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I have previously written about the benefits of adding multi-media to your blogs and web sites. One of the first questions I hear from colleagues and consulting clients relates to the technology issues that arising from including audio and video. I can certainly understand why a new or non-technical blogger or web site owner would be confused about how to record, edit and post audio and video.
The good news here is that the technology part about adding audio and video to your site is the easy part. Coming up with compelling, relevant content can be a different story. Both audio and video have their place. I am going to start with audio because it is easier and if I was trying to learn about how to add multimedia, I would definitely start with audio. Audio files are easier to produce and to edit. You don’t need to worry about background light or about whether your hair is combed. You also don’t need a director or to worry about video editing. I’ll talk about those things in a future post, but for now, I’d like to focus on the "how to" of adding audio to your web site or blog.
Typical Audio Applications
When I add an audio file to my web site or blog, it takes the form of a monologue (me talking) or a discussion between myself and someone else. If I am recording myself, I use a device called the Microtrack 24/96 by M-Audio. This is a digital recording device that records to a compact flash card (the same type of card that you might use in your digital camera). The Microtrack records .mp3 files, which is a compressed format usable for Internet applications. This device works similar to a handheld dictation machine, but instead of recording to tape, it records to the compact flash card.
This M-Audio device is not cheap – it will cost you close to $500, but it does save a lot of time and effort.
Once you have recorded your post, you simply transfer the .mp3 file to your computer and upload it to your application.
When I want to record a conversation over the phone, I use a very handy device called the USB Phone recorder from usbRecorder.com. This device, which retails for less than $200. This device allows you to record both ends of a phone conversation and the recording is saved as a .wav file on your computer. The recording control is in the form of software which appears on your computer screen.
As an aside, I recently had to re-install my USB Recorder and I ran into some trouble with the actual install. The USBRecorder web site included an email address for support and I sent an email explaining my problem. Within a few hours, a person named David emailed me back and walked me through the fix (it turns out that my USB Recorder, which I have had for a few years, was an older model and it did not work with the newer software.) He directed me to the correct software and I was up and running in just a few minutes. That level of customer service was impressive, especially for a customer like me who had purchased the device several years ago.
Editing Your Audio File
Once you have captured your audio file in either an .mp3 format or a .wav format, you may need to do a little editing. There are a number of inexpensive editing programs out there. I use Sony SoundForge, which is a full featured editing program. There is a free program called Audacity that I have not used in a number of years, but I understand that it works well. I am currently testing a low cost multimedia editing suite (which includes an audio editing application) from AVS Media. Again, audio editing software has come down in price dramatically and a simple web search should yield many choices.
Getting Your Audio File On-line
By far the easiest way to get your audio recording online is to use a third party host like FreeIQ.com. As discussed in a previous post, you need only upload your audio file to FreeIQ and then wait for the FreeIQ system to generate a line of code that you can link to in your web site or blog post. FreeIQ does the hosting at no cost to you.
If you want to host the audio yourself, most blogging platforms have plugins that would allow such activity. A well known audio player for WordPress is available online. If you use Moveable Type or another blogging platform, I suspect that similar plug-ins are readily available.
If you decide to upload plug-ins and your own audio files, you will need a good FTP (file transfer protocol) program. I use CuteFTP for this purpose.
While you can use FreeIQ to host audio for your web site, you may want a little more flexibility in terms of the appearance of the audio buttons. I use Jay Jennings Sonic Memo program to add audio buttons to my web sites. Click to take a look at how I use audio to create an audio FAQ page on one of my sites.
The technical side of manging audio on your web site or blog may be challenging at first, but once you have figured out the process, it is easy to repeat. Hopefully some of the links and tools discussed above will help you in your efforts.
[tags] audio recording for web sites, audio on blog, multimedia on web sites, multimedia on blogs, Sonic Memo, usbrecorder, freeIQ.com, editing audio [/tags]
When you need to transfer files, I recommend using FTP Manager Lite. It’s an excellent modern free FTP and SFTP client software (http://www.deskshare.com/ftp-manager-free.aspx). The clean interface is super easy to use. It is perfect for uploading the recordings.