HOW TO RECORD AND EDIT AUDIO ON YOUR COMPUTER

The next step is to use your computer to receive and record the sound. To do this you can use program like SoundForge, which is rather expensive, or you can use a free program we found called Audacity. It can be downloaded at audacity.sourceforge.net and we have provided a tutorial on how to record, edit and save files using it.

The program allows multi-track audio editing so you can also use it to add a background music track. Usually your audio message will have lead in and exit music to add a little zip and grab your listeners attention.

Audacity Audio Recording/Editing Tutorial

We've provided a free tutorial showing the basics of recording, editing and saving audio files using Audacity. The tutorial will open up in your default browser and play. You can use the menu to go to any of the lessons.

NOTE: I've run into some conflicts when playing audio files with an older Flash player plugin using the bitrates from Audacity (i.e. 16, 24 and 48kbps) where it automatically changes the sampling rate to 24kHz. You may have to convert the MP3's to 22,050 or 44,100 Hz using dbPowerAmp (explained in the video) or a new converter I found called RazorLame. More info on the bitrate problem can be found here.

Unless you create the background music yourself you will need royalty-free music. You cant use Eric Clapton to hawk your products unless you get copyright permission (not bloody likely) and pay an agreed upon royalty.

There are several sources for royalty-free music on the Web, but royalty-free doesnt mean free. It means you can use the music clips you purchase for commercial use without having to pay the musician money each time it is played.

Below are some links where you can buy royalty free music.

www.freemusic.com  Individual songs for $19, 5 CDs for $99

www.instantroyaltyfreemusic.com  Individual songs for $10

www.frontandbackmusic.com  This is probably the best for creating web audio messages. You can buy a whole CD of just the lead-in and exit music for $97, plus you get software that automatically mixes the music with your audio message and saves it in the proper format. This will save you from adding a background music track that you have to fade out and in as demonstrated in our video tutorial (below)

Dont bother buying the Audio C4 Ebook they advertise - it's not worth it in our opinion.