How to Use Audacity to Edit and Record Audioictforag.org/toolkits/radio/downloads/HowToUseAudacity.pdf · How to Use . Audacity to Edit and . Record Audio . Adapted from a guide originally

How to Use Audacity to Edit and

Record Audio

Adapted from a guide originally prepared for the USAID-funded WASHplus project

by Josh Woodard

July 26, 2011

INTERACTIVE RADIO FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: A TOOLKIT FOR PRACTITIONERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3

Importing Audio into Audacity .......................................................................................... 4

Merging Multiple Tracks into a Single Track .................................................................... 6

Editing Audio in Audacity ............................................................................................. 113

Recording Audio with Audacity ...................................................................................... 16

Exporting Audio from Audacity ...................................................................................... 24


INTRODUCTION

Editing and creating audio for use with your video is much easier than it might seem. This manual is a step-by-step guide with screenshots explaining how to edit, record, and export your audio.

It is possible that not every step in this manual will be relevant in each situation. This manual includes steps on how to merge multiple audio tracks into one, how to edit your audio, and how to record audio from scratch.


IMPORTING AUDIO INTO AUDACITY

You can edit your audio using a program called Audacity, which can be downloaded for free at: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/. For the purposes of this manual, we will be using version 1.3 for Windows. Once you have installed Audacity, the first thing to do is to import your audio. You can do this by navigating to File -> Import -> Audio as seen below. It will then ask you to select the files you want to import. You can select more than one file at the same time if you have multiple tracks to import.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/


Once you have selected the files you want to import, this window (see below) will pop up showing you the status. This process can take several minutes, depending on the size of the audio file.


MERGING MULTIPLE TRACKS INTO A SINGLE TRACK

This section only applies if you are interested in merging multiple tracks into a single audio track. This process would be used, for instance, if you have a couple of takes that you want to combine into a new track.

Step 1: Once you have finished importing your audio tracks, Audacity will show the tracks on multiple lines. In the example below, we have imported two audio tracks.

You can listen to each track to determine which sections of each one you would like to merge into your final, single audio track. To do this, mute one of the tracks and then press play. If you do not mute one of the tracks, they will both play at the same time, overlapping each other. The mute and play buttons are circled in red above.

When you get to the point at which you want to cut your audio, make sure to note its audio position so that you can easily navigate back to it when you are ready to edit. This is circled in red at the bottom of the window. You can also press Ctrl+1 or Ctrl+3 to zoom in and zoom out, respectively, if you would like to get a closer or wider view of the waveforms.

Track 1 Track 2


Step 2: After you have identified the sections you want to keep, you will use the selection tool (which looks like the letter ‘I’ and is circled in red below) to select the portion of each track that you want to keep. Once you click on the selection tool, click directly onto the track at the point that you want to begin your selection, and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse to the point where you want to end your selection. The selection portion of the track will turn a darker gray, as seen below.

Once you have highlighted a selection, you can click the ‘play’ button to listen to it. It will only play the highlighted section. If you need to change the selected area, you can place your mouse over either the start or end of the highlighted section. An icon of a pointing hand will appear. If you left-click and drag the mouse, it will allow you to adjust the highlighted region. Click ‘play’ again to confirm that the highlighted section contains only the audio you want to keep.


Step 3: Once you have finished selecting the audio section you want to keep, click on the ‘trim outside selection’ icon. It is to the right of the paste icon. After you click this, you will notice that the waveform to the left and right of your selected area have disappeared.

You can now repeat Step 2 for the second audio track if necessary.

Deleted section is now blank


Step 4: As you can see below, both tracks have been trimmed to keep only the sections that we want. We have zoomed out to 15 minute increments so that we can see the entire waveform of both tracks to make it easier to work with. We have highlighted the four components of this step in red in the image below.

The first component in this process is to merge the tracks onto the same track. To do this, first select the entire bottom track using the selection tool (the ‘I’). Next, click on ‘cut.’ Then click anywhere in the blank space on the top audio track in the area where you want to paste the bottom audio track. In this case, we want to paste it in front of the top audio track, so you should click anywhere to the left of the top waveform.

