narration

[Guest]

I'm having trouble with background noise when I record a narration on PowerPoint. I've tried two different microphones, different computers (dell, compaq, and HP), and different sound levels and still have the same problem. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Michael Koerner]

I have found that recording narrations, through PowerPoint leaves a lot to be
desired. I get better results and have greater control using the software that
came with my Sound Card.

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Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


I'm having trouble with background noise when I record a narration on
PowerPoint. I've tried two different microphones, different computers (dell,
compaq, and HP), and different sound levels and still have the same problem.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Geetesh Bajaj]

You'll never get studio quality narration anywhere other than the studio.
Having said that, several sound editors include a noise reduction filter
that can help. Adobe Audition has an amazing noise reduction filter.

As Michael suggested, always record narrations outside of PowerPoint. More
info here:

PowerPoint And Sound - http://snipurl.com/ppsound
PowerPoint And Narration - http://snipurl.com/ppnarration


--
Geetesh Bajaj, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
http://www.indezine.com
http://www.powerpointed.com

Technical Specialist, PowerPoint Live
http://www.powerpointlive.com

I'm having trouble with background noise when I record a narration on

PowerPoint. I've tried two different microphones, different computers
(dell, compaq, and HP), and different sound levels and still have the same
problem. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Scott Harvey]

ok...i gotta jump in.

my background is actually in he recording industry.

you will always pick up a lot of noise recording from a pc
unless you are using a dedicated digital card, and i'm not
talking about sound blaster audigy's etc, billy.

the electro magnetic fields within the computer, and the
low omh ratings of most microphones create noise
distortion.

heres a big tip -> check out clear voice denoiser. it is
used also by the us police force for descrambling almost
inaudible tracks taken from wlakie talkies etc.

you can get a free demo download of the software from
speech technology center (speechpro.com). its a fantstic
piece of software. we also used this in the studio, and we
also have it in our own sound studios here at
123Powerpoint.com

....and i cannot stress in addition the advice from the
other chaps. NEVER record through powerpoint. use a 3rd
party audio software. as michael says, there is always one
wav recording software that comes with your sound card.
use this to record your narration, then use clear voice
denoiser to remove the noise to the level you require.

if you have any further problems with sound, audio, and /
or its use within powerpoint, then checkout
http://www.123powerpoint.com/faqs_sound.asp, or drop me a
mail directly billy.

best of luck with your project.

Regards,
Scott Harvey,
http://www.123powerpoint.com
123Powerpoint.com | PowerPoint templates, backgrounds,
photo library, fonts, background music, sound effects, and
presentation services

-----Original Message-----
I have found that recording narrations, through PowerPoint leaves a lot to be
desired. I get better results and have greater control using the software that
came with my Sound Card.

<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be

<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are

<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


I'm having trouble with background noise when I record a narration on
PowerPoint. I've tried two different microphones, different computers (dell,
compaq, and HP), and different sound levels and still have the same problem.
Any help would be appreciated.


.

 

[Michael Koerner]

Scott;

Thanks for jumping in, good information. Also not a bad price, $50.00 if your
doing a large number of recordings. gonna have to look into it myself.

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


ok...i gotta jump in.

my background is actually in he recording industry.

you will always pick up a lot of noise recording from a pc
unless you are using a dedicated digital card, and i'm not
talking about sound blaster audigy's etc, billy.

the electro magnetic fields within the computer, and the
low omh ratings of most microphones create noise
distortion.

heres a big tip -> check out clear voice denoiser. it is
used also by the us police force for descrambling almost
inaudible tracks taken from wlakie talkies etc.

you can get a free demo download of the software from
speech technology center (speechpro.com). its a fantstic
piece of software. we also used this in the studio, and we
also have it in our own sound studios here at
123Powerpoint.com

....and i cannot stress in addition the advice from the
other chaps. NEVER record through powerpoint. use a 3rd
party audio software. as michael says, there is always one
wav recording software that comes with your sound card.
use this to record your narration, then use clear voice
denoiser to remove the noise to the level you require.

if you have any further problems with sound, audio, and /
or its use within powerpoint, then checkout
http://www.123powerpoint.com/faqs_sound.asp, or drop me a
mail directly billy.

best of luck with your project.

Regards,
Scott Harvey,
http://www.123powerpoint.com
123Powerpoint.com | PowerPoint templates, backgrounds,
photo library, fonts, background music, sound effects, and
presentation services

-----Original Message-----
I have found that recording narrations, through PowerPoint leaves a lot to be
desired. I get better results and have greater control using the software that
came with my Sound Card.

