Narration not recording

Oct 24, 2011

I am fairly new with Articulate and am having problems getting Presenter to record narration with my microphone headset. Here's what I'm working with:

With my first project, I used HP laptop with Windows XP & Office 2007, Presenter '09 and Plantronics DSP headset microphone. I also use Captivate 5. The narration recorded fine with both Presenter and Captivate.

I had just started my 2nd project in Presenter when I was upgraded to a new HP laptop with Windows 7 and Office 2010. I'm ready to narrate this project, and narration won't work in Presenter. The timer moves when I begin narration, but on playback and checking in Edit Audio, there is nothing.

I checked the settings on the Plantronics mic in Windows; the mic was listed and chosen. Did not change anything. I also checked and the mic works fine in Captivate with the new computer set up. So I know the mic is fine.

Is there any way to check or sync a microphone in Presenter? Or to make sure it selects that particular mic? Any other suggestions?

Thanks very much!

4 Replies
Peter Anderson

Hi Beverly,

Is the new computer running Microsoft Office 32- or 64-bit? Presenter '09 is not compatible with the 64-bit version. 

Assuming you are using the 32-bit version and you're having issues recording using Articulate -> Record Narration, follow these steps to diagnose the issue: 

http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=115 

If the steps outlined do not resolve the issue, please let us know if the issue only occurs with a specific presentation or if you are unable to record any presentation.
Thanks, and good luck!

Wendy A

I would definitely recommend Audacity.  It's easy to use and provides many editing options & control of the recording features.

For the new user:

  1. Make sure you have your script available.
  2. Open Audacity.
  3. Record the audio.
  4. Edit audio if necessary.
  5. Save as .wav with a name that makes sense when you import the audio to the slide.
  6. Open the Power Point file - Articulate - Import Audio - Select the .wav respective to each slide.
  7. If animations, Articulate - Sync Animation Timings

I hope this helps!  Good luck & happy developing. 

Beverly Scruggs

Thanks for the fast replies. I think it may be the microphone's driver. I've asked our IT support person to check it out. I may have to buy a new microphone, but that's okay if that'll resolve the problem.

Justin, I had read about the 32-bit version of Office 2010 before it was installed, and specifically asked our IT person to make sure it was that version. I forgot to ask him to be sure when he installed it. I'll check with him to make sure.

Jeffrey & Wendy, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I'm unable to use Audacity here at work. Our company's security settings won't allow the use of open-source software of any kind. But it did give me a thought...maybe I could record the narration on blank slides in Captivate and import the audio files into Presenter. But when I tried a test, the mic is not working in Captivate now. That's why I think it's the driver for the mic. I'll post a solution when I get it.

Thanks again for the help. This forum is awesome!

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