Here's a list of the updates, provided by Joel Harband of Tuval Software:
Bundled Premium TTS Voices: In addition to SpeechOver, a software for generating narration in PowerPoint presentations with text-to-speech voices -- customers receive a high-quality, natural sounding text-to-speech voice that is automatically installed for immediate use with SpeechOver. This is a marked improvement over the regular version of SpeechOver, which comes only with the basic quality text-to-speech voices provided free by Microsoft.
Low Cost Commercial License: The Acapela TTS voices in Speech-Over Plus come with a commercial license that allows you to produce narrated presentations for internal business requirements such as corporate education and training, e-learning, and marketing presentations, -- and you can put the material on an internal corporate network. For the price, this is an excellent value and can help businesses save costs in these difficult economic times.
Additional Voices and Languages: Acapela Group produces 50 premium TTS voices in 25 languages. Right now, US English and Danish versions of SpeechOver Plus are available and different language versions are being added all the time. A basic language version includes one TTS voice in that language (for example, the US English version includes Heather) and TTS voices in the same language or in different languages can be purchased and added to the basic version. In fact, any vendor voice can be added as long as it is SAPI-compatible.
A good source of high quality music is something anyone who works with multimedia can use -- for sound scores in PowerPoint presentations, as animation sounds, or for use in Flash and video-editing. RoyaltyFreeMusic.com is a site that provides plenty of high quality music that can be bought using either a subscription model, CDs or individual tracks.
Mike Bielenberg (pictured to the right) is general manager/musician for Jupitertunes, a division of Jupitermedia Corp. He is the original founder of www.BBM.net, an online music library created for Flash, PowerPoint and web professionals. He is based in Atlanta.
Geetesh: Tell us more about RoyaltyFreeMusic and its music collection.
Mike: With over 8,000 instrumental songs and 10,000 sound effects, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com is currently the world's largest online collection of what is called "buyout music" or "stock music". "Royalty free" means you only pay once and can use it again and again in commercial projects.
Although our subscriptions are a great bargain, anyone and everyone can listen to the tracks in our library, use a credit card or PayPal to buy a single track and download it in either WAV or MP3 format. Our friendly staff is available by day to help people with their purchases and choose music for them.
Geetesh: In your opinion, what genre of music works best in PowerPoint presentations?
Mike: You can never go wrong with an upbeat classical piece or an ambient electronica track. So few PowerPoint users actually employ music I think you're already ahead of the game by having music at all (as long as it's legal!)
But really, it's not about genres. That's too limiting. It's more about tempo and emotions. Many online music libraries now let you search for music based on both tempo and/or emotion. I think that's much more liberating than limiting yourself to just classical or techno.
If I'm watching a PowerPoint presentation, I'm there to learn something. That's a very state of mind for me than passively watching television. So, for PowerPoint, the music really has a different job to do. It has to:
Prepare minds for learning and
Tell those people how to feel about the subject matter.
Satisfying #1 usually means picking something with a fairly brisk tempo. Satisfying #2 completely depends on your subject matter, but I find it's usually something positive and inspiring. I think one of our best CDs for this requirements is Background Music for the Digital Age (#SCUND07)
Joel Harband heads Tuval Software Industries, based in Israel. Their best known product is Speech-Over Studio, a PowerPoint add-in that enables PowerPoint slides to incorporate narrations using automated voices.
Geetesh: Tell us more about this new update to Speech-Over.
Joel: Microphone recording and prerecorded files can now be used in addition to text-to-speech (TTS) voices to add narration to PowerPoint presentations -- substantially broadening the product’s applications. Also, you can now add narration clips to slides without attaching them to objects -– good for general topics like introduction and summary.
Speaking about recording, many people ask us: PowerPoint can already add voice recordings to presentations with the Record Narration function, why would I need Speech-Over? The answer is that Record Narration lets you add a voice track to a slide, and that’s fine for static slides. However, when objects on the slides are animated, you want to be able to easily synchronize the voices with the animations to achieve an effective multi-media, movie-like presentation. Speech-Over provides the solution: it delivers a voice track that is perfectly synchronized with the animations. Using a unique technology that adds voice clips directly to animated objects, it synchs voice media effects with the objects’ animation effects. And it’s easy to use: Speech-Over works in PowerPoint design mode and integrates with PowerPoint functions. Users can preview the results immediately in slide show mode. Its voice editing commands change the voice track without re-recording.
