10 Tips For Capturing E-Learning Audio

Using audio in your online course is an extremely important factor in engaging your audience. Studies have shown that courses without audio are less compelling and memorable than courses with audio. Either used as a narration or for directions, audio - done the right way - can greatly enhance your e-learning materials.

Help with Audio for Online Course Developers Audio engineering and the knowledge it takes to adequately capture, edit, and clean up audio to achieve a quality output is a task that is typically beyond the skill set of most online course developers. The average course developer has little if any knowledge of sampling rates, frequencies, modulation, compression schemes and other audio engineering concepts.

The goal of this article is to provide you information on how to get the audio in a format suitable for an e-learning course-authoring tool. The article will focus on capturing and editing audio at the basic level and certainly, the 10 tips listed below should help get you moving in the right direction.

1. Microphones

For narration, you'll need to use a microphone to capture the voiceover. Sure, your laptop or PC might have a built-in microphone, but you probably don't want to end up sounding like the broken drive-through speaker at your local fast food restaurant. There are several microphones to choose from and they are made specifically for different purposes. Dynamic Microphones are the ones you commonly see being used by rock stars in concerts. They have a ball-like shape as the head. These mics are omni-directional, meaning that they can pick up sound from a wide area. The Shure SM-58 microphone is an example of a dynamic microphone and has a consistent quality and dynamic range that makes it useful for all types of applications.

Condenser Microphones, unlike dynamic microphones, have a capacitor inside that requires them to be powered by a source - either battery or A/C. These microphones are often found in recording studios, used in live concerts, and are commonly found in lavalier mics (the kind you attach to a shirt or lapel). These mics are uni-directional, meaning that they capture a more narrow area of sound. Because of their power requirements, their voltage output can vary. The Neumann KMS-105 is an example of a condenser mic.

You may also find a Headset Microphone, which plugs directly into your computer's input source and output source, so you can hear what you say as you are recording. Most of the microphones on these headsets have a noise cancellation function built into them. This causes unnatural sounding silences between phrases. The audio quality from these types of microphones tends also to sound blown out as the microphone position is very close to the mouth. That makes higher frequencies tend to sound noisy and lower frequencies sound poorly.

Built-In Microphones have the tendency to pick up any noise generated by your computer during use. This means any hard-drive motion, cooling fans, operating system sounds, and room ambience. These microphones are usually engineered to pick up the widest area of sound for situations like web conferencing and chat room sessions. The audio quality is usually poor and the microphones do not have sophisticated features like noise canceling or balancing. If at all possible, you should avoid using the built-in microphone for your audio input source.

2. Distance from Microphone

I'm sure you've all seen the rock videos or American Idol, where the rock stars have the microphone jammed up against their mouths as they are singing. So most people feel they need to do the same when recording narration. What the rock stars have to their advantage is a sound limiter that cuts off frequencies above a certain range. The maximum output is policed by this device to prevent any unwanted feedback or squelch, because the frequency is automatically limited. Most likely, your simple setup won't have this capability.

One thing you can do to prevent any unwanted sounds in your narration, is to position your mouth about 6 to 12 inches away from the microphone and speak directly into the microphone, not away from it, to either side, nor in front of it. The best audio signal will be a direct path from your mouth to the microphone. If you start speaking into the microphone and then tilt your head downwards to read from a script, you'll be able to notice the drop in the audio signal. If needed, hold your script up next to the microphone. Another tip: when reading from a script, don't read across pages that you are turning or moving from one hand to another. Most microphones are sensitive enough to pick up all of that paper moving. If possible, have each page of the script segmented and keep them separated, not stapled or kept together with paper clips.

3. Use a Windscreen

A consistent frequency helps to produce the best audio. If you are looking at an audio waveform for the first time, you won't be able to decipher it, but the peaks and valleys of each frequency can visually tell a lot about that sound. One thing that often happens, especially during narration recording, are pops that occur when saying words that begin with P or B. These pops go above the dynamic range and therefore, don't sound anything like a P or a B but more like a popping sound.

A simple solution to this problem is a windscreen. Some engineers will wrap a wire clothes hanger with nylon stockings and place them in front of the mics in order to act as a low budget windscreen, but you can also buy them for less than ten dollars at your local music store. These are constructed out of a foam material and fit over your microphone.

