Audacity

Recording, editing and publishing audio files

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Introduction

Audacity is an audio recording application that allows you to edit and produce sound files. Audacity is available to all university staff via the App Hub.

Setting up Audacity

  1. Finde and open Audacity on the App Hub.
  2. Go to Edit.
  3. Click Preferences.
  4. Under Plackback and Device, check that Microsoft Sound Mapper – Output is selected.
  5. Under Recording and Device, make sure that Microphone is selected.

  6. Under Recording and Channels, make sure that Mono is selected.

Recording

  1. When you are ready to record, click the Record button.

 Tip: Give yourself a few seconds at the beginning and end of the recording.

  1. You can check the audio levels to be sure that the recording is working.
  2. Click Pause to interrupt recording without creating a separate file.
  3. Click Stop when you are finished recording.

Editing your recording

  1. Use the Play, Pause and Stop buttons to listen to your recording and watch the levels on the timeline.
  2. Click Stoptoedit the recording.
  3. To remove errors completely:
  4. Highlight the timeline area you want to remove with the cursor (just as you would highlight text in a document)

  5. Hit Delete on your keyboard
  1. To lower the volume of errors without deleting them:
  2. Highlight the area with the cursor
  3. Go to Effect
  4. Click Amplify
  5. Slide the bar to the left
  6. Use Preview to check the result
  7. Click OK when you’re happy with the new volume level
  8. To fade sections of the recording in or out:
  9. Highlight the area to fade with the cursor
  10. Go to Effect
  11. Click Fade In or Fade Out
  12. Listen to the recording again to check the fades
  13. To normalise the recording (level the volume without distortion):
  14. Click Ctrl-A to select all of your recording
  15. Go to Effect
  16. Click Normalize
  17. Click OK

Publishing your recording

  1. To produce your recording as a .wav file:
  2. Click Ctrl-A to select all of your recording
  3. Go to File
  4. Click Export as WAV
  5. Give the file a name and choose where to save it
  6. Click Save
  7. To produce your recording as an .mp3* file:
  8. Click Ctrl-A to select all of your recording
  9. Go to File
  10. Click Export as MP3
  11. Give the file a name and choose where to save it
  12. Click Save
  13. You can enter any other metadata (ID2 or ID3 tags) or leave this blank
  14. Click OK
  1. To make your recording available on duo, use Kaltura (see separate guide) if you want it to be played on duo only. You can use file upload if you would like students to be able to download it to listen to offline.

*You may need to download an additional file (lame_enc.dll) to export as an .mp3. See the Audacity site for their recommended LAME MP3 encoder and installation instructions: Audacity Windows Downloads.

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