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Editing Audio With Audacity
Paul Mundayprint version
Introduction1. Creating a new piece
An introduction to working with Audacity, a multi-track audio editor.
IntroductionCreating a new pieceImporting and Recording AudioWhat's On the Screen?Basic ControlsSelecting AudioCut, Copy and PasteSaving and ExportingAdding and Deleting TracksMoving and Aligning TracksThe Envelope ToolEffects and NormalisationOnline Resources
Audacity is a multi-track audio editor that enables you to record sound or import existing sound files, editthem, mix them with other material, and output them in various formats. The main website for Audacity is:http://audacity.sourceforge.net
 
Audacity has a clear and easy to use interface. This tutorial will take you through the standrad steps involvedin working with it.Open Audacity. When it has launched you should see something that looks like this:
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2.Importing and Recording Audio
The first thing you need to do is to get some sound in. You can do this in one of two ways: by recordingsome audio from an external source or by importing a piece of audio that has already been recorded.To import audio go to the Project Menu and chose Import Audio, then select your file in the dialogue box.Audacity can handle many different types of audio including wav files (probably the best since they areuncompressed) mp3 and ogg files. To record audio make sure your sound source is plugged in then pressthe red record button. When you have finished recording press the stop button.You may need to adjust the import volume:At the end of either process you should see a waveform on the screen. This is a visual depiction of thesound wave you hear. The higher the wave the louder the volume. You will soon find you can easilyrecognise sounds from their shape.
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3.What's On the Screen?4.Basic Controls
If you look closely you can see the waveform touch the top and bottom of the strip. This is generally a badidea. When this happens something called 'clipping' occurs and the sound gets distorted. If this happenswhen you are recording try adjusting the recording levels, and the output levels from your audio source.Audcaity has a simple layout with all the main functions available on the one screen:The six basic tools for manipulating sound are found on the left hand side of the tool bar. They are the selecttool for selecting sections of sound, the zoom tool for zooming in on an area of audio, the envelope tool formanipulating the volume of a sound sample. The draw tool for manipulating its amplitude, the time shift toolfor moving samples relative to each other and the multi tool which does all of the above depending on the
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