Information Literacy Instruction How to Use Audacity Highland High School Library http://hhs.highland.k12.in.us/library 9135 Erie ST P: 219-922-5610 x1030 Highland, IN 46322 F: 219-922-5636
Contents Introduction.................................................................................. 3 Recording Audio on a Computer................................................................. 3 Checking Computer Sound Settings............................................................... 3 Opening Audacity............................................................................. 6 Understanding the Audacity Workspace............................................................ 6 Checking Preferences in Audacity................................................................. 7 Using Audacity to Complete a Sound Check......................................................... 9 Recording Audio in Audacity.................................................................... 11 Saving a Recording............................................................................ 12 Track Menu.................................................................................. 12 Editing a Recording............................................................................ 15 Editing Tools...........................................................................15 Fit To Window......................................................................... 16 Trimming............................................................................. 16 Importing............................................................................. 17 Listening to a Recording................................................................. 18 Time Shift Tool........................................................................ 18 Volume Envelope.......................................................................19 Mixdown.................................................................................... 23 Additional Tools.............................................................................. 23 Help and Additional Resources...................................................................24 A Word About Music and Copyright Issues.........................................................25 2
Introduction There are many digital audio editors available to choose from, with an almost unlimited range of prices and features. Audacity has been chosen as the supported audio editor for HHS Library. Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Audacity is free software, developed by a group of volunteers and distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Free software is not just free of cost (like "free samples"). It is free as in freedom (like "free speech"). Free software gives you the freedom to use a program, study how it works, improve it and share it with others. For more information, visit the Free Software Foundation. Programs like Audacity are also called open source software, because their source code is available for anyone to study or use. There are thousands of other free and open source programs, including the Firefox web browser, the LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice office suites. Recording Audio on a Computer While it is possible to record audio using your mobile device, this handout focuses on how to record using a desktop or laptop computer. If you want to use Audacity at home, you will need the following items installed on your computer: Audacity - a free audio editor and recorder available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can download Audacity from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/ The latest version of the LAME MP3 encoder, which will allow you to export recordings from Audacity in the MP3 file format: http://lame.sourceforge.net/ A microphone connected to the microphone-in jack (usually pink) or USB port on your computer A set of headphones connected to the headphone jack (usually green) or USB port on your computer Checking Computer Sound Settings Before attempting to record an audio file, you'll want to make sure your computer's sound settings are correct.. Speakers 1. Begin by accessing your computer s Control Panel, in the lower left corner of the screen. Then click on Hardware and Sound, followed by Sound. The Sound control panel should now be available. 3
2. Speaker settings are found under the Playback tab. Click on Speakers, then Properties to access speaker settings. 3. In the Speaker Properties window, click on the Levels tab. You want to verify that the volume is turned up to the maximum level for all speakers. NOTE: Depending on your computer s operating system, the options for this step may appear differently. You may need to do a little exploring to find your speaker controls. 4. Click on OK to close the Speaker Properties window. 4
Microphone The next step is to verify that the settings on your computer are optimal for recording. 1. On the Sound control panel, click the Recording tab. 2. The click on Microphone, followed by clicking on Properties. 1. In the Microphone Properties window click on Levels. 2. Verify that the recording volume for the Microphone is set to the maximum level. 3. Click on OK to close the Microphone Properties window. 4. Click on OK to close the Sound control panel and accept the changes made. 5. Your computer is now ready to begin recording sound. 5
