Today ’s motion took a middling circuitous root to my Inbox . Macworld’sGem - meister , Dan Frakes , passes along this audio - centrical message from Reader Unknown . He write :

Like Dan , my software of pick often depends on its Mary Leontyne Price . I prefer loose and , in a fount like this where your needs are modest , there ’s very small grounds to look beyond free .

If you ’ve purchased a new Mac in the past few years , that Mac has a perfectly fine audio recording program accessible via the Dock — GarageBand . Just burn it up , create a newfangled medicine project , click the Plus push button in the lower - forget recess of the window , choose to make a new Real Instrument course , and register your vocalization through a mike attach to your Mac . Trim the cartroad to your satisfaction .

When you export your file cabinet you ’ll need to do it in the AIFF formatting as that ’s the audio format required for the Mac ’s awake sound . The method acting for doing this varies for GarageBand 3 ( the variation that was part of iLife 06 ) and the current GarageBand ( part of iLife 08 ) .

In the late rendering of GarageBand you may pass over some of this rigmarole by choosing Share - > Export Song to Disk . In the sheet that appears you ’ll see “ Export Your Song to Disk in its Original Quality ” followed by a Compress checkbox . Leave that checkbox unchecked and GarageBand will export the Indian file as an AIFF . Again , imitate it toyouruserfolder / Library / Sounds and it will become part of your Mac ’s warning signal sounds repertory .

If you ’re intimidated by GarageBand , Ben Shanfelder makes a all in - simple ( and gratuitous ) audio recorder call , capably enough , Audio Recorder . From its bottom pop - up bill of fare choose Edit Profiles and in the Profiles window that appears choose AIFF from the Format pop - up carte . If you ’d wish to save some quad you ’re welcome to choose Mono from the Channels bolt down - up carte du jour and 22.050 kHz from the Sample Rate kill - up fare — the AIFF file produced with these setting will work as system qui vive . fold the Profiles window and click Audio Recorder ’s Record button . Save the file and put it inyouruserfolder / Library / sound to add it as a system of rules alert .

in the end , a free - ish resolution is QuickTime Pro ( the - ishpart comes in if you ’ve already purchased QuickTime Pro for $ 29 ) . One of QuickTime Player Pro ’s most overleap lineament is its ability to record sound recording and video recording . Just hook up your mic , select File - > New Audio Recording , and start talking . Edit your file with the build - in trim control and choose File - > Export . In the resulting Save Exported File As dialog box , choose Sound to AIFF from the Export pop - up bill of fare . append the saved file cabinet toyouruserfolder / Library / Sounds .

And because I ’m sure someone will comment on it if I do n’t remark it , there ’s alsoAudacity , a free and reasonably full - featured - give way - the - price audio editor that I get hold convoluted and occasionally unstable . Audacity can also memorialize and edit AIFF file , which you’re able to apply as alert sounds by copying them to the pamphlet I cited .