Designing Web Audio & CD-ROM: RealAudio, MP3, Flash and Beatnik

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.

Josh Beggs is co-founder and president of Raspberry Media, a Design Firm in the San Francisco Bay Area specializing in Web-smart architecture, interface design, and brand development for Internet start-ups. Josh began his career in the multimedia industry as a recording engineer and sound designer. In 1995 he produced the interactive soundtrack for EMI Records flagship CD-ROM, Queensrÿche's "Promised Land." After receiving impressive reviews from Billboard Magazine (March 1996) for the soundtrack, Josh went on to explore interactive media design with Raspberry Media. In addition to designing some of the top Web sites on the Internet, he also follows his musical passions as a pianist and recording artist.

Dylan Thede's multimedia experience began in the cultural mecca of the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985. At a young age, he was designing sound systems and multimedia presentations for the University of California at Berkeley. At the University of California at Santa Cruz, Dylan became a pioneer in the emerging fields of Digital Audio, Digital Video, and Multimedia and later graduated with a degree in Multimedia and Psychology. He was one of the pioneers in web design when the World Wide Web burst onto the scene in 1994. In 1995, Dylan founded AudioVisualize, a multimedia consulting company that caters to companies who wish to implement multimedia into their web sites and corporate operations. Besides writing and creating multimedia projects, he is also a musician and is currently composing and recording music for an upcoming multimedia CD release. Dylan can be reached at dylan@usa.net.