Course overview
Skills: simple audio editing, exporting the result, finding free
sound effects and musicConcepts: audio editing operations, audio
effects, audio utility software, Creative Commons This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 3.0 License. Editing speech with Audacity1This presentation
introduces the user interface of the Audacity audio editor,
illustrated with several important editing operations and audio
effects.
We will also see how to save projects and export audio
files.
These operations and effects are found in other audio editors as
well.
While this presentation is sufficient to get you started and do
assignments for this class, there are many editing operations and
effects that are not covered.
You will have to play around on our own to learn those.Where
does this topic fit?Internet
conceptsApplicationsTechnologyImplicationsInternet
skillsApplication developmentContent creationUser skills2This
presentation is concerned with the creation of audio content.
Shift track left/rightZoomSelectMake fine adjustmentsDraw
envelope for fadesMulti toolEditing toolsShiftPause/play (selection
or entire track)
3You will make use of six editing tools, as shown above.
You select a portion of the audio by dragging the select tool
over it like selecting text in a word processor.
You can make fine adjustments to a selection using the left and
right arrow keys wile holding the shift or ctrl+shift keys
down.
You can zoom in or out using the zoom tool or the zoom tool with
the shift key held down.
The two arrow tool allows you to shift a track left or
right.
The pencil can be used to make fine adjustments to your
recording.
Use the envelope key to specify how quickly a fade should drop
off.
The multi tool automatically adjusts its function depending on
what you are doing.
Last, but not least, the space bar is handy for pausing and
resuming play.
In practice, you will find yourself using the select and zoom
keys and the spacebar more than the others.Ctl-z: undo last
edit
Ctl-y: redo last undo
Save project (all the history): File > Save
Save audio (several file formats): File > ExportThe rest of
this getting started manual4As with many Windows programs, Ctrl-z
and Ctrl-y undo and redo any previous steps.
This capability makes experimentation with Audacity safe.
If an experiment accidentally messes up your work, you can undo
it.
SelectCut:Ctrl-XRemoving an uhmthen5Here is a simple editing
demonstration.
As you see, Audacity displays the current recording in a
timeline.
(Other audio and video editors do the same).
One can select, copy, cut, delete, move, and paste sound on the
timeline.
These are analogous to the same operations in word
processing.
As shown here, I selected the first uhm from the timeline and
deleted it by typing control-x.
Zoom in, select, cut and pastePaste:Ctrl-V6Here I zoomed in to
have finer control over selection. I selected and cut the b then
pasted it at the end.
Audio effects7Audacity includes many audio effects.
The only way to learn what they do is to try them.
Remember that you can undo any change you make so there is no
risk in playing around.
Lets look at the Amplify effect as an example.
The amplify effect8Here is an example effect, Amplification.
Like the other effects, it has several parameters which you set
in a dialog box.
Note that you can increase or decrease the amplitude of the
waveform, thereby increasing or decreasing the volume.
Note also that if you want to increase the volume a lot, you may
have to allow clipping.
Finally, you can preview the change from the dialog box before
you accept it.
When your editing is complete, you will want to save the project
in case you want to make future changes and export the finished
audio file.Multiple tracks
You can record multiple tracks with Audacity.
You can record the first track, stop recording, and restart
recording again.
If you are playing sound through open speakers, remember to mute
the first track when you are recording the second.
You can also import tracks, for example, record a person
speaking then add a second music track or import a sound effect to
be used in a recording.9
Save projects; export filesWhen you save a project, new audio
file is not created.
Instead, your original audio is saved along with a list of every
change you have made.
When you reload the file, you can pick up where you left
off.
To save a sound file for distribution and sharing, you export
it.
In order to export .mp3 files, you will need to download an
encoder and configure Audacity to locate it in your computer
storage.
There is a link to the encoder and a topic module on configuring
Audacity to use it at the end of this presentation.
10Audio utility programs
LevelatorGizmosThere are many utility programs for processing
audio data.
For example, Levelator will take a recording with low and high
volume passages and adjust them to have relatively uniform
volume.
This is just one example and there are many more at Gizmos Best
Freeware site an excellent place to find all kinds of free
software, including audio utilities.11
http://www.findsounds.com/Would you like to include some sound
effects in your project?
You can find a number of sites with sound effects (some free,
some not) using Google.
FindSounds is one to start with.
Notice that you can search for sounds in a given format -- .wav,
.mp3, etc.
You can also specify minimum quality -- sample rate and sample
size (resolution)
http://www.findsounds.com/12
You may also want to include some music, without violating
someones copyright.
There are many online collections of free music you can search
for them.
One such collection is at the Creative Commons music site.
Many musicians release their music with a creative commons
copyright license, which enables you to use it as long as you
comply with the license terms.
There are several different Creative Commons licenses.
One allows completely unrestricted use of the material.
Others impose conditions like no commercial use or attribution
to the original is required.
There are links to Creative Commons in the resources slide of
this presentation.
13
Shift track left/rightZoomSelectMake fine adjustmentsDraw
envelope for fadesMulti toolSummaryShiftPause/play (selection or
entire track)
14We reviewed the functions of the six basic editing tools in
audacity and saw a long list of audio effects.
We saw examples using the select and cut operations and the
Amplify effect.
We also saw several keyboard shortcuts and the difference
between saving a project and exporting an audio file.
This is enough to get you started on simple editing of spoken
material.
You will need to explore and test to learn the other operations
and effects in Audacity.
There are also links to other tutorial and reference material at
the end of this presentation.Self-study questionsWhat is the
difference between the Change Speed and Change Tempo effects?
How do you switch from zooming in to zooming out?
What happens if you zoom in repeatedly?
The following are on the Audacity command menu bar. What does
each do?
ResourcesAudacity audio recorder and editor:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/Topic module on configuring
Audacity to export .mp3 files:
http://cis275topics.blogspot.com/2011/03/configure-audacity-to-export-mp3-files.htmlAudacity
audio recorder and editor, portable version:
http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/audacity_portableAudacity
"how to" videos:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/search/audacity/Audacity keyboard
shortcuts:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/keyboard_shortcuts.htmlAudacity
how-to presentation:
http://pa.gigavox.com/shows/detail1595.htmlAudacity Wiki:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity threaded discussion forum:
http://audacityteam.org/forum/Audacity tutorial (on Mac, but good
for Windows too):
http://homepage.mac.com/s_sloan/apsc_2007/audacity_jmc.pdfAudacity
on del.icio.us:
http://del.icio.us/search/?fr=del_icio_us&p=audacity&type=allAudacity
tutorials:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=TutorialsEditing
voice tracks like a pro, Jay Rose:
http://www.dplay.com/dv/0104edit/Sound effects you can use:
http://www.findsounds.com/Creative Commons licenses:
https://creativecommons.org/choose/Creative Commons music:
https://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideosCreative Commons
licensed work: http://search.creativecommons.org/