Lesson video

Hi, my name is Mrs. Dodds and I'm excited to be learning with you today.

Today, we're going to be learning how to record sound.

We're gonna have a great time doing this, and remember, I will be here to help you throughout the lesson.

So let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson called Recording Sound.

This is from the unit All About Audio Production.

So, by the end of this lesson, you will be able to name devices used to listen to and play audio.

You'll also learn how to create your own audio recording using key features of a piece of software.

Don't worry if you have never recorded audio on a computer before, as I will be here to show you in the lesson how you are going to do this.

So let's get started.

First thing we need to do is look at some keywords.

These will help us during our lesson to, one, know what that keyword means, but also, two, to help you in using them yourself.

So this is how we're going to do it.

I will say the word, and then what I would like you to do is repeat the word when I point to you.

Then I will tell you what that word means.

So let's try it on the first one.

Our first word is microphone.

You say it.

Fantastic.

So a microphone is an input device used to record sound.

You might have seen a microphone before.

If you haven't, don't worry.

Our second word is audio.

I want you to try.

Superb.

So an audio is a sound that has been recorded on a digital device.

Our final word or our final words are speaker/headphones.

You try.

Brilliant.

Speakers and headphones are an output device used to play audio.

So now we know these words, we can see them throughout the lesson and hopefully, you will be able to use 'em with a bit more confidence.

So let's get into the lesson.

So the first part of our lesson is going to be identifying features in an audio clip.

So let's start with the first part of our lesson.

Now we're going to look at how we listen to an audio clip.

The picture on the screen might give you a few clues.

There are many ways that we can listen to an audio.

In what ways do you listen to an audio? I want you to pause the video and I want you to share your thoughts.

Remember, an audio is a sound that has been recorded on a digital device.

Pause the video now and share your thoughts.

so now you've had time to think about that, let's move on.

When we use audio, we must consider who owns that content.

This is really important.

An audio belongs to the person or the group who have asked and paid for it to be created.

You must also be careful sharing or using other people's audios.

You must check who owns it first and seek permission.

You could look for a licence, which is a set of rules on how that audio can be used.

Remember, give credit to the creator.

You must not try and pass it off as your own.

So now we're going to do a check for understanding.

Which statement best describes the meaning of an audio? I'm gonna read out three statements, and I want you to consider these, and then we're going to choose which we think is the actual answer.

So which statement best describes the meaning of audio? A, a type of picture or image, B, a sound has been recorded on a digital device, or C, a type of language only computers understand.

I want you to pause the video now and I want you to consider which is the answer.

Is it A, is it B or is it C? Pause the video now.

Right, so it's time to check.

It was B.

A sound that has been recorded on a digital device, right.

I wonder how you did do.

I hope you did get it right.

Let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

So now we've come to think of a few ideas that would make a good audio clip.

Can you think of any more? Aisha has said, "I think you need a clear voice." Andeep says, "Don't use words like um or ah." Jacob has said "You shouldn't cough or sneeze." Can you think of any more that would make a good audio? Pause the video here to have a think.

So here are a few possible ideas.

You may have thought of others.

Let's have a look.

So you need to make sure that you are using a clear voice.

You've gotta have a fun and interesting topic to talk about.

You need to make that it is short and to the point, with a steady pace that's easy to follow.

You must share a story or some facts.

You can include some background music.

It's got to have a friendly tone of voice, and it can include some questions to keep the reader engaged.

So now, we're gonna look at Task A.

This is where we're going to listen to an audio.

This is a podcast that you can play again and listen to in your own time as well.

Let's listen to it now.

(upbeat music) <v Jenny>Hi gamers.

</v> Welcome to Gaming Smart, the podcast that helps you play safer and smarter.

I'm Jenny, and today, we are talking about something super important: Staying safe while gaming online.

Whether you love Minecraft, Roblox, or Fortnite, these tips will help you have fun and stay safe and protected.

So let's dive in.

First up, protecting your personal information.

Did you know that sharing your real name, address, or school online can be risky? Instead, use a fun, creative username that doesn't reveal too much about you.

And remember, never share your password, even with your best friends.

Next, let's talk about privacy settings.

Most games let you choose who you can message or play with.

Ask a grownup to help you check your settings so that only friends can contact you.

This keeps random people from bothering you while you play.

Here's another important rule.

Be kind and play fair.

No one likes a bully and being nice makes gaming fun for everyone.

If someone is being mean, don't argue.

Just block, report, and move on.

