Recording a sound is not a big deal nowadays with the easy availability
of computer microphones and recording software. Did you know that
all versions of Windows (even the ancient ones) include an application
that lets you record sound using your computer. The application
is called Sound Recorder, and Figure 1 shows you the
interface of the application. Although the technique explained here
should work with most Windows versions, we are using Windows XP
for this tutorial.
As you can see in the screenshot, the application is very intuitive.
If you know how to play and record using a tape recorder or VCR,
you'll have no problems at all doing small recordings using your
computer.
Figure 1: The Sound Recorder interface
These recordings can be used for various purposes - maybe you need
to record a small sentence for your kid's school project, or practice
recording into your computer for a professional purpose.
We'll assume a few things - for one, your computer should have
a sound card installed. Almost no computer sold in the last few
years has probably shipped without a sound card, and nowadays sound
abilities are built inside motherboards themselves. However, if
you want to make sure that you have a sound card installed, check
it out:
Go to your Windows Start Menu and click the Control Panel option.
This brings up the Control Panel dialog box. If your Control Panel
is displaying icons in Category view, click the option in the
left pane that says "Switch to Classic View".
Now double-click the Sound and Audio Devices icon to summon
a dialog box of the same name as shown in Figure 2.
Click the Audio tab of this dialog box.
Figure 2: Sound and Audio Devices Properties
The Sound recording dropdown box will have a recording device
selected. If this dropdown box provides no options in your computer,
that means you don't have a sound card installed (or maybe the
drivers for the sound card are not installed) - that also means
you cannot follow the rest of this tutorial.
The Microphone
You'll also need a microphone attached to your sound card - most
microphones plug into the sound card's microphone jack at the back
of your computer. Your sound card will have a microphone symbol
engraved next to the microphone jack - also most sound cards these
days come with color coded jacks - the pink jack is used to connect
to microphones. Alternatively, if you are using a USB microphone,
all you need to do is plug the microphone's USB connector into an
available USB plug in your computer.
Doing the Recording
Getting back to Sound Recorder, here's how you can record your
(or someone else's) voice:
Go to your Windows Start Menu and choose All Programs | Accessories
| Entertainment | Sound Recorder. This will launch Sound Recorder.
Once the application is opened you can see:
the menu bar at the top,
navigation buttons i.e. (stop, play, rewind, forward and
record) in the bottom
on the left, there is the position bar which shows the time
at the position of the slider
on the right, you'll see the total length of the sound file
As your microphone is connected to the system, click on the
Record button which is on the bottom right of the application
(see Figure 1 in the top section of this page).
Speak whatever you want to record in the microphone and you will
see the recording happening in the waveform.
As soon as recording is done, press the Stop button.
Save your sound. Choose File | Save As to bring up the Save
As dialog box. In this dialog box, give a name to the file and
save it in the desired location in your computer.
