Sounds are important, since many
people can appreciate the beauty of good music. However, many people use the
same day (birds chirping) and night (crickets chirping) sounds, as well as the
same day start (rooster) and night start (howling wolves) sounds. While these
sounds are masterfully made, it really doesn't make sense that there is birds
chirping in a tundra, lava, or desert tileset. For good sound, it's best to try
composing it your self, with a USB microphone. (Rockband and Singstar mics do
work) If you have a desktop this is harder said than done. In that case, either
make the sounds artificually or download some from the web. Always check
policies regarding use, for if you violate the TOS, you're on your
own.
I prefer to use Wavosaur for all
my sound needs. It is a freeware program, but has little help documentation, and
may seem a little confusing. Once installed, just conect your mic and choose
record. Once done, hit record again. It can only save in .wav format, so it may
be neccessary to convert to .ogg for longer audio tracks. Converting to .ogg is
not neccessary, but it is a good idea since it has much better
compression.


Wavosaur is a
handy audio capture and editing program. Most of the editing is pretty basic,
including cutting and pasting, but it also can increase/decrease volume, add
fade in/out, and do a bunch of other things I have no idea what to do
with.
Save the audio. It's time to move on to the next catigory, the XML.