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

Installing libraries


Before you jump in and get ready to export your podcast to MP3, you'll need to install a library that allows you to encode (or digitize) MP3 files. Due to software patents, Audacity can't package these libraries with the program itself, so we'll download and install manually.

We're going to use LAME, a high quality MP3 encoder licensed under the General Public License (GPL). This means that it can be widely distributed with open source software projects like Audacity. Installation is easy, in that you just have three basic steps: download, extract, and save the files to the Audacity folder. So let's do that.

  1. Open a web browser and go to the LAME download page at http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/.

    Note

    NOTE: This site uses a form of protection called anti-hotlinking. It allows you to download files from it directly, as long as browser configurations and permissions are set to common/usual settings.

  2. Find the appropriate LAME file for your computer's operating system, and then click...