Audio in Flash

Importing sounds

You place sound files into Flash by importing them into the library for the current document.

Select File > Import > Import To Library.
In the Import dialog box, locate and open the desired sound file.

Note: You can also drag a sound from a common library into the library for the current document.

Flash stores sounds in the library along with bitmaps and symbols. You need only one copy of a sound file to use that sound multiple ways in your document.

If you want to share sounds among Flash documents, you can include the sounds in shared libraries.

Flash includes a Sounds library containing many useful sounds that can be used for effects. To open the Sounds library, choose Window > Common Libraries > Sounds. To import a sound from the Sounds library to your FLA file, drag the sound from the Sounds library to the Library panel of your FLA file. You can also drag sounds from the Sounds library to other shared libraries.

Sounds can use large amounts of disk space and RAM. However, mp3 sound data is compressed and smaller than WAV or AIFF sound data. Generally, when using WAV or AIFF files, it’s best to use 16-22 kHz mono sounds (stereo uses twice as much data as mono), but Flash can import either 8- or 16-bit sounds at sample rates of 11, 22, or 44 kHz. Sounds recorded in formats that are not multiples of 11 kHz (such as 8, 32, or 96 kHz) are resampled when imported into Flash. Flash can convert sounds to lower sample rates on export.

If you want to add effects to sounds in Flash, it’s best to import 16-bit sounds. If you have limited RAM, keep your sound clips short or work with 8-bit sounds instead of 16‑bit sounds.

Supported sound file formats

You can import the following sound file formats into Flash:

ASND (Windows or Macintosh). This is the native sound format of Adobe® Soundbooth™.
WAV (Windows only)
AIFF (Macintosh only)
mp3 (Windows or Macintosh)

If you have QuickTime® 4 or later installed on your system, you can import these additional sound file formats:
AIFF (Windows or Macintosh)
Sound Designer® II (Macintosh only)
Sound Only QuickTime Movies (Windows or Macintosh)
Sun AU (Windows or Macintosh)
System 7 Sounds (Macintosh only)
WAV (Windows or Macintosh)

Note: The ASND format is a non-destructive audio file format, native to Adobe Soundbooth. ASND files can contain audio data with effects that can be modified later, Soundbooth multitrack sessions, and snapshots that allow you to revert to a previous state of the ASND file.

Add a sound to the Timeline

You can add a sound to a document using the library, or you can load a sound into a SWF file during runtime, using the loadSound method of the Sound object. For more information, see loadSound (Sound.loadSound method) in the ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference or Sound Class in the ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference.

Import the sound into the library if it has not already been imported.
Select Insert > Timeline > Layer.
With the new sound layer selected, drag the sound from the Library panel onto the Stage. The sound is added to the current layer.
You can place multiple sounds on one layer or on layers containing other objects. However, it is recommended that each sound be placed on a separate layer. Each layer acts as a separate sound channel. The sounds on all layers are combined when you play the SWF file.
In the Timeline, select the first frame that contains the sound file.
Select Window > Properties, and click the arrow in the lower-right corner to expand the Property inspector.
In the Property inspector, select the sound file from the Sound pop-up menu.
Select an effect option from the Effects pop-up menu:

None

Applies no effects to the sound file. Select this option to remove previously applied effects

Left Channel/Right Channel

Plays sound in the left or right channel only.

Fade Left To Right/Fade Right To Left

Shifts the sound from one channel to the other.

Fade In

Gradually increases the volume of a sound over its duration.

Fade Out

Gradually decreases the volume of a sound over its duration.

Custom

Lets you create custom in and out points of sound using the Edit Envelope.
Select a synchronization option from the Sync pop-up menu:
Note: If you are placing the sound on a frame other than frame 1 in the main Timeline, select the Stop option.

