27
Create a new audio file: voice recording using Audacity
1. Open Audacity
2. Create a new Audacity file if a new file window doesnt open
Add voice (record with a microphone)
1. Attach a peripheral device if desired ( a microphone), or use the built-in microphone
2. Go to the control panels (Audio/Sound) to check that it is the active recording device. Or leave as is, to use the built-in microphone (it will not sound as good). Note: your school laptop may not have an inbuilt microphone. If you cannot get sound to record as per the directions below, helpdesk the IT Dept and ask for help.
3. Click the Red record button in the toolbar to commence recording
4. Click the Blue Pause button to pause
5. Click the Yellow square button to stop.
Saving files in Audacity
Use File > Save Project As if you wish to save the Audacity file to continue working on it. Other applications wont be able to read this format. It is a work-in-progress format
Use File > Export as Mp3 to save the final recording in an Mp3 format - for uploading to iTunes or your blog. Name the file appropriately and save it to your home folder - be sure to organise your audio files where you can retrieve them
Use File > Export as WAV for applications that require WAV file formatted audio files
Edit the audio file (if necessary)
1. Drag in from the far left margin of the track until you see a greyed-out area the cursor will convert to a pointer finger - slide to the exact edit point
2. Do the same with the right side of the track
3. Go to Edit > Cut
Add music/effects to your file
Go to my previous Audacity post to read up on how to add a music track to the background, add an effect or make more complex edits
Export the audio file as an MP3 file
1. Go to File menu > Export > select type eg MP3 and the destination folder
2. Be sure to give your file an appropriate title that can be identified in your post
3. You may need to install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity first - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.
Upload the audio file to a blog post
1. In your Wordpress blog, go to the Write menu > Write post
2. Give your post a title and add any written information or media
3. Click on the ‘Add Media’ button above the format pane. The simple Browser Uploader link is the quickest way to add media
4. Browse to locate your audio file
5. Click upload
6. Add relevant information: description etc
7. The link appears in your post and will automatically play when you click on it
Here is an example of a simple audio file created using Audacity that I have uploaded to this post:
Upload the audio file to a website
Go to my previous Audacity post and scroll down to
Uploading to a website (podcasting)
to read how to upload to a website
28
1. Look for the button to subscribe to a podcast on the site,
or,
look for the website address to subscribe to (you’ll need to copy and paste this url into iTunes)
2. Open iTunes
3. Go to Advanced menu > subscribe to podcast > copy and paste url into the pop-up window
4. Click ok
5. You must be connected to the internet to receive the podcast feed
6. To view/listen: click on Podcast button in iTunes task bar > select podcast and play
28
Creating podcasts allows students to share learning experiences and contribute to new learning environments.
Whilst this requires some in-depth skills and knowledge, a good way to start to use podcasts is to access them as resources and information sites for your subjects and your students.
The iTunes store has lots of podcasts available, and is a good source of language podcasts. Some universities are now uploading lectures to iTunes.
Here are some interesting Podcast sites for you to check out:
28
A podcast is music and/or video delivered or downloaded to your computer for you to listen to or view at your leisure.
‘Podcast‘ generally refers to audio. ‘Video Podcast’ (or ‘Vodcast‘) refers to the distribution of video files in the same manner.
A podcast is syndicated and sent out to a receiver ia a syndication feed (eg. RSS) otherwise it is just an audio file.
You can subscribe to podcasts so that they download automatically to your computer, and then you can upload the podcasts to your MP3 player or iPod..
There are a host of hosts on the net who provide free podcasts for you to download.
You can use free down-loadable software, such as iTunes, to subscribe to the podcasts (for no cost) and even have your podcasts sync-ed with your iPod to get the downloads next time you plug it in.
abc online have a great podcasting site called
dig: music with depth
where you canexperiment with listening to and downloading podcasts.
They also have
abc podcasts and vodcasts
on their general podcasting site.
So how does it work?
A podcast is syndicated and sent out to a receiver, otherwise it is just an audio file. So, you need a syndication feed to get it out there (such as an RSS feed)
Who uses podcasts?
A diverse range of people accessed podcasts in 2007-2008: mostly 12 - 55 year olds, both male and female (Kel Hathaway 2008).
1
A summary of the steps involved in importing an audio file into Audacity
You must convert the file through iTunes if your files are not any of the following: WAV, AIFF, OGG, or MP3
1. In iTunes Edit menu go to > Preferences > Advanced > Importing > Select Import Using WAV encoder
2. Go back to the iTunes library & click on (select) the file, then go to the Advanced menu> Convert selection to WAV
3. A duplicate file will appear next to the original. If you cant see which one is which, go to the View menu > View Options > ckeck the ‘Kind’ box and then go back to the library to identify the WAV version of your file.
