Guide to Editing using Audacity

Stephanie Hopkins

Introduction This guide covers the most basic functions of Audacity. To learn how to make a more professional

product, there are some great resources available on the internet:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/tutorials is a good starting point

www.binaryblue.com.au/podbank is a useful Audacity tutorial

Some things to be aware of before you begin:

Audacity records sound in its own .aup format and so later on your recording will need to be

compressed and converted into MP3 format, before it can be uploaded to the internet

Do save your master file before you do any editing or converting

Do save your project frequently to ensure you don’t lose hours of work!

The main functions are easy to use and identify. When recording, use record and pause buttons

and only use the stop button when you have completed that track. Make sure you make a

detailed plan for your project, involving the students of course, writing notes or a script before

recording. You will save lesson time!

Finding your way around the main Audacity functionsThe toolbar looks like this:

Selection tool

Zoom tool

Envelope tool

Draw tool

Multi-tool mode

Time shift tool

Skip to start

Play Record Pause Stop

Skip to end

Key features from the drop-down menus

Cut

CopyPaste

Trim

outside

selection

Silence

selection

Undo

and

redo

Zoom in

and out

Fit

project in

window

Fit

selection

in window

Save your original file and your new edited version

separately. Also, remember to save often in case

the software or system crashes

Tool for converting to MP3 in preparation for

uploading to the internet; it requires Lame to

be installed

Use when saving individual segments

of a longer recording

Input level meterOutput level meter

Use to split a track; note that

when you do this the rest

appears in a new audio track

Imports .wav, .mp3, .aiff, .au, .ircam and .ogg formats.

If importing from iTunes you may find the file is an

MP4 which Audacity cannot import, however JHymn

software is available to ‘unlock’ this format. Be aware

of copyright if you are going to publish your final

creation as a podcast and use ‘pod-safe’ music

Create a new layer of audio

Manual versions of the shortcuts on the toolbar

Recording and cuttingTo learn how to select, cut, amplify and fade out there is a very basic but great fun Audacity tutorial at

www.edhsonline.org/other/audacity

Try this!Plug in your microphone, check the settings and you are ready to record. Use the record and pause functions, then click stop when you have completed the recording. If you use stop and then want to

add more, this will be recorded as a different track. The level of the recording is shown in blue waves.

For simple cutting, you can zoom in using the magnifier to trim more precisely. Use the selection tool to highlight the section you wish to edit out and then click on Cut.

Make the selection louder

Make the selection quieter

Fade the sound in/out, which is handy for a

‘radio’ style if you want to intersperse

spoken word with music

Sound levelIf the sound level is a bit low, you can use the selection tool and then the Amplify function to

rectify this:

Amplified result:

Importing a pre-recorded trackImport a track by clicking Project>Import audio, then find your file. This might be something you

recorded previously in Audacity (.aup format) or Windows Sound Recorder (.wav format). This will

appear as a separate track.

Import all the required tracks (all individual recordings you want to include in the podcast) then you

can prepare for the editing process. If you have multiple tracks, you can adjust the size of the

windows to fit more on the screen and so facilitate the process of lining up your tracks accurately.

Rename your tracks

Re-order your tracks

Click on the drop-down

arrow and select Name

Click on the drop-down arrow

and select Move track up.

Repeat until the desired

position is achieved

Using musicIf you use music in your podcast, it must be ‘pod-safe’ or copyright-free. This means it is subject to

the creative commons license. If you don’t want to compose your own music, why not use recordings

of students’ compositions, adding an exciting cross-curricular flavour to your project? Alternatively

there are many sources of ‘pod-safe’ music online, but by its very nature it is rather hit-and-miss in

quality. It is also possible to import audio from iTunes, but not in MP4 format. The JHymn software

‘unlocks’ this, converting it to MP3 and therefore making it compatible to import into Audacity. The

JHymn site gives guidance on copyright issues, and of course states that this software was not

invented to assist the black market! Always be extremely cautious and never publish a podcast online

containing music that is copyrighted.

www.podsafeaudio.com

www.jamendo.com/uk

www.magnatune.com

http://music.podshow.com

EditingIn order to listen to an individual track you need to isolate it. This can be done by selecting either the

solo (which mutes all other tracks) or mute functions (which just mutes the selected track).

Moving part of a track along the timeline

Splitting a trackIf you want to split a track to use sections of it in different places, select the part you wish to separate

and click Edit>Split and that part will appear below the other tracks in a new track.

The envelope tool

Click on the selection tool and highlight the

section you want to move

Click on the

time-shift tool and then drag

the section

along to the

desired place

This is very handy indeed. It enables you to make very subtle but precise changes to the volume

levels of the track. In this example I used it to fade the music and keep it low in the background while

I was talking, then bring it back up again.

Select the section of music you wish to edit and then click on the envelope tool. Blue lines will

appear around the wave. Click on the points where you wish to bend the volume and small white dots

will appear. Drag these dots up or down to alter the amplitude of the sound.

Fit project in windowThis enables you to view your whole project. This is useful for checking how the tracks fit together

and for reviewing your progress.

To finish my creation, I used the fade out tool to bring the volume down to silent. Once you are

happy with the product, save it as an .aup file and then you are ready to convert it and go public!

Envelope tool

Converting to MP3 First ensure you have downloaded the Lame MP3 encoding software at

www.free-codecs.com/download/Lame_Encoder.htm

After downloading, unzip the Lame file into the same folder as Audacity. The first time you export

a file as an MP3, a connection will need to be made with the Lame software. When you click

Export as MP3 Audacity will ask you to browse for the file, so go to the Audacity folder, open the

Lame folder and double-click on the .dll file:

Select File>Export as MP3Please note that the first time

you do this a connection will

need to be made with the Lame

software. Audacity will ask you

where it is saved. Subsequently

the conversion will happen

without interruption

Complete the dialog box as

fully as you can

In My Computer, locate and open the saved MP3.

Stephanie Hopkins

AST in MFL

July 2007

stephmhopkins@gmail.com

Save in your chosen

location

Double-click to open and

iTunes will open automatically

and play your file