4. Interfaces

So far, I've spent a lot of time talking about microphones but a majority of the mics recommended here won't even plug in to your computers without adapters. Professional mics have an XLR connector, which has three pins. Most computers are made with eighth inch connectors. You can use Dynamic Microphones with an adapter connected to your computer without much of a problem. Condenser Mics, since they require power, won't work even with an adapter.

There are interfaces specifically built for this purpose and they come in two flavors: USB and Firewire (IEEE 1394). Most PC manufacturers are including either USB 1.0 or 2.0 ports on their hardware. Firewire is more commonly found on Apple computers however, you can purchase Firewire cards for PCs. Firewire is faster than USB in certain applications and therefore is more desirable for audio input. There's less latency on a Firewire connection than on a USB connection because of the performance speed.

Firewire comes in two flavors, there's Firewire 400, which can transfer data at a rate of 400 MB per second, and Firewire 800, which doubles the speed to 800 MB per second. There are a wide range of musical digital interfaces out on the market today, and you can use either of these technologies to interface with a computer. MAudio has a line of both types including the ProFire 610 and the FastTrack USB.

These devices can run off of their intended connections and act as an audio input/output source for your computer to provide a professional recording result. At SyberWorks, we use an M-Audio Firewire 410 audio interface connected to two Shure-SM 58s for all of our narration. The 410 is a powerful choice because it offers multiple inputs and all of the audio controls necessary for level/gain and limiter/compressor. It also has XLR inputs and quarter inch inputs for microphones and instruments, and two headphone outputs. Connected to the 410 are two M-Audio BX8a monitors, which offer a much higher quality output sound than any built-in computer speaker.

5. Software

There are so many options for audio editing software, from the simple shareware/freeware to the professional level, that the determination of what to use might lie somewhere within your budget constraints. The basic audio recording tools that come with any Windows-based machine do not generate quality audio. Any Apple computer comes with GarageBand which is an excellent mid-level audio recording application. GarageBand is the step child of Apple's Logic Studio and offers some pretty sophisticated tools for recording, editing, and delivering audio recordings on any platform.

Adobe has an audio recording/editing application called SoundBooth, which offers a variety of tools for cleaning up audio files and saving them in different formats. SoundBooth comes with the Creative Suite Production Premium or Master Collection. I recently used SoundBooth to record old cassette tape tracks as MP3 files so that I can burn the files to CD.

I was able to use SoundBooth to clean up all of hissing sound on tapes and the audio quality was excellent. Bias, Inc. has been in the audio production area for over a decade now and their flagship audio editing software, Peak Pro, is an award winning application. With a simple interface and a variety of effects and controls, Peak makes audio editing simple. I'm a long time user of Peak Pro and can say that it's a stable, professional application that offers all of the tools that I need to edit the audio that I record. Combined with SoundSoap Pro, an audio cleaning application, Peak Pro can reduce noise, hiss, rumble, cracks and pops, and other unwanted sounds from any audio recording.

Here at SyberWorks, we use Peak Pro to record any narration for podcasts or courses and GarageBand to stitch together podcasts and teasers. GarageBand comes with some preset stingers and effects which are great for podcasts. It's ridiculously easy to use. Once the file has been put together, it's output as an AIFF file to iTunes. I then use iTunes to convert the sound to the MP3 format for delivery.

6. Normalize

During recording, audio levels can be mismatched creating undesirable results during playback. For example, recording from two different sources might produce two different volume levels. When played back, one source sounds softer and the other might sound louder, even though they were recorded in the same room on the same computer with the same hardware. This can be attributed to vocal style or audio input levels not being properly monitored.

To adjust audio levels across the board so that the volume is relatively consistent, most audio editing software offers some normalization option in which the audio levels are examined and a maximum and minimum range are then determined. Softer sounds are increased and louder sounds are decreased so that the overall sound level is more consistent.

If there is a stark contrast between the two input sources, then sound normalization might work against you. Softer sounds might have more sound introduced in them when the gain is increased. Be sure to check your audio input levels before recording. Try to get both sources to come up to the same decibel level prior to recording. If possible, show the input meter in your audio software to the speakers and try to get them to speak at a gain level about 5 decibels.

7. Ahh's and Uhm's

For some people, speaking into a microphone can be a little intimidating. You might hear a lot of Ahhh's and Uhmm's during a recording session. Some people naturally put these in their phrases because they are thinking about what they are going to say next. Others put them in out of nervousness. Others have lisp's or emphasize S's and Z's. Still others smack their lips or breath heavy before talking.

