How Best To Make A Voice Recording On MacOS
July 5, 2018 6:46 PM Subscribe
What is the simplest way to make a short voice recording on a MacBook OS 10.12.6 and send it via email?
1. Open Quick Time Player (if you don't have it for some reason get it here)
2. File > New Audio Recording
3. Click red button & speak
4. click (now black) button to stop
5. File > Save
File will save as an m4a file in the Documents folder if you do not choose a new location for it. It should be understandable to a Mac or PC or Linux machine. You can send it in an email just like you would send any attachment. Be careful with how large it is, sometimes email programs or services won't send super large attachments.
posted by jessamyn at 6:52 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
2. File > New Audio Recording
3. Click red button & speak
4. click (now black) button to stop
5. File > Save
File will save as an m4a file in the Documents folder if you do not choose a new location for it. It should be understandable to a Mac or PC or Linux machine. You can send it in an email just like you would send any attachment. Be careful with how large it is, sometimes email programs or services won't send super large attachments.
posted by jessamyn at 6:52 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Go for the old standby: QuickTime Player. Choose File -> New Audio Recording. Press the red button, and voila.
QuickTime saves as M4A, which maybe people on Windows computers might have trouble playing (not sure if it's supported by Media Player by default in Windows 10 or not). So you might have to convert it to an MP3 if you want everyone to hear it. Use iTunes for that.
posted by dis_integration at 6:53 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
QuickTime saves as M4A, which maybe people on Windows computers might have trouble playing (not sure if it's supported by Media Player by default in Windows 10 or not). So you might have to convert it to an MP3 if you want everyone to hear it. Use iTunes for that.
posted by dis_integration at 6:53 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
A lot of basic Mac users use Audacity for purposes like voice recording and seem to like it.
posted by jacobean at 2:40 AM on July 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jacobean at 2:40 AM on July 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Garageband, arguably Apple's greatest free software ever, would handle this well, and natively supports saving to mp3.
posted by General Malaise at 5:37 AM on July 6, 2018
posted by General Malaise at 5:37 AM on July 6, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
Link to Apple Support on this feature
* You may find it easier to do on an iPhone if you have one via the Voice Memos app that’s pre-installed. It will allow you to email any voice recording right from the app.
posted by artificialard at 6:51 PM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]