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Getting started with Audacity 1.3

Chapter 1. Audacity and the World of Audio Editing

This book is all about Audacity, an open source audio editing software. This means that the software is free to download, and you can use it to create items that are freely distributable. You'll learn all of the basics about creating audiocasts—or podcasts—that can be uploaded to the Web and shared with the world.

To start with, this chapter will discuss what audio editing software is, who typically uses it, how you can use it, and what computer operating systems it will work on. We'll also talk a bit about how Audacity is an open source project and what that means to you and your projects, as well as the differences between Audacity 1.2 and the latest version, in case there are a few readers who want to work with the upgrade.

Note

Don't worry if you're not familiar with audio terms, editing, or even recording your voice on anything other than a tape recorder. We'll go over some common audio editing terms that will get you in the know.

Also covered will be an overview of the Audacity software main screen, the main menu, main window, all of the toolbars, buttons and settings, as well as what a 'project' is in Audacity. We'll also get into some of the basic fundamentals to remember when setting up a project in Audacity. All of this will lay the foundation for your very first Audacity project of recording a podcast!

What is Audacity?

With the evolution of the Internet there has been a huge boom in personal websites, blogs, photo and music sharing sites, and things called podcasts. Podcasts are simple recordings of interviews, personal recollections, or entire skits, including entire entertainment "acts" that include background music and sound effects. What this change in the Internet culture has offered to the everyday person is the ability to jump into the world of audio recording. Audacity was created with this very basic need in mind.

Audacity is a simple audio editor and recorder. It can record live audio, help to convert tapes and records into digital recordings, and edit and mix a number of sound files together. What this means for you, is that you can use it to:

Create audiocasts or podcasts that can be uploaded to the Web and shared with others. Podcasts can be interviews with interesting people, simple narrations, or cute snippets of your children talking.
Record live events such as lectures and presentations. Of course, you need to have a laptop to bring along with you.
Move your old records and cassettes into the digital age and convert them to an MP3 digital audio file. With additional equipment (a cassette or record player with a line-out plug and cable), you can connect this equipment to your computer and use Audacity to make versions of your music that you can play on a digital music player like an iPod.
Edit most digital audio files, such as podcasts, to add in music, delete segments, remove unwanted noise, add in some audio effects. Audacity lets you work with audio files to make them better.
Record audio from YouTube. Have you ever wanted only the audio portion of a YouTube video? Well, now you can play the video directly from YouTube, but "strip" only the audio portion out for your own use.
Create a ringtone for your cell phone. Audacity lets you convert between audio formats. It supports Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV, and AIFF formats, and can convert between them.

It's also a great tool if you want to e-mail someone a simple audio message. Just plug in your headset, hit record, and start talking. You can have a personalized voice message that can be sent through e-mail!

Throughout this book we'll focus on one key project- creating a podcast. During this discussion there will definitely be pointers for recording events, editing audio files, and even exporting in different audio formats.

Will it work for me?

Audacity was developed by a group of volunteers under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and is open source, or free software. This not only means that it does not cost anything to download, but also that you can use the program, create items with it, and freely distribute these items, modify the program itself, and share your work with others.

You can download Audacity for:

Mac OS X
Microsoft Windows
GNU/Linux
Other operating systems

Let's briefly go over how to download and install Audacity.

Windows and Mac OS

The installation process for both of these operating systems is similar:

Go to the official Audacity website at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and download the appropriate version of the software for your computer.
Once the installation package has been downloaded to your computer, double-click on it to start the installation.
Note
For Mac computers, a DMG file is downloaded. All you need to do is uncompress that file, and drag-and-drop the Audacity package to the Application folder. For any Windows device, an EXE file is downloaded. Double-click on that file to perform the installation.
Find the Audacity icon (shown in the next image) in the Application or Programs folder, to open the program.