Finally, click ‘paste.’

2. Cut

3. Click in the blank space

1. Select entire track

4. Paste


Step 5: Once you have finished pasting, your screen will look roughly like this. The first thing you can do now is to close the bottom, blank audio track by clicking on the ‘x’ (circled in red below).

Next, you want to align the two segments into one coherent track. To do so, click on the ‘Time Shift’ tool, which is between the magnifying glass and the asterisk on the left-hand side of the screen (circled in red below). This will enable you to move your waveform to the beginning of the track and then to match up the first and second segments. You will need to move the two segments separately.

After selecting the time-shift tool, left-click on top of the waveform and hold the mouse button while dragging the waveform to the start of the track. A yellow line will appear to let you know that you have returned to the start of the track at 0.0. You can now release the left mouse button.


Step 5 (continued): As you can see below, we have moved the first segment to the start of the track and aligned the second segment up against the first segment. You can tell that they are perfectly aligned by the yellow line that appears when you are dragging the second segment to meet the first.

Once the yellow line appears, you can release the mouse button and the two tracks will be merged.


Step 5 (continued): Finally, if you zoom all the way in to the point of the merge by pressing Ctrl+1, you will see a dark gray line where the tracks were combined. You can now click directly onto the timeline at a point just before the merger to listen to it. You will want to make sure that there is not too much ‘dead space’ (silence) or other distracting sounds around the point of merger. If the audio sounds fine, then you are ready to export your audio. If your audio still needs a bit of editing, then proceed to the following section first.


EDITING AUDIO IN AUDACITY

Editing audio uses the same tools as merging two tracks, primarily the selection tool and ‘cut.’ If you have listened to your track and have identified a portion where there is dead space, distracting sounds, or just audio that is not relevant, you can remove those sections quite easily with Audacity.

In the example below, we have identified a portion of audio that is not relevant to the final track we would like to have. To remove it, identify the start and end of the portion, the with the selection tool, highlight the section in question. Then click on ‘cut.’

Audacity will automatically merge the audio preceding and following the portion you have cut out. You can repeat this process on any other sections that you would like to remove.

If you would like to move one section of the same track to another point in the audio track, you will follow the same steps outlined above in Merging Audio. The only difference is that once you have cut the portion that you want to move, you need to click your cursor onto the exact moment on the track where you would like to paste that segment before pressing ‘paste.’


Audacity also has a number of tools to help you to adjust your audio, all of which are found under the ‘Effect’ tab in the menu bar. There are too many to cover in this manual, but one that is worthwhile for audio where multiple microphones might be in use is the ‘Amplify’ effect. This effect enables you to increase or decrease the sound of a selected section.

To use it, first select the selection you want to adjust, and then go to Effect -> Amplify. It will pop up the window below. You can then adjust the Amplification by either sliding the bar or inputting a number directly. Positive numbers will increase the volume and negative numbers will decrease the volume. You can preview the sound to make sure it is at the level you are looking for. If you are not sure, just take a guess and then click ‘OK.’ The changes it makes will be clear in the size of the waveform segment that you have selected.

The following page has an example of the results after using this effect.


This is the waveform prior to amplification. As you can see, the selection portion is much louder than the section that precedes it. A higher-amplitude audio waveform represents louder volume, while smaller amplitude represents softer volume.

After changing the amplification to -7 dB with the Amplification effect, you can see that the selection section and the audio preceding it are now approximately the same volume.


RECORDING AUDIO WITH AUDACITY

You may want to record your own audio for voiceover narrations or to dub your videos into another location. Doing so is easy with Audacity.

Step 1: To do this, first make sure that your microphone is plugged in. Then click on the ‘record’ button (the red circle, circled in red below) in the menu bar. A new track will appear in the window below the menu bar. Once you begin speaking, you will see a waveform (which is a digital representation of the audio) in blue. If it is a flat line, it means that Audacity is not recording any sound.

To stop your recording at any time, click on the ‘stop’ button (the yellow square, circled in red below).