When editing audio, the tendency might be to remove all instances of Ahh's and Uhm's. When separated from the rest of a passage, this is easy to do and is an effective way to make the entire sound file shorter. However, there are times when the Ahh's and Uhm's are rolled into other phrases and are difficult to separate.

The rule of thumb when editing audio is to remove whatever is bothersome, but keep the tempo of the original sound source and make it sound as natural as possible. Some people also take deep breaths between passages or have nasal sounds that are picked up by the microphones. Sometimes these can be removed and other times they can't. Remove what you can, but try as much as possible to make the overall recording natural.

8. Cleaning Audio

Depending on how clean your input source is, you may have an audio track that is laced with hum or noise coming from a variety of sources, like an overhead fluorescent light, A/C noise, and other ambient sounds. SoundBooth and Peak Pro both have tools for eliminating these types of sounds from your audio input sources. As mentioned above, the rule of thumb still applies.

Some of these tools can end up making your audio sound very metallic and unnatural, more like a computerized version of the original. When using SoundSoap Pro, for example, the default settings for removing noise keeps all of the highs recognizable, while the mids and lows suffer from a dense computerized sounding quality. SoundBooth's noise correction tools have the same issue, so if too much is applied, the result isn't worth the effort.

There's a balance to how much correction is applied to a sound versus the quality of the output. Sometimes, here at SyberWorks, we have to record voices over the phone. Sound quality from a phone line is always problematic, so invariably that sound will need to be cleaned up. Too much correction though, and the integrity of the voice is compromised. On the other hand, no correction will keep a lot of hiss and noise in the sound, which is undesirable.

9. Audio Formats

Depending on which authoring tools you are using and which platform you are on, you'll need to know which audio formats to use. The major audio format for the PC platform is .wav, on the Mac platform it's .aiff. Adobe Captivate and Microsoft PowerPoint both use the .wav format. The most popular internet audio format now is .mp3, which has greater compression and better sound quality than other internet formats. Captivate uses MP3 compression in sound files for the final output. This makes the files smaller but they can suffer in quality, depending on the settings in Captivate. Native .wav files embedded in PowerPoint files can make those files enormous. Using iSpring, a PowerPoint to Flash converter, you can significantly reduce the file size of presentations and course materials intended for internet delivery.

SyberWorks Web Author has an additional tool called SyberWorks Web Audio which allows you to add streaming audio to courses that anyone can hear using just a web browser. Playback is accomplished through a small Sun Java applet that downloads automatically and quickly. It requires no additional plug-ins or server software. It has no firewall issues and can play in the background, without any visible controls on course pages, or with a small set of basic audio controls displayed. SyberWorks Web Audio tool takes an audio file of the format .wav and compresses it into the SyberWorks audio format (.sa). It is then easily inserted into the word document by using the Add SyberWorks Audio template.

10. Compression

Depending on which tool you used during recording, you probably have an original audio source with a near CD quality (44 KHz) output. That quality is diminished as soon as the file is compressed. Too much compression and the sound quality is something like R2-D2 behind a large, metal door. Too little compression and the sound files become too large to transfer and play. The factors involved in compression include bit rate and quality. The bit rate is the data stream target for your intended audience. The typical internet connection these days is at least DSL speed (128 KBps), but there still may be users at modem speeds of 56 KBps. Tools like Captivate will allow you to set the bit rate and quality for all the audio in your course. Therefore, when you save your files out of SoundBooth or Peak Pro, never add any compression. Let Captivate or your other eâLearning tool do the compression for you.

Quality settings can also alter the file size. Lower quality files have higher compression and therefore are smaller, but sound worse. Higher quality files have less compression, sound better, but are larger in file size

Data Recovery Services - Be Wary of Cheap Prices

Data recovery is a specialized, complicated process. Proper hard drive recovery can require manipulation of data at the sector level, transplantation of internal components and various other procedures. These techniques are very involved and require not only talented, knowledgeable technicians, but also an extensive inventory of disk drives to use for parts when necessary and clean facilities to conduct the work.

Unfortunately these factors mean that, in most cases, recovery services are quite expensive. Technician training, hard drive inventories and special equipment all come with a cost.

If you search for disk recovery services, you will likely find several smaller companies that offer hard disk data recovery for a fraction of the prices typically quoted by larger, more experienced organizations. These companies often operate from small offices or, in some cases, private homes. They do not possess clean room facilities, large disk drive inventories or many other pieces of equipment necessary to successfully complete most hard drive recovery cases.