GNU/Linux

You can use Audacity with GNU/Linux operating systems (and other similar operating systems), but you should download the correct installation package for it. Currently, there are a number of distributions available for the following types of systems:

Alt Linux
Debian
Fedora Core
Fedora Project
Mandriva i586
OpenSUSE
Red Hat
SuSe and packman (suse)
Ubuntu (http://packages.ubuntu.com/ and http://www.rpmseek.com/)

You can download the installation packages for these and others from the Audacity Linux or Unix web page, at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/.

Note

In this book, the screenshots are specific to the Mac OS X software. However, don't be concerned if this is not your computer operating system of choice. The software itself is very similar between operating systems, and any notable differences between the Audacity software screens for different operating systems, are noted, so you know what to look for.

In the interest of saving you some time, there are some things that Audacity can't do in comparison to more specialized audio editing software. Audacity:

Can't play or record files in the MIDI audio file format.
Doesn't natively play or export audio in propriety or restricted file audio formats, such as WMA or AAC. Additional plug-ins must be installed to do this.
Has less plug-ins and effects than a specialized Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
Can't apply sound effects in realtime. This means that you have to record the track and then apply sound effects to the track.
Isn't a specialized audio editing software package, so there are some limitations on multi-track editing and mixing features.

Common audio editing terms used in Audacity

As with any new tool, there is often some terminology that comes along with understanding how it works. For Audacity, there are audio recording and editing terms that will come in handy when learning how to use the software. Some basic terms are:

Project— when you open Audacity, you will open or create a new project. This includes all of the files, timing, and information on how you combined and edited different pieces of audio into your file or project. This term isn't specific to audio editing, but to software that combines pieces of different files into a single file in order to create a final output.
Clip—is a short segment of audio. It can be combined with others to make an audio track.
Track—one continuous audio element.
Library— a collection of audio files or tracks. These can be grouped according to the content of the audio files (like a music library) or just by the location of where they are stored.
Effect— there are two types of effects: generator and processing. Generator effects artificially create sounds using your audio track (or add it in). Processing effects work with the existing audio and edit or change it for a desired result.
Noise— is sound of any kind, especially unintelligible or dissonant sound, that interferes with the main audio that you want heard in a track. Or simply put, it is any sound that you don't want in the audio track.
Bit or Sample Rates— the number of computer bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. This is normally expressed in kilobits per second (kbps). A higher bit or sample rate means that your track was recorded in better quality.
Export— the process of saving the audio in another format other than the format of the program that you created it in, usually so that you can play it or use it on another device or computer program. Typically, for audio, you will export files in a WAV or MP3 format.
WAV, AIFF, MP3— these are all audio file types. This means that when you export an audio track from Audacity, it can be any of these formats, or you can simply do a Save As, to save it in the Audacity format of AUP. However, then only Audacity will be able to open the AUP file to listen to its contents.

As we start using Audacity and create a project, more terms will be added and explained as we move through each step. We'll be sure to call out any new terms so you can add them to your memory banks; we also collect them all in Appendix B, Glossary of Terms for easy reference.

Opening Audacity

No matter what operating system you use on your computer, all you need to do is find the Audacity program and open it, just as you would with any other software on your computer. The Audacity main window opens with an empty project window. This will look something like the next screenshot:

Don't be overwhelmed by this screen. Sure, there are a lot of icons and terms that might not be familiar, but we're going to review each element and how it is used. And as we begin our own sample recording session, we'll again review the icons and their use.

There are three main areas on this screen, as discussed in the following sections.

Audio controls and editing toolbars

The top portion, which includes audio controls and the many editing toolbars. These are the buttons and tools that you will use to edit and manipulate your recorded audio tracks.

Project View

The middle portion of the screen is the project view. This area will look very different when a project is open, as the timeline won't be empty. In this case it will show a digital representation of the audio that you recorded, along with some more settings that you can adjust.

Selection Toolbar

Just below the project view is the settings tool bar, which displays the frequency and bit rate information, and more timeline information, which we will cover as we start working on our sample project. But let's first discuss the main menu, and each of the toolbars on the screen.

