Audio Recording Tips for E-Learning Designers #45

E-Learning Challenge #45: Challenge | Recap

If you’re like many course designers, you’ve probably had to record some audio for your e-learning courses. And recording audio is one of the simplest, most straightforward tasks you’ll perform in e-learning. You press the record button and—voilà!—you’re recording.

But what if you want to record high-quality audio? That’s easy, too. Every course designer knows that the key to great audio is… microphones. Right? Wait, it’s the recording software? No… Vocal booths? Mixers? Oh come on!

The reality is this: while recording audio is simple, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to improving audio quality. That means that the most helpful audio tips are the tips that align with a user’s recording needs, experience, and environment. And that’s what this week’s challenge is all about!

Challenge of the week

This week, your challenge is to share your audio recording deets with the community. We want to know all about your audio recording: your best practices, your gear, your processes, even your quirks and tricks that give your audio that special something. Maybe you record your best audio dressed up in a chicken suit—no worries, we don’t judge how you get it done.

There are three parts to this week’s challenge:

1. Tell us about your recording setup.

What type of microphone do you use? Do you record directly into your authoring tool, or do you record with a third-party application like Audacity? Do you record in your cubicle, or do you have a specific audio recording room? 

2. Show us your e-learning audio setup.

Where do you record your e-learning audio? Try to capture what a typical session looks like. It’s okay to clean your desk before taking a picture… just keep things as real-world as possible. Yes, this part requires a photo. 

3. Share your three favorite audio recording tips.

We love tips, and rumor has it you guys have the best audio tips around. Share your favorites. No audio tip is too small. If something’s worked well for you, we want to know all about it.

Tools

You can share audio challenge using Articulate Studio, Articulate Storyline, PowerPoint, the forums, or your own blog. Since this is a slightly different challenge, you have more options for how you share your entries.

Resources 

• 4 Simple Tips for Recording High-Quality Audio
• 13 More Tips to Help You Record Narration Like the Pros
• Record Better Audio with an Affordable Do It Yourself Sound Booth
• Forums Compilation: Audio and Video 

Last week’s virtual tour challenge

Before you sound off in this week’s challenge, take a virtual tour of the amazing demos your fellow community members shared in last week’s virtual tour challenge:

E-Learning Challenge #44: Virtual Tours in Online Training

More about the e-learning challenges: 

The e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.

Wishing you a safe-and-sound week, E-Learning Heroes!

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure. If you share your demos on Twitter, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.