1. Te a c h I T. Fordham IT Instructional Technology Academic Computing
Faculty Technology Centers
FTC Tech Tip Audacity Quick Reference Guide
Audacity is a free, cross-platform digital audio editor and recording application.
Downloading Audacity
Choose the download that works with your operating system: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
You will also need to download a LAME file to be able to export your audio as an .mp3 file: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/
Caution: when you save the LAME file, make sure that you make note of where you have downloaded it because you will need to
select the lame.dll file when exporting audio to a .mp3 file for the first time
Recording Directly into Audacity
1. Make sure that your microphone has been set up correctly and is the default recording device for your computer
2. Click the red “Record” button to start recording and “Pause” when you need to take a break
3. Click “File” and then choose “Save Project As”. Most of the commands you’ll be using appear
under the Edit menu at the top. These include
The Time Shift tool
Cut, Copy, Paste, Split, Delete, Join, and Undo.
allows you to move
Using Audacity to Edit Audio the entire waveform
The playback controls:
back and forward in
The Selection tool Play, Record, Pause.
time (left and right),
The Magnifying Glass tool is used to create Set the playback point by
relative to another
is used to expand or selections for cropping, clicking with the selection tool.
track.
reduce the size of the deleting or copying.
audio wave form.
Click the area you want
magnified to get a closer The fuzzy caterpillar is a
view. This tool is useful visual representation
when trying to crop out a of your sound record-
specific portion of audio. ing. The size of the peaks
refers roughly to the
volume of the audio file.
Another way to boost
your output sound level is
by moving the gain slide
bar to the right, which
only affects a single track.
You can mute, solo
(i.e. mute all the other
tracks), or adjust the To boost the sound wave (make the fuzzy caterpillar look larger), use the
balance of each track Select all > Effect > Amplify command. Positive numbers
individually. boost/increase the sound waves, negative numbers reduce them. If you
amplify too much—e.g. over 10.0—then the volume of the background
noise (the‘hiss’) will also get louder.
Exporting Audio as a .MP3 File:
The first time you export audio as an MP3 file (File > Export as MP3) you will need to locate the LAME file that you
downloaded. Audacity will prompt you to browse for this file- this will be the only time that you will have to locate
the LAME file.
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2. Checklist
☐ Placement
just
outside
of
your
breath
range
below
and
off
to
the
side,
but
pointing
directly
at
your
mouth
☐ Avoid
plosives
speak
over
the
mic
to
avoid
pushing
air
into
it
☐ Liquids
Yes:
water,
tea
(room
temp
is
best!)
No:
coffee,
soda,
milk
☐ Posture
☐ Breath
deep
☐ Quiet
place
☐ Practice
reading
☐ 30
seconds
of
silence
☐ "Testing,
Testing,
1,
2,
3"
☐ Use
headphones
to
test
recording
Notes