Using the main menu

The main menu bar contains basic functionality for Audacity. You can open and save projects, add or hide toolbars in the main window, set preferences, as well as open the program Help file. This menu bar gives access to the entire program, even if you don't have all of the toolbars viewable.

Note

The main menu appears a bit differently when using different operating systems. When using Audacity on the Windows or Linux operating systems, the main menu is seen on top of the program window. With the Macintosh operating system, it is along the top bar of the computer screen.

When we begin our sample project, you'll see the most common uses of this main menu—for opening and saving Audacity project files.

Understanding the toolbars

You'll notice that on the main screen there are a number of toolbars, each with their unique icons and uses. Each of the described toolbars are displayed automatically when you first open Audacity, but the screen can also be customized for your own use by hiding some of these toolbars from the main screen. But first, let's just review each toolbar and it's constituent items at a high level, so that you can become familiar with Audacity and it's simple interface.

Control Toolbar

Most prominent on the screen is the Control Toolbar. This should look very familiar, in that it contains common icons that are used for any audio device: Play, Pause, Record, Skip to Start, Skip to End, and Stop. These are the basic controls for recording and playing back the sound that you record using Audacity.

In fact, if you are anxious to try the software out, let's learn a bit about the Mixer Toolbar, in order to perform a simple set up and sample recording.

Mixer Toolbar

The Mixer Toolbar is all about setting the volume and choosing the recording device. On the left-hand side (the speaker icon), you can adjust the input volume levels. In the middle, to the right of the microphone icon, you can adjust the volume of the output that you'd like your audio track to have.

On the right-hand side, you can choose the device that you'd like to use to make the recording. As you can see in the previous screenshot, we use an internal microphone (the one that is pre-installed on the computer that we are using), but you could also choose to use an external microphone or other recording device as the input.

Changing any of these settings is as simple as using your mouse to adjust the volumes, or clicking on the drop-down box to change the recording device. If you want a specific value for your volumes, you can also double-click on the volume scale to open a window where you can enter a specific audio level value.

Give it a try!

Ready to try out the software? Then go back to the Control Toolbar and click on the Record button. Start speaking into your computer's internal microphone (that is, if you computer or laptop has one! If not, connect a microphone to the USB or input port). Click on the Stop button when you are finished. You've just completed your first test recording session! It's as simple as that to record voice tracks. Click on the Play button to review your first composition!

Tools Toolbar

The Tools Toolbar gives you some control options in the recorded audio's timeline. It is not as complicated as it sounds. When you record some audio, the digital translation of that appears in the project view portion of the Audacity screen. Then select one of these tools and you are able to manipulate the recorded audio track. You can select specific sections of the audio track, zoom into the details to delete any unwanted noise, fade in and out at the beginning or end of tracks, shift audio clips on the timeline (which is particularly important if you are adding an introduction or exit), and work to select and replicate certain sounds.

Let's give it a try. Use the Selection Tool to "highlight" a portion of the test track that you sampled when you first opened the program, as seen in the next screenshot:

All you need to do is use your mouse to activate the Selection Tool, and then click-and-drag the mouse across the timeline, releasing the mouse button when you want to stop selecting. The "selected" portion of the audio track will appear in a darker shade of gray, as seen in the previous screenshot. Try it a few times to get a feel of how you make selections.

You use selections to make changes to only a specific portion of the audio track. For example, if you wanted what you selected here to be louder than the rest of the track, keep this portion selected, and then go to the main menu and select Effect and then Amplify. You'll see the audio waves in that area increase, indicating that the volume of this portion is now much higher.

Let's also give one of the other edit tools a try. Select the Zoom Tool, and drag your mouse over the area and click on it. The timeline intervals decrease to show you even more detail of the audio waves that were recorded.

You can also select any of the other tools and perform the same action (clicking on the audio track).

