I have to admit I wasn't expecting a book like this to be released. In the grand scheme of things Soundbooth CS3 is a minor program and Adobe has never been one to do a lot of educational material for minor programs. Premiere Elements is a prime example of this. There are very few books available for Premiere Elements and so far none for the latest version 4. So this book was a surprise but a very welcome surprise as well.

Most people are fairly savvy when it comes to digital photography, desktop publishing and things like that. Even video editing seems to be something that a lot of people can manage to do pretty good with. But, ask anyone anything about audio or the technologies involved with audio and outside of MP3 or CD or iPod you will probably be hard pressed to find someone that can even hazard a guess. Audio is something well know, but we don't know a lot about the technical aspects of it, at best we may be able to do some basic editing like cutting an audio clip up but beyond that we have little idea what's what.

When you get in to frequencies and compression and applying the various filters and stuff to audio most of us are lost, so Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Classroom in a Book is a most welcome release. While Soundbooth is not the be all and end all of audio editors it does do most of the things the vast majority of us need. But, even with its simplicity it is still complex. I know that doesn't make sense, but it isn't the software that is complex it is the technology and you need to understand that technology before you can edit audio.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Classroom in a book is what this is all about. It walks you through step by step on what Soundbooth is and isn't, what it can and can't do and how to use the tools it does have.

Chapters:

Chapter 1: Getting Started
Chapter 2: A Quick Tour of Adobe Soundbooth
Chapter 3: Understanding the Basics of Digital Audio
Chapter 4: Navigating the Workspace
Chapter 5: Repairing and Adjusting Audio Clips
Chapter 6: Editing and Enhancing Voiceover Recordings
Chapter 7: Creating Background Music
Chapter 8: Exploring Effects
Chapter 9: Working with Markers
Chapter 10: Importing, Exporting, and Round-trip Editing

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Classroom in a book is a very thorough, easy to read, easy to understand and well done book. I have to admit that at first glance Soundbooth doesn't look all that impressive. However, after working my way through this book I have a new appreciation for just what Soundbooth can do and how Adobe has made audio editing for the masses and lot less painful. If you use Adobe Soundbooth CS3 and you want to get the most from it, this is the book you want.

This book is full color with lots of screen shots to help illustrate what is being covered. The included CD contains all of the lesson files so you can follow along