The POINT of
this Exercise is to make certain you...
know
how to complete the following procedures:
Exercise
1 -- Record voice using a Microphone
connected to PC;
Exercise
2 -- Using Goldwave to optimize audio
clip for streaming;
GoldWave is
a digital audio editor for Microsoft Windows. It
servers as a sound editor, player, recorder, and converter.
Note: If
you are using these instructions from outside of the UMUC
lab and have not already installed Goldwave, please do
so now.
Go
to: http://www.goldwave.com/ and
Select the shareware version
-- GoldWave for Windows 95/98/NT. Next, click on Self-Installing
GoldWave . Run the installation program. The
Goldwave program should now appear under your Programs
menu.
EXERCISE
1
A.
Record Audio
1.
Plug Microphone into
your Sound Card. The jack should be labeled "MIC".
Note: You
should now be able to hear your voice coming out of the computer's
speakers when you speak into the microphone.
Tips
to Improve Recording Quality:
Separate
microphone cords from power cords (this reduces noise
in the recording).
Use
a good quality microphone.
Make
sure the volume is loud enough.
Record
at 16-bit 44 MHz audio
Record
in a quiet room.
Troubleshooting:
Make
sure the power on speakers is turned on.
Check
to see if Mute is selected on Microphone Volume. (Start-->Programs-->Accessories--> Entertainment-->Master
Volume).
Look
at Multimedia settings under the Control Panel. Click
on the Audio tab. Check to see your sound card is
selected under Preferred device, both playback & recording.
Be
sure to load latest version of sound card driver
and recheck above settings.
2.
Open
Goldwaveby clicking on the Start button-->Programs-->Goldwave-->.
Because this is a shareware
version, the Goldwave Help file will
likely open each time you launch the program. Simply
click on File-->Exit or the X in the upper right-hand
corner to close the file.
3.
Click File-->New from
the Toolbar.
4.
Choose
attributes for the new sound file.
Set:
Channels to Mono
Sampling
rate (Hz) to 44100 from the drop-down
menu.
Specify the
length of time you want to record. You can
enter any time up to 3 hours for the length. For example,
enter 1:00 for one minute or 1:00:00 for one hour.
Click
on OK. You should now see the window
below.
Channels
Mono sounds
have one channel of audio. Stereo sounds have
two channels. Stereo sounds use twice as much storage
as mono sounds and can take twice as long to process.
Sampling
Rate
This
value affects the quality and quantity of the sound.
Higher values allow a wider range of frequencies
to be recorded and give better quality. Smaller values
require less space.
8000
Telephone
quality.
11025
Low
end radio quality.
Good for voice.
22050
Radio
quality.
Good for music and voice.
44100
CD
quality.
Excellent for all sounds.
Time
This
value specifies the length of the sound in minutes
and seconds. You can enter any time up to 3 hours
for the length. For example, enter 1:00 for one minute
or 1:00:00 for one hour.
taken
from: Goldwave Help file
6.
Prepare a short
script.
Create your
own script, or select a paragraph from a Famous
Speech.
7.
Hold
down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and click on the Record button
on the Device Controls window .
8.
Speak loudly
and clearly into the microphone.
9.
Click
on the Stop Recording button.
10.
Click
on the Save icon
(or File--Save as) from the toolbar. Name your file "lastname" and
save in .wav format and save it to the desktop (e.g., :\WINDOWS\Desktop\"lastname".wav).
B.
Play Audio
1.
Play full recording:
Choose the Play button
on the Device Controls window.
2.
Play
part of a sound.
Use the left and right
mouse buttons to move the start and finish
markers to select the part of the sound you want
to play.
Note: The
start and finish vertical markers are the cyan
lines located at the far left side (start marker)
and far right side (finish marker)
To move the start marker: Click
the left mouse button on the graph
at the point where you want to place the
start marker.
To move the finish marker:
Click the right mouse button on the
graph at the point where you want to place
the finish marker.
Choose the Play button
on the Device Controls window.
EXERCISE
2 - Optimize Audio
Optimize Audio
1.
Click
on the View menu from the Goldwave Toolbar. Select Zoom
1:1000
2.
Remove silence
from beginning of recording. Adjust the start marker by
clicking the left mouse button on
the graph at the point where you want to place the start marker.
A
flat line represents little or no sound at all, while
the higher waveforms represents sound. The louder
the sound, the higher the waveform.
Move
the marker to the point right before the start of
your voice. This will likely be the point at
which the wave form greatly increases in range.
You
may make review adjustments by clicking on the Play button
on the Device Controls window.
3.
Choose Trim from
the Goldwave Edit menu or click on the Trim button.
4.
Review changes
by choosing the Play button
on the Device Controls window.
5.
Remove silence
from end of recording. Adjust the finish marker by
clicking the right mouse button on
the graph at the point where you want to place the finish marker.
6.
Choose Trim from
the Goldwave Edit menu or click on the Trim button.
7.
Review changes
by choosing the Play button
on the Device Controls window.
8.
Click
on the Save icon
(or File-->Save as) from the toolbar.
9.
Normalize
by clicking on the Effects menu from the Goldwave Toolbar. Select Volume--> Maximize from
the list.
Normalization
is a process that increases the overall relative levels
of the sound file without increasing the level of noise. Goldwave
looks at the entire waveform and finds the distance from
the highest peak to the zero decibel level. It then increases
the rest of the waveforms by that amount. Zero decibels
is the highest level that sound can get in the digital
world without "peaking the meters" and causing a distortion
in the sound. The overall effect of normalization
is increasing all the levels without ever going over the
zero decibel cut-off level. [1]
10.
Set
the New Maximum to 0.950. Click on OK.
11.
Click
on the Save icon
(or File--Save as) from the toolbar.
Next,
we will use the Offset command to adjusts
or removes a dc offset by shifting the waveform
up or down. It will appear on screen
as your audio signal waveform residing mostly
above or below the zero line. You can
hear it as a pop or click whenever you start
or stop playback Also, if you
notice that silent sections of a sound are
not at zero in the graph, you can use this
command to adjust them to zero. When
you see or hear this problem simply apply
the DC offset command to the audio to remove
it. (A positive value shifts it up,
while a negative value shifts it down.)
12.
Click
on the Effects -->Offset. Click on OK.
13.
Click
on the Save icon
(or File--Save as) from the toolbar.
.
button
on the Device Controls window . 
button. 
icon
(or File--Save as) from the toolbar. Name your file "lastname" and
save in .wav format and save it to the desktop (e.g., :\WINDOWS\Desktop\"lastname".wav).
button
on the Device Controls window. 
