Putting some sound to it

headphones.gifAudio and music can be an entertaining way to spice up a blog’s content. Audio in blogs can be added through two ways: by using a third party system to upload a voice post directly from your mobile phone, or by creating a recording and then posting it into your blog. The first method lets you post a quick account of what’s happening to you right at the moment, perfect for on the spot reportage.

The second can be made by putting up interesting audio files like sound recordings, interviews, and songs. You can also record your voice through an audio software like Audacity, or even the default sound recorder on your operating system. Chances are the first time you try it there’ll be weird static and breathy sounds – nothing to worry about! The same programs often allow you to edit, splice, and clean it up. Once you have one ready you can embed a flash player into your blog. They can also be aggregated into a feed on audioblogging/podcasting sites, so your listener can get it as soon as you publish it.

You should pay attention to choosing the content and information that’s going to be in your audio recordings. Talk about the charities that interest you, causes and political issues you believe should be talked about, or even something light like a review of latest games you’ve played. Try to make a spiel of the things you want to say, so there won’t be too many dead air to remove once you’re editing. One thing you have to remember is to offer a transcript of your audio post for people who don’t have the capabilities to listen to it. It could be they don’t have an mp3 player to listen to the audio while traveling. Or they might prefer text over audio. Whatever the reasons, there are people who prefer text over audio – don’t leave them out.

[tags]audio, blog[/tags]

Originally posted on December 5, 2006 @ 12:20 pm