Creating a podcast with Audacity

Transcription

1 Creating a podcast with Audacity This exercise will introduce some essential features of the Audacity audio editing software. By the end of the project, you should be able to: Import existing audio into Audacity for editing Record directly into Audacity through a microphone Combine multiple clips into one audio track Edit audio by removing unwanted sections, applying effects (such as Fade In / Out) and adjusting volume levels. Export an Audacity project in common audio formats, such as MP3. Getting started To start, you ll need to find some source audio. You can record directly into Audacity (and will do so later), but it s simplest to start with some preexisting audio. Go to the following link: Archive.org is an excellent repository of public domain (copyright-free) audio and video material. You re going to use the first few minutes of a recording of Don Quixote to create a mock literary podcast. Download the 64kbps MP3 file version by right-clicking on the file and selecting Save Link As By default the file will probably save to your Downloads folder, but feel free to move it to an external drive or another location if you prefer.

2 Now open Audacity. You re going to edit the file you just downloaded, so go to File Import Audio Open the file 1DonQuixote_64kb.mp3 from the location to which you saved it. It will take a few moments to load the entire file. Once the file has loaded, you should see something like this:

3 This is going to be a short podcast, so you re only going to use the first 2:35 of audio. For better accuracy in selecting that portion of the waveform, you ll want to use the zoom tool to zoom in around the 2:35 mark. Using the zoom tool, and clicking at the beginning of the audio track, you should be able to elongate the waveform so that it looks more like this: Now use the selection tool and, working from right to left, highlight the waveform from the 2:35 mark back to the beginning of the file.

4 Since you aren t going to need the rest of the audio after 2:35, the best option here is simply to get rid of it. Copy your selection with CMD + C or from the Edit menu. Then use CMD + N to open a new project. Paste the audio sample into the new track (CMD+V, or use the Edit menu). Your project should now look like this: You can close the original track by going to Window 1DonQuixote then selecting Close from the File Menu. No need to save any changes. Recording For now you can leave the clip of Don Quixote as it is. You ll be editing within that track later. Before that you re going to add a personal touch to make this sound more like a real podcast. You can be as creative and original as you like with your introduction to the Don Quixote clip, but your recording needs to relate to the material

5 you re presenting. Try to think of a good name for a literary podcast. The Bookworm? The Dustjacket? The Dogeared Dialogue Radio Hour? Use your imagination. Do a little background reading on Don Quixote (this isn t a literature assignment, so no need to go overboard) and try to come up with a hook to draw listeners in. Why is this piece of writing significant, and why have you chosen to present it for this week s podcast? Write down or memorize what you re going to say. Prepare about seconds of material. Introduce yourself and the name of the podcast, then introduce Don Quixote as the theme for this particular episode, and give us some context. Direct Recording Recording directly into Audacity is very easy. The software is designed to allow novice users to quickly record audio and edit that material. There are a few key things to note before you get started, though. Make sure that you have Built-In Microphone selected from the drop-down menu with the microphone icon: Make sure your toolbar is displaying the Record button (Audacity s toolbar is customizable, and displays this by default, but it is possible to accidently alter the settings and lose some important features from the toolbar). When you re ready to record, position the mouse pointer near the Record button circled above. You can keep the Don Quixote clip open in the same window. When you hit Record, a new track will be created. Click the Record button and start delivering your introduction. Don t panic if you make a mistake, leave long pauses, or want to repeat a part of your introduction. Remember, the whole point of doing

6 something like this in Audacity is that the software allows you to infinitely edit and alter the material. You can hit the Stop button in the toolbar when you re done or, more conveniently, just tap the spacebar. The spacebar both starts and stops the audio playing in most editing programs, so it s a good idea to get accustomed to using it. You should now have two tracks with different audio content, looking something like this: Rename the new track Recording by clicking here You may find that your voice has recorded very quietly. If the waveform looks like this, then it s too quiet:

7 There are a couple of ways to fix this: 1) Use the Input Volume slider on the toolbar to increase the input level and record again: 2) Select the portion of audio for which you want to increase the volume. Go to Effect Amplify and drag the slider to the right. You can preview the volume level from within the Amplify menu. You want your waveform to have a spiky appearance, with lots of peaks and valleys. Ideally, the amplitude level (the vertical peaks within the waveform) should look roughly similar to the Don Quixote clip. But even if you can t manage that with your initial

