I Made an MP3!
A few days ago, I posted that I had no idea how to make an MP3 recording. Well, some twenty hours on the learning curve later, now I know.
1. Buy Podcasting for Dummies. Read at least some of it.
2. Download Audacity and LAME.
3. Follow the advice of tech-savvy friend J and buy a microphone at Best Buy (not Radio Shack). A unidirectional USB mic. Logitech would be good.
I have to say I love this mic. Aside from doing a pretty good job as a mic, it's just plain beautiful. It's well-made. The styling, the balance, the handling - it's a nice piece of modern art+tech.
4. Plug it in to the USB port, call up Audacity, and play around until I get a recording.
Took a few hours and about 4-5 tries, but eventually I had a recording that sounded close to what I had in mind. Going from "What is a sound file?" to actually editing the squiggles took about ten hours on the learning curve.
5. Use LAME to convert it to MP3.
That took a few tries, too, because it kept not being able to find the software, but eventually I walked it over to the right file and rubbed its nose in it.
6. E-mail it out.
Of course, my Yahoo e-mail refused to handle the 11.4 mb MP3 file that resulted. Fortunately I have a secret gmail account... without any such size restrictions. I sent it round to a couple of friends for comments. Once they come back to me, I'll make some final tweaks and send it off to Michelle.