program to combine photos and sound

You’ll need a seperate program to edit the audio, then import it to soundslides to do your slideshow.

At the paper we use audacity, it’s a free open-source program. It seems a bit complicated at first, but works well and is quite powerful. You can handle multiple tracks of audio, adjust the volume as needed for various parts, and pretty much do anything with sound that you can imagine.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Only way I know of to do good audio AND slideshow in one program is final cut, but as you said that will involve quite a learning curve. Good luck!

Have you considered ulead video studio. I use it to edit pictures and video on to a song but it could be used to do what you want, I think. It’s a really easy program and if you stil encounter a problem, there’s a clear helpguide with it.

I don’t know where you can find it but if you look a little bit on the internet, I’m sure you’ll track it down in no-time.

Good luck

since you’re on a mac platform, why not use garageband? it’ll offer you all you need in terms of sound control…once you’ve done that, migrate the sound file to Soundslides along with your photos. that may be the simplest and quickest.

Garageband and SoundSlides Pro (even with its limitations) is the way to go if you’re in a hurry. You can check here
John

pinnacle studio plus is easy-peasy. V. good audio control, good fade quality. One day and you will have it down.

not sure on price though. you can probably find it online for nicks.

Thanks to all for the advice. And maybe some comment: I have the impression that Soundslides is only for the web, not for a presentation via a beamer.

According to info on the web, Pinnacle has some serious flaws. One example:
‘-The good: Simple interface for such as a complex program; useful and fun assortment of transitions and effects; can create pan-and-zoom slide shows; imports HDV.
- The bad: Relatively slow and unstable; limited to three tracks of video and four of audio; DivX and MPEG-4 support costs extra.
- The bottom line: Avid Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 deftly straddles the line between simple and complex video editors, though not without some serious performance issues.
Avid Pinnacle Studio Plus 10 does its best to erase the distinctions between consumer and prosumer video-editing tools by delivering flexible tools for both. But it spreads itself too thin, making it the also-ran for either market: Ulead Video Studio 9 is a smarter option for video newbies who want to dive right in, while Adobe’s impressive Premiere Elements 2 offers more precise control and professional-level features for those who will take the time to learn them.’

Also, it’s not suitable for my need, because I cannot download it; they only ship it as a dvd – and my show is in a week, and not in my home town.

ULead is only for Windows, I work on a Mac.

Audacity: I already have a ‘sound-only’ program. Noah, I get the impression that you are right and that Final Cut is the only option – but not for now, because of the complexity.

All in all, in the short run I can’t seem to find, get and/or master a program in which I can work on the sound while at the same time seeing the photos, so really adapting sound to images.
Any other suggestions are most appreciated.

Best regards,
Jan

Here is my thought, Jan, FWIW.

I know Utrecht is not Amsterdam (though I remember it being only a short train ride), but can’t you find someone to help you with Final Cut? When I was there a couple of decades ago Utrecht was a university town, as I recall. I don’t think they have closed that so surely some student-type can be found who will be familiar with the complexities of this program. This may be worth hiring someone for a couple of hours to get it done.

Jan,

You may want to check Fotomagico:

http://boinx.com/fotomagico/features/

I have never understood all the buzz around SoundSlides. It’s not a true Mac app (I think it’s built in Flash or something like that), it’s clunky and pretty slow and doesn’t take benefit of all the core technology of MacOS X. Apps like Fotomagico (and others) are far more useful, integrate seamlessly with apps like iPhoto or Aperture and are in a similar price range.

PhotoPresenter it’s easy app and cost almost nothing http://www.arizona-software.ch/

macromedia flash.
it’s simple and easy :). or you can use adobe premiere 6.0

Well, I don’t know if I would describe flash as “simple and easy”… I would suggest using either the garageband and soundslides approach or a freeware audio editing software like Audaucity or Amadeus and the importing your audio into Soundslides when it is ready.

Good luck!

Soundslides Pro has an optional plugin, which makes it possible to export the flash presentation to several kinds of output types like Quicktime.

Here’s the link with more info: http://www2.soundslides.com/support/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=41

I would say, Final cut pro is the way forward with this and it does take a bit of time to get used to but its worth the wait.

http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/tutorials/

Soundslides appears to be the most fundamental app for multimedia slide show units of newspapers in U.S… got that way in only a couple of years…said to be the standard for multimedia portfolios (DVDs)

Personal preferences for Mac apps seems a distraction if it’s true that clients want Soundslides.

See dozens of examples at www.soundslides.com

Clients want good photographs not Soundslides or whatever.

I 2nd the choice of FotoMagico.. (www.boinx.com) it has a 5 day free trial, it is easy to use and you can make critical timing of multiple audio components to images with cross dissolve’s/fade through black transitions.. you can export in a variety of ways including a standalone app (MAC ONLY) that self destructs after x plays or x date..

ProShowProducer is probably the best compromise between simplicity and good quality. I’m using it and it works just fine. You have control over sound and a vast number of effects you can apply to your pictures. Try it!

Magnum and other agencies, many galleries, virtually all significant print publications have photo/sound online today. They use various sound/photo core products in combination, as well as proprietary apps. Soundslides.com portfolios shows examples of publications (smaller ones evidently) that use Soundslides in combination. Journalism degrees seem always to require online sound, digital still, and video skills today.

Virtually no print publication is betting entirely on print in the future and various significant, old newspapers in US have abandoned print entirely. New York Times offers new sound/slide presentations every week.

I use fotomagico boinx
http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/overview/
It’s easy to use and not so expensive and you can save your slideshow in hd video too

I’ve been using Fotomagico, FCP, iMovie depending on the situation. I’m hoping that the Boinx guys add a second audio track, video import and a better text engine in the next revision which would push me to using fotomagico almost exclusively.

Hey Jan,
Very simple tool combination: imovie and garage band.
You can work on your sound with garage band and synchronize it with your video made with imovie.
I did the three following pieces like that:

After trying out all different kind of software combination I think to day boinx Fotomagico is the simplest, still with sufficient control