Do I really need articulate presenter?

Feb 23, 2012

P J
By P J

Hi,

I am using articulate presenter for about 6 months now and we have rolled out a complete course. By the end of it all, what am left with is, "Do I really need this software for developing my course" Please help me with what I completely missed when it comes to software features. Below is what we did to roll out the course:

  1. Recorded all ppt's using articulate presenter
  2. Identified that there is lot of humming sound in the background
  3. Exported all audio files
  4. Cleaned them in audacity
  5. Imported all audio files again in presenter
  6. Publish the entire file
  7. Upload all output swf files in another software to convert them into mp4 format
  8. Call these files in our own JW player

Now, instead I have 2 options:

1) I use camtasia to do audio recording slide by slide like we do in articulate and them can do my video file format conversions and then call them in JW player as in the earlier case

2) I use a better software just for voice recording slide by slide and import that in the ppt using articulate and the rest of the process remains the same

Please suggest.

Regards,

PJ

2 Replies
Dave Neuweiler
12 years ago02/23/12 at 6:04 am (UTC)

Hello PJ, I really think the best quality audio is achieved by recording the narration separatley from the application, and then importing those sound files into Articulate. The key (in some cases) to eliminate hum is the recording environment -- away from a running computer and in a sound-dampened area. A good microphone is important too.

You can easily test whether your audio problems are being caused by your equipment and recording environment. Just find a clean audio file and import it into Articulate. If there's no hum or distortion when you publish, that eliminates the software as the issue, but points toward the recoring environment and equipment.

I think that in the long run, you'll save time and effort by making good recordings in a controlled environment and importing them.

I hope that helps!

Best Regards,

Dave

Justin Wilcox
12 years ago02/23/12 at 10:03 am (UTC)

You may want to take a look at this screencast I made about recording. A humming can be indicative of a lot of things:

  • Issues with the electrical outlet
  • Recording too hot
  • Loose wire on the mic

That being said, a lot of folks do prefer to work outside of Presenter first and then import. Here's a great article about how to improve the sound of your audio files in Articulate.

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