Using Audio to Enhance Teaching and Learning Installing Audacity and capturing audio

Transcription

1 Using Audio to Enhance Teaching and Learning Installing Audacity and capturing audio Installing Audacity 1. Open a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari etc). 2. Go to: Audacity is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. This tutorial is done in Windows, but everything should be similar even if you're on a Mac or Linux. 3. Click on the Windows link Latest version for windows 4. Click on the installer link at the top of the page (Note: the version number may be higher when you download). 5. Remember where you save the file on your hard drive. 6. Now find the installer file that you just downloaded and double click on it to start the installation and follow the instructions which are straight forward. Configuring Audacity Before you can get started with Audacity there are a few preferences and settings which need to be altered. These only need to be done once before using Audacity for the first time. Make sure you have you microphone and headphone/speakers connected to your computer before proceeding. Installing the mp3 encoder on your computer To be able to save audio as mp3 format you need an additional file which is not part of Audacity 1

2 1. Go to the Audacity Downloads page 2. Click on the LAME MP3 encoder link [Figure 1]. 3. Save to the Desktop. 4. Double click "Lame_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe" to launch it (you can safely ignore any warnings). 5. Follow the "Setup" instructions to install LAME for Audacity. Do not change the offered destination location of "C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity". Figure 1 The Audacity downloads page LAME encoder link Altering the Audacity Preferences 1. Open Audacity. 2. From the Edit menu select Preferences. 3. Select the File Formats Tab. 4. Click the Find Library button it will ask you to locate the LAME encoder. 5. Click Yes. Navigate to "C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity", select lame_enc.dll, then click Open. 6. Before closing this window you can set the Bite Rate for your audio files. (This determines how much the audio file is compressed, which affects its quality and file size). 7. For speech, a bit rate of 64 is recommended. Click on the drop down menu and select the value. 2

3 8. Click OK to confirm the settings or keep the preferences window open and continue to setup your microphone. File Formats Tab Setting the Bit Rate Find Library Button Figure 2 File Formats Preferences Note: If you intend to use music a bit rate of 128 is recommended. Setting up your Microphone Also within the Audacity preferences you need to set what devices will be used for Audio playback and recording. 1. Open the Audacity Preferences window again. 2. Select the Audio I/O Tab. 3. In the Playback section, click on the drop down menu and select the sound card for your computer, for example Realtek HD Audio Output. 4. In the Recording section, click on the drop down menu and select the sound card for your computer, for example Realtek HD Audio Input. Alternatively, if you have a specific microphone it may be listed. Select it instead. 5. Click OK to confirm the settings. 3

4 Specify Playback Device here Specify Recording Device here Figure 3 Audio Input/output Tab That s it! Audacity is now configured and ready for you to start recording audio and save them as files you can share. Creating an audio file with Audacity Audacity is simple to use and many of its features are intuitive. 1. Click on the red record button to start recording. 2. Stop recording with the yellow stop button, or pause with the blue pause button. Record button Stop button Pause button Audio track Figure 4 Main Audacity Interface Every time you stop a recording it ends the track. When you hit record again it starts a new track. If you want to stop the current track and then continue recording on the same track use the pause button. Click the pause button again to continue recording. Listening to your audio file Once you have made a recording you can listen to it immediately afterwards. 1. Click on the green play button to listen to it. 2. Playback can be paused or stopped using the blue or yellow buttons. 4

5 3. Use the rewind button to return to the very start of the recording. If the volume of you recording is low, check that the playback volume is adjusted correctly. You can alter this directly in Audacity by moving the playback volume slider to the right. Playback volume slider Basic editing of your audio file Figure 5 Adjusting Playback volume When you make a recording there are often changes you want to make. This can involve deleting parts of the recording or improving its quality. Selecting and deleting portions of a track With an audio recording there are often parts at the beginning and end which need to be removed. 1. Ensure the selection tool is active, if not click on it. 2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag across the portion of the track you want to select. 3. Click on the green play button and just that portion of audio will be played. 4. To delete it click on the Delete key on the keyboard. Selection Tool Selected part of the audio track Figure 6 Selecting part of the track Adjusting the magnification of the audio track 5

6 To make it easier to select portions of the track you can zoom in or zoom out of the audio timeline to view it in more or less detail. 1. Click on the Zoom In button a number of times to see how the timeline changes 2. Use the Zoom Out button to return the timeline view to its original view. Zoom In Zoom Out Adjusting the volume Figure 7 Changing the track magnification If you need to alter the volume of a track as it has recorded at an unexpected level you can use the gain control. 1. Slide it to the right to make it louder, slide it to the left to reduce the volume. Adjusting the gain Figure 8 Using the Gain to enhance/ reduce volume Saving and exporting your recording When you have finished your recording you need to save the project and create the mp3 file. 1. From the File menu select Save Project. This will create a project file (ends with.aup) and allows you to reopen it in Audacity and continue to edit or build it. 2. Create the mp3 file, by going to the File menu and selecting Export As MP3. 3. A window will appear where you can enter details about the recording. You can ignore this for now and just click OK to create your MP3. You mp3 file will now play in any media player by doubling clicking on it. 6