Now that you’re familiar with some recording principles and hardware, we’ll move onto the software. Regardless of your setup you will need some software to record your audio.
Below we’ve listed a few options to consider that you most likely have access to and a free program to explore.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a great tool that allows you to easily record audio and add it to your presentations or make a video. You may be familiar with the term ‘voice-over PowerPoint’. This is a typical approach in e-learning where the instructor creates content on a slide deck, and then adds voice-over to the slides. This can provide context and insight, or narrate an important learning opportunity that is visualized on the slide.
While PowerPoint can record audio, there are some challenges. The recordings are stored on each slide and can introduce technical difficulties. Also, it is difficult to record great audio when there is very little control over the recording experience. If you make a mistake it can be a challenge to correct. If you are recording a simple or short piece of audio for a slide, then Power Point might be the perfect option.
Review this step-by-step PowerPoint resource that illustrates the processes of adding audio (music, narration, or sound bites), to your PowerPoint presentation, and how to record and listen back to your recording. This resource provides specific steps for using PowerPoint on a Mac or PC computer, as well as different versions of the software. Please note, that to record audio or listen in PowerPoint, your computer must be equipped with a sound card, microphone, and speakers.
Audacity
If you’re looking to record audio without PowerPoint and want to be able to do the basics of editing, we recommend a free program called Audacity. Audacity is a great tool for anyone who wants to get creative with sound. It’s an excellent tool to quickly record, edit or export audio.
You can download and install it here: https://www.audacityteam.org/
Once you’ve got Audacity installed, review the following basic tutorials on how to record, edit and export audio.
Camtasia
Camtasia is known as screen recording software, but it can also be a great tool for creating great audio. Camtasia gives the user a lot of control over the recording experience. This includes the option to see and adjust your audio levels/volume. Camtasia also provides many tools to fix recording mistakes or edit and share audio. You can also record your PowerPoint presentations into Camtasia to create a polished video. If you can think of a way to use audio in your course content (creating a podcast, recording a lecture, etc.) or to engage with students, Camtasia probably has all of the tools you will need.
Once you have Camtasia downloaded on to your computer, review these Camtasia video tutorials or watch the videos below to get you started with recording in Camtasia. Make sure you have your mic, headphones and quiet recording environment ready to go! After you have tried recording in Camtasia, watch the How To Improve Your Audio tutorials to instruct you on how to achieve the best results.
Video Tutorials
Review the following Camtasia tutorial videos to learn the software interface, how to record voice over and audio editing.
McMaster community: At the time of the last update to this module, University Technology Services had Camtasia available for free to McMaster Instructors. Check out the Software Hub to access our current licenses.