Step 2: What can you do if you make a mistake while recording? First, click on the ‘stop’ button in the menu bar (the yellow square, circled in red below). Then click the ‘skip to start’ button. It looks like a rewind button and is to the left of the ‘play’ button (circled in red below). Once you have skipped to start, click on ‘play’ to listen to your track to see where you made a mistake.

After locating that point on the track, click on the ‘selection tool’ icon. It looks like an ‘I’ and is directly beneath ‘Help’ on the menu bar. Then left-click at the start of where you want your track to begin and drag the mouse while continuing to hold down the left mouse button until you reach where you want it to end (right before the sentence where the mistake occurred) and release the left mouse button. It will highlight this section in darker gray (see below).

Now click ‘play’ again. It will only play the highlighted section. If you need to change the selected area, you can place your mouse over the start or end of the highlighted section. An icon of a pointing hand will appear. If you left-click and drag the mouse, it will allow you to adjust the highlighted region. Click ‘play’ again to confirm that the highlighted section contains only the audio you want to keep.


Step 3: Once you have finished selecting the audio section you want to keep, click on the ‘trim outside selection’ icon. It is to the right of the ‘paste’ icon. After you click this, you will notice that the waveform to the left and right of your selected area have disappeared. Now click to the right of the selected area to remove the selection. The background of the waveform will return to a light gray.


Step 4: Next, you will want to click on the ‘time shift’ tool, which is between the magnifying glass and the asterisk on the left-hand side of the screen. This will enable you to move your waveform to the beginning of the track. After selecting the ‘time shift’ tool, left-click on top of the waveform and hold the mouse button while dragging the waveform to the start of the track. A yellow line will appear to let you know that you have returned to the start of the track at 0.0. You can now release the left mouse button. Once you finish, click on the ‘selection tool’ icon (the “I”) again.


Step 5: Before you continue recording, click on ‘Edit’ in the menu bar. Then place your mouse over ‘Move Cursor’ and click on ‘Track End’ (as seen below). This will make sure that your recording continues after the end of your track. You can also move the cursor to the track end by using a keyboard shortcut. Just press the letter ‘k’ on your keyboard.


Step 6: Click on ‘record’ again. As you can see, a new track opens directly below the first one. Once you have finished recording on that line (because, for instance, you have made another mistake, you need to take a break, or you have finished your recording), press ‘stop.’ Repeat Steps 2 and 3 above to make sure you select only the audio that you want to use on the second track line.


Step 7: After finishing the steps above, you will want to merge the two tracks together. Click on the ‘Cut’ icon. It looks like a pair of scissors cutting through a waveform (see below). This will remove the waveform from the second track.


Step 8: Now click anywhere onto the first track window and press ‘k’ to move the cursor to the end of the track, then click ‘paste.’ It looks like a clipboard. By moving the cursor to the end of the track before pasting, it will ensure that the two tracks are merged together. You can now close the second track window and click on ‘Skip to Start’ (the button that looks like ‘Rewind’) and then ‘Play’ to review your track. If you need to continue recording, repeat the necessary steps above until you have finished recording your audio.


EXPORTING AUDIO FROM AUDACITY

When you have finished with your recording, click ‘File’ in the menu bar and then click ‘Export’ (as seen below).

Note: Before you shut down Audacity, also make sure to click ‘Save Project’ under ‘File.’ This will enable you to return to your recording later to make any additional changes.


Step 2: After clicking on ‘Export,’ the following window will pop up. Select the location where you want to save your file, name your file, and select the audio type you would like to save it as, such as ’MP3 Files‘ ‘or WAV Files’ under ‘Save as type’ before clicking ‘Save.’ Make sure that you save your audio file in a format that is compatible with your intended destination.

After you click ‘Save,’ a window asking you to ‘Edit Metadata’ will pop up. This is where you can input information about the audio track you have just saved, such as title, date, and comments.

Documents

How to Use Audacity to Edit and Record Audioictforag.org/toolkits/radio/downloads/HowToUseAudacity.pdf · How to Use . Audacity to Edit and . Record Audio . Adapted from a guide originally