Simple guide to editing in Audacity - Steeple
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1. Compressor from the Effects menu Start by moving all sliders to the left hand side giving minimal compression To be on the safe side unselect the Normalize option we will normalize the track later http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 9 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple yyinamic Range Compressor Dynan Range Compressor by Qommnec Mazzoni 0 dB 12 dB 24 dB 36 dB 48 dB 50 dB 60 4B 48 4B 36 dB 30 dB 24 dB 12 4B 0 dB Theeshokt 56 amp Raio 21 j T Nomaize to 0d aher compressing 24 08 2009 14 29 This should give the recording a warmer feel you can experiment with other settings using the Preview option Remember There is always the Undo function so don t worry if you think you ve completely destroyed the recording you can always go back 3 5 Equalisation EQ EQing as it is called in musical circles involves boosting and reducing certain frequencies in the recording At its most simplest it can be used to remove rumble and hiss Rumble is caused by low frequencies and hiss by high frequencies It is recommended that for spoken word recording the following EQ curve should be used Equalization Equalization by Mitch Golden amp Vaughan Johnson 24 dB 0 dB 24 dB 30Hz 100 Hz 300 Hz 1000 Hz 10000 Hz Predefined acoustic C NAB C Cokenbia LP C AES C Decca FFRR Micro Decca FF2. ME v3 97 Feed Leary Ogg Vorbis certainly has the best name and is another compressed format with better reproduction than the MP3 format it is an Open Source standard but is generally not supported as much as WAV files or MP3 files maybe one day it will gain in popularity If you have more than one sound file select the one you want to save and choose Export as Form the File menu I would suggest saving as a WAV and also saving as an MP3 which is probably the version that you will use The rest of this page is intentionally left blank for your own contributions Please contribute to these tutorials by visiting Steeple at http www steeple org uk wiki contribute Retrieved from http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing in Audacity Category SteepleBooklet http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 14 of 14
3. O Audo tort rec Mesat Sound Mapper irou Logitech Mic Conmurscate STX I Play other backs shie seceding new one Software Playthrough Play new tack whia recording t The signal level volume of low cost microphones with no pre amp is an issue so make sure the sound card is set correctly to maximum boost and the microphone is selected as input source for recording You should also check that you have not muted playback from your PC This is done via Start gt All Programs gt Accessories gt Entertainment gt Volume Control Check Master Volume is not muted or at zero also check that Wave playback is not muted or at zero The check the input source click on Options gt Properties all PCs are different but you need to check that microphone recording is enabled for the input socket you are using The following has enable input via the red phono socket on the rear of the PC Properties 2 x Rear Input C Stereo Mix 2 3 Recording Now it is time to record a track Click the big red record button and speak into the microphone Adjust the http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 4 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 input level so that the level indicator peaks at about 3dB Select the track by clicking on it it should change colour Now make a copy do this by selecting Edit
4. RR 78 C RIAA C Cokumbia78 C Decca FFRR LP C EMI78 C RCA Vietor 1998 RICA Victor 1947 Preview ca fE o Select the whole track and select Equalization from the Effects menu Click on the left hand end of the blue line you will see a small circle is added http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 10 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Equalization Next click on the blue line directly above the 50Hz marker do not worry about being too precise you can move the blobs sideways later Now you can drag the first marker downwards to the 24dB level Equalization Repeat the process adding more handles to the line Do this above the following frequencies 300Hz 700Hz 3000Hz and 10000Hz Equalization http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 11 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Then drag the handles around the top to get the desired shape Equalization x Equalization by Mitch Golden amp Vaughan Johnson 24 dB 0 dB 24 dB 30 Hz 100 Hz 300 Hz 1000 Hz 10000 Hz acoustic C NAB C Cohenbia LP C AES C Decca FFAR Micro C Decca FFRR 78 RIAA C Columbia 78 C Decca FFRR LP C EMI78 C RCAVictor1938 ROA Victor 1947 Preview E Equalisation may reduce the volume so it may be an idea to increase the volume using the Amplify options fr
5. Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Simple guide to editing in Audacity From Steeple Contents Outline 2 Setting up and recording a sound file 2 1 Equipment 2 2 Configure Audacity 2 3 Recording 3 Editing a sound file 3 1 Cueing Up 3 2 Fade In 3 3 Removing Blemishes 3 4 Compression 3 5 Equalisation EQ 3 6 Normalisation 3 7 Other Effects 4 Saving your project and exporting to a podcast mp3 format 1 Outline This session will introduce you to Audacity a free cross platform audio editing application You will learn how to set up Audacity and how to record manipulate and save a sound file suitable for use in a course project podcast or on a website The Audacity website is http audacity sourceforge net The software is Open Source meaning that it is free and can be modified by anybody with the appropriate skills you can make a donation to the authors though this will help the project prosper Browse the Website have a look at the tabs at the top they include comprehensive help and user guides There are different downloads for different operating systems and plug ins etc There is also an Audacity wiki and user community area To install Audacity on your own machine you should download the latest proper version ie not a Beta version the Windows version is downloadable from the front page of the site other versions