Opening Audacity 1. Open Audacity using the Start menu or another shortcut. Audacity opens and we see the default project workspace. It is possible to use Audacity to both record and edit music, speech, or other sounds. Unlike many other audio editing applications, Audacity has a relatively simple interface. NOTE: You may want to maximize the size of the Audacity window to make it easier to work in. Understanding the Audacity Workspace The following diagram and table summarize the Audacity workspace: A B C D E F G A B C Feature Audio Control Buttons Editing Tools Meter Toolbar Function Pause, Play, Stop, Skip to beginning, Skip to end, and Record. For selecting and modifying ranges of audio, and changing the magnification of the tracks. Monitor input and output volume. 6
Feature Function D Mixer Toolbar Set volume levels for your output (on the right side) and your input (on the left side). E Edit Toolbar Some duplication with Editing Tools, but also offers tools for trimming audio, adding silence, undo and redo. F Timeline Indicates length or track(s) in seconds, by default. G Audio Track On stereo tracks, the top half of the track is for the left speaker, and the bottom half is for the right speaker; the taller the waveform, the higher the volume. Audacity allows you to record, edit, and mix multiple tracks (for example, one track could contain your voice, another track could contain music). Audacity has tools to cut and paste sections of each track and slide them back and forth on the timeline to control when a particular audio piece appears in the project. Checking Preferences in Audacity Before attempting to record, you will need to check some basic preferences for Audacity to make sure you ll get optimum sound levels while recording. Now is also a good time to check the settings for LAME, the MP3 encoder mentioned earlier in this document under Recording Audio on a Computer. 1. To access preferences, click on the Edit dropdown menu, then click on Preferences. The Audacity Preferences window will open. 7
2. In the Audacity Preferences window, click on Libraries to view the settings for LAME. A. Check to ensure that LAME is your default MP3 Export Library B. If LAME is already installed, it will appear as the MP3 Library Version. C. If LAME is not installed, click on the Download button and follow the installation instructions. D. If you installed LAME separately from Audacity, you may need to tell Audacity where the LAME MP3 encoder file is located on your computer using the Locate button. NOTE: If you see a file listed to the right of MP3 Library Version, Audacity already knows where the LAME MP3 encoder file is located, and neither the Download nor Locate steps are necessary. Now that you ve verified that the LAME MP3 encoder file is properly installed, the next step is to set the quality preferences for exported MP3 files. One important detail to remember is that the higher the quality of an MP3 file, the larger the file s size will be, and therefore, the more time it will take to download or upload. It is recommended that you save your files with the minimum quality necessary based on the type of content you are recording. 3. In the Audacity Preferences window, click on Quality to view the Sampling settings. This panel sets the Default Sample Rate and Default Sample Format (bit depth) which will be used each time Audacity is launched, or each time a new project window or track is opened. Default Sample Rate: Offers a choice of 13 sample rates. Generally you will want to use the default value of 44100 Hz. 44100 Hz can reproduce all frequencies that humans can hear (up to 22050 Hz) and is the standard for audio CDs. To choose some other rate, click "Other..." in the dropdown and type your rate into the box to right of the dropdown. Default Sample Format: Offers a choice of three sample formats or bit-depths. This affects both imported and newly recorded material, either in a new or existing project (even if the other audio in an existing project is at some other quality). The default 32-bit float resolution gives the highest quality of the three choices, but takes twice the storage space on disk compared to 16-bit resolution. A 44100 Hz default sample rate and 16-bit default sample format is a standard sampling frequency and bit depth for CD and broadcast quality audio. 8
