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Recording Narration to a Slide Presentation
 

Step one:

From the Slide Show menu, select the Record Narration option.


 

Step two:

To make sure that your microphone is correctly connected to your computer and that PowerPoint is picking up the signal, click on the "Set Microphone Level..." button.



 

Step three:

If your microphone is working correctly, you will see green and red bars fluctuating on the meter shown below.  PowerPoint will calibrate the audio level as you read the passage written in the window.  It is very important to speak as you will in your narration, as PowerPoint is adjusting the audio at this point.

If you see no colors fluctuating, your microphone is not correctly connected to your computer.  If this is the case, check the microphone's connection into the back of the computer and then restart your computer.




 

Step four:

 You can adjust the quality of the sound by clicking on the "Change Quality ..." button and then selecting the attributes of your choice.

For audio delivered over the internet you need to know how your audience will be accessing your files.  If by modem, you should keep the rate at 30kb/sec or less.  If by campus network, you can set the rate as high as 128Kb/sec.

To improve the sound quality without impacting the file size too much, choose 11,025 Hz, 16-bit, mono.

If your audience will be listening to your presentation in a large room over speakers, choose 22,050 Hz, 16-bit, mono.

Avoid stereo settings as they double the file size without providing much better quality.

 

Step five:

 As the tip in the window suggests, for longer narrations you should save the audio files outside of the PowerPoint presentation and Link the two together.  This is easily accomplished by checking the "Link narrations in:" box as shown below.

 

Step six:

 To select where the audio files will be saved on your computer, click the Browse button and specify the location.
 Step Seven: Click the OK button to initiate the sound recorder.  Be prepared to begin speaking as soon as you click the OK button!

Once you click the OK button, the title slide will appear on your screen and you should begin speaking into the microphone.  Press the keyboard spacebar or click the mouse to advance to the next slide and continue with your narration.
 

   Step Eight: When you are finished with your narration, press the keyboard's ESC key to stop the audio recorder.  You will be prompted to save the narration.
 
   Step Nine: If you make a mistake on a slide or two, it is no problem to go back to those slides and re-record the narration.  Instead of selecting the title slide, select the slide that you want to edit the narration and follow steps one through eight above.
 
    If you plan on moving the presentation to another computer, you MUST bring the PowerPoint file and the audio files that you created. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use the "Pack and Go" option from the File menu.

You will be prompted to include linked files, you should do so by checking this option.

Pack and Go creates two files:  a "name.exe" and a "name.ppz" file.  Make sure you place these files into a folder and transfer the folder to the new computer.  You can "unpack" the presentation by opening the "name.exe" file on the other computer.

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