CHAPTER 12: Digital Audio: Providing Aural Feedback for UI Designs Using SoundPool 451Digital Audio Optimization: Concepts & Formats
Let’s launch Audacity 2.0.5 by clicking the Quick Launch icon on your Taskbar, and use the
File ➤ Open menu command sequence to open the 393KB button_sound_effect.wav file from
the book assets repository.
The first time you open (or more accurately “import”) a Wave file format, you’ll get the Warning
dialog shown in Figure 12-5. Select the Make a copy of the files before editing (safer) radio button
option, then select the Don’t warn again and always use my choice above check box, and click
on the OK button to load the sample.
Figure 12-5. The importing compressed audio files Warning dialog
Using these audio file import settings, and using a copy of the file, instead of the actual file itself,
is called non-destructive audio editing, and is a common practice in the digital audio editing and
special effects industry.
The reason for using non-destructive audio editing practices is because if you mess up in your audio
sweetening and special effects application and damage the audio data, you can always go back to
square one by going back to loading the original audio data.
Once the button_sound_effect.wav sample data is loaded into Audacity 2.0.5, you will see a screen
exactly like the one shown in Figure 12-6. The upper-left corner contains the audio transport
controls, including pause, play, stop, back, forward, and record. Right next to that are the editing
tools, and on the far right are the level meters which will show green, yellow, and red signal peak
indicators when your audio is playing.