8 recording, there are still ways of getting the volume between the two clips to match. We ll get to that later. Importing Your Recording Audacity can import audio files in any of the most commonly used formats (MP3, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, AIFF, etc.) so there is a good chance that you will not have to convert the file. However, to avoid causing yourself a lot of unnecessary frustration you should make sure that your file is in a compatible format before trying to import it. Once your recording is ready Go to Tracks Add New Stereo Tracks to create a new track beneath the Don Quixote clip. Rename the track Recording by clicking here

9 Go to File Import Audio and choose the audio file that you ve created. The waveform should appear beneath the Don Quixote clip and look like this: Editing Your Audio Now here s your chance to get creative. We ll walk you through the basics of how to piece the two elements of your podcast together, showing you useful tools to make the recording sound professional. You can experiment with these (and other tools) to customize your podcast. Combining Clips There are various ways to get a similar result when you want to combine clips onto the same track. Using copy-and-paste is one of the easiest. Click within the bottom track (Recording) and use the selection tool to highlight the entire clip. If you have any trouble with accuracy in your selection, use the zoom tool or Zoom In / Out in the View menu to expand / contract the shape of the waveform.

10 Copy the selection (CMD + C). Go to the very beginning of the upper track (1DonQuixote). You can use this button in the toolbar to send the playhead back to the beginning: Paste (CMD + V) the clip of your recording into the 1DonQuixote track. Your project should now look something like this: Let s forget about the Recording track for a while by clicking Mute:

11 You ll work exclusively within the 1DonQuixote track from now on, but it may be useful to keep the Recording track open in case you need to copy the waveform again. You ll be keeping a clean, unaltered version close at hand in case anything goes wrong while you re editing in the other track. This is useful if you need to start over at any point. Editing Clips Now that your recorded introduction is at the beginning of the track, and your clips have been combined, how does it sound? How do the volume levels compare between the two sections of audio? Are there long pauses, throat clearings or background noises you want to eliminate? Do you want to replace the music with something else, or add another piece of music before your recording starts? You should be able to do this using some of the techniques you ve been taught already. Below is a list of suggestions that will further help you to edit your clip. Remember that any of the processes listed below can be undone by using CMD + Z or going to View History and discarding changes that you no longer want. To remove sections of unwanted audio, simply highlight the area you don t want and hit Delete. Remember to use the zoom tool for added accuracy. To Fade In or Out, select a small portion of audio (5 seconds is usually good) at the beginning or end of the track (or anywhere else that you want to apply this effect). Choose Effect Fade In or Effect Fade Out. Remember that if you haven t selected any audio, this will apply to the whole track, making much of the clip unacceptably quiet. Do you need a couple seconds of quiet between your recording and the beginning of the Don Quixote clip? Go to Generate Silence, and specify, in seconds, how much silence you want. It will create a new track with silence that you can then copy and insert into its appropriate place in your podcast.

12 If you want to adjust the volume of particular sections, highlight them and go to Effect Amplify. To make the volume more consistent across the entire track, go to Effect Normalize You probably don t want the amplitude level to exceed -1.0, so try -2.0 first. What other effects might be useful? Depending on the quality of your original recording, you may want to consider experimenting with Click Removal and Noise Removal.

13 Select a section of audio and use the Preview button with effects like Reverb, Echo and Change Pitch to understand the capabilities of these common effects. Don t feel that you necessarily have to apply these effects to your track, but feel free to use them (or any other effects) if you think they improve your podcast. Remove or apply a Fade Out to the bell sound at the end of the track, or Fade Out from the narrator s voice. When you no longer feel that you need it, close the muted Recording track. Exporting Your File Audacity works in its own default file format. While working in the program, you re not editing in WAV or MP3, but a proprietary format called AUP. To create an audio file compatible with standard media players, you need to export your track in a different format.

14 Go to File Export. Call the file Media Lab podcast_[your initials]. From the drop-down file type menu, choose MP3. If you re doing this from a home computer, you may need to download a special MP3 plugin called the LAME Encoder. The process for this is very easy, so just follow the on-screen instructions. If you re using a Media Lab computer, this shouldn t be necessary. If you need help with any part of the project, first consult the Audacity Wiki for tips and advice.