SAU 16 Technology - Creating Audio Files

Computer and Hardware Requirements

Your computer needs a microphone and either headphones or speakers.

In a classroom environment, we have had good results with headphone microphones. You can use two of them, joined with a Y-adapter, for interviews. These microphones are good at tuning out extraneous noise.

Recording and Mixing Software

Windows computers come with Sound Recorder Accessory that will create .wav files. It is easy to use and often a good starting point for new users.

Audacity is  a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder available for most operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux).

In order to create and save MP3 files from Audacity, you need to additionally download and install the LAME MP3 encoder - see instructions here.

Tutorials - There are lots of great tutorials and instructions on the web for using this tool - try a Google search of "audacity tutorials". First check out these How To Podcast tutorials that have Flash video instructions on the basics - in a few minutes you'll actually know what you're doing.

Publishing your File

You can put your audio file on a website and create a link to it just like you would link to any other file. All the user requires is a media player on their computer for the file format. Most audio files are posted to the web in an .mp3 format.

To create a "Podcast" you need to load your audio file to a server that publishes the RSS code that an aggregator uses to sync subscriptions. SAU 16 has offered a Loudblog server that will do this for you.
Link to SPDC Loudblog Podcasts
Link to SPDC Loudblog login to upload files (need an id and password)

Finding and Adding Music

You may find some local musicians who can record some music for you, but if not, try some of these resources for free music (scroll down to Sound and Music). Remember to respect copyright and only use music that you have permission to use.