WHAT YOU WILL NEED
Depending on the
soundtrack quality you want to get, you’ll need the following hardware and
software equipment:
1. A microphone. It
can be a microphone in your PC headset, an inbuilt laptop microphone, a
smartphone, a tablet, a standalone microphone for karaoke.
2. A voice recorder.
It may be a voice recording app, professional software, or a digital voice
recorder hardware.
3. An audio editor.
It can be a feature of a voice recording program or a separate audio tool.
4. A video editor,
special video production software that helps you to merge audio and video
tracks into one unit.
STEP
1: VOICE RECORDING
To record your speech,
singing or background sounds, you’ll need a PC with a microphone or iPhone,
iPad or Android device. Make sure that the microphone works properly and your
voice sounds natural. Try to call someone and check if your partner can hear
you well and there are no crunches, creaks, or any other artificial noises. If
you use your PC headset, make sure that audio speakers are turned on and the
cord is OK. Set audio volume to high level.
If
you use a Windows PC, you can tweak your microphone settings here: Windows/Start > Control Panel>Hardware
& Sounds> Sounds.
Sometimes you might need
to update audio drivers or change settings for your existing audio driver.
Here’s an example of a Realtek audio driver manager. You can find your audio
driver settings by typing “audio” into Windows search box or re-pluging your microphone.
·
Often, cheap and simple microphones for Windows computers don’t
have great noise reduction. So you’d better record your speech in silence.
Otherwise, everyone can hear your cat screaming at the background or mouse
clicks.
·
If you use your mobile device, make sure that microphone area
isn’t covered with case or mud. Make sure that volume is high. Keep your mobile
gadget closer to your mouth while recording for best results.
·
Unlike desktop microphones modern smartphones like iPhone 6 or
Samsung Galaxy 5 are equipped with smart noise cancellation thanks to inbuilt
high-pass filter and additional microphones. So even outside at a noisy place,
your phone is likely to record your voice instead of wind or passersby. But if
you own an old Nokia, it will record all surrounding noises.
·
Obviously, if you have a professional karaoke microphone, the quality
of your soundtrack will be much better.
·
If you purchase a digital audio recorder like one of Sony ICD
family, no extra microphones are required.
DISCLAIMER:
Before you jump to our
list of best free voice recorders for all platforms, you have to know several
things about audio recording. First of all, it all depends on the level of
professional performance you want to set for your video production. Below we are
going to describe consumer voice recorders that try to limit noise, but they
are surely inappropriate for Hollywood movies. In addition to top-notch
voice recording software, if you don’t have a Hi-Fi microphone, your recordings
will be of poor quality. Especially, if you plan to record an instrumental
track, an average home-use microphone will fail to record all nuances of your
playing.
LIST
OF BEST VOICE RECORDERS FOR WINDOWS, MAC, IPHONE, ANDROID, LINUX
Here’s the list of free
and proven video recorders for all operational systems. Find yours below!
Windows: Microsoft Voice Recorder
Actually, Microsoft
provides us with default free voice recorder which is already installed on your
PC. It’s simple as it can be. There are almost no advanced settings, but you
don’t have to deal with any audio editors, because Microsoft Voice Recorder has
an audio cutter inside.
Pros: no installation required, inbuilt audio cut option.
Cons: records all noises such as mouse clicks, only one output format.
Cons: records all noises such as mouse clicks, only one output format.
To use Microsoft Voice
Recorder follow these steps:
1. Open Start and type Voice
Recorder in the search box.
2. Click on the search
result. Voice Recorder will launch in a new window.
3. To begin the process
click on the blue microphone sign and speak into your microphone.
4. To finish the tape click
on the microphone sign again. Your creation will be automatically saved as M4A
file in Documents > Sound Recordings.
5. You can listen to your
recording right from the software interface.
6. [Optional] Then you can
cut your recorded audio track, if you click the Edit sign (see the screenshot).
Mac, Linux: Vocaroo Online Voice Recorder
Website vocaroo.com is the best place for everyone who don’t want to mess with
software downloads. Open your browser at vocaroo.com and grant access to your microphone for this tiny app.
