How to make a voice recording

This page is about the technicalities of making a recording. There is a separate page with some hints about speaking style.

Using a Windows 10 PC or laptop

This may seem obvious, but your device needs to have a microphone and either speakers or headphones. Nearly all laptops less than 10 years old will have those, but desktop computers may only have speakers or or have neither speakers nor a microphone.

Assuming you have the right equipment, the easiest way to record is using an app called Voice Recorder.

• Click the start button at the bottom left of your screen, then on the letter A:
  
• Now click on the letter V, and under V click on Voice recorder:
  
• When you're ready to start speaking, click on the blue microphone symbol:
  
• When you're finished, click on the stop symbol:
  
• The recording you've just made is at the top of the list, under Today. Right-click on it (right-click means click the right-hand button on your mouse) and left-click on Share.
  
• Then click on Mail:
  
• Enter my email address: pj.campbell.smith@gmail.com where it says To: and click on Send
  

You can play back your recording before sending it to me by clicking on the right-pointing arrow in Voice Recorder.

You can repeat the record and stop actions to create a new recording if you're not happy with the first one.

Using an Android mobile phone or tablet

If your phone isn't an iPhone, it's probably an Android phone. It is strangely difficult to confirm that a phone is running Android, but if there are lots of Google apps on the home page then it probably is.

Some Android phones have a recorder app pre-installed, but if yours doesn't - or even if it does - I recommend Smart Recorder. To install that you need to open Play Store, which is an icon like this:

Once you open Play Store, there is a box at the top where it says 'Search for apps'. Type in Smart Recorder and touch the return key on the keypad - usually a magnifying glass symbol.

Once you are at the Smart Recorder page, touch 'Install'. It's already installed on my phone so it will probably say 'Install' instead of 'open' on yours:

It will take a minute or two to install. You can then either tap on 'Open', or look on your home screen and there should be an icon for Smart Recorder.

Using Smart Recorder is very easy. First open the app. To start recording, tap on the red microphone symbol:

To end the recording, tap on the green tick.

Google may then show you an ad, which you can ignore, but below that, if you want to play back your recording, click on the white triangle. If you don't like it and want to try again, click on 'Delete' and try again. Once you are happy, click on 'Share', and then in the panel at the bottom select your email app - for example Gmail. It will open with the recording as an attachment, and all you need to do is enter my email address - pj.campbell.smith@gmail.com - and click on 'send'.