Recording

Recording is the step that adds the author's voice to the digital story.

The voiceover adds personality and emotion to the story, bringing the author's passion to the forefront. No part of the process, outside of the story itself, brings more of the author to the final product. The voiceover is not simply a reading of the script; rather it is a performance of the story in the author's own voice. Much practice is required to find the inflection and emotional content necessary to bring the story to life.

Recording can be done with a simple microphone using the sound recording device that came on your computer. It requires a quiet, distraction-free area to minimize unnecessary noises in the sound files. Each section of the storyboard is recorded and saved separately so they can be placed with the images captured in the previous step. Separate voiceover files also make it easier to re-record if necessary without having to redo the entire script. This way the author can be sure to tell their story with the passion and emotion it deserves.

Audacity and Voicethread are other great resources for editing, recording, and sound tweaks. They are simple downloads and very user friendly free programs.

Bernajean Porter describes the voiceover process at digitales.us

The next step is combining audio and images.