Your assignment in this Tool Time is to begin work on the voice narration portion of your final project by producing a sample of it. Here is the assignment:
The audio you produce should meet the following standards:
- Spoken at the average rate of 3 wps.
- Free of background noise, popping or clipping.
- Compressed
and Equalized.
- Normalized @-3.0db.
The embedded video above provides a quick tutorial on downloading, installing, recording and saving your first audio track with Audacity. However, simply search on "Audacity tutorial" on Google or YouTube for a wide range of instructional materials for this free tool.
You may use any audio recorder/editor tool you wish. Video software such as Camtasia from TechSmith comes with a good audio recorder and editing tool. However, please do not use the new Camtasia 8. The noise removal tool does not work, and a maintenance patch is being released.
I highly recommend that you download and install the free, fully-functional, 30-day trial of Camtasia 7.1.1 and use it for this assignment and future ones if you do not have a video editor. To download the free trial of Camtasia 7.1.1, go to this page on the TechSmith site and scroll down to "Camtasia Studio Screen Recording and Production v7.1.1."
Here is a video tutorial on how to use Camtasia 7.1.1 to make an .mp3 audio recording for this assignment:
Camtasia also offers a full menu of video tutorials for version 7.1.1 to get you started and guide you through your first project: Camtasia 7 Tutorials.
Most microphones attached to your headset are capable of producing acceptable quality for podcasting and vodcasting if used properly. Here is a standard list of do's and don'ts when recording audio with a headset microphone:
1. Do not position the microphone directly in front of your lips. Doing so causes "pops" when articulating words with the letters "p" and "b" especially. Also, positioning the microphone directly in front of your lips is the primary cause of clipping, when
the input overdrives
the microphone and the digital signal (wave form) beyond -0.0
db, which is the highest level for digital audio before distortion.
2. Position a headset microphone to the side of your face and 2-6 inches from your jaw. The exact position that works best for your microphone, your voice, and your face is something that you have to work out with practice to produce the most dynamic sound (one that preserves your vocal qualities) but is free from pops, lip smacking, clipping and such. Placing the microphone too far from your mouth or too off-center can cause a flat, telephone voice.
Also, some people are noisy breathers (me) and some people are quiet breathers. Unless you are going for a certain effect, normally you want audio mostly free of the sound of your breathing, lip smacking and tongue clacking.
3. Record in chunks. Divide up your script into meaningful chunks that are about 30 seconds or less in length. Unless you are a professional or are just very good, trying to go longer can actually result in taking longer to complete your voice narration than if you recorded the script in chunks and then combined the chunks onto an audio track with your audio editor.
4. Plan your breaths. This is sometimes call "phrasing." Read over your sentences, paying attention to punctuation and other natural breaks, and try to plan your inhales so as not to interrupt the meaningful flow of words.
5. Record in one sitting. Try to record your entire script (divided into chunks and pauses for breaths) in a single sitting so that your vocal quality and environment are the same in each chunk. Always be well hydrated before beginning and drink frequently as you record. Again, unless you are a professional using professional equipment, if you record different parts of a script on different days, each part will likely sound noticeably different due to ambient sounds, room humidity, changes in the position of your mic, level of your hydration and so on.
6. Use the "mark tape" method to avoid starting over from the beginning. Recording a 30-second to 1-minute segment of audio can become quite frustrating if you try for a perfect take. Another method is simply to start recording and hope you make it to the end of your chunk without any flubs. However, if at any time you make a mistake, simply say "Mark tape," pause, and pick up where you left off. It is a simple matter in your editor to delete the flubs and achieve a "perfect take" with editing instead of performance.
7. What's the best microphone to use? OMGZ. Well, one way to answer this is: the best one you can afford. However, a microphone of a good quality headset will usually do the trick for beginner podcasters. To find a good headset with microphone in your price range, Google them and read the reviews.
When higher quality is important to the production (e.g., freelance work), use a good desktop condenser microphone that plugs directly into your computer.