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 si...
Published 11 years ago
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I use an ATR2100 USB microphone and pop-filter, Camtasia with occasional use of Audacity. The best recordings are done in my home studio (also known as home office, spare bedroom, walk in wardrobe depending on the context). I also try to avoid recording on days the gardeners are mowing or strimming.
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Most of my recordings are audios for software demos, so I write scripts for both the typing and speaking part of the demo and record them separately, combining them in Camtasia
I use a few simple speaking techniques
- Speak as though demonstrating to a friend at your desk.
- Use your normal speaking voice
- Smile while speaking
- Ensure your script is in spoken English (for example, use don’t rather than do not)
- Avoid words which you struggle to say. A thesaurus is your friend.
- Don’t over enunciate
- Position microphone between one and two inches from mouth with pop filter in between.
- Feel free to wave your hands about when speaking, but don’t knock the table or microphone!
If you need to edit the audio (maybe to remove a sharp intake of breath), use the recording software to cross-fade rather than just cut. If you temporarily move slightly away from the microphone your intake of breath will be less obvious. I also like to apply automatic niose reduction at the end of the production.
No need to try and do it all in one take but try to do in the same session. If the room is quiet and you concentrate on using your natural voice you will be ok when joining the clips.
.
Most of my recordings are audios for software demos, so I write scripts for both the typing and speaking part of the demo and record them separately, combining them in Camtasia
I use a few simple speaking techniques
- Speak as though demonstrating to a friend at your desk.
- Use your normal speaking voice
- Smile while speaking
- Ensure your script is in spoken English (for example, use don’t rather than do not)
- Avoid words which you struggle to say. A thesaurus is your friend.
- Don’t over enunciate
- Position microphone between one and two inches from mouth with pop filter in between.
- Feel free to wave your hands about when speaking, but don’t knock the table or microphone!
If you need to edit the audio (maybe to remove a sharp intake of breath), use the recording software to cross-fade rather than just cut. If you temporarily move slightly away from the microphone your intake of breath will be less obvious. I also like to apply automatic niose reduction at the end of the production.
No need to try and do it all in one take but try to do in the same session. If the room is quiet and you concentrate on using your natural voice you will be ok when joining the clips.