When you take into account all of the training, parts and facilities necessary, you can see how it is impossible for a company to charge $ 200 for a hard drive recovery and not operate at a loss.

What these companies usually do is run a software program on the hard disk drive. Sometimes, if there is no physical damage to the disk drive, this program is able to recover some of the data. However, hard disk data recovery is much more than just running software. No software can recover data from a hard drive that has failed heads, damaged platters or electrical damage. In fact, trying to run a hard drive that is physically damaged can make the problem worse. Trying to use software to recover data from a hard drive with failed read / write heads, for example, can lead to the heads scrapping the platters of the drive and leaving the data unrecoverable.

Another way these smaller businesses conduct business is forwarding data recovery cases that they can not recover to larger organizations. Of course, the smaller companies charge their clients a premium for this service. In these cases it would have actually been cheaper to use the larger company in the first place.

You will also likely find that many smaller recovery companies charge evaluation or diagnostic fees upfront. They charge these fees regardless of whether or not any data is recovered. In many cases clients desperate to recover their data pay these fees and get nothing in return but a failed recovery. Smaller data recovery services simply do not have the skills, training, facilities and parts to successfully recover most disk drives. It is more cost efficient for them to make one attempt at running a software program and then call the case unsuccessful.

Sometimes you may get lucky working with a smaller data recovery company, but in most cases you will end up paying for a failed recovery. In the worst case scenario you could end up with a damaged hard drive that is now unrecoverable by any data recovery service.

You will waste time and money working with these services. You could even lose your valuable data for good.

If your data is important enough to consider data recovery, it is important enough to seek a reputable, skilled data recovery company. All major data recovery services offer free evaluations and most do not charge clients for unsuccessful recoveries. Sometimes you only have one shot to recover data on a disk drive before the platters are seriously damaged and the data is lost for good. Taking chances with inexperienced companies is not worth the risk.

5 Ways Blockchain Will Transform the Life of a Common Man

With all of the media set ablaze with news of prices of cryptocurrencies, you may wonder how it affects a common man. Right at the heart of cryptocurrency and other digital currencies is Blockchain technology.

There are various industrial and administrative problems that the technology can solve for the common man. Do you own a small business but often feel transparency is lacking because of traditional methods of communication? Have you ever ended up with higher than usual medical bills? As a business owner, is finding legitimate candidates a hassle for you? These problems affect entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, individuals and Blockchain technology seeks to provide solutions to make the life of a common man much simpler through simplified solutions.

Banking

Banking in almost all countries is still very focused on paper-intensive transactions for any money transfer, recordkeeping or other back-end functions. Blockchain technology can replicate this in a digital format and create a decentralized ledger that allows not only the bankers but also the customers to access a single source of information. This system allows banks to eliminate chances of fraud as documentation and proof of ownership of assets can be checked digitally by bankers in the Blockchain ledger which can be accessed at any time in an unalterable format.

Identity theft is also a major problem in the banking sector, with citizens' information being stolen and used to open fraudulent accounts for illegal activities. According to the Federal Trade Commission's online database of complaints, there have been over 13 million complaints filed for card fraud and identity theft with 3 million of these complaints being filed in 2016 alone. Through a blockchain system, customers can directly view all accounts owned under their name and immediately notify their respective banks in case they spot any suspicious activity in their banking details. Some of the known examples include IBM-backed Hyperledger Fabric project and the Utility Settlement Coin by UBS.

Healthcare

Blockchain technology can simplify healthcare in incredible ways and make medical data management much simpler. Making patient records widely accessible can allow research on drug development much more convenient, and it also reduces the implications of counterfeit drugs. Clinical trials and their outcomes can be made available in a decentralized network, allowing healthcare specialists and researchers to conduct research and find solutions to better healthcare. Accenture is one of the biggest companies that have started offering innovative healthcare solutions for the medical care sector for secure and fraud-free transactions.

Medicare frauds can also be brought down through blockchain billing management as the billing system can be fully automated without any scope of intermediaries committing fraudulent activities. With over 56 million people under Medicare as of 2017, over $1.3 billion has been ripped off the government through fraudulent activities by rehabilitation facilities and home health care services. Blockchain systems can effectively safeguard citizens who seek medical assistance from healthcare providers that overcharge for services offered through fraudulent billing practices. The centralized data not only help medical professionals in offering treatment based on the history of the patient and his/her family but it also eliminates the chances of a patient incorrectly recollecting past symptoms or disorders.

