So You Wanna Add Your Voice To That, Huh?

Recording audio often comes off as a complicated and overwhelming process, but it really doesn’t have to be. Ideally, if you want your stories to sound very professional and have a wide range, you’re going to have to invest a little in audio gear, but to get started and find out if it’s for you, you don’t really need anything fancy at all.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

1. An application to record your voice.

Depending on your computer, you may already have a built in recording program ( i.e. Sound Recorder for WIN, Garage Band for MAC), and if you’re familiar with these programs, feel free to use them although I recommend AUDACITY.

Audacity is free, it’s a proven, it works on ALL platforms (WIN, MAC, *NIX). Audacity also offers a pretty solid number of editing features and outputs in MP3 format, saving you time since you won’t need a conversion program.

AUDACITY – Download and Install.

LAME MP3 encoder – Download and Install. This encoder let’s you output in the mp3 format and like Audacity, is also free.

2. A microphone

Most PC’s these days come with some sort of microphone. Since you’re just starting out, feel free to use it. Just be careful that you don’t talk to close or too far away from it. The last thing you want is popping!

If you don’t have a microphone, there are plenty available for under $15 dollars at any local computer store.

3. Headphones

Why headphones? Well besides feeling like a DJ, you want to be able to hear your voice while you record. You need to be able to monitor you’re levels (remember what I said above about popping?), and if you use your regular speakers, the mic will pick them up as well. Ideally, you’re going to want to use headphones that cover your entire ear area to isolate you from outside (ambient) sounds, but those ear bud headphones that came with your iPOD will work just as well.

Okay We’re Ready To Roll Right? Well Not Quite…

Let’s plug everything in first shall we?

Connect your microphone to the “microphone-in” connection on you PC.

Connect your headphones to the “line-out” or “headphone jack”. Sometimes this will be the same jack.

Now let us configure your microphone.

Either double-click the speaker icon in the system tray or go to Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices. Click the Advanced button in the Device Volume section of the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel.

With the Volume Control open choose Options > Properties from the menu and click the button next to recording (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Make sure the Select box under the Microphone column (figure 2) is checked and the volume is above zero or you’ll just wind up recording a whole bunch of nothing. Leave the Recording Control open so you can make adjustments during the recording process.

Figure 2

If you have not already installed Audacity, now is the time to do so.

PREPARING TO RECORD

First, make sure that anything that’s making noise that can be turned off is. No radio, no water dropping in the sink, no fans running, etc… Remember you want your voice to be all the listener hears.

Okay, now that everything is off.

Open Audacity and then open the preferences from FILE > PREFERENCES

On the Audio I/O tab, double check to make sure your sound card is selected as the device for both playback and recording. In the channels dropdown under the “Recording” section, select “ 1 (Mono)”. (Figure 3) No need for stereo as you only have one mic, and it will double the file size.

Figure 3

From the QUALITY tab choose 44,100 HZ as the Default Sample Rate and 16-bit as Default Sample Format (Figure 4).

Figure 4

The File Formats tab controls the output formats for your audio. To avoid accidentally overwriting your audio files, select Make a copy of the file before editing under the When importing uncompressed audio files into Audacity options. Choose WAV (Microsoft 16 bit PCM) as the Uncompressed Export Format, Leave the OGG Export Setup untouched and follow the instructions on MP3 Export Setup to configure MP3 output.

Close the preferences by clicking OK.

From the main program window verify Microphone is selected as the recording input option on the Audacity Mixer Toolbar. Click on the microphone icon on the Audacity Meter Toolbar to turn on monitoring. You should see a red level indicator moving slightly as it picks up room noise. Talk into the microphone and make adjustments to the volume until you get a level that bounces close to the top of the right edge without ever turning the far right solid red (which indicates you are clipping the audio) (Figure 5). Once the level is adjusted, you're ready to record.

Figure 5

Push the record button and start talking (Figure 6). When you finish recording press the stop button and save the file as a WAV. The save is important so you don't lose your recording.

Figure 6

Now start recording those stories!!!