Hands-On: Flash MX 2004 Working with Sound File

Exercise 23: Publishing Documents Containing Audio Files

The process of publishing a Flash document is relatively painless; however, there are a few considerations as to the compression of the files, which will be important to the size and playability of the Flash movie. Also note, you cannot publish a Flash movie with audio files that are better quality than the originals, increasing the bit rate of an MP3 from 16kbps to that of 48kbps does not create a better quality audio file. To increase the quality of the file requires the use of an audio application, such as Sound Forge. Using a couple of the previous exercises let’s set their Publish settings.

1. Open the last exercise, sound-envelope.fla, and then sound-loops.fla for this exercise.
2. Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
3. Click the Flash tab.
4. Click the Set buttons for either Audio Stream or Audio Event.

When you set for Audio Stream, Flash will preload only a small portion of the sound file before it begins playing, as it is playing, Flash will send the balance of the sound file so there is minimal waiting.
When you set for Audio Event, Flash will play the sound when the play head reaches the Frame containing the sound file. If there is another Frame loaded with another sound file, both sound files will play on top of each other.

5. Click the Compression popup, and then select from the following options:
• Disable . Turns off all sound compression options, and instructs Flash not to export sounds.
• ADPCM . Performs minor compression to the audio files.
• MP3 . Creates audio files, especially music files with excellent quality in a small file size.
• Raw . Leaves the sounds intact without any compression schemes applied.
• Speech . Creates optimized files for the human voice.
6. Select the Convert Stereo to Mono checkbox for the ADPCM and Raw compression formats.
7. Based upon the Compression selections from step 6, select the following options:



• Sample Rate . Available for ADPCM, Raw, and Speech compression. The higher the sample rate the better the quality, but the bigger the file.
• ADPCM bits . Higher bit values translate into better quality audio, but larger file sizes.
• Quality . Available for MP3 compression. The best option gives the finest quality, but produces a larger file.
• Bit Rate . Available for MP3 compression. The higher the value the better the quality and the bigger the file.
8. Click OK.
9. You can select the Override Sound Setting check box to take control over the individual settings applied to the audio files.
10. Click OK.
11. Repeat this process for the other sound file you created.
12. Save both files.