Audacity Reference Guide

Transcription

1 Audacity Reference Guide Overview Audacity is free, open source software that allows you to record the audio content of lectures, presentations, or other supplementary instructional materials. These sound files can be posted in your Blackboard course or be used to create Podcasts. Podcasting, one of the latest emerging technologies, involves transmitting audio files via the Internet. The Audacity software allows you to easily record audio content to generate MP3 and WAV files for distribution. Creating sound files allows you to connect to students in a different format. This document serves as a quick reference guide in creating an audio file using Audacity software. For the complete manual, visit To create an audio file using Audacity, you ll need the following: Computer PC Microphone Audacity software (If you don t have this software installed on your home PC, you can download it for free at Getting Started: Toolbar Overview The main toolbar in Audacity is the Control Toolbar which contains various editing tools and audio control buttons. Control Toolbar Editing Tools Selection tool - for selecting the range of audio you want to edit or listen to. Envelope tool - for changing the volume over time. Draw tool - for modifying individual samples. Zoom tool - for zooming in and out. Timeshift tool - for sliding tracks left or right. Multi tool - lets you access all of these tools at once depending on the location of the mouse and the keys you are holding down. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 1

2 Audio Control Buttons Skip to Start - moves the cursor to time 0. If you press Play at this point, you project will play from the beginning. Play - starts playing audio at the cursor position. If some audio is selected, only the selection is played. Loop - if you hold down the Shift key, the Play button changes to a Loop button, which lets you keep playing the selection over and over again. Record - starts recording audio at the project sample rate (the sample rate in the lowerleft corner of the window). The new track will begin at the current cursor position, so click the "Skip to Start" button first, if you want the track to begin at time 0. Pause - temporarily stops playback or recording until you press pause again. Stop - stops recording or playing. You must do this before applying effects, saving or exporting. Skip to End - moves the cursor to the end of the last track. Recording the Audio File Perform the following steps to create an audio file using Audacity: 1. Plug your microphone into your PC. 2. Open the Audacity software. 3. Click on the Record button in the Control toolbar. 4. Speak into the microphone to record your message. TIP: For best results, you should be at least 6 inches from the microphone when recording. 5. Press the Stop button when complete. NOTE: You can pause the recording if you need to take a break by clicking the Pause button in the Control Toolbar. When you stop a recording (using the Stop button), you will create another track. The tracks will be combined into one file when you save it and export it as an MP3 file. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 2

3 Saving your Project File When you have completed your recording, you should save the project as an Audacity file in order to return to it later for any subsequent additions or edits. To do this, perform the following steps: 1. Select File > Save Project As from the menu bar. NOTE: A warning box will be displayed with a message to inform you that most other programs don t recognize the file format (.aup) for Audacity project files. You will have to use Audacity to edit the file. 2. Click the OK button to proceed. 3. Select the location and enter the file name for your Audacity project. Click the Save button. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 3

4 Exporting your Audio File In order to post the file in a format for easy retrieval, you need to export it as an MP3 file. MP3 files can be played on portable music players such as the ipod or MP3 players. They can also be played on your PC with Windows Media Player, a standard application in all Windows Operating Systems. Review the guidelines below in order to export the audio as an MP3 file: 1. Select File > Export As MP3 from the menu bar. 2. Click the OK button when the warning box is displayed indicating your tracks will be mixed down to a single mono channel. This will allow your recording to play without interruption between tracks. 3. In the Save MP3 File As window, select the location and name the file. Click the Save button. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 4

5 IMPORTANT: If you see this message below when you are saving the MP3 file, you will need to download an encoder to change the file type to an MP3 file. You only need to download the encoder the first time you export a file as an MP3. Refer to the Downloading the LAME MP3 Encoder section below for instructions on how to retrieve this file before proceeding to the next step. 4. Enter information to identify the audio file. This information is displayed when playing the file in software applications. Title: Name of lecture, article, chapter, etc. Artist: Name of the narrator, instructor, author, etc. Album: You can leave this blank or use it to enter the name of the course. Genre: Select Other from the drop-down menu. Comments: You can leave this blank or provide a brief description of the audio file. 5. Click the OK button. Your file will export in an MP3 file format. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 5

6 Downloading the LAME MP3 Encoder Audacity cannot encode MP3 files by itself, because the MP3 encoding algorithm is patented and cannot legally be used in free programs. However, Audacity has been programmed to recognize other existing MP3 encoders that you can download separately. All you have to do is obtain the appropriate MP3 encoder for your computer and then show Audacity where it is located. If you use... Windows Linux/Unix Macintosh You need to... Download LAME and look for the file called lame_enc.dll Download LAME and compile it as a shared object, then look for the file called libmp3lame.so Download LAMELib. For links to these MP3 encoders, go to the Audacity web page ( and go to the page for your operating system. The first time you try to export an MP3 file, Audacity will ask you to locate your MP3 encoder. Locate the file indicated above. From then on, Audacity will not need to ask you again, and you will be able to export MP3 files easily. September etc@cidde.pitt.edu 6