4. In the Audacity Preferences window, click on Devices to view the Interface, Playback, and Recording settings. Interface: Selects the particular interface with which Audacity communicates with your chosen playback and recording devices. The Audacity default is MME, which is also the most compatible with all audio devices. Playback Device: Selects the device used for playback. Speakers will generally be the correct setting. Recording Device: Selects the device used for recording. Microphone will generally be the correct setting. This step is also where you will want to double-check that your microphone or other recording device is connected to your computer s microphone-in jack or USB port, and that it is set as your default microphone or recording device. Recording Channels: 1 (Mono), 2 (Stereo) or the number of channels that are provided by the drivers of your sound device. On most inbuilt sound devices, especially on Windows, only mono or stereo will be available. NOTE: Your voice is a mono instrument, so you don t need to record it in stereo. If you had a second speaker and a second microphone, you would want to record in stereo, so both voices would be on separate tracks. After verifying Audacity s settings and double-checking your microphone and speaker connections, click OK to save your settings and close the Preferences window. The final step before recording is to make a sound check in Audacity. Using Audacity to Complete a Sound Check You will want to make a brief sound check prior to recording to ensure that the incoming sound levels from the microphone are adequate. 9
Audacity always launches with input monitoring off and so the Recording Meter Toolbar displays "Click to Start Monitoring". Click on the recording meter to start monitoring, or when you press the Record button the meter will activate. The Recording Meter Toolbar again displays "Click to Start Monitoring" whenever you stop a recording or start playback. 2. Conduct the sound check by saying into the microphone Tes ng... 1... 2... 3... a few mes. The bar remains green until the signal reaches -12 db then merges into yellow as the signal approaches -6 db (which is a good maximum signal level to aim for). If the signal exceeds -6 db the bar merges from yellow into red. The red color warns that the signal is becoming too "hot" (approaching 0 db), and that clipping may occur. If the meter bar moves consistently into the red......you ll want to decrease the Recording Volume. If the meter bar barely registers......you ll want to increase the Recording Volume. NOTE: Sometimes adjustments to the Recording Volume within Audacity are insufficient to result in an acceptable Recording Level. If this is the case, return to the computer s Control Panel sound settings and adjust the Recording Volume there as well. If everything checks, you are ready to record! 10
Recording in Audacity As with most projects, the preliminary or prep work may take some time, but it s time well spent. Taking the time to ensure everything is set up correctly will prevent frustration later, and help you to produce better quality work. 1. To begin recording in Audacity, click the Record button. When you click the record button, Audacity automatically creates a new audio track. As your voice is recorded, you will see the recorded sound display in this track, which reflects the sound being received by the computer via the microphone in a waveform display. Practice making a recording by recording a poem, or make a radio promo spot, or some other brief voice recording. Keep this file as you will need to use it later in the handout. 2. To stop recording, press the Stop button. NOTE: When you click the Stop button, you can no longer continue recording on the current track. If you hit the Record button again, Audacity will create a new track. You must use the Pause button if you wish to continue recording on the same track. 3. To listen to your recording, press the Play button. Notice that as the recording plays back, there s a small line and green triangle that move across the timeline. This is the playback head, and indicates the point in the recording the playback has reached. If your recording is acceptable, now would be a good time to save it. It is highly recommended that you save frequently, as with any other project. 1 2 3 The remaining buttons are: 1 Pause 2 Skip to the beginning 3 Skip to the end 11
Saving Your Recording Dis nguishing Between Saving and Expor ng Files Use Save or Save As for projects still under construction, or for projects you re not ready to export for whatever reason. Audacity projects are saved in a file format specific to Audacity with a file extension of.aup. This is a format that s been optimized for Audacity to open and save even large audio projects quickly. When you save a file in Audacity, it breaks up each audio file into smaller pieces and creates a master file that knows how to reassemble the smaller pieces in your audio file. Practically speaking, this means that if you have a project you save as Project_1, Audacity will create a project file called Project_1.aup, and then create a sub-folder called Project_1_data that holds all of the individual audio pieces. To save your file, Click on the File drop-down menu, then select Save Project As, and save your project with a meaningful name of your choosing: Project_Name.aup. Use Export when you re ready to share your file with others, or publish it on the Internet. Export creates a lower quality, and therefore smaller, version of your file in an MP3 or WAV format for sharing or publication. There are other formats available for exporting your file, depending on what you want to use the file for. You can explore these additional options in the Audacity manual, available under the Help drop-down menu. NOTE: