There are many ways to record bell sounds for use by Abel. You can use a portable sound recorder, providing you have a way of connecting the recorder to your computer. Or connect the microphone directly to the PC, and use a software package to make the recording (for example, Windows Sound Recorder). Here are some hints when recording bells:

• Use the best equipment you can get hold of: a poor quality microphone will only give poor quality results.
• You need to record ONE bell at a time..
• Ring just one blow, so that the sound is not interrupted as it dies away. (You could use this as a setting exercise for your learners, if you like!)
• Be aware of extraneous sound: if you make the recording in the ringing chamber, there may be unwanted rope noise; if you make it outside, there may be unwanted wind noise or birds singing or traffic.
• Check your recording levels: bells are LOUD, especially close to, and may overload some machines resulting in distorted sound. It's usually best to have the microphone some distance from the bell.
• Try to choose bells that sound good.
• You don't need to record all the bells: Abel uses the sound of one bell to make the sound of several. So don't record bells that are next to each other: instead of recording (say) the 7 and tenor of a ring of 8, record the 1, 4 and 8. See Bell Definition File for more information.

See also:

  Modifying bell recordings
  The Bell Definition File