Using Audacity to create Digital Audio

Stuart Lennie
ICT Curriculum Development
Officer
Falkirk Council
Education Services
Contents

• Introduction to Audacity
• Where do I get it?
• When do I use it?
• How do I use it?
• Where can I find help?
Audacity

• Free software for audio creation

• No licensing issues
• Can do advanced effects/multitracking
• Ideal for Podcasting
• Works on a Mac too!
Where do I get it?

• http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download
• Pick the stable version!
When do I use it?

• Adding audio narration over a video clip in

Windows Moviemaker/Pinnacle Studio
• Creating MP3 files
• Podcasting
• Other broadcasts such as school radio
How do I use it?
Recording

• Click on the red recording icon on the top

taskbar
• Click on the yellow square to stop recording
Recording

• You should now have a wave shaped pattern on your

screen. This is a track
• Every time you select Record a new track will be added
on the screen
Playing

• Selecting the Play button allows you to hear the

track you have recorded
• The green bars indicate the level of sounds in
the Left and Right channels of the recording
Tools

• In the top left of the screen are 6 tools

• The magnify icon allows you to enlarge the track with
your left mouse button and reduce the track with your
right mouse button
• Enlarging the track allows you to see the sound
patterns more clearly for editing
Editing

• Sometimes we want to remove parts of the

audio track
• Use the selection tool to highlight the area you
wish to remove, using your left mouse button
to select
• Pressing the delete key on your keyboard will
remove the selected area from the clip
Adding Effects

• You can use the same selection technique to

add effects
• Select a part of the audio clip with the selection
tool
• Go to the top menu and choose an effect
• You can add as many effects as you like!
Adding music

• You can add MP3 or other audio music to your

tracks
• Select Project, then Import Audio
• Select the audio track you wish to import
Adding music

• The music file is added on a separate track

• If we want to have music before our audio recording
we will need to move the position of our top audio
track
Time shift tool

• Select the Time Shift Tool

• Click on our voice recording and drag the track
to the right
Fade In/Out

• Highlight the start of the

Music track
• In the top menu select
Effect, then Fade In
Gain
• To balance the levels of sound in
your recording you can use the gain
control
• Moving the gain control at the far
left of your track increases or
decreases the relative sound
volume
Exporting Audio to MP3

• To convert your
finished file to MP3
select File from the top
menu, then Export as
MP3
• Choose your location
to save
• Select Save
LAME Encoder

• You may get an error appearing when you try to

export
• The Lame encoder file needs to be downloaded
from the Audacity website
Where can I get Help?

– Tutorials on Audacity available from:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/

– Video tutorials for schools on using Audacity and on

creating a school radio podcast:
www.bteducation.org/img/lib/dialogics/schoolradio/in
dex.htm

– Other tutorial:

http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-
tutorial.htm
Falkirk Council Education Services
Using Audacity to create Digital Audio

Stuart Lennie
ICT Curriculum Development
Officer

Falkirk Council
Education Services