The best way to synchronize sound for your
ScreenCam ScreenCast is to use an audio editor and record the sound for each section beforehand.
In fact, in order to make your demo the very best, I suggest you do the following:
1) Write out your storyboard and script (i.e. what you will do, what you will say) beforehand. I would keep my demos or tutorials fairly short - like 10 minutes each. Here's a basic outline on things I usually put in:
- Step Number
- Elapsed time
- What will be said
- What will be shown on screen
- The main point of the section
I usually use something like Excel to make a spreadsheet of it all, something like this:
| Step Number | Elapsed Time | What Will be Said | What will be shown on the screen | The main point of this section |
| 1 | 15 seconds | "The Screencam toolbar has a number of
frequently used functions, such as Create new Project, Open Movie Folder..." | Cursor is moving across the top of the GUI, showing off the toolbar | Toolbar overview |
| | | | | |
2) Record your audio first and separately (Use a good standalone audio recording utility, such as
Audacity, or something similar) Record audio in a slow pace, in a clear spoken voice, speaking as if you are doing the demo.
3) Edit out any audio mistakes in the audio editor you are using. Take out things like stuttering, mispronunciation, coughing, etc.
4) Using a different computer to play back the audio (you can use the same computer, but it's just more convenient to use a second), record the ScreenCam video while the audio is playing in the background (the audio is just for you to 'hear' where you are in your demo. Have your storyboard in front of you, and turn off sound recording in ScreenCam) - the point is to match the actions with the sound. If you make a mistake, just 'rewind' the audio and keep recording.
5) Edit the ScreenCam video in the ScreenCam editor, taking out mistakes. If you did this right, the number of mistakes will be few, and it will be already very close to the audio length.
6) Add in the sound after all your video edits are done. The resulting file will have perfect sound, perfect synchronization, no mistakes, and will have all the same audio volume.
We do a lot of our own recording in our labs here, and that's how we do it. We've been doing it this way for years, and it is the fastest and easiest way to ensure synchronization of both parts. I hope this is helpful to you.
James