6. age on scene Then delete the area with the Delete button on the keyboard The second method is to reduce the volume this may give a more natural flow to the track than simply chopping out the blemish To do this select the blemish as described above and then choose Amplify from the Effects dropdown menu Move the slider to the left to choose a negative value and press OK To see if you have fixed the problem play back the track and listen to see if the new volume is suitable If you have reduced the volume too much then undo the effect and try again with less severe setting If the cough is still too loud then repeat the operation http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 7 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 The third method is to replace the offending area with silence or white noise Select the blemish as described above Then select Silence from the Generate drop down menu If the silence sounds wrong then try replacing the blemish with white noise You will probably need to reduce the volume of the generated noise until it fits in with the rest of the track This will involve a bit of trial and error although you should be able to judge the approximate volume by looking at the sound file The fourth method is probably the trickiest approach to use and should only be used if the previous methods have failed First of all determine
7. and efficient way of boosting a weak audio recording s signal to a useable level One downside to using this tool is that it will of course boost any background noise as well 3 7 Other Effects Audacity has many built in effects Have a play occasionally it may enhance the recording to add an echo or a wah wah Other plug ins can be downloaded from Audacity site Reverb may be a useful addition as it can compliment vocal recordings if used conservatively Reverb makes a sound appear that it has been recorded in a room with reflective walls it adds a variety of subtle echoes which give the impression of space Think about how different your voice sounds in a tiled bathroom as opposed to a living room with furniture and carpets It is common practice to record voices in a dampened room perhaps with curtains or egg boxes covering the walls the impression of space can then be added later However if you are editing a podcast be careful to use these effects sparingly as they can distort and lessen the overall sound quality of the recording 4 Saving your project and exporting to a podcast mp3 format Obviously it is good practise to save copies of the track as you progress just in case of unexpected events The easiest option is to choose Save Project or Save Project As from the File menu Make sure you save your work in a sensible place and give it a sensible name You probably also want to save the sound file in a format
8. are available via the Download tab http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 1 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 we Mer Teme Dee O oe E E Oe le Ae et Tap lewwe p emoi as aa Tap t a aeon gt p o e pio tig n 1 ere a om D Eomae ee Do arwosd asmu ta oe oe tore for Of erred ane Rt Noten Br wose on W Mec onx aonr saan T sees AT sete aiit mans Patan renean g CESLA B It is also recommended that you download or read the Quick Reference Guides and or User Manual these are available under the Help tab Note Audacity is not necessarily the best choice for musicians and video post production There are other software packages listed which are more suitable An example of one of the drawbacks is that the Effects Echo Compression etc are printed onto the source file in other words you change the source file rather than routing the source file through an effects processor as happens with other systems Another point to note is that Audacity does not have a mixer meaning that it is not particularly good for playing two sources at once It also lacks a sequencer for syncing with MIDI instruments What Audacity is good at is simple sound recording there is probably no need to buy a package to do this as it runs on Windows Linux and MacOS You can use the project menu import audio command to import MP3 files and WAV files in
9. gt Duplicate You could also use Cut and Paste You now have two tracks of the same material Name both tracks by using the drop down arrow in the track view Call the first original and the second edit track or something Next select View gt Fit in window to see the whole audio track You can change the resolution of your view using the zoom tools or click and drag at the track edges http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 5 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 3 Editing a sound file 3 1 Cueing Up A good thing to do is to delete the silence at the beginning of the recording To figure out where the silence ends you should use both your ears and eyes Select the silence and delete using the delete button on your keyboard gt Oe ee he AARU on APARE ia uw u is nete ea ee LNT NN EAR anem lee ne 3 2 Fade In Next select a short segment of file from the beginning of the file and then choose Effects gt Fade In This is very useful to avoid a surprisingly loud signal from the start It allows the listener time to adjust to what they will be hearing amsi so W aw hue wo on wiw a ET ms eee jE y ee J n ET PER EH TN TE T LEIALA 2 mH ae r PP Re O A 4n eee ee ee ee ETAG ov w 4n Daa ae eee emery HH tenes a eae e e ee iee NE NY NEL AM TE ee lee So ne 3 3 Removing B
