Book Image

Getting started with Audacity 1.3

3 (1)
Book Image

Getting started with Audacity 1.3

3 (1)

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

Chapter 1. Audacity and the World of Audio Editing

This book is all about Audacity, an open source audio editing software. This means that the software is free to download, and you can use it to create items that are freely distributable. You'll learn all of the basics about creating audiocasts—or podcasts—that can be uploaded to the Web and shared with the world.

To start with, this chapter will discuss what audio editing software is, who typically uses it, how you can use it, and what computer operating systems it will work on. We'll also talk a bit about how Audacity is an open source project and what that means to you and your projects, as well as the differences between Audacity 1.2 and the latest version, in case there are a few readers who want to work with the upgrade.

Note

Don't worry if you're not familiar with audio terms, editing, or even recording your voice on anything other than a tape recorder. We'll go over some common audio editing terms that will get you in the know.

Also covered will be an overview of the Audacity software main screen, the main menu, main window, all of the toolbars, buttons and settings, as well as what a 'project' is in Audacity. We'll also get into some of the basic fundamentals to remember when setting up a project in Audacity. All of this will lay the foundation for your very first Audacity project of recording a podcast!