BackSound (Experiment File)

QuickInfo

If you would like a sound played in the background while another file type is presented then simply type in the name of the sound file in this field. Play a wave or mpeg (mp3) sound file in the background when the current file is presented.

Value

Any sound file with a .wav or .mp3 extension

Purpose

Backsounds are sounds files that play while another file is being presented. Keep in mind that MediaLab will play backsound files to their completion. This allows for a backsound to play through multiple items if you care to structure things that way. To have MediaLab wait for the duration of the sound file and then automatically proceed, use the delay parameter for the item and specify the length of the sound clip in seconds, e.g., for a 30 second sound clip, use (d30). You can find out the length of a sound clip by right clicking on the file in Windows Explorer and selecting Properties.

Converting WAV files to MP3

Traditional WAV sound files can get rather large especially when they're of high sound quality. In contrast, MPEG (MP3) sound files are exceptionally small in their size while maintaining excellent sound quality. With mpeg compression, you can reduce the size of your sound files by up to 90% without a loss in detectable sound quality. MediaLab includes a freeware utility called CDex in the Utilities folder that allows you to convert your WAV files to mpeg MP3 format. Run CDex and select Convert -> WAV to MPEG from the main menu. The new MP3 version of your sound files will be copied to the OutputFiles folder of CDex.