In another recent development, designers that want to add voices to PowerPoint-based Flash presentations are finding it easier to add voices to the presentations with Speech-Over before converting them to Flash. The voice track is automatically converted by the PPT2Flash conversion tools.
Speech-Over includes the basic Microsoft TTS voices free, and is now available in the Speech-Over Premium Voice Package, which includes the NeoSpeech premium voices Paul and Kate.
Geetesh: Can you share some case studies of people using Speech-Over.
Joel: Here are three case studies, each showing a different application of Speech-Over.
On-Line University Courses -- Charles Nippert, an engineering professor at Widener University in Pennsylvania, uses Speech-Over to provide on-line demonstrations for his students quickly and economically. Professor Nippert explained that he posts the PowerPoint presentations on his site without converting them to Flash since his students can download them quickly with their fast connections.
High School Special Education -- Bjarne Lund Henneberg, a high school educator at the Emmerske Efterskole in Tonder, Denmark, pioneered using Speech-Over to add voices (in Danish) to his driving theory course for young people with reading difficulties. The PowerPoint presentation displays the course text on the screen and as the students try to read the text, they hear a voice speaking it aloud, which greatly helps them to understand. Bjarne’s course kills two birds with one stone: the students pass the driving test - and learn how to read in the process.
Industrial Training -- Daniel Moreno, complex maintenance trainer at Tyson Fresh Meats in Holcomb, Kansas uses the software with text-to-speech voices to train employees. The employees view the audio-visual presentations he creates and it’s easy for him to keep presentations up to date by just editing text.
Voice-over artist Rodney Saulsberry has put up some great voice-over warmup excercises on YouTube -- these vocal warmup videos will help you tone your voice before that important presentation you need to deliver -- or an important meeting.
Dick Rodstein is is an international award-winning voice-over narrator who is based in New York City but serves business clients all over the world. His website, includes audio samples of his work and the Notorious List of 114 Character Voices.
Geetesh: Tell us more about yourself and your voice-overs.
Dick: Corporate communications have always been at the core of my voice-over work. I love narrating TV documentaries and some other assignments have been a lot of fun, like playing Orson Welles in the 60th Anniversary "War of the Worlds" broadcast. But business always needs to speak to consumers and to other businesses, and that's what I've been doing for my whole professional life.
The delivery process has changed over the years, as technology has given us new ways of communicating with each other, but the content has not changed nearly as much. I've narrated literally over 10,000 pieces of business communication, one way or another, so I'm familiar with the kinds of messages the workplace likes to get out.
What is especially new these days is the global reach that the Internet makes possible. Recently, I've been able to help businesses in Macau, Jakarta, Nairobi, Hyderabad, Tel Aviv, London, Dublin and Stockholm by narrating their presentations for U.S. and Canadian audiences. And all from emailed scripts recorded in my home studio.
Geetesh: Tell us more about situations in which using voice-overs in PowerPoint can be beneficial, and add value to a presentation.
Dick: PowerPoint has democratized the communications process. Instead of going to a media guru with mysterious skills and uncomfortable budgets, now anyone can put together an effective sales presentation from their office cubicle or their kitchen table at home. And indeed, there are times when it is enough to show a succession of graphics while offering your own commentary live to your audience.
However, there are other times when you might not be the most persuasive voice to drive your own message. Trade show presentations, websites, instructional or motivational communications can all benefit from the use of a professional narrator. We've all suffered from watching beautiful visual presentations rendered ineffective by stumbling or self-conscious voice tracks. It's the function of a narration to increase understanding, not to impede it.
Sometimes your message is too important not to maximize the effectiveness of every element in your presentation. One way to do that is to hire a professional narrator who knows how to sell without seeming to sell, balancing the emotional sizzle and the informational steak of your presentation with deftness and security.
PowerPoint gives you the ability to add sound to your slideshow. There are simple instructions in the help menu and more elaborate tips and tricks on websites. The more important your show, the more you should consider hiring a pro to narrate your script. We're trained and experienced in getting your points across. If a lot is at stake, your investment in a professional narrator will pay you back many times over.
Do you like to insert music tracks in your PowerPoint slides? Or do you have serious doubts about the effectiveness of doing so? I know that many of you would love to use a collection of soft and understated royalty free music tracks within your PowerPoint presentations -- at least for some presentations if not all. And yet I know that there are some of you who are not ready to take the plunge and put in some music within a PowerPoint!
So, should you use music in a PowerPoint presentation or not? Colin Adams of IndigoRose who creates the Liquid Cabaret collection of music tracks did say in an earlier blog post that "What's the line? "Say it with music." We think that a great presentation is enhanced by a great soundtrack. Whether you want to set a mood, match a "theme" or key concept in your presentation, or just add interest and make things more dynamic, music is the way to go".