Meter Toolbar

Simply put, the Meter Toolbar displays the mono or stereo channels of your audio track. As an example, when recording a song, different instruments are placed in different channels. So in this example, there are mono (1) or stereo (2) channels in which we can record audio for our tracks.

You can select preferences, and even disable certain inputs, by clicking on the down arrow icons near the microphone or speaker settings. However, the inputs (and outputs) listed in these fields are dependent on what hardware or peripheral items you have connected and installed on your computer. Feel free to take a look at what settings are available here.

This toolbar also displays input levels. The green bars move during recording or playback, to show the volume levels. So they move higher (to the right) when the recording or playback is louder. Peaks in the volume, or the highest volume reached when recording are also indicated here, by a small line. This can be useful when editing later, if you see a peak point, but if most of the volume levels are below that point throughout the rest of the track, then you might need to normalize the entire audio track.

Edit Toolbar

Probably the most useful toolbar is the Edit Toolbar. This will be one of the most used toolbars when we work through our sample project.

Once a track has been recorded and is displayed in the project window, the items on this toolbar become active. You can cut pieces out of the audio tracks, paste new items in, trim, link, and silence any unwanted noise. This toolbar also lets you undo your last editing option, zoom into a certain area of the recorded track, and adjust the viewing window so that it works with your preferences. You can even fit the audio tracks to your window size.

For example, with your test recording, use the Selection Tool from the Tools Toolbar to select a small portion of the audio track. Then select Cut from the Edit menu. Did that portion of the track disappear? If so, select Undo, and you should see the selection re-appear in your audio timeline. You will see details on each of these items as we work through our sample project in this book.

Transcription Toolbar

A toolbar for more advanced editing features is the Transcription Toolbar. This toolbar helps you to speed up or slow down playback for the the selected audio in your timeline.

Using this toolbar is as easy as using the Selection Tool to highlight a portion of an audio track, and then using the scale to slow down (move the marker to the left) or speed up (move the marker to the right) the audio. Conveniently, you can also use the green Play button to play back the selected portion, to check if you have the correct playback speed.

Again, if you'd rather set a specific value for the playback speed, double-click the scale and a window is displayed that lets you you enter a number for the playback speed.

Selection Toolbar

The Selection Toolbar is at the bottom of the Audacity main window—just below the project window. Its most common use is to set the Project Rate (commonly measured in Hertz). Technically, it measures the number of computer bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The higher the sample rate, the better the quality of the recording. The sample rate used by audio CDs is 44100 Hz, and this is the default in Audacity and is by far the most common sample rate for most audio recordings.

You can also use the Snap To feature, which allows you to have specific settings for when a new clip of audio starts. So, for example, if you wanted this audio track to align with some video content, then you can exactly match the visual frame timing with this audio. This is an advanced feature of the software, and can be adjusted for various time formats and settings.

When the Snap To box is checked, it is considered active, and the remaining fields also become active. You can choose a particular unit of measurement (in the example, the format is in hours : minutes : seconds), and the format is changed for all three display ranges at a time. You can choose between End and Length for the second field. Audio Position is shown in the third field, and shows the current cursor position, and also allows you to manually set it.

As you work more with Audacity and you need to do more precise audio editing, these Snap To fields will be important in creating a clean audio track.

Using the best equipment

To get the best sound, you need a good microphone. But let's keep this in perspective. It is your first time using Audacity and creating a podcast, right? So our project doesn't need to be professional in its quality of sound. Any microphone will do the trick, including any internal microphone that your computer may have. However, it is worth recommending some microphone options that will make editing and cleaning up the vocal tracks easier. For any future projects, you may want to upgrade your equipment—because a better microphone, sound card, and audio setup will record your audio with much less degradation up front. When you compress your recording to create an MP3, your recording will sound better, and will also require less of your time for post-production.

