Frequently Asked Questions

Q: "Where do you get all these files?"

A: Every one of the WAV files on my website I made myself, on my own system. None of the files were downloaded from other locations and then claimed as my own - I have my own preferred way of generating sound files, and take pride in producing quality files.

Q: "How do you make WAV files?"

A: Making your own WAV files is quite simple. All you need is a sound card and a video cassette recorder. Since you need a sound card to hear them, you probably have everything you need already. Simply run a cable from the AUDIO OUT jack on your VCR to the LINE IN jack on your sound card. If you have a stereo video card and a stereo VCR, you will need a stereo RCA cable and a stereo RCA female to stereo miniature male adaptor. Connecting everything is quite simple. If you aren't very handy with electronics, there isn't much to worry about, there is nothing you can do that will do damage to either your VCR or computer. If you are still nervous about trying this yourself, find someone that knows a bit about stereos.

To make your own WAVs, you need some recording and editing software. If you have a Sound Blaster, Creative includes an excellent program called Wave Studio with the sound card. This is the program I use, and I have yet to find anything that even comes close. Wave Studio should work with any sound card, not just the Sound Blaster.

The best way to learn how to do this is to just go ahead and try it. All the functions of Wave Studio are quite self-explanatory, and with a little practice, you can soon be producing high quality WAV files.

Here are a few tips for making good quality files:

• When recording from your external source, watch the recording levels. Don't let them go too high, otherwise you end up with distortion. If you are using Wave Studio, when you go to start recording, you are shown a sound level indicator. If the level is hitting the extreme right a lot, your levels are too high. Use your mixer program to adjust the line in level until it is peaking near the upper limit, but not hitting it. Once you have adjusted your levels, try recording a short segment. After you hit the stop button, a graphic representation of what you just recorded is drawn at the bottom of your Wave Studio window. If it fits well into the window without hitting the top and bottom, your levels are good. If you get a lot of peaking, your levels are too high. If you play back your sample, you will hear the distortion. Lower your Line In level and try again.
• After you have done your editing, use the Fade In and Fade Out functions of Wave Studio at either end of your file. This will eliminate annoying pops at the start and end of your files.
• If your sound file is recorded at a low sound level, use the Amplify Volume feature of Wave Studio - newer versions have a function called Normalize, which does this automatically - to bring the levels up to near peak. Too many times have I seen files that have sound levels too low that you have to turn up the volume to hear it. Then later, when you play something else and forget to turn down your volume, you get blasted!

Q: "Do you take requests?"

A: Yes. E-mail me with what it is you are looking for. Please be as specific as possible, and include the name of the cartoon if you can. This makes it much easier for me to find it, in case I don't know it offhand. I don't have every cartoon made, but I do have a very large collection of them, most of them are already recorded and stored on my system in WAV file format. I also have a huge collection of MPEGs that I can easily extract the audio from. Usually, to complete a request, all I have to do is load the soundtrack for that cartoon into my editor, and extract what it is you are looking for. You must bear with me though, because time is quite limited for me lately, and sometimes my e-mail gets several weeks behind.

Q: "I can listen to the sound files while on line, but how do I download them so I can use them on my own computer?"

A: By right-clicking on the desired file you will have the option of "Save target as...". You can then save the file to any directory you choose. You can also browse your Temporary Internet Files folder and copy them from there if you have been just listening to them.

Q: "Do you have an anonymous FTP site?"

A: No. The internet service provider that hosts my website does not have a public access anonymous FTP service, and I cannot run one of my own because my ISP does not allow it. They make it impossible to do it anyway by changing the IP address regularly. An alternative to downloading by FTP is to install a download manager program such as GoZilla. They have the ability to scan a website for downloadable files, and give you a list from which you can select all the files you want and download them in a single operation.