Creating Audio Files (the first part of podcasting) Using Audacity
Sample Project
Record your voice, save your project, and export it somewhere else or into another file format.
Overview
Podcasting and audio files are two different things -- but often people call audio files that are available on the Internet podcasts. But that is inaccurate. Podcasting is really all about the delivery of the file - the delivery of the audio file directly to the listener. Podcasting is "push" technology. Today, we will create merely the audio file. And that is where I have my experience - audio file creation in both Audacity and GarageBand. However, I have left you some information about converting your audio file into a podcast below.
If you want to see a simple video about podcasting, check out this video at Teacher Tube -- Podcasting in Plain English http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0caf60d28b852556d52f
If you want to see a simple "How To" video, check this one out, also at Teacher Tube -- Podcasting with Audacity: A Tutorial http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=23dc8f4753bcc5771660
Directions
- Check that the green mic button is on.
- Go to START, then find Audacity in your START menu programs
- To record, click on the RED (pink) CIRCLE button
- To stop recording, click on the YELLOW SQUARE button
- To listen to your track, scroll back (scroll bar at the bottom of the screen) and click at the beginning of the track you created. Then click on the GREEN PLAY button at the top of the window to hear your track.
- Now, you are going to add some sounds to your track.
- Open Internet Explorer
- Open the Sage Park Library Home Page http://www.windsorct.org/sagelmc
- Click on Off Team
- Under World Language, click on link for Royalty Free Music
- Scroll down and listen to some sample clips, loops, etc.
7. When you find the sound you like (no more than 3 sounds in your project and NO GUNSHOTS), RIGHT CLICK on the DOWNLOAD link for the sound and select SAVE TARGET AS. Save the sound to My Documents or your flash drive. Just remember where you saved it.
8. Close Internet Explorer, and then click back on Audacity.
9. Go up to PROJECT, slide down to IMPORT AUDIO. Remember, where you saved your sounds and navigate to that folder, and then click OPEN. Now you have two tracks.
10. If you don't want both tracks to play simultaneously (because your voice will get drowned out by the sound), click on your top track (your voice track) and then click on the TIMESHIFT TOOL (under the EDIT button).
11. Then click and hold the TIMESHIFT tool at the beginning of your voice track to slide your track so it lines up with the end of the sound. When you finished, play your file. The sound should start BEFORE you start reading your dialogue. Now, you can get creative and add another sound at the end of the poem (Do steps 9, 10, and 11 again - only this time you will line up the new sound track to start AFTER you read the dialogue). If you want your voice to play on top of the sounds you can also adjust the levels of the sound you wish to make softer. Find the - (minus) and + (plus) symbols next to the track you want to make softer. To make the sound softer, nudge the slider toward the - (minus) symbol.
12. When you are finished, go to FILE - EXPORT as .MP3 or .WAV. Name the file with YOUR NAME and SAVE it to My Documents or your flash drive. (You will get a message stating that the file will become a mono file. This is okay). You do not need to save the original Audacity file, unless you plan on making changes. Now, if you click in your file in My Documents or your flash drive folder, your new mp3 file or .wav file will play.
Product Information
Benefits and Pricing
SOFTWARE:
Ø Audacity software is FREE. It is plain and not as slick as Apple's GarageBand, but you can download Audacity to both PCs and Macs. It is available from this web site http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Ø In addition, to export MP3 files, you will have to download the FREE LAME MP3 encoder. This is a separate little piece of software - also available from Audacity. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3
Ø You would want to download the mp3 encoder because mp3 files are smaller than .wav files - or other files. File size is important if you want to post your audio files on the web or actually get into podcasting because there will likely be file storage limits if you store your podcasts on a third-party web site.
MICROPHONES
When creating audio files at my school, I use $12.00 free-standing plug-in microphones from Radio Shack. The ones I have are beige and they plug into the microphone port on the computer. The newer ones plug into a USB port. You CAN use the microphone that comes with a computer, but with a classroom full of kids, this is not practical because there is too much noise in the room. At least with a plug-in microphone, kids can get close to the microphone. And these microphones are pretty good!
Similar Products
This page barely scrapes the surface of podcasting possibilities. Once you can create a simple audio file (like you just did in Audacity), you can create an enhanced podcast by adding images. This can be done in movie software - like iMovie or MovieMaker, GarageBand, Adobe Premiere (these are a few of the inexpensive ways that I know of).
Here is an example of an enhanced audio file. It is not a podcast because there is no RSS here. But, I created the audio track in Audacity, and then I combined the audio track and the photos in Adobe Premiere Elements. http://www.windsorct.org/sagelmc/FieldTrips/CapeCod/capecodlinks.htm
Here is an example of just audio files for a Spanish class (just this week). Kids made these. And it was their first time! The teacher had the students come in with a script - and in a class and a half (about one hour because they had to listen to sounds and practice) the kids made these!
http://www.windsorct.org/sagelmc/OFFTEAM/SpanishDialogue.htm
If you want more information about actually publishing your podcast, do a Google search for "podcast hosting for schools". The ones that I have seen mentioned are Liberated Syndication, Podbean, and even the Internet Archive. However, I can't test these from school because they are all blocked!