<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be

<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are

<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


I'm having trouble with background noise when I record a narration on
PowerPoint. I've tried two different microphones, different computers (dell,
compaq, and HP), and different sound levels and still have the same problem.
Any help would be appreciated.


.

 

[Bill Dilworth, MS PPT MVP]

I've always found this to be more a function of the microphone and set-up
then of the sound card. Sure you can de-noise a narration post recording,
but using a quality microphone with a limited pick-up pattern into a
standard sound card will give a much improved initial recording.



The microphones that are included as part of most computer packages are
omni-directional, meaning they will pick-up the noise from the refrigerator
compressor as easily as the narrator's speaking. They also have a more
restricted frequency range and a poor distribution over that range (they
favor the higher frequency ranges rather than an even distribution). A
quality microphone (from a real sound system, not a computer system) will
usually do a much better job of picking up the sound you want it to and
record it truer to what it really sounded like.



Another problem I've run into is narrators that do not use their speaking
voice when recording. They talk quietly, quickly, and mumble. It's better
to be standing rather than sitting. It's better to imaging speaking to a
room of people, rather then the monitor 2 feet in front of you. Don't rush,
remember you know the material already, they are just hearing it for the
first time.



Not everyone has a sound room in their basement, but you can reduce the
amount of background noise significantly by recording nothing. Leave the
microphone on and record for a minute or two. Play back the recording at an
elevated volume and see what you hear. If the furnace or air conditioner
kicked on, maybe you can turn those off while recording. If you hear
traffic from the street, consider recording in a different location or at a
time when traffic is not as heavy. If you get a lot of echo from the room
you are in, than consider temporarily hanging a blanket or curtain against
any large flat surface or windows. The foam packing does a good job of
soaking up stray noise, as does pink Owens Corning fiberglass insulation,
but you may not want to get that involved.



Microphone technique also plays a role in quality sound recordings. Don't
spit P's and T's into the mic, instead you may want to talk slightly over
the mic to prevent the popping this causes. Vary the distance from the mic
in accordance with your speaking volume in order to maintain an even sound
output. Sure this can also be done post-recording, but boosting your voice
will also boost any stray background noises.



Just a couple of thoughts,

Bill D.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Not everyone has a sound room in their basement, but you can reduce the

amount of background noise significantly by recording nothing. Leave the
microphone on and record for a minute or two.

ISTR that one or another of these sound editing programs has a nifty feature
... you record a few seconds/minutes of ambient sound, then record your
for-real sound in the same room.

It then can use the ambient-only recording as a kind of filter that tells it
what to remove from the real recording.

 

[Thoman]

(I hope that I can reply to a 5-yr old post!)

The information from Bill is quite useful.

As a follow-question, once I have my microphone, what settings am I supposed
to use? And how do I determine this?

Between the Control Panel and 2007 PowerPoint Narration options, there are
mono/stereo, 1/2 channels, bits, Hz, kb/sec, PCM. What does all this mean?
And where/how do I set the volume - based on what I can hear through the
speakers? At max volume? Min? Something else?

And finally, on my machine with Vista, "set Microphone settings" opens; but
on my XP machine, it gives and error message. Is this important? Is one
operating system going to give better results?

I want to make a high quality narration, but I don't want to hire/become an
audio engineer to do this.

Thanks for any advice you can provide to alleviate my confusion.

 

[Thoman]

Steve,

Thank you for the reply. This helped a lot. I hadn't thought about the
mono vs stereo as an input, so you just helped me halve the recording size.

FYI, the message error on the XP machine for "set microphone level" is:

" PowerPoint is not receiving sound from the microphone. Try one of the
following and then try to set the microphone recording level again. *In
Control Panel (Windows Start menu, Settings submenu), double-click
Multimedia. On the Audio tab, check the Recordings settings. *On the
Language Bar, click on the microphone button to turn off Office speech
recognition "

I can record narration in PPT, so the input is getting through. On my
control panel, there is no Mulitmedia option. And I don't have speech
recognition installed.
...so I am hoping that I can just ignore the warning.

 

[expertalan]

PowerPoint does have the feature of "record narration", but with it all you can do is recording, synchronization is unavailable. Luckily, some PowerPoint to Flash tools provide such value-added synchronization function to PowerPoint users.

What's more useful is that you could add video lecture beside the presentation. That means you could add the video on which yourself explaining this presentation.