I was doing a review of a collection of music tracks for PowerPoint, and I decided I did not want to explain the entire process of inserting sounds within PowerPoint slides on a review page. So I did the next best thing: a new page in Indezine's Learn section that shows you how you can insert sound within PowerPoint. This covers PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Vivian MacPartland (no -- that's not her picture, she calls it her avatar) is part of Business Development at Opuzz, a source for royalty free music. Opuzz customers includes corporations and businesses, educators, producers, TV and radio networks, developers for web, games and multimedia, retailers and business owners and others. In this conversation, Vivian discusses Opuzz, their music, and the use of music tracks in PowerPoint presentations.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Opuzz and how it evolved.
Vivian: Let me start by telling you how Opuzz is different -- one main feature of the Opuzz Royalty Free Music Library is our consistency in providing multiple edit versions options and music loops which gives our clients flexibility where needed. That way, they can mix and match, insert transitional stinger intros and outros, as well as clearly define segments of their presentation with appropriate music. Every track in our stock music library is available in edit versions of 10, 15, 30, 60 seconds, full mix, alternate mixes, stingers and multiple loop versions.
Application wise, you can use say a Blues 30 second track as your introduction piece followed by a stinger for the transition to the body of your presentation. Then, use a Loop A version of the same track for section A, Loop B for section B and Loop C version for section C of your presentation. At every transition point, you can use our stinger version to indicate a change in the section. End with a 15 second track of the same track. Voila! That truly will make your presentation sound custom and cohesive.
We also offer music in a wide range of musical genre from commonly use electronic music for presentations to dramatic orchestral themes, pop music, rock, classical, world and more. Music loops are commonly use for web or PowerPoint for their small file size and seamless 'loopabilty'. Music loops allow presenters to take their time and not rush through their slide yet having music accompanying them. Our music loops are quality loops that are not too short so they don't sound monotonous. They approximately 8-30 seconds long.
Our royalty free music is readily available in WAV & MP3 file formats at affordable prices starting from $2.99 and can go as low as a couple of cents for bulk purchases. We offer high-quality royalty free music as immediate downloads, CDs or DVDs. We have recently released our Opuzz Hard Drive option for power users. It is pack with our complete library and all edit versions of over 100 CDs. With over 13,000 track on a cool stylish yet rugged 80GB LaCie mobile drive (design by F.A. Porsche), this ultra-lightweight portable hard drive weighs only 180g and fits snugly on your palm. It also comes with both USB and Firewire connectivity and is plug-and-play for Windows XP/2000 and MAC OS X. Treat it like your personal/corporate library for legal royalty free music. We will have an option in future to update hard drives with latest releases. This will be announced at a future date.
Geetesh: How can sound enrich a PowerPoint presentation -- and what guidelines should one follow when using music within a presentation.
Vivian: PowerPoint presentations are critical components of many successful businesses. Appropriate music or 'soundtracks' can enrich these presentations, thus not only bring life to your presentation but also capture your audience's attention. Presenters everywhere are discovering that affordable, royalty free PowerPoint presentation music is the perfect choice to fulfill their business needs. Music in general is a creative tool so don't be over cautious or be over-governing by imposing too many rules. However some guidelines in presentations are recommended.
If your presentation is of a more serious tone, be sure to use the appropriate music or mix. For instance, if you like a music track we have in our library but find it a little too 'busy', do look out for our 'Alternate-Mixes'. These edits are of the same flavor but usually have less instrumentation and therefore sound more subdued or 'less busy'.
Music can also be used to effectively segment your presentation. You may want to break your 'story' into several segments since audiences tend to better follow your message if it is presented in 'digestable' portions. Use 'Stingers' to help in segmentizing your presentations. "Stingers" are edits from the full track and just a few seconds long -- they can be effectively used as intros, during scene changes, or endings ("outros").
Music is meant to complement your presentations, and add life to it -- but don't let it overpower your message. When fitted well together, music will surely enhance your presentation -- it also tells your audience that you have put in extra effort when preparing your presentation. One last but very important guideline is to remember to have fun when adding music to your presentations. Remember to visit the Opuzz site for royalty free music for your PowerPoint presentations.
If I'm watching a PowerPoint presentation, I'm there to learn something. That's a very state of mind for me than passively watching television. So, for PowerPoint, the music really has a different job to do. It has to:
