Audio Files

You may choose to use audio files in a variety of ways within your course. In the past, instructors have used audio files to narrate powerpoint lectures, give course introductions and transitions, and as stand alone lectures. On this page you will find information on how to use audio tools to accomplish the following:

• For Windows
• Install Audacity On Windows
• Record Audio to use as Streaming Audio
• Convert a Pre-existing Audio to Streaming Audio
• For Mac
• Install Audacity On Mac
• Record Audio to use as Streaming Audio
• Convert a Pre-existing Audio to Streaming Audio
• Add Audio to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Install Audacity to Convert and Record Audio

To begin the conversion process, you must first download and install Audacity:

To download Audacity, go to:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Scroll down until you find the link to download the current release of the software.

If you have an INTEL based system, click the link in the RED box. If you have a PPC, click the link in the GREEN box.

Once it has completed, install the program by following the instruction below:

• Inside your Applications folder, create a folder called "Audacity".
• Double-click the downloaded .dmg to mount it.
• Option-drag the whole of the .dmg contents (not the .dmg itself) into the "Audacity" folder you created.

Next, you must download a codec. To do so, go to:
http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/

Under "For Audacity on Mac", download "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.dmg".

If you have administrator permissions and can install programs onto the computer, Double-Click the DMG file you downloaded. Then follow the installation instructions.

If you do not have administrator permissions and can install programs onto the computer, Right-Click the DMG file you downloaded. Then select Show Package Contents.

Then Double-Click on "Archive.pax.gz". A folder called "audacity" will be created.

Open it and copy "libmp3lame.dylib" into the first Audacity folder.

Now you are done installing Audacity.

Record Audio to use as Streaming Audio for a Website

Audacity has built in support for recording from a microphone and saving it directly into audio capable of streaming.

To record Audio, follow the instructions below:

• Make sure your Microphone Volume is set to the highest setting.
• Click the RECORD button and speak into the microphone.
• Click the PAUSE button to pause recording. Click it again to resume recording.
• Once you are done, click the STOP button to stop recording.
• You can now edit the recorded track or save and export it into Streaming Audio.

You should now save the Audacity Project file for future editing. Click Here to proceed.

If you do not want to save a project, you can continue to export your recording as an MP3 file . Click Here to proceed.

Convert a Pre-existing Audio to Streaming Audio for a Website

To convert .WAV to .MP3 files, follow the instructions below to go through the conversion process:

• Open up Audacity in the folder that you installed it to.
• Click File > Open...
• Find and Select the file you wish to convert, then click Open.
• Audacity will now load the .WAV file and generate a graph of it. This may take some time depending on how long the audio is.
• Once that is done, you can proceed to edit or export the audio as a MP3.

Now you can save the Audacity Project, if you would like to edit it in the future.

• Click File > Save Project
• Choose where you want to save the project and click Save.

This .AUP Audacity Project file can only be opened by Audacity.

Now to Export the audio as a MP3 file.

• Click File > Export as MP3...

• Choose where you want to save the file and click Save.

• If you have have administrator permissions, skip to the next step.
• If this is your first time exporting and you do not have administrator permissions, a box will pop up asking you to find "libmp3lame.dylib"; the codec that you downloaded earlier.

• Click Yes, then navigate to the location where you copied the "libmp3lame.dylib" file.
• Select it and then Open

• Next a box will pop up with information fields. Fill them out and click OK.

• You should now have a new file named "nameofsoundclip.MP3" in the folder that you saved it into.

Now that you have successfully saved your audio in the much smaller MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3(.MP3) format.

You are now ready to upload the finished .MP3 audio file into a streaming audio files. To have you audio files uploaded to the streaming server you'll need to send your audio files to us. You may either send an email to aaptechnicalsupport@jhu.edu or call (410)516-6496. We will upload the files for you and send you instructions on how to link to them from your course.

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