problem recording sound in pp

[PaulS]

I am having a problem recording a sound in a PP file in PowerPoint 2003.
When I use the microphone to record my voice, the sound is broken and
scratchy.

I have installed the correct engine for speech recognition, configured the
mic properly and have no problems with MS Word recognizing my voice for
voice recognition properly even with minimal "training." This happens with
two different microphones (including a higher-quality Labtec model), so I
don't think it's the mic hardware (the plugs are seated correctly). I have
no playback problems with sounds inserted from files and no playback
problems from other programs like Windows Media player, either with the
built-in speakers, headphones or external speakers.

Hardware is a Dell Inspiron 5100, P4 processor, 512mb RAM, Win XP Pro SP2,
SigmaTel C Major audio. I believe I have all the latest drivers for all
devices since I had to do a hard drive replacement and checked for latest
drivers for everything in the system.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Paul S.

 

[Bill Dilworth]

Voice recognition is very different than voice recording. Are you trying to
get an output file in text format or sound format?

Sound recording is not very CPU intensive, since the bulk of the work is
being done by the sound card. However, voice recognition is VERY CPU
intensive. When combined with PowerPoint (which is also very CPU intensive)
you are likely to get huge gaps in the audio input buffer.

Obviously, I am not real sure exactly what you are doing to get this type
of behavior. Could you give us the steps and clicks so that we can
reproduce your problem on our system and perhaps recommend a solution?

You have said PowerPoint 2003 and gave a lot of details about the system
(thank you)
But what operating system? What version of Media Player (or do you mean
really mean Windows Media Player)?

Do you select record narration from within PowerPoint? What steps do you
use. What Training are you doing on the sound?

--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..

 

[PaulS]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I only referenced the voice recognition to indicate that there seems to be
no problem with the microphone hardware itself. I know that voice
recognition and recording voice are different tasks. What I want to do is
record an audio comment for each slide in my presentation.

I did specify the OS -- it's Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2. I am
using Windows Media Player 10 (again, I referenced that only to indicate
that I have no playback issues with any prerecorded sounds such as WAV or
MP3 files.)

Here are the steps I've done:
I've hooked up the microphone -- plugged it into the proper input channel on
the side of the laptop
Opened PowerPoint
Placed a graphic on a slide
Went To Insert > Movies and Sounds > Record Sound
The Record Sound Box comes up;
I press the Record button and speak into the microphone and then hit the
Stop button.
When I play back the recording of my voice, it's full of static and distant;
I recorded in a very quiet environment and had the microphone placed
properly (I've worked with folks in a number of audio studios over the
years)

As far as training for voice recognition, I used the Windows Wizard and as
noted have had great results with minimal training time -- again, I only
reference this to demonstrate that if it were a problem with the microphone
itself, I don't think the voice recognition function would work very well.

Please let me know if you need further information

Thanks again.
PaulS

 

[Bill Dilworth]

Ok, cool. Sounds like you have all the bases covered, are knowledgeable
about sound recording, know about computers, and it *should* work. However,
as you know, that doesn't always mean that it will work. Whenever I've used
this particular technique for recording voice, my system tends to clip the
last second or two off of the recorded sound file (so I just record an
extra 2 or 3 seconds of silence at the end). However, on my system, the
sound quality is excellent.

If you set-up the microphone in the laptop, as you have already indicated,
and use Windows sound recorder (Start => All Programs => Accessories =>
Entertainment => Sound recorder) to record the voice, does this work? I
know this involves an extra few steps of saving the sound file and then
inserting the file manually into PowerPoint, but if it works ....

Just a thought, what audio/audio-visual programs do you have installed on
the laptop other than Windows Media Player? Do you have QuickTime or
WinAmp, or similar audio programs? Some of these mess with Window's MCI
settings. The sound recorder in PowerPoint (I believe) uses the system MCI
recorder to record the narration audio. It is possible that some of those
installed programs may have overwritten the default MCI settings causing the
failure you are experiencing. If this is the case, then the Windows Sound
Recorder should also render poor quality sound. Identifying that as a
problem might point us in a useful direction.

--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..

 

[PaulS]

Hi, Bill. Windows Sound Recorder reproduces the recorded voice perfectly.
Obviously a few more steps as you indicate, but not a real killer -- I'm
used to scripts and the like, so creating a script and recording the
comments individually and then putting them into the presentation will
work -- not the most convenient, however, and I would like to find a
solution to the "direct recording" problem if possible.

As you state, logic would indicate that if another a/v app was messing with
the PP record function, it should mess up Sound Recorder (maybe PP does not
use the MCI that Sound Recorder does?), but as far as other a/v programs
installed:
Sonic Record Now/Sonic DLA (for the CD burner)

Power DVD (the CD burner is also a DVD playback)

Hi Definition Audio Driver Package (Microsoft - KB835221)

SigmaTel C-Major Audio (shows up in Add/Remove Progs, actually a driver, not
the hardware itself, I guess -- but it also shows up in Device Manager as a
multimedia controller)

Windows Media Player 10 (I am not upgrading to 11 at this time because I
intend to reinstall a sync program to my Phillips MP3 player that uses
WMP10, not 11)

As noted before, my HD was replaced, so the Windows installation is new and
pretty clean. No Real Player, no WinAmp, no QuickTime etc.

If you can provide any further suggestions for trying to make to
"in-program" recording function work properly, I would certainly like to try
them to hopefully contribute to the global knowledge base. In the meantime,
I'll work through Sound Recorder.

Many thanks again.
Paul

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

In addition to Bill's suggestion, always click the Set Quality button *every
time you start recording narration* in PPT because every time you start
recording narration, PPT's going to set it to a very low default level and you
need to override it.

Whacking it with a rolled up newspaper doesn't seem to help.

 

[PaulS]

Hi, I don't see the Set Quality button you're referring to -- I went to
Record Sound within PP and I didn't see it there? Can you tell me where it's
located?

Thanks very much.
PaulS

 

[Bill Dilworth]

Under the SlideShow => Record Narration => Change Quality.

Bill D.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi, I don't see the Set Quality button you're referring to -- I went to
Record Sound within PP and I didn't see it there? Can you tell me where it's
located?

Sorry, it's CHANGE Quality, as Bill's pointed out.