Home

Introduction

Experience shows that audio recording requires careful attention to the room, microphone, and computer in use. Best results occur by running audio sound checks in advance of a session using all the same equipment and in the room where you will be recording with the Lecture123 Presenter. You will best served by performing one or two very fast audio tests along with some possible configuration tweaks -- this can usually be accomplished in less than a minute.

Recording Setup and Tips

Here are some issues that you should consider when recording:

• Ambient room noise (e.g. room air conditioning or fans)
• Laptop built-in mic issues:
  • generally low quality
  • only records someone who is close to the mic
• Most desktop computers do not come with a mic. You may buy a low cost desktop mic for under $20 at any computer store.
• Feedback: a high pitch tone that is audible at times is likely due to having your computer speakers on while recording, i.e. the voice is also output to the speakers, causing the speaker sound to feed into the mic again and a feedback loop is produced. This can be eliminated by muting or turning off your speakers while you record.
• If the room is noisy or the person presenting will wander from the computer, then a wireless lavalier mic with the receiver wired to the mic input on the computer works best. In some cases, e.g. large rooms, 2 lavaliers are appropriate: one for the room PA system and one for the computer. We've had good experience with this wireless lavalier kit from Shure which can bought for under $400 (note: less expensive units are available sometimes with lower audio quality or less durability):

  Shure Presenter PG14/PG185 Wireless Lavalier System UHF mic kit (note: these kits come in varying frequencies; when ordering more than one kit, buy each one with a different frequency to avoid contention).

  We've also had reports of good success of this Audio Technica kit:

  Audio Technica ATW701/L 700 Series - 8 Channel UHF, Lavalier Microphone; Transmitter: ATW-T701; Reciever: ATW-R700. Please shop for a good price on the web, e.g. beachaudio.com.

• It's good practice to have the presenter repeat questions or discussion so the audio recording captures the conversations. The alternative is to use a smart audio room with distributed mics, but these are uncommon.
• Many mics use batteries. It's a good idea to have a few spare batteries on hand.

Mic Test

Here's a sequence of steps for performing a quick recording test with your computer audio microphone and speakers before using the Lecture123 Presenter to record a session.

Mic Test for MS Windows Computers

1. Connect the microphone and speaker wires to your computer.
2. Test a recording with the Sound Recorder:
   start > Accessories > Entertainment > Sound Recorder
   -or- start > Run > sndrec32
3. In the Sound Recorder click on the red circle and talk into the microphone, click the black square to stop, and then the black triangle to play back the recording.
4. If the volume is not loud enough:
   1. start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices
   2. On the top menu click the Voice tab
   3. Under Voice Recording click the Volume... button
   4. Find Microphone and make sure that the volume slider is up toward to the top and Select is checked
   5. Click on Advanced under Microphone (may need Options > Advanced Controls)
   6. Under Other Controls you may want to check 1 Mic Boost
   7. Exit these windows and you're ready to test again

Mic Test for Apple Macs

1. Connect the microphone and speaker wires to your computer.
2. Configure the default input device as follows:
   1. Click [Apple]->System Preferences...
   2. Click the Sound button.
   3. On the Input tab, click the desired input device in the list and verify that the Input Level meter is moving.
3. Use a sound recording application to capture your voice. We recommend something light-weight and free like Sound Recorder MAC OS X or Ben Shanfelder's Audio Recorder. Verify that the output playback is to your liking and make adjustments as necessary.

Presenter Test

Once the audio levels work well with the Sound Recorder you are ready to test with the Lecture123 Presenter. Simply launch the Presenter program and start recording a session (either blank slides or PowerPoint is fine). As you speak you should see a volume meter near the top left of the Presenter window. As long as the meter is showing movement, the audio is likely fine (note: every computer audio levels seem to vary). Stop the Presenter session and play it back in the Lecture123 Player. You can play back the local unpublished session or publish the test session and play it back from the Lecture123 Play web page in your browser.