And if anything makes you feel uncomfortable, always tell a trusted adult.

Speaking of breaks, yes, you need them.

Taking breaks helps your brain recharge and keeps your eyes from getting too tired.

Try the 20/20/20 rule.

Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds and don't forget to stretch.

All right, gamers, let's wrap up with our top three tips.

One, keep your personal information private.

Two, use privacy settings to control who can contact you.

Three, be kind, take breaks, and ask for help when needed.

Stay smart and stay safe out there.

If you like this episode, share it with a friend and join us next time for more gaming tips.

Until then, game on and game safe.

(upbeat music) <v ->So now you've listened to that podcast,</v> we're going to look at the worksheet.

Question 1, which of the features in this list did the audio have? As you go through, I want you to tick the ones that you think it has got.

Did it have a clear voice? Was it fun and had an interesting topic? Was it short and to the point? Did it have a steady pace? Was it easy to follow? Did it share a story or some facts? Did it have background music? Did it have a friendly tone of voice? Did it include some questions? Pause the video to take your time on Question 1.

You can start the video again when you have answered Question 1.

Hopefully, you got them.

Right, let's look at Question 2.

I want you to explain if you think this audio is good and give one reason.

You've got some space on your worksheet to answer this.

So take time, pause the video and answer the question.

Fantastic, I hope you worked hard there.

Right, let's look at Question 3.

This is really important.

Suggest one improvement that could be made to this audio.

Again, I want you to pause the video and I want you to think about your answer using maybe the list above you to give you some ideas of how it could have been made better.

Pause the video and write your answer.

Let's look at the possible answers that we could, remember, this is just a possible answer.

You might have different answers to the ones on the screen, but this gives you an idea of what we might have been looking for.

So Question 1, which features did the audio have? It did have a clear voice.

It was fun and interesting.

It was short and to the point, had a steady pace, was easy to follow.

It did share some facts.

It had background music, had a friendly tone of voice, and it did include some questions for the listener to think about.

Right, let's see how you did with Question 2.

Question 2 asked, explain if you think this audio is good and give one reason.

This is an example of an answer.

I think this is a good audio overall because it's spoken with a friendly tone and shares interesting facts and include some questions.

You might have come up with a different answer.

Well done for answering Question 2.

Question 3, suggest improvements that could be made.

Remember, this is just a possible answer to give you some ideas.

The audio includes background music, which needs to be quieter so that the speaker can be heard more clearly.

The speaker needs to make sure that the microphone is not too close to their mouth.

As you listen to that audio, you might have heard some interference, which is really important when you are recording an audio.

Well done for answering those questions.

Let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

In Part 2, we are going to look at identifying inputs and outputs used for an audio.

So we're gonna start by looking at some of the symbols on the screen here.

Let's begin by discovering which devices allow us to record and play audio, devices that might have buttons on them like this.

A play, a stop, a record, and a pause.

Hopefully, you do recognise some of these symbols on devices that you've seen around school or at home.

There are many devices that allow you to record audio.

Some might be more familiar to you than others.

Let's have a look at a few.

Tablets, laptops, digital cameras, and game consoles.

All of these allow you to record audio.

So now it's time for check for understanding.

I'm going to read out a statement and I want you to decide if you think it is true or false.

All digital devices can play and record audio.

Is this true or is this false? I want you to pause the video now and take time to reflect on that.

Discuss your answer with a partner or have a think about why you think it might be true or false.

Right, now you've had time to check, let's have a look.

It is false, but why? Not all digital devices have speakers or microphones.

For example, some devices like calculators or E-readers don't have these features, but many devices like phones and computers do.

I hope you got that right.

Digital devices that record audio need something called an input.

To play the audio back, we need an output.

It's easy to remember that using the word in and out, in going in, out coming out.

A microphone is an input device.

The speakers are an output device.

An input device like a microphone will take in a sound and change it into a signal.

The signal can then be used to play sounds through the speakers or saved to a computer.

Look at that diagram, which will give you a little bit of an idea of how that works.

Some digital devices, like the ones on the screen below, have built-in input and output components.

These are integrated within the device, making them hidden from view.

Tablets, laptops, digital cameras, and game consoles.

Now it's time for a check for understanding.

So which of these digital devices can both record and play audio? There might be more than one answer.

So do pause the video to talk through your answers and decide which answers you think both record and play audio.

Good luck.

Right, hopefully you've decided.

So let's have a look at the possible answers.

A smart speaker can both record and play audio.