Because editing a file can be destructive and exporting a file is irreversible, you are strongly encouraged to save as a back-up an original, high-quality version of your file as an Audacity project (in the.aup file format) in a separate directory. This is also helpful in case you choose to re-purpose some or all of your recordings at some point in the future. Track Menu Once you ve made a recording, or uploaded a file, whether it s a single-track mono file or dual-track stereo file, you will now be able to view the track menu. A quick overview is in order. Track info, including sample rate bit-depth. Clicking a track s Mute button makes that track silent. A track s Gain Control allows you to control the relative volume of the track. Use this with caution it s easy to overdrive a track and cause clipping. Clicking anywhere on the track menu makes that track active. Track Title and Track Dropdown menus allow you to move the track and select visualization and other track options. Clicking the track s Solo button makes all other tracks silent except the solo track. A track s Pan Control allows you to adjust a track s placement in the stereo image, either to the left or right in varying degrees. 12
Zoom In or Zoom Out to make track editing easier. Adjust track heights to your own taste. Hover your cursor over the bottom edge of the track until it changes to two vertical arrows, then adjust the track height by dragging vertically. 13
In Audacity, you have the option of naming each track separately. This is particularly useful when you have more than 2 or 3 tracks that you re working on. 1. To give a track a name other than the default, click on the Track Dropdown menu and select Name. 2. The Track Name window will open, and you can change the name to whatever will help you remember what the track is. 3. Click on OK, and your track will have a new name. Listen to Your Project To quickly listen to any part of the file, first make sure the selection tool is activated. Then, simply left click anywhere in the track to position the playback cursor, and press the spacebar to play (or click the Play button). 14
Editing a Recording Chances are when you make a recording, it will not be perfect the first time. Perhaps you cleared your throat before speaking, or you coughed, or you lost your place on your script and created a section of the sound of papers shuffling. Audacity is not just a sound recorder, it is also a sound editor. While Audacity does not have all the editing features and tools of high-end software, it does provide tools suitable for you to make basic edits. Editing Tools 1. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, there are often minor errors, such as clearing your throat or coughing, that you ll want to remove from your recording. To do this most effectively, you ll want to Zoom in on the offending portion of the file using the zoom tool. Click the zoom tool button to activate it. Notice that your cursor will change to a little magnifying glass when activated. 2. With the zoom tool activated, select the range of the file containing the offending segment by clicking and dragging over the region. The edges of your selection are denoted by vertical dashed lines, and upon releasing the mouse button, the file will be zoomed. You can fine-tune your selection by hovering the cursor over the left or right edges of the selected segment until the cursor changes into a pointing hand. Then clicking and dragging will adjust only that side of the selection range. To fine-tune your selection, move the cursor over either edge until it changes to a pointing hand, then click and drag to adjust the boundary. 15
Now that you ve located and selected the offending segment, you can get rid of it by simply hitting the Delete key, just like you do when using Word. This can also be accomplished by using Edit Cut (which will place the selected audio onto the clipboard for pasting). To reassure yourself that the offending segment is gone, place your cursor before the edit point, and play the audio. 3. Once you ve verified that your edit has been satisfactorily completed, you can quickly see all of the audio on the track by clicking the Fit Project in Window button. 4. Notice that the voice track below has a substantial amount of silence at the beginning and end. You clean the track by using the Trimming Tool. Select the region of the audio that you d like to keep using the Selection Tool. Now, click the Trim outside selection button (or Ctrl+T) to trim all audio not in the selection range. Notice that the sections of silence have now been removed. 16
