annotation by clicking on the Play button. 24
You can also edit the annotation by clicking on the Edit toolbar button in the Annotation Manager. In addition, you can remove an annotation by clicking on the Delete toolbar button. Navigating with Annotations With the Annotation Manager open, you can simply click on an annotation in the list display and it will automatically navigate and select the associated region on the Track View. This makes it very convenient to find previously bookmarked parts of a recording. You can also use the Navigation buttons in the Track View or use the Navigation>Previous Annotation and Navigation>Next Annotation menu items to backward or forward between annotations. 25
Audio Settings Voice Again allows you to adjust global audio settings in the Audio Settings panel located in the lower left side of the user-interface. The volume meter provides a graphic display of the audio output when playing back a recording. The Volume slider lets you adjust the global output volume to your speakers, from soft to loud. To lower the volume, move the slider to the left (soft). To increase the volume, move the slider to the right (loud). The Pan slider lets you adjust the global mixture of left and right channels in a stereo recording. To shift the sound to the left speaker, move the slider to the left. To shift the sound to the right speaker, move the slider to the right. To reset the volume and pan controls to their original state, click on the Reset button. 26
Working with Projects Voice Again provides a way of saving any changes you make to the program into a project represented by a.vaproj file. The project file includes information such as audio files in the playlist, annotations, speed, pitch and noise reduction settings. The project file can be loaded into the Voice Again at a later time for full recovery of your last session. Creating a New Project To create a new project, choose the "File>New Project" menu item. This will launch the File Import Wizard which will walk you through the process of importing an audio file. Voice Again can import WAV, WMA, OGG and MP3 audio files. Please see documentation on Importing for further details. Saving a Project You can save the project using the "File>Save" menu item when it is available. This item is only available when you have made modifications to an existing project or have not yet saved a new project. You can also save a project at anytime using the "File>Save As..." menu item. This will bring up the Save As dialog which allows you to choose a file name for the project. Loading a Project You can load a project into Voice Again using the "File>Open Project..." menu item. This will launch the Open Project File dialog where you can choose a project file to load. You can also open a project that has been saved using the "File>Recent Projects" menu. This will contain a list of previously saved projects for convenient loading. Voice Again also has an option to automatically load the last used project when you start the program. To set or unset this option select the "File>Preferences..." menu item. The general preferences panel will have an "Open last project on start up" option. Check this on if you want the last project to load on start up. 27
Project Information To save relevant information about your project such as Title, Details, click on the "File>Project Information..." Title: Title of the project Details: Details about the project 28
Creating Audio Files You can render items in your playlist to audio files with the modifications you have made with regards to speed, pitch and noise reduction. This provides an effective tool for reviewing the modified audio or for creating multimedia content in other projects. File Export Wizard To create audio files, click on the File>Render Audio Files menu item. This will open the File Export Wizard. Click on the Next button to continue 29
Next, you will see a list of items from the playlist in this display. Choose which files you would like to export to audio. Click the Next button to continue. 30
Choose which audio format you would like to render your audio files to. Voice Again can render to Microsoft Wave (WAV), Ogg Vorbis (OGG), Windows Media Format (WMA). In this page you can also choose the export directory for the audio files. Click the Next button to begin rendering the audio files. The wizard will display a Render Progress page showing each audio file as it is being rendered. Once it as completed all tasks, it will automatically forward to the final page. 31
At the final page, you can review what audio files have been created. To open the directory containing the exported files, click on the Locate Exported Files button. 32
Customizing Voice Again Voice Again can be configured in many ways. This guide will give you a better understanding of how to customize your application. Preferences You can access preferences by selecting the menu item: "File> Preferences..." General These preferences control startup and graphic options. Show tip of the day: click on this checkbox to turn on and off tips. These appear on start up and provide useful hints on using Voice Again better. Open last project on startup: When Voice Again is opened it will load the last project that you opened or saved. Track Color Scheme: allows you to pick from a set the color schemes for the Track View. 33
Audio These preferences control the some overall audio settings for Voice Again. Temporary audio files folder: Choose the default folder for saving temporary audio files. Temporary files are used for improving playback performance and reducing project load time. Delete temporary files on close: Check this if you want to delete temporary files on close of the program. If you choose this option then project load will take significantly longer. Use Smart Time feature by default: Choose this option if you want to use the Smart Time feature as a default setting when importing new audio files. 34
Menu Functionality File Menu New Project: creates a new Voice Again project and provides a wizard for importing an audio file. Open Project: opens a Voice Again project file. Save Project: saves a modified Voice Again project. Save Project As: saves a new Voice Again project or allows you to save an existing Voice Again project to a different file name. Project Information: provides information on title and description for a Voice Again project. Import File: provides a wizard for importing audio files into your project. Import Audio CD: imports CD audio from audio compact discs. Render Audio Files: renders new audio files from your playlist with modifications to speed, pitch and noise reduction. Preferences: provides users specified preferences for Voice Again. Recent Projects: shows the most recently used Voice Again project files for convenient loading. Exit: exits Voice Again. Annotations Menu Add Annotation: adds a new annotation to the Track View. Edit Annotation: opens the Annotation Editor which allows you to edit the annotation text and time information. Remove Annotation: deletes an annotation selected in the Track View. Annotation Manager: launches the Annotation Manager. 35
Tools Menu Decrease Speed: decreases the speed control by one unit. Reset Speed: resets the speed control to 100% (neutral). Increase Speed: increases the speed control by one unit. Decrease Pitch: decreases the pitch control by one unit. Reset Pitch: resets the pitch control to zero (neutral). Increase Pitch: increases the pitch control by one unit. Formant Correction: toggles formant correction on or off. Audio Information: opens the Audio Information dialog for the selected item in the playlist. Noise Reduction: opens the Noise Reduction dialog for the selected item in the playlist. Navigation Menu Toggle Repeat: toggles playback repeat in the Track View. Play All: plays the entire audio track. Play from Selection: plays the audio track from the start of selection until the end of selection. Stop Playing: stops the audio playback. Instant Replay: moves the playback cursor back by two seconds. Go to Beginning: moves the playback selection to the beginning of the audio track. Previous Annotation: moves the playback selection to the previous annotation location. Next Annotation: moves the playback selection to the next annotation location. Go to End: moves the playback selection to the end of the audio track. Zoom in: zooms in the audio track. Zoom out: zooms out the audio track. Reset zoom: resets the zoom to the original state. 36
Help Menu About: Information about Voice Again. Purchase: Provides link to Web page for purchasing Voice Again. This link will be hidden once Voice Again has been purchased. Check for new version: Checks for available updates for Voice Again. Screaming Bee Home Page: Launches a Web browser to the Screaming Bee home page. Support: Links to customer support and FAQ. Help: Link to online help page. 37