Event

Synchronizes the sound to the occurrence of an event. An event sound, such as a sound that plays when a user clicks a button, plays when its starting keyframe first appears and plays in its entirety, independently of the Timeline, even if the SWF file stops playing. Event sounds are mixed when you play your published SWF file. If an event sound is playing and the sound is instantiated again (for example, by the user clicking the button again), the first instance of the sound continues to play and another instance begins to play simultaneously.
Start

The same as Event, except that if the sound is already playing, no new instance of the sound plays.
Stop

Silences the specified sound.
Stream

Synchronizes the sound for playing on a website. Flash forces animation to keep pace with stream sounds. If Flash can’t draw animation frames quickly enough, it skips frames. Unlike event sounds, stream sounds stop if the SWF file stops playing. Also, a stream sound can never play longer than the length of the frames it occupies. Stream sounds are mixed when you publish your SWF file.
An example of a stream sound is the voice of a character in an animation that plays in multiple frames.

Note: If you use an mp3 sound as a stream sound, you must recompress the sound for export. You can export the sound as an mp3 file, with the same compression settings that it had on import.
Enter a value for Repeat to specify the number of times the sound should loop, or select Loop to repeat the sound continuously.
For continuous play, enter a number large enough to play the sound for an extended duration. For example, to loop a 15-second sound for 15 minutes, enter 60. Looping stream sounds is not recommended. If a stream sound is set to loop, frames are added to the file and the file size is increased by the number of times the sound is looped.
To test the sound, drag the playhead over the frames containing the sound or use commands in the Controller or the Control menu.

Add a sound to a button

You can associate sounds with the different states of a button symbol. Because the sounds are stored with the symbol, they work for all instances of the symbol.

Select the button in the Library panel.
Select Edit from the Panel menu in the upper-right corner of the panel.
In the button’s Timeline, add a layer for sound (Insert > Timeline > Layer).
In the sound layer, create a regular or blank keyframe to correspond with the button state to which you want to add a sound (Insert > Timeline > Keyframe or Insert > Timeline > Blank Keyframe).
For example, to add a sound that plays when you click the button, create a keyframe in the frame labeled Down.
Click the keyframe you created.
Select Window > Properties.
In the Property inspector, select a sound file from the Sound pop-up menu.
Select Event from the Sync pop-up menu.
To associate a different sound with each of the button’s keyframes, create a blank keyframe and add another sound file for each keyframe. You can also use the same sound file and apply a different sound effect for each button keyframe.

Synchronize a sound with animation

To synchronize a sound with animation, you start and stop the sound at keyframes.

Add a sound to a document.
To synchronize this sound with an event in the scene, select a beginning keyframe that corresponds to the keyframe of the event in the scene. You can select any of the synchronization options.
Create a keyframe in the sound layer’s Timeline at the frame where you want the sound to end. A representation of the sound file appears in the Timeline.
Select Window > Properties, and click the arrow in the lower-right corner to expand the Property inspector.
In the Property inspector, select the same sound from the Sound pop-up menu.
Select Stop from the Sync pop-up menu.
When you play the SWF file, the sound stops playing when it reaches the ending keyframe.
To play back the sound, simply move the playhead.

Edit a sound in Flash

In Flash, you can define the starting point of a sound or control the volume of the sound as it plays. You can also change the point at which a sound starts and stops playing. This is useful for making sound files smaller by removing unused sections.

Add a sound to a frame, or select a frame that already contains a sound.
Select Window > Properties.
Click the Edit button on the right side of the Property inspector.
Do any of the following:
To change the start and end points of a sound, drag the Time In and Time Out controls in the Edit Envelope.
To change the sound envelope, drag the envelope handles to change levels at different points in the sound. Envelope lines show the volume of the sound as it plays. To create additional envelope handles (up to eight total), click the envelope lines. To remove an envelope handle, drag it out of the window.
To display more or less of the sound in the window, click the Zoom In or Out buttons.
To switch the time units between seconds and frames, click the Seconds and Frames buttons.
To hear the edited sound, click the Play button.