Tag: audio

Update to Recording Lectures

I’ve updated my Evernote: Recording Lectures.

I used this page to document processes and strategies for faculty-authors to make the task of recording audio content for online lectures easier. I start off with some specific information on how to make a recording using Audacity. I even have a screencast that I’ve made to walk the audience through one possible workflow. The second-half of my notes covers best practices that will help with the planning, recording, and post-recording phases. These notes are helpful when I sit down with faculty-authors and serve as a good reminder for both of us because there are a lot of considerations when setting out to capture high-quality audio content.

This update is related to a revision of SRA 221: Overview of Information Security where I’m trying something new for our department: hired professional voice talent. I made a connection and was able to find a fantastic graduate student who will be perfect for the job. We’re still working on back-end paperwork, but I’m confident that we can work something out.

Using a patch cable to record system audio

This is the method I used to record system audio while creating Captivate and other screencasting movies using software that doesn’t provide drivers to capture that audio. By system audio, I’m referring to any sound that isn’t external to the…

This is the method I used to record system audio while creating Captivate and other screencasting movies using software that doesn’t provide drivers to capture that audio. By system audio, I’m referring to any sound that isn’t external to the computer. More specifically, it could be a YouTube video I’m trying to capture, or a project from Audacity, or even the playback of a segment from Adobe Connect 8.

  1. purchase a patch cable (example from Radioshack)

  2. plug the patch cable in to connect the headphone (out) and mic (in) jacks – I have a docking station that has jacks that I use for this technique; they are visible in the far right-hand side of the image below

  3. temporarily set the playback or audio out settings to the headphone jack (“Speakers / Headphones” option visible below)

  4. set/verify that your system will capture audio via the mic jack (“Dock Mic” option visible below)

  5. record your desktop content
  6. return the audio out settings to their original output (USB headset in my case) so that you can listen to your newly recorded content

I just leave the cable installed on the dock so that I only have to adjust the output source whenever I want to capture system audio.

Audacity is a great tool for testing out a quick recording. Keep in mind that some of the names for the input/outputs may appear differently.

I did test the audio capture and I didn’t seem to have any sync issues.

Summer Design Learning Camp ’10 Pre-conference Session: Digital Storytelling

I went to the session on Digital Story telling and that topic overarched various tools (that included VT) and described a particular approach to teaching. Aaron Smith, from the Media Commons, made a great argument for packaging learning around a…

I went to the session on Digital Story telling and that topic overarched various tools (that included VT) and described a particular approach to teaching. Aaron Smith, from the Media Commons, made a great argument for packaging learning around a or a series of narratives: we remember things better when told as a [interesting] story. Honestly I don’t have excellent notes from his presentation because it was fast-paced and hands-on. The impression did stick though and I was intrigued by his approach.

His second point was that he urged the use of open, online media tools because when the [R.I.] student leaves PSU, they may not have the ability to leverage the same resources they had as a student here. It’s important to show them that freely available tools may fit one’s needs perfectly fine. He shared a few tools, some of which we used during the hands-on portion (in no particular order):

  • aviary.com: image, music, audio, etc. editor
  • stickybits.com: barcode-based social networking
  • junaio.com: augmented reality browser for web-enabled mobile devices with cameras
  • paintmap.com: location-based database that maps paintings
  • woices.com: location-based audioguides
  • xtranormal: text-to-3D storyboards/videos
  • jaycut.org: online video editor
  • kaltura: online video editor
  • dipity.com: interactive timeline creator/viewer

There were some familiar as well as new tools for me. We used aviary, jaycut, and flicker during our hands-on workshop to create interesting, short-video narratives about randomly-generated information bits from wikipedia.

As interesting as this session was, it’ll be a while before I could suggest this approach to faculty since I’m new to the development of this concept: digital storytelling. I do like the idea and will be something I will look to improve as a competency.

Raw notes:
3/25/11 – Kimberly Winck, Hannah Ivy Inzko, Ryan Wetzel, Trace Brown, Lauren Emily Beal, Daniel Alexander Getz
“Media Convergence & Divergence”
Think Star Wars Franchises – movies, books, tv, videogames… stories connect through the elements
How can we learn how different forms of media
“HeadTrauma” movie
collapsus.com
education: consistent message across different platforms & how do we move forward

Recording Audio for the WC

I’m looking back for documentation on what my recording process for the ADTED 531 course back on Jan 20, 2010. I don’t have any notes so I’ll keep track of what I’m doing now:Reserve 217 OBHardware: MacBook Pro, internal micSoftware:…

I’m looking back for documentation on what my recording process for the ADTED 531 course back on Jan 20, 2010. I don’t have any notes so I’ll keep track of what I’m doing now:

  1. Reserve 217 OB
  2. Hardware: MacBook Pro, internal mic
  3. Software: Audacity?
  4. Record AIFF – 16 bit Integer (Big Endian), Mono, 44.1 kH, about 700 kbits/s