[edit] PC Instructions

1. Insert the Plantronics headset into one of the two USB ports on the left side of the Dell LCD monitor.
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2. Unfold the headset and position the microphone as shown.
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3. Open "Sounds and Audio Devices" in Control Panel (Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices).
4. On the Audio tab, select the Plantronics Headset as the default sound playback device and the default sound recording device.
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5. On the Voice tab, select the Plantronics Headset as the default voice playback device and the default voice recording device.
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6. Open the Nero Wave Editor, located in the Audio Editors Folder on the desktop.
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7. Click the red Record button in the bottom left corner of the Nero Wave Editor.
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8. Select the appropriate sample format settings and click OK.
9. Click the red Record button under Recording Controls to begin recording. Checking the "Digital monitoring" box in the Recording Console dialog box will allow sound to come through the analog headphones.
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10. When the recording is complete, click the blue Pause button next to the red Record button.
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11. Click OK in the Recording Console dialog box to view the audio waveform.
    • Having the Recording Mode set to "Insert into recording" will place the new audio capture at the end of the active file; having the Recording Mode set to "Overwrite existing recording" will overwrite the active file with the new audio capture.
12. Save the file as a PCM Wave file (*.wav, *.wave).
13. Close Nero Wave Editor when all desired recordings are completed and saved.
14. The audio waveform can now be edited appropriately using the various effects, enhancements, and tools found in the Sound Forge Audio Studio located in the Audio Editors folder on the desktop.
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15. In Sound Forge open the .wav file containing the voice file.
16. The voice waveform will most likely have unnecessary audio data that will need to be trimmed.
    • Using the mouse, place the cursor at the vertical midpoint on the waveform where you wish to begin trimming. Left-click with the mouse, selecting BOTH channels of the recording (top and bottom).
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    • Once the portion to be trimmed has been selected, the Crop feature (Edit -> Crop) will trim the unnecessary audio.(*Note: If you are unsatisfied with your crop, use the Edit -> Undo Crop option in the drop-down menue.)
17. Once all trimming is complete, the voice file should be saved as a PCM Wave file (*.wav, *.wave).
18. To optimize the audio signal of the song, the "Normalize" feature can also be used. Select the entire file using the cursor, making sure to include BOTH channels. Select the normalization tool from the Process drop-down menu (Process -> Normalize).
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    • Clicking the Play button under Preview in the Normalize dialog box will allow you to hear the song with the normalization effect; checking the Bypass box and then clicking the Play button under Preview will allow you to hear the original song (without the normalization effect).
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[edit] MP3 Voice File Creation

1. In Sound Forge, locate the finalized version of the .wav(e) voice file and open it.
2. Go to the File drop-down menu and click "Save As" and select MP3. A dialog box will open.
3. From this dialog box, go to the "Bit Rate" drop-down menu and select the 64 kilobits per second bit rate.
   • This bit rate is optimal for online listening and podcasting.
4. In the same dialog box, locate the encoding options and select the "mono" button.
5. Save the MP3 file. (*Note: the settings you have selected will reduce the file size of the resulting MP3 significantly. This makes online listening faster and easier.)
6. If you wish to add ID3 tags to your MP3 voice file, follow the MP3 Creation instructions in the previous section.

[edit] Macintosh Instructions

Freedman Center Howto Guides
Category	Guides
Audio	Converting Records | Converting Cassette Tapes Recording Voice | Podcasting
Video	Capturing Video | Transcoding Video | DVD Authoring | DVD Photo Slideshow
Scanning	Basic Flatbed | Large Flatbed | Transparent Media | Slides Negative Film | Sidekick Scanning | TextBridge OCR Microfiche | Microfilm
Video Conferencing	MSN Messenger 7.0