Welcome to the Audacity Tutorial!
During this tutorial, you will learn the very basics on how to use the Open Source sound editing program Audacity. You will be capturing audio from your computer microphone and then save to an mp3 audio file.
Audacity is available for Windows, Mac, and various flavors of Linux. It can be found online at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ or on our Darton servers hereeAudacity. It is an .exe file and may be blocked by your firewall or virus software, please call the Helpdesk. This tutorial is written for the Windowss version of Audacity, though sharp computer users can adapt it for either Mac or Linux.
Enjoy :-)
Contents
To Participate, your computer should have:
* Windows 98 or later.
* A Sound Card with Speakers or Headphones.
* Microphone
Skills the tutorial assumes you already have:
* How to install software on your computer.
* How to browse Windows folders and directories.
* Basic understanding of Windows such as Menus, Buttons, etc.
Hooking up the microphone to your computer
Most sound cards on your computer will symbolize the microphone input with a 'mic in' port in red or by using this symbol
Take note
of the symbol and/or color.
Before we learn how to use Audacity, we must first install it! You will find the installer program (at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) . Install Audacity by running the installer program and following all instructions carefully. This will install Audacity with all that is necessary functionality to record audio from your computers microphone.
Audacity does not come with MP3 support by default. To
get
this support, you must install an mp3 library. We will use
what's called the "Lame Encoder" plug-in (these are the
algorithms/equations which compresses the file). All you need is
this library file (lame_enc.dll)
You can find a copy of the "lame_enc.dll" file online at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows and selecting the LAME MP3
link. You need to copy this file "lame_enc.dll" to the Audacity
program folder (usually something like C:\Program Files\Audacity\).
Double click the 'My Computer' Icon on your desktop, select the 'C' drive, then
'Program Files' then 'Audacity'
Once you have the file in place open up Audacity then go to File --> Preferences and the Preference Window Pops up
At the top of the window select the "File Formats" tab then click the Find Library button.
Click yes to the question.
At this Point, browse to where you placed the "lame_enc.dll" file, eg C:\Program Files\Audacity
Select the "lame_enc.dll" file, then Open, then Ok out of the preferences window
At this point you will want to select the Bit Rate. This is set at 128kbps by default but you may want to drop it down to as low as 24Kbs for better compression (smaller file sizes) when recording your speech.
As a reference for what different compression does to audio
Phone Quality - 16-40 Kbs
FM Radio - 96 Kbs
Standard CD and typical online download size- 128 Kbs
High Quality CD (for serious audiophiles) 190-320 Kbs
Setting up to record from Microphone
Once you have connected your cable to the line in on the back of your computer we can now set the audio parameter within audacity.
From the drop down box on the right of the program window, select Mic In.
'If' you cannot select the drop down box (it is grayed out) make sure the 'mic-in' is selected in the recording properties. (see below for setting your sound properties within windows)
'If' you have the speakers turned up too high you may experience something called 'Feedback' a loud squeal like noise. Just quickly turn them down so not to cause any damage.
'If' at this point when you talk into your microphone you hear yourself through the speakers, you can skip ahead to the Recording section.
'If' you hear nothing at this point we will now need to go into the sound properties of your computer.
On the bottom right of screen you should see a bunch of icons. In Windows XP you have a little arrow (1) to expand your icons. With the icons expanded, click on the Speaker Icon (2)
This should bring up the Sound Properties window
Select
the Options Menu, then Properties
This brings up the Properties window
Select the Recording button and make sure the Microphone box is checked
Then Click OK
This opens the Recording options window, check the Microphone box
You should now be able to hear yourself through the speakers and see the levels in Audacity moving . If the sound is distorted you probably have the mic boost on.
On the recording control window go into Options then check the Advanced Controls option
And UN-check the MIC boost option.
Now we're ready to roll
This is the fun part, record your speech.
Quick Look At The Audacity Screen
For this tutorial, we will be using only basic features of Audacity. Starting at the upper-left, you will notice that the SELECTION TOOL is highlighted by default. This tool is often called an "I Beam" because it looks like a capital letter I. Next you will notice a series of round buttons which have controls similar to a CD Player. We will be using the PLAY, STOP, and RECORD buttons. Other controls will be mentioned as needed.
Click the round red button then speak into the microphone. When you've finished click the yellow square 'stop' button. Run through a couple of tests to get the volume right and yourself comfortable with the microphone.
Before exporting the file to mp3 format we will take time to trim the beginning and ends of your recordings.
With " I " beam selected, click and drag the area to be removed, then hit the delete button on your keyboard. In the Audacity 'Edit' menu you have other options other than delete should you wish to explore later with special effects etc.
Saving a digital copy of your track
Saving the project will only create a native Audacity file, what we want to do is choose the "Export as" option.
A WAV file is a native windows audio file, no compression and consequently quite large, (approximately 3-4MB's per 30 seconds of speech) the quality is as good as what your sound card can produce. So long as you have a lot of storage space and a fast internet connection then this lossless format is the way to go.
An MP3 file is a compressed wav file, usually around 12 times smaller (approximately 200-300K per 30 seconds of speech) making them popular for download and storage. The bit-rate of an mp3 is how you measure the quality of the track.
Exporting the track as wav using Audacity you simply have to name the file and then save in a location you can easily find.
Exporting as mp3 with audacity you have some more options, on
some computers you WILL have to fill in some details or you will end up with a
'Corrupt File'.
These are for your mp3 file information that many of the mp3 players on the
market today can use to display your tracks information. Filling in these
details will help organize your mp3 collection. These are called ID3 tags. Click
Ok when you are done.
To record subsequent files, click the 'x' button on the top left corner of the track to close the track without closing Audacity. Simply click the red record button to start a new track.
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