Using your Mac to record audio

1. You’ll want to start by making sure your mic sounds good. You can do this by adjusting the sound levels for the microphone in your Mac.

2. Make adjustments by going to the Apple at the top left of your screen and selecting System Preferences. Select Sound and then Input.

3. Once inside the Input Window, select Internal Microphone. Then move the Input Volume slider to the left of the fourth hash mark. This mark is a good starting point in making sure you a have good recording level (but if you find it too low or too high you can make adjustments!)

4. Next step, open Garage Band and create a New Podcast Episode.

5. Once you’ve opened the new project you’ve got the option of using either the Male Voice or Female Voice track to record on. You can select either by clicking the silhouette of the man or woman with the cursor. It doesn’t matter!

6. The next thing you’ll want to do is prepare yourself for recording. Try and find the quietest place you can to minimize the noise that’ll be picked up by the mic. Here are two examples of places to try to avoid: rooms with lots of noise from electronics and areas with lots of people. Remember if your surroundings are loud, the noise could be distracting to your listeners.

7. Next, you’ll want to position yourself and/or the person you are interviewing/recording about one foot from your computer. You’ll want to use your cursor and click on the Scissors near the bottom of the screen to zoom into your voice track.

8. Then use your cursor and click the Record Button located near the bottom of the program to begin recording!

9. As you’re recording, you can see how your levels look. If you are not satisfied with them then referring back to Steps 1 and 2 will help you get what you’re looking for.

-What do good levels look like?

If your waves are really small, that means your recording will be quiet. The smaller it looks the quieter it’ll be. You can make the audio louder by clicking on the Pyramid next to the track name on the left side of the screen. After clicking, the Track Volume menu will drop down. You can then add little points to the volume line by clicking on the line. The adjustments to your recording come as you either move the line up or down.

If your levels are flat or look cut off at the tops, that means there are some portions that are too loud. The audio with the flat tops do not sound very well and you might want to consider recording it over. But adjusting the recording volume could make it a little better!

10. When you are done recording, hit the space bar to stop the recording. The next step is to start editing!