Educational CyberPlayGround ®

CREATE A SOUND FILE

Using the sound recorder that comes loaded on your computer (Windows)

Start>Accessories folder>Entertainment folder> Sound recorder

Learn How to set Up and stream Real Audio Files

CREATE A SOUND FILE

Here's how to record longer than a minute with Sound Recorder
  1. record a blank minute long file (hit rec and let it sit a minute with no input)
  2. save it (maybe with blankmin.wav)
  3. choose edit - insert file and choose blankmin.wav
  4. now your file is two minutes long - save it as blanktwo.wav or whatever then repeat step 3) above for more minutes.

If you save what you have recorded, use a different name (Save As rather that Save) so that your blank file is not wiped out.

After you have a blankmin.wav file you don't need to do it again - choose new file and insert it however many times you need to. If your file ends up longer than your song, you can use edit - delete after current position, to shorten the file and save disk space.

STEPS

1. If the sound file that you want to make into a RealAudio file is already saved on your computer you can skip to step

2. If you want to create a sound file from an external source (e.g. your CD player, VCR, or Microphone), you can use a program called Sound Recorder which comes with Windows95 (usually located in the Windows directory as "Sndrec32.exe") or you can download an audio editing program called Cool Edit which is available in shareware and full release versions.

I usually find shareware to download from http://www.tucows.com You will need to consult your sound card manual to learn how to send audio from your source into the computer.

For best results, encode the audio in the highest possible setting (16-bit 44.1MHz). Consult the software's documentation to find out how to make these settings. The RealAudio Encoder will eventually compress it down, so it is recommended to start with the highest quality source. Once you create the sound file, save it as either a .wav, .au, or .pcm file.

STEP 2: REAL AUDIO SOFTWARE

In order to create and listen to RealAudio files, you will need to download and install the following programs:

Real Producer Basic Download

RealAudio Player: http://www.realaudio.com

RealAudio Encoder: http://www.realaudio.com/encoder/

You can download shareware versions of the player and the encoder from RealAudio web site as well. RealAudio offers a full version of their software which affords better quality playback and may include other features. This software package is not necessary to create RealAudio files on your page.

STEP 3: TURNING YOUR SOUND FILE INTO A REAL AUDIO FILE

Follow theses steps to create a RealAudio file:

1.Open the RealAudio Encoder program.

2.Select the file that you want to encode by hitting the "Browse" button.

3.Select the sound file (e.g. .wav, .au, .pcm).

4.Select the desired compression and file name on the right side of the screen. (e.g. "14.4 Mono", "28.8 Mono", "28.8 Stereo", and "ISDN")

5.Select START ENCODING from the Encode menu at the top of the screen.

The original sound file will be scanned and copied to a compressed format. You have just created an RA file. ** Important ** Do NOT use underscore ("_") characters when naming RA files as they will not be interpreted correctly by the .ram file.

STEP 3: Email your .ra file to the Educational CyberPlayGround