4. Drag this file to the desktop. You can then drag it straight into Audacity and it will load in the Track pane
To edit an audio file
1. Drag in from the far left margin of the track until you see a greyed out area the cursor will convert to a pointer finger - slide to the exact edit point
2. Do the same with the right side of the track
3. Go to Edit > cut
To add voice (recording with a microphone)
1. Attach a peripheral device if desired ( a microphone)
2. Go to the control panels (Audio/Sound) to check that it is the active recording device. Or, use the inbuilt microphone (it will not sound as good)
3. Click the Red record button in the toolbar to commence recording
4. Click again to stop
To export as an MP3 file
1. Go to File menu > export > selcet type eg MP3 and the destination folder
2. You may need to install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity first - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.
1
Audacity provides a quick tutorial on the basic features in its Welcome Screen. if this has been disabled, you can find it under the Help menu. launch Audacity > go to Help menu > Show Welcome Message
Click on the blue links: Play Back; Record; Edit Sound; Export Sound & Burn to a CD to see whats possible. Follow the onscreen instructions
1
Audacity ® is free open source software for recording and editing sound.
Features
Audacity is a fast multi-track audio editor and recorder for:
- Windows 98 and later
- Macintosh OS 9 (Audacity 1.0 only) and OS X
- Linux/Unix and other *.nix-based systems
Audacity supports several digital audio formats with support for 24 bit and 32 bit sample formats as well as 16 bit. Supported formats include:
The Audacity Wiki (an online editable public resource and pages by multiple authors) contains tips, tricks and information about Audacity and digital audio. Anyone can edit pages to make them more useful or relevant. You can go there by clicking on this link:
Learn a bit more about Audacity by exploring links on this page: About Audacity
Where to get it
The Audacity program is available from the Audacity downloads page at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .
Get your Music into Audacity
Option 1: Start with an audio file like an MP3 that you already have on your computer: import it by clicking Project > Import Audio. If the audio file is saved the wrong format, it will not import into Audacity. In iTunes, you can convert it through the Advanced menu. Select the file in the iTunes library > Advanced menu > Convert selection to AIFF > an AIFF version will appear in the library window. if you arent sure which one is which, go the View menu > View Options and check ‘Kind’ to display the kind of file first.
Option 2: You can also record music from records or cassettes (see Transferring tapes and records to computer or CD) or any audio that is playing on your computer. For example if you heard some music on internet radio that you thought would suit your purpose, you could (on Windows or Linux) record it into Audacity - see http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=recording&i=streaming . On a Mac, you’d use a tool like Audio Hijack to record sounds playing from an application such as your web browser to an .AIFF audio file.
Option 3: To import music from a CD into Audacity you need to extract the audio from the CD to a WAV or AIFF audio file by using a program such as iTunes and import that audio file into Audacity. see below for setting this up correctly.
CD–EX is a good free Windows program to extract CD audio.
Or you can use Windows Media Player if you are on Windows XP (click Rip > Format > WAV lossless, or iTunes (either on OS X or Windows). First set the “conversion format” in iTunes Preferences under Advanced > Importing > Import using AIFF (or WAV) encoder”. Click “Audio CD” on the “Source” pane on the left. Select the tracks you want to extract and right-click on them and click the option “convert selection to AIFF”.
On OS X, CD tracks should also appear as AIFF files in the Finder, so they can simply be dragged into Audacity or imported from the CD with Project > Import Audio.
[edit] Create your Voice Track
1. To create a voice track record it with your microphone on to a new track in your Audacity Project. As the voice recording will be on a different track from the music, it can after recording be edited entirely independently of the music (see “Editing and Effects” below).
To record with your microphone, you set the recording source to microphone in Audacity’s mixer toolbar input selector http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm (or, if you are on OS X, you set the microphone as the default recording source in Apple Audio-Midi Setup). Then press the red Record button.
If you want to be really professional, why not do a level test of your voice before you record for real? Click on the downward pointing arrow in the right hand (red) recording level meters http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_meter.htm and click “monitor input”. While speaking into your microphone as loud as you would for the loudest part of what you want to record, adjust the recording level slider (by the microphone symbol) on the Mixer Toolbar http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm so the recording meters are almost reaching the far right-hand side (but not far enough to bring the red hold lights on). If the recording level meters are not visible, go to the Preferences and check “Enable Meter Toolbar” on the Interface tab.
2. To record your voice track while listening to your music track, check “Play other tracks while recording new one” in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, and press the red Record button. The Preferences are under usually under the Edit Menu, but on OS X are under the Audacity menu. Note: obviously you must use tight fitting headphones to record while listening to a music track, to avoid your microphone picking up the music playback in your voice recording.
3. After you have finished recording, just press “play” in Audacity to hear the result – the music track and your voice track will be mixed together just as they will when you come to “export” the recording as a computer audio file.
[edit] Editing and Effects
The Edit menu allows you to do things like cut pieces out of the music where you don’t want it, and on the Effect menu to do things like fade the music in and out, and so on.
1. Select your track first, and dont apply effects whilst you are playing, recording or pausing the track. You can select all of a track by clicking on its Track Panel (where the mute/solo buttons are). You can select part of a track by clicking in the track and dragging to left or right with your mouse, or with the left or right arrow keys.
Another useful tool is the Time Shift Tool <–-> top left of the Audacity screen (hit F5 to select it). With this you can move your music and vocal tracks back and forth so you get the music in the right place underneath your words.
