Dispatches | March 08, 2011

If you’re like me, you tend to avoid any technology that’s more complex than email or word processing. If it takes more than a few minutes to figure out, it’s not worth my time. I’d rather be reading a book, running, gardening—anything that doesn’t involve sitting in front of my computer screen following obscure and poorly written directions.

Why then, am I urging you to enter our audio competition, a task that does in fact require some time spent in front of a computer? Well, here I am writing a blog, so clearly I’m not anti-technology. I’m just anti-unnecessary complexity, and yes, maybe at times a little technophobic. I am an advocate of audio recording, however. It can produce beautiful results. Check out, for instance, this previous poem of the week by Christina Hutchins.

If you’re slightly technophobic like me, then I’m here to hold your hand, reassure you, and guide you through a process that’s not scary at all. Just follow these three easy (that’s right—uncomplicated) steps, and you too can produce an audio recording at home:

1)      Get a microphone. If you own a Mac, this is easy; you already have one. If you don’t own a microphone though, you can purchase a microphone for your PC for as little as $10.

2)      Connect your microphone to a computer.

3)      Download Audacity. (It’s free!). Just follow this link, and click “download.”

That’s it! From here, you’re set to record your entry, burn it to CD (you can do this using iTunes*), and mail it to The Missouri Review. There’s still a week before our March 15^th deadline!

*If you’ve never burned a CD on iTunes, it’s also simple:

1.  Insert a writeable CD into your CD drive.

2.  In iTunes, click “File,” then “Import”, then find and double click your saved .mp3 audio file.

3.  Highlight the file, then click “File,” “New Playlist from Selection.”  Your file should now appear in its own playlist along the left hand side, the Library

4.  Click the “Burn Disc” button in the bottom right hand corner.