I had never worked in Camtasia either, but my instructional designer used it recently to develop one of our training courses. So at least I had some guidance. As it turned out, I found it to be an easier, more intuitive program and didn't even need any help! But the quality of my audio was problematic, and I could not seem to clean it up with the editing tools. The other problem I had was in getting my music clips to fade out rather than to cut off abruptly. I could find no way to do that, nor could I find any mention of it in the help files.
I am planning to send this podcast out as a test to some of our regional managers, to see how they receive it as a job aid. If the feedback is good, I have a whole series of other procedures I could summarize in similar fashion...almost creating a mini-library of procedure-related references.
I have not been brave enough to tackle the addition of video and/or photographs. I am currently telling myself that my audience--sales reps--would benefit more from an audio-only version, since they are likely to be listening to it while driving. In reality, though, there are some topics in my proposed series that would benefit from imagery. At some point, when I am more comfortable with the technology, perhaps I will attempt it.
Shawna, I used iMovie to record my sound for my podcast and it worked well. I think that your plans for your podcast are great.
ReplyDeleteShawna, I know you discussed your microphone in class last week. Could your microphone be the issue? You have a great idea: to send your "test" out to company reps and gather their input. After all, "it's all about the audience."
ReplyDeleteTwo hints that I've seen over and over with audio: don't over-compress your file, and use an external mic and headphones while you record. (This is what my brother-in-law, the audio tech extraordinaire told me!)
ReplyDeleteI think audio podcasts are great--I'd prefer to do them that way myself. It just depends on the needs of your audience and what your subject dictates. Some (both audiences and subjects) are just too visual to go without. Even then, a simple slideshow with text and images can often be enough, I think.
Good luck!
I agree with Chris. I over compressed the first time and ended up with some frightening effects. I also went ahead and invested in a mic (maybe if you start creating a series of these for work you can get them to purchase a decent microphone). I got a great audio-technica mic for a little less than $100. Since I'm planning a series of casts to support my instruction, it was worth it to me. I also saw a number of suggestions to use headphones while recording (although I didn't).
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to figure it out, but GarageBand does easily allow you to fade music in and out. If you click on the volume line in the stream it will place a circular icon which you can drag to a lower level on the volume setting, hence creating a fade out. Didn't know if you'd discovered that or not.