2. Make the tracks as loud as they can be without distorting. To do this hit Edit > Select > All and Effect > Amplify and click OK. Then go the Track Panel of each track and slide the -…+ gain slider on each track to left by the same amount to reduce their volume. This is necessary because you have amplified both tracks so when played together they will otherwise distort. Now hit the green Play button to play the music and voice track together and watch the green playback VU meter next to the red recording meter. If the red hold lights at the right come on, move both gain sliders further back by the same amount.
[edit] Export and Publish your MP3
Once you have edited your recording in Audacity, you need to export it as an MP3 which is a universal compressed audio format that will play on iPods and other portable devices (and will also be suitable for others who may just want to listen to it on their computer) and which will also be small enough to distribute via the web.
1. To export your Project to an MP3, install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.
2. Click File > Export as MP3 which will mix your voice and music tracks to an MP3 file. A dialogue box will pop up asking you to edit the ID3 tags. These are tags which most audio players can read which give information such as the Title and Genre of the track. There is a short podcast tutorial here explaining about tagging MP3s in Audacity: http://www.creativecow.net/articles/mcmahon_frank/pod1/pod1.html .
Uploading to a website (podcasting)
Option 1: Once your MP3 is exported to your hard drive, you can upload it to your website and create a link for it. You can create a simple download link which is just the web address of the file e.g. http://www.mypodcast.com/podcast.mp3 .
However, if you give a plain text link like this, what happens when the user clicks on the link depends on their setup i.e. whether this downloads the file to their drive or launches their default MP3 player.
If you instruct your user to right-click the link, this will always enable them to download the file to their drive.
Option 2: If you embed your MP3 in your webpage using “embed tags” you can choose if your MP3 plays in the background or if the browser’s media plugin appears in the webpage, which will give the user an on and off button to play the file in the browser. You can also choose whether to autoplay the file on page load or not, and so on. This page shows you how to use embed tags: http://www.webreference.com/js/column20/embed.html .
If you want to make a plain text link from which users can stream your MP3 into their default MP3 player, you can just create a text file with .m3u (or .pls) extension and paste into it the full web address of the MP3, then upload the .m3u file to your webpage.
Many podcasts are distributed with what are known as RSS feeds, instead of (or as well as) offering downloading or streaming of the podcast content. When read with a feed reader program, these feeds offer a summary link to (or direct downloads of) recently updated podcast content. You can read about creating .RSS feeds for podcasts here .
If you do not have your own server or access to a website, there are other ways to put your podcast on the internet. Online services like BlogMatrix, AudioBlog, Liberated Syndication, PodBus and Podblaze offer space to upload and store your podcast. Some of these services offer free hosting while others will charge a small fee for different storage limits. Please refer to the different web sites for more information. To use a hosting service, simply sign up for an account and upload your MP3 files.
Finally, don’t forget to promote your podcast on the major podcast directories and search engines, such as iTunes and Podcast Alley .
18
Voicethread is a Web 2.0 application that allows you to create and share digital stories over the net. This application is a great tool for getting students to build digital stories, or to annotate slides.
A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways:
- Using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player.
A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world. Read more
To understand the breadth of what this application has to offer, view the What is Voicethread video
You can create a Voicethread in 3 easy steps: in one minute according to the website:
For an overview, view the 1 minute Voicethread video
1. Browse & Create images, documents and/or video. You can import from Powerpoint, Word, Excel or PDF, and Flickr or Facebook too.
2. Comment: use your voice - record with a microphone, write text etc
3. Share: invite, email, embed etc. there are privacy options
See a sample Voicethread here: Beach
Controls
You can set privacy controls and moderate any comments before they are published by checking the options
Setting up your microphone
- Click on the My Voice tab/menu
- Choose microphone settings button: for Mac or Windows and follow the prompts
This is a great feature for annotating video clips or drawing attention to details in a clip. View the Video Doodling video for more information
15
To add a podcast (post an mp3 file on your blog), go to the Write menu and click ‘Write Post’
Give your entry a title. Add any written information and format as desired.
Click the ‘Add Media’ button above the post format pane
Browse to locate the mp3 file you wish to post. Give the file a title and a description, then click ‘upload’.
Click save, and publish if you are ready to view the podcast
Here is an example of what it will look and play like on your post/page
How to use the digital audio player/recorder
To save the post and go back to Dashboard, click Save
To save the post and keep working, click Save and continue editing
To publish, click Publish
2
The term podcast is made up of ‘pod’ as in ‘iPod’ and ‘cast’ as in broadcast.
Podcasts are audio or video files that are published on the Web and sent free to subscribers who download them to play on an MP3 player, laptop or computer.
Podcasts are designed to be listened to at a time that suits the listener, ‘just in time’.
Podcasts are different to streamed audio and can be automatically downloaded to a computer (subscribed) and retrieved at a a later date.
Podcasting = media (MP3 files) + method of downloading (XML or RSS feeds)
Janine Bowes has a great entry on Podcasting on her Blog:
Tapping into social netwroking for e-learning - Introduction to Podcasting
and
TOOLS FOR THE TEKS: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
with links to
