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EDIT 6900: Research Methods in Instructional Technology

Creating a Pre-Recorded Audio File Using Audacity

Lloyd Rieber

Purpose

The prpose of this tutorial is to give you a quick overview and guide to recording an audio file in the mp3 format to accompany a PowerPoint file, together forming the part of the requirements of the final course project.

Preparation

Download and install the Audacity audio software tool:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

On Windows computers, in order to export an MP3 file as shown in the video below, you will need to have the following DLL resource file available on your computer:

• lame_enc.dll
  right-click on the link and choose to "save as.."

I suggest you create a folder in your "My Documents" with a title such as "Audacity Work" and place this DLL file in there.

The first time you choose to export an mp3, Audacity will prompt you to locate this DLL file.

Directions

Lloyd Rieber has prepared a brief video demonstration for you. The video is approximately 10 minutes in length and is presented in 2 parts. Click on each of the following to launch the video segment in a new window:

• Part 1: Creating and saving an audio project using Audacity (6:43)
• Part 2: Exporting an MP3 file with Audacity (4:24)

Audacity Tutorials

To learn more about Audacity, such as how to edit your sound files and add special effects, refer to this nice online tutorial available by SourceForge:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html