Pros: no installation
required, vast choice of output formats, including Lossless audio, audio embed
option.
Cons: records all noises, no audio editing features.
Cons: records all noises, no audio editing features.
How to use Vocaroo
Online Voice Recorder:
1. Open vocaroo.com in your browser.
2. Hit the Click
to Record button and say something in your microphone.
3. When you’re done, hit
the Click to Stop button
and preview your track.
4. If you like it, follow
the Click here to save link.
You’ll be able to save file in MP3, OGG, FLAC, or WAV format.
5. [Optional] You can embed
an audio recording by copy-pasting the ready code on your site or blog. Also,
you may delete the recording from Vocaroo server.
Android: Default Voice Recorder
Android phones come with
an inbuilt voice recorder. Thanks to it, you don’t have to install any
third-party Android voice recorders. Search for “voice” on your Android, and
the app will pop up.
Pros: no installation
required, simple interface, not much noise, suitable for use on the go.
Cons: no audio editing features, only one output format (in my case AMR).
Cons: no audio editing features, only one output format (in my case AMR).
How to use a voice
recording app on Android:
1. Look for a voice
recorder app on your Android phone.
2. Click the red Record button
and speak into your microphone.
3. When you’re done, hit
the Stop button
and preview your track.
4. If you like it, you can
save the file on SD card or in your phone memory and then export it onto your
PC.
iPhone: Voice Memos Recorder
Like Android, Apple
gadgets also offer their own audio recording app which is called Voice Memos.
On the one hand, it intuitively removes all noise from records and your voice
sounds crisp. But on the other hand, you can’t record wind or some quiet
background sounds.
Pros: clear natural voice
recordings, includes an audio editor.
Cons: small choice of output formats, iTunes sync required.
Cons: small choice of output formats, iTunes sync required.
How to use Apple Voice
Memos app on iPhone:
1. Look for a Voice Memos
app on your iPhone.
2. Click the red Record button
and pronounce something.
3. When you’re done, hit
the same button, then preview your track and save it.
4. If you like it, you can
sync your iPhone and desktop iTunes libraries to export your recording.
5. [Optional] You can trim
your audio track. There is such option, see the screenshot.
OPTIONAL
STEP 2: AUDIO EDITING
As
you can see, not all voice recorders include audio trimming feature.
But sometimes you need to make your track shorter. For instance, you might
want to get rid of Start/Stop mouse clicks. To do it, you should take advantage
of an audio editing software. We reviewed earlier 5 excellent tools that help
you to cut an audio file.
Tip! Watch this video Audacity tutorial to learn how to trim
audio:
STEP 3: ADDING VOICE RECORDING TO VIDEO
What you need to do next
is to combine audio and video tracks. There are two free video tools that can
help you to achieve your goal: Freemake Video Converter and Windows Movie
Maker. But you have to be sure that your audio and video tracks are of the same
length.
FREEMAKE VIDEO
CONVERTER
Freemake Video Converter
lets you add audio to video easily. It’s free software for Windows. Plus, it
allows you to encode your creation into a number of popular video formats such
as WMV, MP4, AVI, MPEG. It’ also capable of burning DVDs & embedding video
onto a web page.
What you need to do is:
1. Download Freemake Video
Converter and
launch it.
2. Add the video.
3. Click on the audio
info of the clip and choose the audio you created.
4. To finish your creation,
choose an output format and press the Convert button.
WINDOWS MOVIE
MAKER
This
is a well-know free video editor by Microsoft. Please note that if you use Windows 10, you have
to download it for free from official Microsoft website www.microsoft.com as it doesn’t come with Windows installation anymore.
1. Download (if necessary)
and open Windows Movie Maker.
2. Choose the Add
sound button to
include your voice recording into the project.
3. Add the clip and the
audio track to the visual line and proceed with creating your masterpiece.
4. Save the ready video
file. You’re done.
Today we’ve described step by step how to add soundtrack to a video. Please share this guide on Twitter and Facebook and help us amplify video production knowledge!