Grace Reformed Baptist Church

How to create online sermons

Several people have asked us how they can put their own church's sermons online. We hope these directions will help you get started creating your own RealAudio and MP3 sermon files.

Our sermon files are created on a PC running Windows. There are similar tools for other operating systems (MacOS, Linux, etc.) but we'll focus specifically on Windows in this tutorial.

You'll need the following software:

• A computer with a sound card running Windows
• If you plan on creating RealAudio files, you will need:
  • The free RealPlayer Basic
  • The free RealProducer Basic
• A sound recording and editing program. Audacity is a good, free sound program. You will also need a program like Audacity if you wish to create MP3 files.
• Either the free Helix DNA Server or evaluation Helix Basic Server, if you plan on streaming your sermon files from your own web/audio server.

Once you have installed all the software listed above that you need, you're ready to begin.

Methods For Capturing the Audio

Our goal here is to get the sermon audio onto the computer in WAV format. There are at least 3 ways to do this; the method you use will depend on your church's audio setup.

• Extract the audio from a CD. This is the easiest way, and the method that we use at GRBC. Sermons are recorded directly onto CD during the worship services. Afterwards, the CDs are put into the computer's CD-ROM drive and the audio is extracted (aka "ripped") into a large WAV file.

  This can be done easily via a number of CD ripping programs. Exact Audio Copy, which is free, is an excellent choice.

• Extract the audio from a cassette tape. Once your sermons have been taped, you can hook up a tape deck to your computer's sound card, and have the computer record the audio as the tape deck plays the cassette. More on that on the next page.

• Record audio on the computer live. You can connect a feed from your church's sound system directly into your computer's sound card and record the sermons live as they are preached. More on that on the next page.