Introduction

Recap last week and the process they went through to plan their audiobook and collect together all their sound files. This week is now about getting the audiobook built and doing a really good job of editing all the audio clips.

 

Making the Audiobook

Here’s a basic walk-through of the best order to do things: 

 

1. Recording your voice

The first step to making their audio book is to record their writing into Audacity. This can be done in one big ‘chunk’ or in smaller sections. If they break it into smaller parts they will then need to order the recordings with the ‘Move’ tool. 

Emphasise how important it is for the students to speak slowly and clearly, talk about reading more slowly than normally, pronouncing each word really clearly, thinking about their expression and emphasis for each part and using pauses and silence for effect where appropriate. 

Some background noise is inevitable when recording in a busy classroom, so also tell them not to worry about this too much, but also to be mindful and considerate of those next to them, i.e. not speaking to people when they are trying to record, taking it in turns to record with people close by and waiting quietly.

 

2. Adding music and sound effects

The next step is to import the music and sound effects they have chosen and add them carefully in the correct places. This may also involve trimming the clips and applying fade in and fade out effects.

 

3. Editing together sounds and adjusting levels

The final steps (and they may do this as they add, edit and move clips) is to ensure that all the volume levels are correct. The spoken voice is obviously the most important element and that should be clear and audible all the way through, but sound effects might need to be loud for dramatic effect, or just quiet and subtle in the background. The other layers should be adjusted so they can be heard but so they don’t overpower the spoken story. 

 

4. Exporting the finished story

Finally they should save their work as an Audacity project file (as they should also do regularly throughout the process: File > Save project as) and then they should export their work as a .WAV file (File > Export > as WAV) and save it to your shared area. 

 

Sharing your work more widely

Once saved as a WAV file it will be playable on any computer or media player. An interesting way to share their work is via Google Drive/ Microsoft OneDrive and QR codes. This can be added to displays or sent home to parents so they can listen to their children’s work online with their phone or tablet.

 

Uploading into Google Drive

1. Sign into your Google Drive account.

2. Upload the finished WAV sound file to Google Drive by clicking New > File upload and browse your computer for the file. 

 

3. When it is uploaded, right-click on it and go to Share. 

 

 

4. Go to the Get link section of the sharing settings and click change to NTLP (or your Google domain name.)

 

 

5. Change the access to Anyone with the link > Viewer.

 

 

6. Then click Copy Link

 

 

 

Uploading into OneDrive

1. Sign into your OneDrive account.

2. Upload the finished WAV sound file to OneDrive by clicking Upload > Files and browse your computer for the file. 

 

 

3. When it is uploaded, right-click on it and go to Share. 

 

 

4. Click People you specify can view and change it to Anyone with the link, then click Apply.

 

 

5. Then click Copy link.

 

 

 

Creating the QR code

Whichever service you have uploaded the file to, the process of making the QR code is the same.

1. Go to a QR code generator site such as QRStuff.com and paste the link URL that you copied into the Website URL box and it will create a unique QR code that links to that web address, a bit like this one.

 

 

2. Click the Download QR code button or right-click it and choose Save image as to save it to your computer.

 

 

3. The file will download as an image file, so you can then find and print the QR code. Put them on a display to make it interactive, stick it in the children's books for evidence or send it home to parents for them to enjoy.

 

People can scan the QR codes with mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets etc. Most mobile devices now have a QR code scanner built into the camera app. Just open the camera and hold it up to the QR code. If this doesn’t work, there are plenty of free apps available such as this one for Apple devices or Android devices. Scanning the QR code is a bit like scanning a barcode, but in this case it will take you straight to the web address (location of the sound file in your Drive) you linked to this code. From there the file should play, or you can click the file, select ‘Download’ and listen to the sound file on your device! 

 

 

Plenary

At the end of the lesson, open a few of their finished pieces of work and ask the class to listen and provide feedback. Ask them to consider:

• Is the voice over clear?
• Have they adjusted levels well?
• Have they made good use of music for effect?
• Have they used sound effects effectively?