Generally, here's what you'll need:

A computer (or laptop) with a sound card
A microphone
A microphone stand, or something to secure the microphone while you are recording, may be useful, so that you can avoid any additional interference

Sound cards

The sound card allows your computer to record audio. There are hundreds of sound card varieties, some with many "lines in" for recording multiple items at once (say, if you're part of a band and want each instrument to have an individual microphone) or just one input. Others have microphones bundled with the product, and there are even a few that include additional useful software packages, including Audacity. Again, for our project, any sound card will do, as long as it has a line-in and is functional. For ongoing projects, you should research the best sound cards for the best recording quality, depending on what will best fit your needs.

Microphones

For the microphone option, there are several different types to consider in the long run, depending on what you are recording, your other equipment, and the purpose that your audio track will serve. Your range of choices is as follows:

The most inexpensive option is to use your computer's internal microphone (if it has one). This is definitely enough to get you started on our sample project.
The next least-expensive option is a simple headset of the kind that are easily available in most big department stores, and are used commonly by computer gamers. The headphone portion uses your computer's sound card and lets you listen to stereo sound from music, games, movies, and more. The microphone, is usually incorporated into the headset, is often noise-canceling, and generally offers decent quality sound recording. With a headset, no microphone stand or other equipment is required to get started.
The next best choice is a dynamic microphone. They are durable, with few moving parts, and are ideal for someone who wants that little bit of extra quality when recording vocals. No additional power source is needed, but a microphone stand is recommended.

In addition to these basic options, there are several other varieties of microphones that vary in both price and the quality of sound that they record. However, many of these will require even more equipment to work effectively. Hence, sticking to the basics will get you through your project.

Key benefits

Teaches basic techniques for using Audacity to record and edit audio tracks - like podcasts and interviews

Combines learning to use software program with the simple theories behind digital audio and common audio terms

Provides advanced editing techniques and tips for using Audacity beyond a first project

Uses a task based, step-by-step approach to guide newcomers into the world of audio editing

Description

Using the Audacity software as the starting off point, we discuss what the software is, what it can do, how you can use it, and where you go to get started installing it. All of this information is grounded in some basic audio editing terminology and background for those that aren't so technology inclined.Then we'll start digging into a sample project! You'll learn about how to set up a project, create a voice track, record an interview with Skype, and basic audio editing techniques. All of this done in an easy to follow, task based approach with lots of examples. Here, we plan to go a step further, we teach how to wrap all of these steps together and create a podcast that can be posted on your own website or blog.There's always more you can do with Audacity! The last portion of the book is dedicated to just that - discussing more advanced editing and mixing techniques, using affects, adding music, adding additional plug-ins to the software. All still incorporating examples and easy to follow tasks you can try on your own audio projects.

Who is this book for?

If you are new to audio recording and editing, and particularly using the Audacity software, this book is for you. It explains everything from common audio industry terms and software basics. Technical sound engineering details and jargon are omitted to keep the book friendly and easy to understand.

What you will learn

Learn to use the Audacity software‚Äîwhat it is, how to install it, and all of its main features

Learn setting up projects and how to record your content for your first podcast

Master audio editing basics for voice tracks like trimming, amplifying, removing ‚Äúnoise,‚Äù duplicating and splitting tracks, changing pitch, speed, and more

Create MP3 Podcasts from your saved projects and then prepare the file and upload it to personal websites or iTunes

Learn more about advanced editing techniques like fading in and out, click removal, timeshifting, using multiple audio tracks, overdubbing, mixing and more

Add background music to projects as well as import music from CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl records

Use all the audio effects pre-installed with Audacity like echo, amplify, bass boost, and normalize

Install and use Audacity plugins like Nyquist, LADSPA, and VST effects

Common terms used audio recording and editing as the book has a complete Glossary

