IT469/569 – Multimedia Design & Development

Tutorial of Audacity NOTE: *This tutorial is created for IT469/569 Audio Editing Assignment purpose only; if you need more advanced features of Audacity, please visit the recommended online tutorial site: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/index.html *Audacity has both Mac version and Windows version, which are in the same layout and the same functions. (This tutorial is based upon the Mac version.) *Audacity is a free program that needs to be downloaded and installed on a local disk. Please go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ to download Audacity if you have not done it yet. Step 1: After you install Audacity on your computer, click to launch the program. Then, you should have a view as shown below:

IT469/569 – Multimedia Design & Development

Step 2: Now, you have two options: a) If you want to record your voice and edit it from Audacity, go to the Main Toolbar, click the record button to start; b) If you have a sound file and want to edit it in Audacity, go to File -> Import -> then locate the file on your computer. In this tutorial, I would import a sound file and show you how to edit the vocal tracks. (To edit the vocal tracks of recording is with the same steps.) The image showed how your vocal tracks looks like after import a sound file. Usually, two vocal tracks (left & right) would appear paralledly for each sound file.

Step 3: Use the Selection tool to select a certain part of the vocal track, and then use the Edit Toolbar to cut, copy, paste, trim, or silence audio. The grey area on image is the selection. NOTE: *When you select on a single track, it would do the same selection on the other. *Cut, copy, paste, trim, and silence audio could only be applied to certain selection. So, for your project, do the selection first.

IT469/569 – Multimedia Design & Development

Step 4: Use the Envelope tool to fade in/out certain part of the track. As shown in the image, envelope tool made the track uneven to realize the fade in/out effects. To apply the envelope tool, click on the position where you want to start the fade in effect on the track, then drag your mouse to the right or left for different effects.

If you don’t want the fade in/out point, click the white dot, and drag them outside the track. The effects would be

eliminated.

Step 5: Use the Zoom in tool and Draw tool to work on details of your track.

Note: To apply the draw tool which means that you can actually work on the single samples on the track, you need to use the zoom in tool first. Make sure you zoom in the track further until you can see the individual samples on the track, as shown in the image.

IT469/569 – Multimedia Design & Development

Step 6: If you want to record your voice for part of the existing sound file,

click the Record button, and start your

narration. Click Stop button to stop narrating.

You can use the Play button any time to have a playback of your vocal tracks. On the screen, another two vocal tracks appeared, as shown here.

Step 7: Use the Time Shift tool to move the entire track to another proper position. As shown in the image, the vocal track of my narration has been moved from the starting point to a new position.

If you want to mix the music and your narration, you can use the time shift tool to decide where you want your narration or music start.

Step 8: Click File -> Effect, to add special effects to your vocal track, such as Fade in/ Fade out. You can click each to play for the effect you want.

Step 9: Click Generate menu, to add noise, silence, etc. to the vocal track.

Step 10: Use the menu Edit, View, & Transport to edit (menu on the top), view, or playback with the vocal tracks, which can help you preview what your sound file looks like before saving the project.

IT469/569 – Multimedia Design & Development

Step 11: Save the project if you would like to continue working later. Click File-> Save/Save as to save the Audacity project file, which is in the format of .aup.

Step 12: If you are satisfied with the project, Click File -> Export (as .mp3/.wav) to export your sound file.

Note: *For Windows users, the default export format is .wav, you can choose to save in a different sound format by clicking the down menu. *For your project, please export your sound file as .mp3 (for details of the assignment requirements, please check with the Audio Assignment Instruction distributed by Dr. Hartsell).