REMBER TO SAVE FREQUENTLY! Especially after making major or multiple changes, so now is a good time to save your project. Go to File Save, or click on the Save button, to save your project. NOTE: The.aup project file does not contain audio (hence its relatively small file size); rather, it contains the details of all the edits you ve made up to this point. Later, after shutting Audacity down, you can simply open a.aup file and Audacity will automatically retrieve the audio files associated with your project, as well as all track adjustments you ve made, etc. Importing Audio Files With Audacity, in addition to creating your own recordings, it is possible to import audio into your project as additional tracks. There are many reasons why you might want to import a file into your Audacity project. To practice importing, choose a music file to accompany the voice recording you made earlier in the handout. If you can t think of any music to upload, there are usually sample files on most PCs in the Music folder. You can also find copyright free or open source files by using the resources located on the Library s AV-Media Resources web page under the Audio Sources tab. The URL is: http://hhs.highland.k12.in.us/library/av_media_technology NOTE: Copyright issues will be discussed later in this handout, but be aware that copyright free or open source files can be incorporated into school or work projects without seeking prior permission from the original creator of the file. However, you usually still need to give credit when using someone else s work, even when using open source material. To Import audio into your Audacity project. Click File Import Audio, navigate to and select the file you want to import, usually an MP3 or WAV file, then click on Open. You should now see the file represented as a track in your Audacity work space. The example below shows an original track, named Voice, and an imported track, which has been re-named Music. 17
Now that you ve imported a new track into your Audacity project, you will probably want to make some edits. As an example, you may want the voice track to come in later in the song instead of at the beginning. First, for the sake of practice, pretend that you don t want to use the initial phrase of music, so you will need to trim off that section of the track. Also practice your zoom skills by zooming in to make a more exact edit using the Zoom Tool. Delete the initial phrase of the song by first selecting it Then press the delete key (or cut it by pressing Ctrl+X). Listen to the voice track and song track together. Adjust the placement of the voice track by first selecting the Time Shift tool. Note that the cursor will change to a double arrow when this tool is activated. 18
Click on the voice track audio, and by dragging left or right, adjust the voice track so that it begins where you want it to. Using the Time Shift tool, adjust the placement of the voice track to fit with the music. Now that you ve adjusted the voice track to where you want it, listen to your project again. You will probably notice that the music track overpowers the voice track. If so, you will need to correct this by fading down the music track so that the voice track is more clear, then fade the music track back up once the voice track ends. Then, as the spot ends, you ll want the music to fade out nicely to silence rather than coming to an abrupt halt. Select the Envelope Tool. The Envelope Tool allows you to adjust the volume envelope of the tracks. Once the Envelope Tool is active, your cursor should change shape to reflect this. 19
Notice that once the envelope tool is activated, you can see horizontal lines at the top and bottom of each track. These are graphical representations of the track s volume. Since you ve not yet made any adjustments to the volume envelope of either track, the volume lines are at 100%, or, at the very top and bottom of each track. Activating the Envelope tool makes each track s volume envelope visible (in this example, both tracks are at 100% volume, so both volume envelopes are horizontal lines). Now that you ve determined the need to adjust the volume envelope of the music track to compliment the voice track, you need to click on the music track volume envelope to add a Control Point. Continue adding control points and dragging the envelope to create the desired shape. Listen to your track, adjust control points, then listen again and repeat the process until it sounds the way you want it to sound. Here, four control points were added on the volume envelope of the music track, fading it down once the voice begins, then fading it back up after the voice ends. 20
NOTES: 1. To remove an unwanted control point, simply drag it off the track. 2. When working with a stereo track, you only need to adjust either the left or right channel. Any changes you make to one channel will simultaneously be made to the other channel. For the final edit, you ll want to fade the music down to silence to end the spot. Otherwise, your project will end at dead stop; like running into an auditory brick wall. Use the same techniques as in the previous step. Add the necessary control points, then drag them to fade to zero volume at the end. NOTE: Editing any media project is an inherently iterative process, so get into the habit of adjusting, checking, readjusting, and checking again, over and over again. Control points were added on the volume envelope of the music track to fade the end of the track down to zero. To view both tracks in their entirety, click the Fit project in window button. 21
