Installing and starting up with Audacity
The free audio recording and editing application, Audacity, can be downloaded and installed on your computer by going to the Audacity download site:
Under file, open a new Audacity file and then set up your input and output links. Test them by recording.
Input could be either you computer’s built-in microphone or, better, an external microphone (preferably through a mixer linked through your computer’s USB. Output could be your computer’s build-in headphone jack or to an external mixer with a headphone jack. (See Recording instructions)
Note – Don’t use both your built-in microphone and your build-in speakers because you’ll get feedback.
Also – Older versions of Audacity may not work very well with the newer system software. Try to download the most recent stable version of Audacity.
Editing in Audacity
Good introduction by Kevin Stratvert – walks you through most of the features of Audacity
Advanced editing by Colin Kelly – Shows how to dip and filter.
Audacity and the Audio.com platform
When you use version 3.3 or higher of audacity, you notice that there is a new “Share Audio” button in the middle of the tool bar. The share sends your latest version as an mp3 to Audio.com, which is to audio what YouTube is to video. Yes, unlimited and free, unlike other podcasting and audio sharing platforms.
Starting up
When you open a new file with Audacity, check your Audio Setup (big button in the center). You probably want a sample rate of 44100 Hz and stereo channels. The rest you can leave to defaults.
When you press the big red Record button, or when you import audio, a pair of stereo channels appears instantly. There are the standard play, rewind and loop buttons, as well as a set of selection and trim tools that may be a little unfamiliar. Use the “envelope” tool by clicking to create nodes and then moving them inwards or outwards from the center line to increase or decrease volume.
In newer versions of Audacity you can temporarily apply effects to see what they would do. Among these are:
- compression (reduces the dynamic range , sometimes to permit the audio to be amplified further without clipping) than would be otherwise possible.
- distortion (changes waveform frequency, can make the sound ‘crunchy’ or ‘abrasive’)
- limiter (prevents peaks in range)
- phasing, reverb and wahwah…
A full list of effects, generators, analyzers and tools is found on the Audacity site here.
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Collaboration and audio editing apps
The first big issue with live streaming audio collaboration is quality – most of your real time collaborative applications (Zoom, YouTube, Streamyard) are not built for higher quality music and voice acting work. These professional quality DAWs (digital audio work stations) have real-time collaborative features.
- Audiomovers.com $100-300/yr (collaborative editing)
- Adobe Audition $21 / month ‘
- Bandlab (has a tip jar! ) $150 / year
- Digital performer (PC, Mac) $500 – from MOTU – A much loved DAW
- GarageBand (Mac) free
- Reaper (has a lot of enthusiastic fans) two month free startup, $60-225 after that (not so much! they say)