A tablet can both record and play audio.

Well done for getting those answers correct.

So now it's time for Task B.

We're going to look at the worksheet and we are going to complete the answers.

We're gonna fill in the missing words from the choices that are on the sheet.

So your choices are output, plays, sound, microphone, and speaker.

Let's look at Sentence 1 together.

One, A, hmm, is an example of an input device.

You now need to look at those choice of words and decide which one is going to fill the gap.

Ready for Sentence 2? A speaker is an example of a hmm, device.

Think through those words.

Which one do you think might fill that gap? Sentence 3.

A microphone takes in, mm, and changes it into a signal.

Look again at which words you've got left in your list and fill it in.

Sentence 4, A, mm, plays sound for people to hear.

Remember, some of these might be easier than others, so don't worry.

Go back to any that you feel you're struggling with.

Sentence 5, A headphone is an example of an audio output device because it's mm, sound.

Take time now, pause this video, go through your answers and just make sure that you are happy with your choices.

So time to reflect on what we thought.

Let's check our answers and see how many you correctly matched.

So a microphone is an example of an input device.

Sentence 2, A speaker is an example of an output device.

I hope you're doing well.

Sentence 3, A microphone takes in sound and changes it into a signal.

Sentence 4, A speaker plays sound for people to hear.

And finally, Sentence 5, A headphone is an example of an audio output device because it plays sound.

Remember, this is a learning process.

So if you've got a couple wrong, that's absolutely fine, but I'm hoping now that that's helped you work out where you might have gone wrong.

Well done if you've managed to get all of the answers right.

So now it's time for the final part of this lesson, which is, to create an audio recording.

So it's time to begin recording your audio.

We are gonna use free programme called Audacity.

First we need to know our way around this application and the different menus that there are.

So let's have a look.

There's a menu.

So this is the toolbar at the very, very top, an audio track, editing tools, and zoom functions, so when you need to go and make your screen bigger or your screen smaller.

So hopefully these symbols might be familiar from earlier on in the lesson.

So when we start using Audacity, we will need to know these different buttons on the menu.

We need to know what each of them do, and we're gonna need to discuss these with our partner now.

So pause the video and just double check that you know each of these symbols on what they will do when we go onto Audacity.

Stop the video now.

Right, so you've had time to discuss that, let's have a look.

When you start using Audacity, this will be the Play button.

This will allow you to play back the audio that you've recorded.

This is the Stop button.

This will allow you to stop your audio.

The Record button lets you capture the sound, so you can save and watch and listen to it later.

A Pause button allows you to stop your audio for a moment, so you can take a breath and then continue.

So we're gonna take time now to watch a short video that will model these steps needed to record, play, and delete your audio.

So remember, you can always watch these videos again if you need to at a later date.

So Lucas is asking, "Do you know that you can select parts of an audio to delete? You do not have to delete at all." So let's take some time now to watch this video and find out how we can record, play, and delete our audio.

So it's your turn to have a go at recording with Audacity.

The first thing we're going to do is have a look at the menu bar at the top and find out the job of each of these buttons.

The first button we're gonna look at is the Pause button.

The Pause button can be used as a moment to have a think about what you're doing, what you might want to say when you are recording your audio.

You might want to use it when you're playing an audio back to stop and have a think.

The Play button.

This is used to play back an audio once you've recorded it.

The Stop button can be used when you are recording or it can be used when you are playing your audio back to stop what is happening, to stop the audio playing.

We skip to start.

This will move your cursor, which I'll show you, right to the front of your first audio clip and skip to end, or take your cursor right to the very end of your audio clip.

And then we've got the Record button.

This will help us capture that audio that we want to share with somebody.

So let's have a go at recording.

We'll head up to the menu bar, press the Record button, and you'll notice on the screen your audio will start to record.

You'll notice that a sound wave appears, showing when I'm speaking and capturing my voice using a microphone.

If I press Stop, you'll notice that the audio has stopped recording.

So how do I listen back to my audio? I can, you skipped to a Start button, which will bring that cursor right back to the very, very start of my audio, and then as I press the Play button, I can listen back.

Let's have a go.

<v Audio>You'll notice that a sound wave appears showing.

</v> <v ->That Stop button will stop</v> the audio being played wherever I've asked it to stop.

So now it's time to have a think about how we might delete either a part of our audio or all of it.

So I'm going to show you how to delete part of your audio first.

I'm gonna click where I would like to start deleting from.

