Audacity Part 1

The assignment I have been working on uses the Audacity program.  This program can be used to record and edit audio files.  The assignment is to create a 7-10 minute podcast narrative.  I have decided to create my podcast as a brief narrative about some songs that have inspired me.  To create my podcast I wrote down the first few bands and or songs that came to mind.   I then found all the songs I wanted to include.  Some of the songs I already had in my ITunes but others I found on YouTube.  I used the Benderconverter program from a previous blog.  Finding the songs was the easy part! 

My next step was to jot down an outline of what I wanted to say and how I wanted to arrange the songs and audio clips.  I then learned how to use Audacity with this “How to…” for Audacity and by editing the songs and audio clips I wanted to use.  I feel the best way to learn a program is to use it so that is what I did.  In order to get my audio files into Audacity I used Benderconverter to convert the files to .WAV.  While editing, I did my best to keep my audio clips around 5 – 20 seconds.  This varied slightly with some clips because I wanted to clips to flow together.  I used the “Fade In” and “Fade Out” effects to make the clips sound like they belonged.  The sound of the different audio clips varied so I had to turn some up and some down.  I used the microphone built into my computer to record my voice for the podcast.  This worked but the sound was very quiet so all my voice clips had to be turned up in volume.

When I am finished with the minor edits to my podcast I will use the LAME encoder to convert the podcast into a MP3 and upload it onto Podbean and provide a link in my next blog post.  I will go more into depth about this in the next blog because I have not completed this part yet. 

The following is the outline I used to create my podcast.

Audacity Podcast – Music and Me Through the Years

1. Intro
1. Applause clip
2. Introduction audio clip
2. Music and Voice
1. Segment 1

                                                               i.      Walk Right In – Dr. Hook

                                                             ii.      Memory Dr. Hook audio clip

                                                            iii.      Cover of the Rolling Stone – Dr. Hook

                                                           iv.      Sweetest of All – Dr. Hook

2. Segment 2

                                                               i.      Reba McEntire audio clip

                                                             ii.      It’s Your Call – Reba McEntire

                                                            iii.      Reba McEntire talent show audio clip

                                                           iv.      Take It Back – Reba McEntire

3. Segment 3

                                                               i.      Love song audio clip

                                                             ii.      Crazy – K-Ci & JoJo

                                                            iii.      All My Life – K-Ci & JoJo

4. Segment 4

                                                               i.      Blessid Union of Souls audio clip

                                                             ii.      She Likes Me for Me – Blessid Union of Souls

                                                            iii.      What it’s Like – Blessid Union of Souls

5. Segment 5

                                                               i.      Finding myself audio clip

                                                             ii.      I’m Just a Girl – No Doubt

                                                            iii.      Don’t Speak – No Doubt

                                                           iv.      Spiderwebs – No Doubt

6. Segment 6

                                                               i.      Angry Chick Music audio clip

                                                             ii.      Bring Me – Evanescence

                                                            iii.      My Immortal – Evanescence

                                                           iv.      Going Under – Evanescence

7. Segment 7

                                                               i.      Martina McBride  audio clip

                                                             ii.      This One’s for the Girls – Martina McBride

8. Segment 7

                                                               i.      Erika Jo audio clip

                                                             ii.      I Break Things – Erika Jo

9. Segment 8

                                                               i.      Kelly Clarkson audio clip

                                                             ii.      A Moment Like This – Kelly Clarkson

                                                            iii.      Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson

                                                           iv.      Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson

                                                             v.      Since You’ve Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson

10. Segment 9

                                                               i.      Nickelback audio clip

                                                             ii.      Photograph – Nickelback

                                                            iii.      Far Away – Nickelback

11. Segment 10

                                                               i.      Final audio clip
                                                             ii.      Lazy Song – Bruno Mars

3. Ending
1. Applause clip

This assignment follows all of the NETS T standards.  Making a podcast requires thought and creativity (standard 1) while requiring the student to be responsible (standard 4) for the audio clips they include.  A podcast is absolutely digital-age (standards 2 and 3).