I’m not being paid to write this, I’m writing this because I love these essential tools. I am not getting compensated at all and only do this to share with the world.

One of the most essential tools to us is SmartSound SonicFire Pro 5. I used this program in Pinnacle Studio and you can see it in earlier 7 O’Clock News episodes. I also have used it in some of my ads and videos. It is even used for the opening to The 7 O’Clock News. We are beginning to use it for even more of our projects. This tool is amazing and I’ll explain why.

Say your producing video, audio, or any other type of multimedia. You finish your project and want to add a little spice and flavor. You find a piece of music, but it’s too long or it’s too short. Or the instruments are too noisy during a piece of dialogue. With SmartSound you can find a piece of music and then trim it to the exact time of your clip. The music then rearranges your music’s composition and makes it so it’s not just repeating the same loop over. It varies the music. All of their newer pieces allow you to alter the actual instrument groups. You can set a mood of dialogue by selecting a preset (you can also modify the presets even further) and your music is quieter during the dialogue with reduced guitar or drums and is back to business afterwards. This has been a great tool for us and adds a lot to the feel of the media.

You also do not have to worry about licensing or royalties because the music comes royalty-free at a pretty affordable price. If you need a cue sheet to prove what you use-SonicFire will output it for you with the length, the time the audio came in and who is the composer and publisher. This is great for legal purposes.

You can also use SonicFire for sound effects, they have really high quality sound effects, and you can add hits to your music like cymbal crashes, drums, etc.

The program has an immense database of songs and you can always look for another piece of music if something doesn’t fit your project. The library keeps growing every month and are always high quality pieces. There is also a wide variety of music types and choices. The music never seems cheap to me and some people have asked me how I got such a high quality and customized piece of music on our budget.

If you would like to learn more about SmartSound SonicFire Pro 5, visit http://smartsound.com/ (not an affiliate link). I hope this tool proves to be as useful to you as it is to us.

Podcasting at it’s root is the process of creating audio/video and putting it into an RSS (Really Simple Syndication). The feed is then added to iTunes, a podcast site or anywhere people wish to view the file.

The reason a feed with media is important is because, in my opinion, when you create a podcast-your “cast”ing out a “pod”. The pod can be an audio or video file and then a podcatcher, like the ones I mentioned above, retrieve the podcast file and present it to the viewer. This separates podcasts from simply streaming the video file or posting it on a webpage. This doesn’t mean that you can’t also stream the media or post it on a webpage. We do this on all of our podcast pages, you can get a podcast feed AND also view the video/audio in the post.

What you can create a podcast for is up to you! The format of it is up to you! There are guidelines,  BUT these are only advice to help you make the best podcasting experience. The medium is always evolving and what may be true at one point-may be false later on. You can make a podcast about anything and for any purpose. You can make a podcast for fun or for profit. You can make a podcast discussing a fansite or use it promote a new book you’re working on. What you do with podcasts is up to you! The field is so vast, there’s no end to the opportunities!

In closing, a podcast is media that travels through a feed to the user and then the user catches it however they wish. You can do anything with podcasting and the field is always changing. So go on out and make a podcast! Let me know what your podcast is and I’d be happy to check it out! You never know, I may just add it to iTunes.