All toolbar, menu, and keyboard shortcuts used in the software

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Don Addams Apr 28, 2010

Some months ago I was asked to be a technical reviewer for the, now recently published, book "Getting Started with Audacity 1.3'. I have to tell you, guys, not only Packt Publishing is a great company, which provides EXCELLENT tools for authors and reviewers to work with, but boy they know what books to publish!Reviewing this book was a real pleasure, so I'm now publishing this blog entry so I can try and get you to buy the book (which is available both hardcopy and as DRM-free PDF ebook!)So, why should you buy this book? * It's straight-forward, no-nonsense. You get hands-on from the first chapter. * You can read my name in page 4, that's SURELY an incentive :P Kill me. * Chapter 3 is packed with "How to record Interviews" tips. * Chapter 4 goes on to editing, effectively changing the recorded interview to a real PODCAST! * Chapter 5 goes straight into Noise Removal.As you can see, just if you read chapters 1 to 5 (or skip straight to 3 if you are good with GUIs), you'll get a real sense of what working with audio is, which will probably make the following chapters more interesting: * Exporting to MP3 * Advanced Audio Editing * Effects and background musicIn a nutshell, it's a really good book on using Free/Libre Open Source Software to create a professional Podcast. The great oriented approach of the book, plus the AWESOME, HUGE Audacity Community, makes this book a great buy.

Amazon Verified review

Amazon Customer Aug 22, 2019

Very helpful - I needed a little help as I tend to use this software quite a bit in the beginning of a project.

Takaaki May 17, 2010

What's the most intimidating about audio editing software is its interface. You can find a lot of audio editing software, but none of them looks intuitive. One reason you think so is that you don't know about digital audio itself. I could understand some of the interfaces such as the playback button and the record button, but everything else is incomprehensible. Audacity is not the exception in that regard. What is worse, Audacity is cross-platform open source software. What's wrong with "open source" and "cross-platform"? The user interface of most of such software are terrible. A platform-specific program may have a guideline to follow. For example, Apple has a human interface guideline. But it is impossibly difficult to do the same for open source cross-platform software for a few reasons. Some are purely technical and others are more of cultural and political. It is difficult to find an interface designer that contributes to the open source community. As a result, programmers create everything.The book introduces Audacity of this complexity and confusion in a very easy-to-follow manner. Throughout the book each platform (Mac, Windows and Linux) is well taken care of. For example, a) installation of Audacity, Skype (used to record the audio), Audacity plug-ins and b) keyboard shortcuts are explained well enough for each OS. I didn't need to spend a time on Google at all. After explaining installation and basic usage, the author introduces a sample project. That is making a podcast with the audio you record with a Skype interview. From recording to publishing. The final outcome is really a podcast. The author introduces how to add background music, export the entire audio and publish to the iTunes. So remember that this book doesn't end with very basic cutting and pasting. You will learn different techniques to make your audio more professional including how to remove the noise, adjusting the audio level strategically and softening annoying sounds like "sh" and "ch".There is no required knowledge to read the book. The author avoids jargons where possible, and, when a term is introduced, she explains it in details. Additionally, the glossary of terms is placed at the end of the book. The language used in the book is simple. No dictionary is necessary. Many screenshots visually help understanding. All the screenshots are taken using Mac, but the author reminds the reader of potential differences across the platforms. I'm sure users without access to Mac can go through the book without a hassle.Even if you are already an Audacity user, you'll find explanation of effects quite useful. However, unfortunately this book is not meant to be a comprehensive guide for every single feature in Audacity. When I browse through all the menu items, some items aren't mentioned in the book. For example, generators and sound activation are not refered to.In summary, the book explains the basics of Audacity very well for beginners and intermediate users. After finishing the book, you will have a good understanding of its interface and usage, which is complicated by nature. The interface ugliness won't change, but the interface doesn't intimidate any more after you finish this book.

