Recording Voice Memos and Audio

From Acorn

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Recording audio with the iPod

  1. Slide the button on the bottom of the Belkin Microphone to Autogain On.
  2. There is a removable plastic sleeve on top of the mic. Remove this if you are connecting the mic to an iPod in a case.
  3. If the iPod is not in its case, it is better to use the sleeve on top of the mic. Note that it has a front and a back.
  4. Carefully connect the Belkin Microphone to the bottom of the iPod. Note that it has a front and a back, do not reverse it.
  5. The iPod will automatically go into Voice Memo record mode.
  6. Click on Cancel to change the Recoding Quality. The default is High, this records in Stereo CD quality, this takes up 4 times more storage space than the Low quality. This is actually not low in quality, and is fine for voice non-musical recordings.
  7. Select Quality: Low by pushing the center select button on the iPod. The iPod should remember this setting for future recordings.
  8. Select Record Now, this takes you to the Voice Memo recording screen.
  9. Push the Record selection. The iPod display will indicate the duration of the recording.
  10. While recording, you can pause and resume the recording. When you are finished, select "Stop and Save".
  11. Each recording is automatically named with the date and start time of recording.

Notes:

  1. If you push the button on the right side of the mic, it will put the iPod into Recording Mode. This will not, however, actually start the recording.
  2. There is a mini-USB connector on the bottom of the mic. A mini-USB to USB cable is included with the mic. This can be used to sync the iPod to your computer, to charge the iPod, and to power it while you are recording. Charging and powering can also be done from the AC adapter.
  3. With a fully-charged iPod, not connected to a power supply, you can record about 2 hours and 40 minutes at Low quality, and 1 hour and 40 minutes at High quality.
  4. You can record a lot longer after the iPod's Low Battery warning goes on. Generally, if you are recording while the battery goes dead, the recording will automatically be saved. However, if you are recording something important, stop recording and save it manually before the battery dies.
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Moving Recordings from the iPod to iTunes

1. Connect the iPod to a computer.

2. iTunes will automatically open, and ask the following:


3. If you do not want to move the memos at this time, select No. You can move them later, or to another computer.

4. When the memos are moved to iTunes, they are not deleted from your iPod, they will be listed under Songs.

5. Recordings (Voice Memos) moved from the iPod to iTunes will be displayed in the default Voice Memos playlist. A copy can be dragged from here to any other playlist.

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Compressing Recorded Audio

1. Recordings are in uncompressed WAV format, this is a large uncompressed format, usually unsuitable for distribution. It is best to compress them before distribution.

2. To compress a recording, on a Mac, first go to iTunes>Preferences>Advanced>Importing, and change the settings to Import Using: AAC Encoder, and Setting: Spoken Podcast, as shown below:


On a PC, the settings are found in iTunes>Edit>Preferences>Advanced>Importing:


3. In iTunes, select by highlight the recording you want to compress. Then go to to Advanced>Convert Selection to AAC. After conversion, you can find the file in the iTunes library, in "Music". It will have the same name as the uncompressed recording, but with a newer Date Added, and a smaller Bit Rate and Size. To see the Bit Rate and Size of your audio files, go to View>View Options, and turn on Bit Rate and Size.

4. To distribute the recording, drag it from the Library to the desktop. You may want to rename it. From here, you can upload it to a podcast server, or email it to someone, if the size is not too large.If you email it to someone, they will need to download it before playing.

5. The file size of an uncompressed recording from the iPod, using Quality Low settings, is 2.4 Megabytes for each minute recorded. Once compressed to AAC with the above settings, the file size is reduced to 240 kilobits for each minute recorded. The file is now one tenth the size, with about the same quality for a voice recording.

6. Before importing music to iTunes from a CD, restore Advanced>Importing settings to AAC Encoder, High Quality, or else your music will sound poor.

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