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

Aligning tracks and using Time Shift


If you are using more than one audio track in your project, you might need to align the tracks so that they start at the same time, move voice tracks so that they start at the correct times, or even move one track to start later than another. To do all of this, the Time Shift and Align tools can help.

Using Time Shift

The time shift tool is very easy to use. With your Audacity project open, make sure that the audio track that you want to move is highlighted:

  1. Select the Time Shift Tool.

  2. Click-and-drag the track that you want to move to the desired position.

  3. Release the mouse button to place the track in this new location.

    Tip

    To make more precise time shifts

    Zoom in to the audio track. This is easy to do with shortcut keys. When you have the Time Shift Tool selected, you can use Ctrl + 1 on a Windows computer or Command + 1 on a Mac. To zoom out, you use Ctrl + 3 on a Windows computer or Command + 3 on a Mac. Want to go back to the default magnification? Use...