Amazon Customer Aug 27, 2010

This is an outstanding book, particularly for beginners in audio mixing. How you use it depends on your objectives. To start, the author assumes Audacity will be used for podcasts-- mostly, in other words, VOICE applications. Whether recording a course, sermon, lecture, speech... etc., Bethany assumes your major application will be voice and podcasts. Indeed, this is how Audacity got started as a stand alone, FREE, recording and mixing program, so it is not surprising that Bethany doesn't cover a lot of the areas to which Audacity has now evolved in music and multimedia mixing and integration, file format exchanges, etc. It is now a WONDERFUL tool for far more than voice recording.Let's look at the components of an entire production system for a second. You have inputs, imports, exports and outputs. Let's say you are mixing a production for your own website, youtube, or a podcast. Your production has ALL the elements of a multimedia production:1. A track you create with a M-Audio Axiom 25 Advanced 25-Key USB MIDI Controller, 2nd Gen , or recording from your own Yamaha YPT-220 61 Key Personal Keyboard with AC Adapter, Deluxe Keyboard Stand and Professional Headphones or band.2. A track that you sing or speak, using a microphone or microphones.3. A track of loops from a software program like Sony Acid Music Studio 8.0 .4. A video track from your Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (White) recorder.5. Sound effects or parts of song tracks you upload from a free website like Jamendo (which Beth metions on page 139).Where does Audacity, and Bethany's book fit?The components you will need to "do it right" (professionally) are:1. A PC or laptop2. Music composing, integrating or looping software running on your PC, such as ACID and Finale SongWriter 2010 3. A physical mixer like the Tascam X-17 offered on Amazon4. Your free Audacity software from audacity dot com (about which this book is written)5. Video processor and integrator Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Suite like Sony VegasTo combine the two lists above, you record your voice, music, band, etc. through the physical Tascam DP 008 Multi-Track Digital Recorder 4-Piece Bundle , or directly into Audacity. You then upload your video files from your flip or video recorder, with or without sound. You create a folder on your PC (eg: desktop or documents) (NOT in Audacity at first) called "Project X." Project X contains all the files that you created or imported onto your PC from your physical mixer, directly recording onto your PC, loops and compositions you chose from your composition software, your flip file, etc.Next, you forget the video file for a second, open Audacity, and IMPORT all the other files, as tracks, that you saved in your master folder-- this will create the "audio" part of your production. Notice that your physical mixer and even other software programs like your composing program (Finale, etc.) can also perform a lot of the functions that Audacity performs, but Audacity is a GREAT integrator of file formats, especially at the finishing stages when you want to export them all in a single file type like an MP3 or input for your video editor.This is where Bethany's book comes in-- it shows you many of the effects you can use on multiple tracks. Remember, it mostly focuses 90% on voice, but there are a few pages on music and external files, and the effects (fade ins, overtracking, etc.) apply equally to music as voice. But don't be disappointed when you find only a small section here on music!Finally, EXPORT your finished audio file as INPUT for your video editing software to integrate your flip video so you have both sound and picture. Your video software is the place to strip off the flip audio if you want to use your Audacity audio instead. Note: you won't be able to edit individual tracks in your video software if you combined them into one file type in Audacity!Your production is now ready for Youtube, your own web server, a cd, to email, etc!We just wanted to give you context so you don't think that this wonderful free mixer/recorder is all you need, or that this book covers all aspects of putting together a production. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Home Recording Illustrated (The Complete Idiot's Guide) or PC Recording Studios For Dummies (BEST ONE) series is wonderful for integrating those aspects of home recording.

Adriano Varoli Piazza Mar 17, 2010

A few months ago I was approached by the good folks at Packt Publishing to do a technical review of their brand new book "Getting Started with Audacity 1.3".Throughout the time I spent reviewing the chapters, I found the book to be interesting and very readable, proposing projects that were both easy to do and immediately compelling, such as creating and editing useful soundbits from a ringtone to creating a podcast complete with a phone interview. I even used what I had learned to create my own ringtones: the first chords of "Fortunate Son" by Creedence for one, and a few bars of the main theme from the film "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" for another.I recommend this book for those that want to create or edit their own soundbits and don't know how. It is the perfect introduction to audio editing. The fact that the app used is available on the three major operating systems for free, and that it has an intuitive interface is a major boon.

Getting started with Audacity 1.3: Create your own podcasts, edit music, and more with this open source audio editor

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