# Editing audio timing

Captivate lets you edit the timing of audio files after you record or import them. Having control over the timing of audio files gives you the ability to use audio files of different lengths and incorporate them smoothly into movies.

After you record or import an audio file, the file appears as a waveform in the Edit audio timing dialog box. If your project contains multiple audio files, you can see which audio files are assigned to specific slides.

#### To edit audio timing:

1. Open a Captivate project containing one or more audio files.

2. From the Audio menu, select Edit timing.

The Edit Audio Timing dialog box appears.

Any audio files incorporated into the Captivate project are displayed as waveforms. Slide numbers are shown along the top of the waveform so can see exactly how the audio files are currently distributed across the slides.

- To change how audio files are distributed across slides, click on a slide divider at the top of a red slide marker line and slide the divider to the left or right. The waveform remains static, but you change where the audio file begins to play within the Captivate movie. This option is particularly useful if you have a long audio file and need to experiment with assigning the file to one slide or having it play over multiple slides.

- To listen to audio, click on a location within the waveform and then click Play . The audio plays from the location you selected to the end of all audio in the movie. (You can stop the playback at any time by clicking Stop .)

- To zoom in on a particular area of the waveform, click on the waveform and the click zoom in or zoom out . (Alternatively, click in the waveform and roll your mouse wheel to zoom in and out). The scale at which you are viewing the waveform is shown in the Scale information box near the lower-right corner of the dialog box.

- To cut or copy and paste audio, select a section of an audio file directly on the waveform, click Cut or Copy , click on a different location on the waveform, and click Paste .

- To delete audio, select a section of an audio file directly on the waveform and click Delete .

- You can insert a silent period within an audio file. If you want the silent period to begin in a specific location within an audio file, click the location directly on the waveform. Click Insert silence. Type in the length of the silent period you want to add and then click on the pop-up menu to select a location for the silent period: the location you clicked on the waveform, the beginning of audio, or the end of audio.

- To adjust the sound level of audio files, click Adjust volume. Use the slider bar to increase or decrease volume and select audio processing options.

  Normalize: Select this option to have Captivate adjust the sound volume automatically. Normalizing audio helps keep the sound level consistent among slides.

  Dynamics: Select this option to amplify quiet sections of the audio to help compensate for variations in audio volume.

  Ratio: Specifies the maximum amplification to be used. The default setting of 2.0 sets the quietest sections of the audio to be amplified by a factor of 2. A higher setting can improve movies with large differences between quiet and loud sections, but can also amplify background noise.

  Noise Threshold: Controls the amplification of background noise. Anything quieter than the noise threshold is not amplified. If background noise is amplified too much, setting a higher noise threshold may help solve the problem. (The Dynamics option does not work well with high noise levels.)

- To set recording device and audio quality options, click Options.

- To add a new audio file, click on a location within the waveform, select Import (lower-left corner), navigate to a file, and click Open. The audio file is imported directly into the Captivate movie in the location you specified.