Public Records

One of the most important civic administration functions of a government is to record all information about its citizens. This includes information about individuals and businesses with regards to their assets and activities. Most of the recorded information is recorded in paper databases, making data management extremely difficult even in developed countries.

Blockchain-based systems like Ubitiquity can encode all public records in a digital ledger to keep the data on citizens from being altered for fraudulent activities. Identity theft is a problem that can be very difficult to deal with for the administration and digitizing all public information to make it tamper-proof can help prevent such instances of criminal activity.

Voting

One of the biggest limitations of the voting system in almost every country is that even today, voters need to be physically present at polling booths to cast their votes and can make things difficult for people who need to travel on poll days. More importantly, there are no means of verifying the poll results for the average citizen.

Blockchain development companies like Followmyvote are coming up with solutions that seek to make online voting a reality. It will allow citizens to view accurate information on poll standings and results and various other statistics publicly. It also leads to safer voting for citizens of countries in internal or external conflict and criminal activities to coerce citizens into voting for specific candidates can be completely avoided.

Business Hiring

Businesses of all sizes have a hard time finding the right staff. Through blockchain technology, it is possible for businesses to verify credentials of all applicants through a digital database. Blockchain technology can be applied to create a decentralized database of professionals with verified qualifications in a secure ledger that businesses can refer to for hiring candidates. Learning Machine is a New-York based company that seeks to address this problem that focuses on recording verifiable information on workers.

Tax or employment-related frauds make up 34% of all identity theft as of 2016, and a blockchain system makes the hiring process for any business much more secure as a company would have access to valid candidates only, reducing the risk of hiring fraudulent employees. It also helps applicants by speeding up the hiring process and helping them to find jobs they are eligible for and have a hassle-free application process.

Use of blockchain technologies helps individuals and businesses alike, and it also protects personal information while making important data publicly visible. While blockchain has the best application in cryptocurrency, its use can spread to other sectors as well to provide meaningful solutions to citizens around the world.

Greyhounds Love to Run, But to Really Race Form Is Paramount

If you want to race greyhounds, your dogs need to be in excellent shape, well built, and exercise all of time. Luckily, greyhounds love to run, and that's what they need to do to stay at their top speed. Of course, running form is just as important in a greyhound, if not more, as it is in an Olympic sprinter. Every incremental advantage in efficiency translates to a higher speed and more energy for longer duration and runs. If you want your greyhound to win you need to be thinking here. Racing form really is paramount. Okay so let's talk shall we?

If you let your young greyhound run with dogs who are less competitive who don't have the same level of form they will pick up bad habits. This is because greyhounds are a species which mimic the running styles of those other dogs they play with and train with. Don't get me wrong, they are genetically superior regardless, nevertheless, even if your dog is of superior breeding, and faster than all get out, you can still run into problems with its form. Training a dog to have the perfect form is difficult. Yes, there are prosthesis type add-ons that you can make your dog wear to ensure that they don't expend extra energy, but they don't work for everything.

A few years back, DARPA had an interesting new device, a robotic cheetah. It would seem to me that in the future this robotic cheetah could be custom tailored and used in the form of a greyhound racing dog to help trainee dogs become better sprinters and more efficient runners. No, that robotic technology isn't quite here yet, but we do have all of the computational mathematics needed to make this work. Then it would just be a matter of having your greyhound racing dogs chasing the robotic greyhound android. Eventually they would mimic its form as they ran.

This might indeed be a very good way to train these elite racing dogs, while ensuring that you didn't have to watch them every step of the way, literally. Are these types of things been used yet? No, and there are other technologies which may come onto the scene before robotic greyhound racing dogs.

Holographic imagery might be another one, or lining the track with flat-panel screens using a digital image of a 3-D dog running. No matter what we choose in the future those that use the science of motion and canine ergonomics will be the ones that prevail due to superior training technologies and equipment. Please consider all this and think on it.

Weight Training - Advantages And Disadvantages

Weight training is a great way to get your whole body in shape. Many people associate weight training with your upper body and arms. However if you have the right equipment then you can easily exercise the lower part of your body, such as your chest and legs. You may think to yourself that everything about using weights is an advantage. However there are disadvantages to using weights and all the advantages and disadvantages will be described below.

