What to do when you don't
know what to do:
Call Accent on Computers! 203-625-7575.
June 9, 2006
The Master’s Voice
Dear Larry,
I need to record my voice for an announcement on a CD. Can you
tell me how to go about doing that?
M. P.
Dear M. P.,
There are several pieces to the puzzle here, and every
computer is different, but I’ll try and give this a shot.
First, you’ll need some software. My preference is to use
Musicmatch Jukebox. You can install the latest free version at
www.musicmatch.com by clicking Get It
Now, then Get Free Jukebox, and lastly Download Jukebox. Once you have the
program installed and up and running, click Options, Settings, then access the
Recorder tab, click Tracks Directory, and take note of the folder path in the
box at the top (or change it to a folder of your liking). This is where your
recorded tracks will end up. Click OK, then OK again to return to the main
Musicmatch window. Next, click Options, Recorder, Source, and be sure there’s a
checkmark next to Mic In.
Leave Musicmatch running and double-click the speaker icon in
the system tray (bottom right corner of your screen, near the time). This should
call up the Play Control window (a.k.a. the sound mixer). If you see a
Microphone column entry, be sure the Mute checkbox isn’t selected. Next, click
Options, Properties, Recording, and make certain the Microphone is checked.
Click OK. Put a checkmark in the Select box in the Microphone column, and close
the window.
Plug in your microphone into the appropriate microphone jack
on your computer (usually colored red). In Musicmatch, click View Recorder to
bring up the Recording window. Click Edit Track Name Here Before Beginning, wait
a second, then click it one more time. Type in the name of the audio file you’d
like to record (e.g., Announcement1) and press Enter. Click the Start Copy
button and start talking into the microphone. When you’re finished, click the
Stop Copy button.
Locate the file you just recorded by accessing the tracks
folder you took note of earlier. It’s probably located in that folder in a
subfolder called Artist and another subfolder called Album. Double-click the
file (presumably called Announcement1.mp3) and see if your voice recorded
properly and if you’re happy with the result.
To burn the recording onto a CD-R disc, insert a blank CD-R
into your CD recording drive. In the Musicmatch window, click View, Musicmatch
burner. Drag the file you located earlier to the Musicmatch burner window and
drop it in. Finally, click the Burn button to record the file to the CD. Whew!
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
