Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Simple Guide to Audio Recording

A Simple Guide to Audio Recording

I am not going to cover setup of a full sound system. Instead, this will guide will help you make audio recordings the cheapest way possible for low budget churches, assuming the reason you don't have one already is because you are a low budget church.

Step 1: Purchase an MP3 Player/Recorder
Firstly, you will need some sort of recording equipment. You can purchase something as cheap as a Sony Digital Flash Voice Recorder for $60 or as expensive as the Roland R-05 MP3 Recorder for $250. The difference is in the quality of the recording and clarity of the audio. You may want to start of with the cheaper equipment, and as your ministry grows, then purchase the more expensive. If the recorder you decide to purchase does NOT come with a lapel microphone, you can purchase one just about anywhere. Most recorders will probably come with internal memory. The Sony has 2 GB of internal space. However, covering all possibilities, you made need to purchase a memory card if necessary. Though you probably have one lying around your home somewhere if you happen to need one. I've got 6-8 of them, I think.

Step 2: Record Your Sermon
I would suggest reading the instructions before recording your sermon, but most recorders should be fairly simple and I don't think I would cause anything bad to happen by telling you to just plug in the lapel, hit record, and start talking. Make sure you've got a memory card in it (if it needs it) and that it's all charged up of course. No use trying it out when the batteries dead. That's one way make sure it doesn't record anything!

Step 3: Download to Your Computer
The MP3 recorder should come with a USB cable. Connect the cable to the recorder and to the computer. Something should pop up on your screen, whether that be a download dialog box, a folder, or an icon on your desktop. If nothing appears, open "My Computer" and look for it where you'd find a CD or other drive. It should function much like a flash drive if you have one. Copy the file from your recorder to your desktop.

2 comments:

Bethany McDonnell said...

Our church hooks up the sound system to a laptop computer and records into Audacity (a free recording program). It took a few tries, but it seems to work well now.

T.L. Branson said...

Great suggestion. Thank you. That's a great idea if a church has a laptop and internet in their building. I know a few churches that don't, and so this wouldn't even be possible for them.

However, it sounds a lot simpler if you can get all the things connected right.

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