So I'm just gonna click with my mouse just in this gap here.

When I click, I'm gonna hold down my mouse with that first finger click, drag it all the way, holding it down all the way to the very, very end.

And as you've noticed, it will turn the part of the audio clip that I'm going to delete white.

Then just using your keyboard, you would press Delete and it would take away that piece of audio.

This is really important when you are editing your audio to be able to do this.

If I want to delete my entire audio and start again, I can do the same click, drag right to the beginning and delete it, just pressing the button on my keyboard.

Or I might want to pop up to my menu here and there's a Select button.

I select all of my audio and then I can press Delete.

Now, you might have noticed me using another button, which I'm going to just explain now, which is this Undo button.

Sometimes we might delete something that we want to get back.

This Delete button will undo the last thing that you've just done.

So it's just brought back all of the work that I've just deleted.

Great, you're back.

I hope that video is helpful and it explained everything about how you record, play, and delete your audio.

Remember, you can watch that video back.

So if you do get stuck, go back to the video and just check it out again.

Let's move on.

So it's time for a check for understanding now.

So I'm going to read out a question to you again and I'm gonna give you three possible answers.

You can discuss those answers with your partner just to see if you've got the same thoughts.

Remember, you're gonna try and use those keywords that we've been looking at this lesson like audio when you are talking about your answer.

So let's look at the question.

Which button on the menu gives you time to think when you are recording, playing, your audio back? Is it, A, the Play button? Is it B, the Pause button, or is it C, the Record button? Pause the video now so that you've got time to talk to your partner or somebody in the room with you.

Brilliant.

Sounds like you've been working really hard.

So let's have a look at the answer and see which one it was.

It was B.

The Pause button is really important.

It allows you to pause when you're recording and when you're playing the audio back.

So it gives you time to have a think about what you might want to say to discuss your ideas with a partner, or just simply have a break.

So it's your turn now to start thinking about recording your audio.

But first thing we need to check is that you have headphones with a microphone plugged into your laptop or computer.

So the headphones will allow you to listen to the audio, and the microphone will allow you to speak and record the audio.

Task C time.

Have a go and think about a topic that you are learning at school or that you are interested in.

This could be about a famous person from history or a hobby that you have.

Pause the video now and spend some time discussing this with your partner.

Brilliant.

I've heard that you've had some really good ideas.

So let's have a look at some sentence starters that are gonna help us with our planning.

Recall three sentences on your worksheet about your chosen topic.

Use the sentence starters to help develop your ideas.

So let's read through them.

I really enjoy learning about, mm, because mm.

One of the most interesting things about mm is mm.

If I could teach somebody about mm, I would tell them mm.

So let's have a look at an example of this.

Lucas has been hard at work and he's developed his own paragraph.

Let's read through it.

"I really enjoy learning about planets and the solar system.

One of the most interesting things about space that I have learned is that the Great Spot on Jupiter is a storm bigger than Earth and it's been raging for over 300 years.

If I could teach somebody about the planets, I would teach 'em a fun way to remember their order.

You could use the first set of each planet to make a silly sentence.

For example, My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles helps you remember Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune." So now you are familiar with Audacity.

It's time to open the software and record your own audio.

So pause now and see if you can go and open Audacity.

I'll see you in a moment.

Great, you're back.

Let's have a look at what we've got to do.

So one, you are gonna record your voice.

Two, you're gonna press Play and you're gonna listen back to your recording.

And then three, practise deleting parts of your recording.

Now, you'll want to pause the video here to go away and practise this.

I'll see you in a moment.

Brilliant, you're back.

So I want you to talk to a partner and then write down two ways that your audio could be improved.

Use your worksheet to write down the ideas that you came up with.

So pause the video here so that you could work on your worksheet now.

So now that you've had time to reflect on the work, in what ways could your audio have been improved? Aisha has said, "I have too many pauses where I was thinking about what I wanted to say next." Jun said, "I need to ask questions to keep my listener involved." So what ways did you think your audio could be improved? Stop the video and discuss this with your partner.

Brilliant, you had some great ideas.

So let's have a look at our summary, at recording sound.

Audio refers to sound recorded on a digital device.

Many digital devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops can record and play sound.

These often had built-in inputs and output components.

When using audio, it's important to consider who owns the content.

Thank you for being with me in this lesson today.

I hope you had fun recording your audio and that you've learned something new.

Try and remember those keywords for next lesson because we will be referring back to them, and I'll see you next time.

See you soon, bye-bye.