Using Audio to Enhance Your Web Site

Raspberry Media is a leading pioneer in the movement to bring higher quality audio and sound design to the web. Through consulting and educational materials, such as the book Designing Web Audio written by Josh Beggs and Dylan Thede - published by O’Reilly & Associates, Raspberry Media has been working to educate its clients and the web community about the values of high quality web audio production.

The last two years has brought about a transformation of the web from graphics-based web sites to full scale online multimedia productions with animation and sound. In the coming years, the vast majority of web sites will feature audio. Web developers who implement polished superior quality audio, will reap the benefits of higher click-through rates and longer average stays per visit. Silent web sites that do not have audio will be at a major competitive disadvantage. Even worse, the sites that feature bad audio will stand out as places to avoid. Whether it's event sounds, ambient background loops, or streaming real-time sound captions, adding audio can help:

• Make your web site easier to navigate
• Keep visitors at your site longer
• Make your content and message more compelling to visitors
• Build brand loyalty amongst your customers with value-added content

The key to producing an effective soundtrack that enhances your web site is good sound design. Sound design is the art of producing, arranging, editing, designing and mixing the various audio components that comprise a soundtrack accompaniment to graphics, animation and film. Good sound design supports and enhances the text and graphic content of your web site without over-powering them. Raspberry Media has been there from the beginning, designing audio for the web.