One of the advantages of using weights to work out is the way that you can strengthen your whole body. We all know that weights are used by the person using them standing still and then performing an action using the weights. This action can be moving your arms up and down or side to side. If you are not the type of person that likes to partake in running, swimming or any other kind of real life sport, then weights is the perfect solution to keeping your body toned and in great shape.

Another advantage of using weights to keep fit is when you are using these weights and your body is standing still. Your bones in your body are becoming active as they are trying to support you as you are doing the exercises. So you are in effect working out the entire body every time that you use weights to exercise.

There are disadvantages to using weights for exercising and the main disadvantage is safety. You should never exercise with weights alone. You should always have a supporter with you in case the worst happens. The most common safety concern is using the barbell. There is a possibility of becoming trapped under the barbell if you are unable to do a repetition due to the amount of weight on the barbell.

Another disadvantage when using weights is causing damage to your own body. As stated before you need your whole body when you are using weights. If you cannot keep complete control of your body when you are working out, then you are going to pull or even tare a muscle in your body. Also using heavy weights when you are not ready will always cause an injury to the part of your body that you are exercising. Always remember to start off small and then move on when you feel perfectly ready to do so.

Overall weights are a good way to work out. Millions of people use weights to do a daily work out. After one or two weeks you can start to feel your body becoming more and more toned. You can also feel the muscles in your body start to bulge a bit more then before. However safety will be the major concern to remember when you are using your weights. You must remember to stretch all the muscles in your body before you attempt to exercise your body. You have to get your heart pumping and when you are done remember to warm down so that your body knows that the workout is over. Warming down will prevent trapping any Lactic Acid in your body.

3 Tips to Making Money Online Easily

With the economy in its current condition, people are fearful of their finances. It's no mystery that making money online has been the most sought after stream of income and the most difficult to master. However, having a successful online business in 2011 has not been easier.

Tip # 1: Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an old way of making money online. This is where most people begin their online journey. There have been so many people selling products on teaching beginners how to excel in this form of marketing, yet they leave out specific details that extremely hinder your success. This method has greatly improved, producing tremendous results. The trick to a victorious money making affiliate marketing business is to partner with companies whose products and services can be respected and trusted.

Tip # 2: Domain Names

Having a domain name is extremely important. When promoting other people's products, you need your own affiliate link in order to be paid. These links are usually long and hard to remember. If you purchase a domain name, it can be forwarded to the website you are promoting. So if you were promoting a product by word of mouth, a short and easy to remember domain name would serve you best.

Tip # 3: Keeping Business in Mind

Having an online business is just that, a business. In order for accomplishment to occur, you must continue persevering toward your goal. You get out of your business, what you put into it. So keep working. Remember, when you treat your business like a hobby, it will produce hobby results.

How to Select the Dream Tattoo for You

Tattoos are the new vogue. Nearly twenty-five percent of the population has a tattoo. It's not just art form , but is an expression of who you are. Most people however end up regretting their choice in tattoos. The key to enjoying your tattoo is to carefully research before you go to the parlor. tattoos can be removed. But it is a long and expensive procedure. It's not worth the headache of a tattoo removal. Take the time before so you don't waste time afterward.

Picking the tattoo parlor because it is the cheapest on the block is a bad mistake. Since it is permanent you should avoid skimping . Look for the best studio with an established artist. The cost is higher but the quality difference is substantial.The selection will also be a definite upgrade. A more experienced parlor and artist will have a better depth of knowledge and selection.

Take time to think of the personal meaning in your tattoo. If it is a loved one then consider the possibilities. What design or symbol carries a special meaning between you and that person. Look through the internet for ideas that remind you of that special person.A good tattoo artist can be a good consultant. Remember, they have done this thousands of times. Take time to talk to the artist and describe your perfect tattoo.

Sometimes, it is not easy finding that dream design. Research is the key if you are looking for general ideas. Tattoo books and magazines are low-cost reference materials. Search the internet for tattoo designs.For under twenty dollars , it is possible to see thousands of tattoo designs. Sort by different categories to narrow your search. narrow you possibilities down to a few categories and symbols. Walk into a tattoo parlor and spend a couple hours looking at the artists books.

Start small and always remember that you can add on later. It is easier to upgrade then downgrade. Select a simple first design and explore the possibilities to add to the design later. your first tattoo does not have to be your last tattoo.

It will take time to find your perfect tattoo. Tattoos are forever so the time is well worth it. It should always be an expression of yourself. It is your individual stamp on the world. It can symbolize a special person or time in your life that will last forever.