Notice that there is a significant amount of silence on the music track. This is because the remainder of the song is still there, it s just turned down to zero volume. You will need to get rid of the silence by selecting and deleting (or cutting) it. After selecting and deleting the silence, click the Fit project in window button once more. Because the long silence has been removed from the music track, the track now ends immediately after the fade. 22
You re almost done. First, make sure this spot begins at time zero. Use the shift key and select both tracks to make them active (click on the track menu anywhere beneath the pan control slider). You can tell if a track is active by the color of the track menu an active track s menu is a darker shade than an inactive track s menu. With both tracks active, click Tracks Align Tracks Start to Zero. This adjusts all active tracks as a group until the left-most track is at time zero. Experiment with the other alignment options and convince yourself you understand how they work. Mix-down Assuming you re pleased with the sound of the spot at this point, it s now time to mix it down. This means you will create a single file from the mix of all the tracks that you ve created thus far. But first, before you mix down, save your project once again. Now, to create a mix-down file, click File Export Audio Save as Type: (WAV or MP3). Prior to clicking the Save button, navigate to the folder where you want the file to be saved, you may also change the name of the new file if you wish, and now click Save to mix-down your file. This will create the new file in the directory you specified, and your project is done! NOTE: When Audacity is finished creating the mix-down, you won t see any changes in your current project. This is because you ve exported this mix-down file to the folder you specified. You haven t told Audacity to bring it into your current project, but you could once the new file is created. Additional Tools If you ve made it this far, congratulations! Obviously, this handout serves as a simple introduction to Audacity, but there are many additional functions I d encourage you to experiment with. Some to try out: Cutting, copying, and pasting works just like your word processor. Select some audio, copy or cut it, move your cursor to a new location, then paste it. Easy! Label Tracks allow you to annotate a file, or mark locations on a track for later reference. Label Tracks are very helpful with large projects, such as a long interview for example, in which you need to mark certain quotations or sections for later use. You create label tracks by clicking Tracks Add Label At Selection. 23
Splitting The split function allows you to move sections of audio to a new track, leaving silence on the track from which it was taken. Select audio using the selection tool, then go to Edit Clip Boundaries Split New. A new track will be created containing the selected audio. The split function allows you to move selected audio to a new track (leaving silence on the original track). Help - Audacity s Help resources are simple, but well done. The Manual provides in-depth help, while Quick Help provides a brief outline of just about every function available with Audacity. Additional Resources: Audacity Documentation and Support http://audacityteam.org/help/ Provides access to: FAQs, Manuals, Tips, Tutorials, and the Audacity WIKI. HHS Library AC-Media Resources http://hhs.highland.k12.in.us/library/av_media_technology/ Select either the Audio Sources or the Audio Tools tab. Contact Mr. Kilburn, the HHS Librarian, with questions or comments. gkilburn@highland.k12.in.us 24
A Word About Copyright Issues Most people are not professional broadcasters, musicians, etc., and don t own recordings of original material created by themselves to include in an Audacity project. In order for you to use commercially available music in an Audacity project, you have two options: 1. Obtain a license from the record company or performance rights organization that owns the license 2. Use sound recordings not subject to copyright protection. With a decent budget, it is conceivable that you might purchase the licensing rights to a copyrighted recording in order to use it legally in your Audacity project. However, under ordinary circumstances, you will be searching for either copyright free recordings in the Public Domain, or recordings available for use under a Creative Commons license. Public Domain recordings are no longer protected by copyright, and may be used without restriction. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable those who create and share original work to modify copyright terms according to how and under what circumstances others may use their work. There are a number of resources available to help you locate either public domain or Creative Commons recordings to use in your Audacity project. HHS Library AV-Media Resources Audio Sources http://hhs.highland.k12.in.us/library/av_media_technology Creative Commons http://www.creativecommons.org CCmixter http://www.ccmixter.org CCmixter is a site that offers a search interface to help you find recordings, including both entire songs and music clips that are licensed under a Creative Commons license. Don t forget that each work has its own rules regarding how it may be used, as determined by the person who originally created the recording. 25