Book Image

Getting started with Audacity 1.3

Book Image

Getting started with Audacity 1.3

Overview of this book

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.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Getting started with Audacity 1.3
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
9
Giving Your Audio Some Depth: Applying Effects
Toolbar, Menu, and Keyboard Shortcut Reference
Glossary of Terms
Index

Recording voice tracks


With your material—script, story, or notes—you're ready to go, right? We shall start with a standard manual recording session.

The simple voice track

This is the simplest recording session. When you're ready, carry out the steps below:

  1. Open the Audacity project that you created in the previous chapter (if it isn't already open) on your computer.

  2. Take a deep breath, and then click on the Record button, as seen in the next screenshot, and start speaking aloud your script.

  3. Immediately, you'll see the project view portion of your Audacity window change. A voice track will appear, showing your recording, live!

  4. The left (L) and right (R) channels show the volume of your voice (shown in the bars in the upper-right-hand of the previous screenshot). The digital interpretation of your voice is shown in the audio track portion of the project view (the blue "lines", or sound waves, that you see on your screen). Don't let this make you nervous; just focus on delivering a great voice...