Adding Sound To Your Web Site - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Many webmasters like the idea of adding background music to their web sites but most shy away from doing it worrying about slow loading pages and large file sizes. There are many different ways to add background music to your site and some of them don't require large files to achieve professional results. Let's examine all the different ways to add background music to your site and rate them to find the best solution for you.

1) MIDI Files

MIDI files are very small because they actually use your sound card's built-in instruments to create the sounds. The problem is that most sound cards don't have any decent sounds to start with, plus no two sound cards sound alike and therefore the results are very unpredictable. MIDI files usually sound like they're coming from one of those cheap Casio keyboards. Using MIDI for background music is very likely to make your site seem amateurish. Want to know how to do it anyway? Just add the line to your site. (Replace xyz with the name of the MIDI file you want to use!) The Autostart command will play the file automatically when the page is loaded.

PROS; Very small file size, easy to implement

CONS: Unpredictable results, amateurish sounds

2) WAV Files

Using the WAV file format allows you to add professional sounding recordings to your site but the problem is that even if you use a low quality setting like 11k/8bit, the file sizes are still very large and it will take a long time for your music to load. And slow loading pages are the worst thing that can happen to a site. Implementing a WAV file on a web page is easy. Just add the line to your page's HTML code. There's an additional command to loop the WAV file but WAV files do not loop cleanly with the embed command.

PROS: Many Quality Levels, Easy to implement

CONS: Large File Sizes, WAV Files do not loop

3) MP3 Files

MP3 files are highly compressed and don't take that long to load but the problem is that MP3s need to bring up an external player program and which in some cases takes your visitors away from your site altogether. Also, MP3 files don't loop cleanly.

PROS: Smaller File Sizes, Good Quality Possible

CONS: Needs external player software, not loopable

4) Flash

If you own a program that can create Flash files, you will have lots of flexibility in adding sound to your site. Flash lets you import WAV as well as MP3 Files and then creates quite small files from these sounds that will load automatically on your site. You can set the quality level and therefore decide how large you want the Flash file to be. Flash also allows you to loop short pieces of sound to create 'continuous' background music files that can be quite small. But please note that only imported WAV files can be looped in Flash, MP3 files will not loop cleanly.

PROS: Great Flexibility, Small File Sizes, expecially when looping sounds

CONS: You need to buy expensive Flash software to create Flash Files

5) Pre-Made Flash Loops

The newest thing on the market are pre-built Flash Music Loops. These files are professionally recorded, loop almost indefinitely and most of these Flash Music Loops are only about 20k in size so they load almost instantly. Flash Music Loops are available at http://www.flashmusictracks.com and currently there are three different loop packages available in all kinds of music styles from classical to techno. Using these pre-built Flash files is easy. Simply upload the "xyz.swf" Flash file to your server and add a few lines from the corresponding "xyz.html" file to your web page and presto...instant professional sounding background music.

PROS: Extremely small file size, professional quality music

CONS: None

As you can see there are many different ways to add background music to your web pages and you don't have to worry about slow loading pages if you choose the right file format.

(c)2004 Alan Steward

About The Author

Article by Alan Steward, a professional recording engineer and producer who worked with many Grammy award winning groups and musicians.

(c)2004 Alan Steward - http://www.musicleads.net

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Jingles - What Constitutes A Successful Jingle Campaign?

What constitutes a successful jingle campaign? In this article we... Read More

WAV; Useful Applications; Recording Your Tapes or L.P.s to CD

My first article about digital recording that I have had... Read More

Adding Streaming Audio to Your Website

Adding streaming audio to your web site can help you... Read More

Dont Use Web Audio The Wrong Way

Have you ever wrestled with a set of instructions, but... Read More

How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch

My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article... Read More

7 Ways to Use AUDIO to Increase Your Web and E-mail Sales

Thought about adding audio to your Web site yet? You... Read More

Alternatives to MP3

Although MP3 is the most popular format for encoding music,... Read More

The Ten Commandments of Using Streaming Audio On Your Website

When it comes to placing audio on your website there... Read More

What The Muscle Power of Audio Can Do for Your Site

How Audio can Influence SalesAudio can enhance your website by... Read More

Streaming Audio Recorders

1. i-Sound WMA MP3 Recorder 6.x - On Sale www.abyssmedia.comi-Sound... Read More

Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews

Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews The... Read More

Add Audio to Your Web Site and Increase Your Sales up to 35%!

Ok, you've got your site built, you have traffic coming... Read More

MP3 vs. WMA

There are just a few audio compression formats out there,... Read More

Get Personal by Adding Your Voice to Your Site

Many customers in today's online business world are shopping around... Read More

7 Ways to Use Website Audio in Your Marketing Arsenal

Most visitors to your website are using computers with audio... Read More

Teleseminars, Audio Downloads, Podcasts: Listen Up So You?ll Learn and Earn More

Internet Marketers love audio. You can't blame them. They used... Read More

Adding Sound To Your Web Site - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Many webmasters like the idea of adding background music to... Read More

Heres Exactly What Makes Web Audio So Powerful

Have you ever tried to communicate with another person using... Read More

Five Tips to Become a Soundbite Genius

1. Speak in soundbites to everyone.Getting key phrases for concepts... Read More

Why Publishing MP3 Can Cost You A Fortune

This was news to me. It might be news to... Read More

Why I Hate Flash Audio and What I Did About It

I love spoken-word audio. I've been listening to seminars, lectures,... Read More

Audio Websites -- Web Developers: Make Money Now

Are you a website developer looking to establish a long-term... Read More

Eight Reasons Why You Must Add Audio to Your Website

NUMBER 1 : INTERNET USERS REMEMBER WHAT THEY HEAR Did... Read More

How to Add Audio to Video

Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production... Read More

How To Record Streaming Audio, Internet Radio And

When it comes to music on the Internet, you have... Read More

How to Use Your Computer as a Recording Studio

A few years ago there was a revolution in recording... Read More

Transmit Clean Digital Audio with Digital Coaxial Cables

In the world of digital audio, there are two types... Read More

DVD Audio: An Introduction

DVD Audio is a music format that is designed to... Read More

Internet Radio: A Sanctuary in the Rubbish Tip

The internet, it's a whole world of information and entertainment,... Read More

wav; Recording Voice or Instruments

A graduate student in Belfast wrote to me about a... Read More

Seven Ways to Warm Your Prospects Using Website Audio

Gone are the days when putting audio on your website... Read More

The Ten Commandments To Creating Amazing Audio Products

1.Thou shall create audio products as the fastest way to... Read More

Why Arent You Using Audio?

As use of the Internet continues to grow geometrically, we... Read More