| Narrating your videos and slide shows is a great way to add context to the visual presentation, and Studio makes narrations simple to create and use. Even with an inexpensive microphone, you can create high-quality audio, but with the wrong gear or wrong setup, you'll be disappointed with the quality. For more details, see the sidebar "Getting the Most from Your Narrations." To connect for narration 1. | Connect your microphone to the microphone port on your sound card or computer.
Note that the internal settings for line-in are different from those for the microphone jack, so you're not likely to get good results using this connector.
| 2. | Connect your headphones (if available) to the speaker port on your sound card or computer.
|
 Tip
Getting the Most from Your Narrations There are two aspects to a good-quality narration: technical and artistic. From a technical perspective, you can achieve great results with an inexpensive microphone, but I recommend that you use a microphone that's part of a headset. Microphones and headsets are often sold together for use in Internet videoconferencing. If you're using a stand-alone microphone, ditch your external speakers and use a set of headphones during recording. Otherwise, you'll produce feedback an annoying screeching sound caused by the microphone picking up output from the speakers. From an artistic standpoint, you'll get the best results by scripting your narration and trying multiple takes until you get it right. Keep your comments short and to the point, or you'll complicate both the scripting and the performance. If you're going to wing it without a script, adjust your expectations downward. While you may strive to emulate the baritone splendor of James Earl Jones, the fluidity of Bryant Gumble, or the mellifluous tones of yoga maven Tracey Rich, you'll never get finished if you insist on that level of perfection. Finally, there are tools out there that can stretch or compress your narration to the duration of the corresponding video with minimal pitch change or distortion. They'll save you oodles of time compared to re-recording a four-minute track to shave 15 seconds either way. Sony Media Software's CD Architect is a good place to start (www.sonymediasoftware.com). |
To record your narration 1. | In the Movie window, position the Time line scrubber to the desired insert point (Figure 11.16).
Figure 11.16. Start your narration by positioning the Timeline scrubber where you want the narration to begin. 
There must be at least one video or still image on the Timeline to record a narration, and there can't be audio in the Sound Effect track at the desired insert point.
| 2. | To open the Voice-Over Narration tool, do one of the following:
- Click the Audio Toolbox icon (Figure 11.1), and then in the Audio toolbox, click the icon for recording a voice-over narration the third icon from the top.
- From the Studio menu, choose Toolbox > Record Voice-over.
The Voice-Over Narration tool opens (Figure 11.17).
Figure 11.17. The Voice-Over Narration tool. Use the Volume Adjustment tool to customize recording volume. 
The volume meter on the right is completely unlit, meaning the microphone is hearing no audio a good thing. When you have a noisy room or a poor microphone, the meter jumps, signifying noisy audio.
| 3. | Speak into the microphone, and use the Volume Adjustment tool on the right to position the audio level so that it is at the top of the blue level or into the yellow level, but never touches the red.
Touching the red may clause clipping, which often sounds like a mechanical click on the audio, or it can distort your voice.
| 4. | After setting the appropriate level, click the Record button to start the recording.
Studio first lights a "Standby" sign in the Recording box, then numbers count down from three, to two, to one. Then the Recording light turns on, and blinks slowly during the recording (Figure 11.18).
Figure 11.18. Once you're recording, try to keep the level predominantly in the upper green and lower yellow, avoiding the red at all costs. 
While recording, watch the audio levels to maintain the appropriate volume.
If the Recording button doesn't light up, it's most likely because the Timeline scrubber is positioned above a point in the Sound Effect track that already contains audio. So move, edit, or delete the old audio, or change locations to a blank place in the track.
| 5. | Press Stop to stop recording (Figure 11.18).
When Studio stops recording, it creates and stores the audio file (you'll see the word Standby light for a moment), then posts the file in the Sound Effect track (Figure 11.19).
Figure 11.19. The completed narration track. 
| 6. | In the Player, press Play to hear your recorded audio.
Since the proper levels haven't yet been set for the narration and other tracks, it may be difficult to hear the narration over the other tracks. To learn how to set the respective volumes, see "Using the Volume Tool" later in this chapter.
After you've finished recording, the narration track is just like any file that you can trim, split, move, or delete. For example, if you don't like the recorded track, simply select it, press Delete, and it's gone.
|
|
