Audio Recording Tools

Audacity

Audacity is a free, open-source audio recording and editing program. Download and install the version for your operating system and get started producing high-quality recordings. Find some useful Audacity resources below:

• Overview of the Audacity window.
  
• Quick guide to getting started with Audacity.
  
• Links to complete user manuals for various versions of Audacity.
  

SoundCloud

SoundCloud upload an audio file to SoundCloud to share it quickly with a wide audience. The process is more complex than Vocaroo, but the sound quality is better, depending on how the file was recorded. Users can sign in to SoundCloud with their Google or Facebook accounts and avoid having to create another user id and password. NOTE: When you first create an account and try to upload a file, you might run into a recurring error message asking you verify your email address, even after you verify it. Use the 'Classic Uploader' (aka 'Old-Skool Uploader') to bypass this. Click for a guide to using SoundCloud.

Vocaroo

Vocaroo is a free, easy-to-use audio recorder. Record your own audio or upload audio files up to 50mb. Recorded audio files can be emailed, embedded into websites, shared through social networks like Twitter, and downloaded in a variety of formats or linked to QR codes generated right from within Vocaroo itself. The big advantage of Vocaroo is simplicity; the big drawback is audio quality which is acceptable for most purposes but not fantastic. This is a great tool for world language teachers to demonstrate pronunciation as well as receive student work. Click for a guide to using Vocaroo or try it yourself:

Powered by Vocaroo Voice Recorder

Podomatic

Use Podomatic to create and publish podcasts. Upload an audio file created in other software, or record right in Podomatic using your computer's microphone. Results can be published quickly, posted to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media services, or embedded into personal websites.

Voki

Voki is a fun tool! Create a custom animated avatar and give it a voice, either by recording right from your computer, uploading an audio file, calling in a message from a phone or typing some text into the speech generator. Check out these samples from Magistra Reddick's Latin class. 

Twisted Wave

Twisted Wave is a basic audio editor with which users can record audio files, make some simple edits and then save to a variety of common formats (such as .WAV and .MP3). Files can be sent directly to Google Drive and shared, eliminating the need to worry about saving and transferring to other users. It's available for Mac, Windows and iOS and can also be used online or added as a Chrome app.