10. lemishes If the track contains a cough or other such noises it may be good to remove it There are four ways to do this either chop the blemish out of the track entirely reduce the volume of the blemish replace the blemish with silence or white noise or if there is significant background noise meaning the first three options are not suitable replace the blemish with some background noise copied from elsewhere within the sound file http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 6 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 There is a temptation to remove all coughs and blemishes throughout the track Firstly this is a lot of work as you have to trawl through the whole track and find each blemish in turn Secondly if the edits are not done properly the track can sound artificial or unprofessional The recommendation is to only remove major problems and leave other minor venue noises in the track after all they were part of the event a To chop out the blemish first select the appropriate area of the sound file ot yer Se Gree Oe wae we LEL po AA EA et et RA LLILLECIKI LLILLLIKI P af 22g w DSJ a is You may like to expand the resolution to make selection easier This is achieved by using the Zoom In facility which is a magnifying glass containing a sign ee sl H H rib Ro FIFI FOR tg POR EHTS Seo Sn Tess E f er
11. om the Effects menu 3 6 Normalisation Normalising a track means making it as loud as possible without adding distortion Audacity will analyse the peak volume then boost the amplitude of the wave ensuring that the peak volume does not exceed the prescribed limit Remember that we compressed before so much of the spike will have been reduced anyway This is a good trick to use if your recording is quiet and you think it needs to be louder For instance if your recording equipment is not as powerful as you would like it to be the normalize function can raise the volume levels to a more audible level However it is important to remember not to raise the levels too much or it will sounds distorted or clipped so use your own judgement about how loud you want to make your track Select the whole track and select Normalize from the Effects menu Leave the default options and click OK Normalize xi Normalize by Dominic Mazzoni ysgeereeeeeseneeeseneeeerresensnssensssenenagareesesstnnsersnnnnessssesssseenennssrsesensessareeneneesenes V Normalize maximum amplitude to 3 dB Preview Cancel ox http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 12 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 The recording should now be louder The 3dB option gives a little headroom for further editing of the track ee m a ee Be This is a quick
12. that is able to be played back on your device of choice WAV is a lossless format it is a Microsoft Windows format but is supported on most platforms MP3 is a compressed format and is very common Unlike WAVs MP3 files can be played back on iPods and similar and can be used for podcasting It is roughly one tenth of the size of a WAV and for this reason is the ideal format for delivery over the web podcasts should use this format MP3 files can be saved at different bit rates the higher the bit rate the better the quality and the larger the file size Audacity has a bit rate of 128 which is fine however a bit rate of 64 will produce smaller files and may still sound fine If space is at a premium then you can experiment with different bit rates To change the bit rates use the Edit menu select Preferences then File Formats the bit rate is at the bottom under MP3 Export Setup http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 13 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Audacity Preferences Aado 0 Quality Fie Formate Spechogsame Directores intertace Keyboard Moure When mootrg uncomprented autho ties into Audecty C Make a copy ol the fie before edina saiel Read drecty tom the ongnal the Laster Uncompeesied Export F omat WAM Micasa Signed 16 ba POM 0G6 Expat Sen 066 Quay SO 0 MP Expat Senp MPI Lissy Veron LA
13. the length of the blemish you may like to Zoom In to make sure your calculations are as accurate as possible MED 5 5 9 5 5 5 ea In this case the blemish lasts 5 35 4 70 secs 0 65secs Now copy 0 65secs of ambient background noise from elsewhere in the track do this by selecting an area and then use the Copy button http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 8 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 af a r Yje i p aes retam a are The finished track should now have the blemish removed You should listen to the section that was replaced to see if it sounds acceptable You can always undo the changes if the results are not satisfactory 3 4 Compression In a nutshell Compression or Dynamic Range Compression makes the quiet bits of the recording louder and the loud bits quieter It may not be suitable in all situations especially when the recording contains significant background noise with big gaps between the louder spoken sections You need to rely on your ears to make sure that the level of compression you have added is suitable for your recording Where appropriate compression is used to give more body to the spoken voice and to musical instruments such as drums Compression is probably used on 99 of recorded material Select the whole track by clicking in the left hand side track information box then select
14. to Audacity If you are expecting to want to save sound files in MP3 format then you also need to download and save the LAME MP3 encoder This library is also free but must be downloaded separately from the main software probably due to licensing restrictions Type LAME MP3 encoder into the Google search box at the top of the page this will give you a page of explanation Read the instructions and then visit the LAME website http lame buanzo com ar versions exist for Windows MacOS and Linux Download the appropriate ZIP file and expand and save somewhere sensible This may mean My Documents or possibly Program Files or equivalent Once you have saved the LAME encoder you need to tell Audacity where the library can be found To do this use Edit gt Preferences gt File Formats Then click on the Find Library button and navigate to the sensible place where you saved LAME http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 2 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Aado lO Quay File Formate Spechogsame Orectoses intertace Keyboard Moure When importing uncompeerted sado tikes nto Audacty C Make a copy of the file before eding zater Plead drecty tor the ongni the I acter Uncompeesied Export F omna WAV Miceoteft Signed 16 b POM OGG Expat Seip 066 Quy 5 0 10 MP3 E
15. xpat Serp MPI Lissy Venton LAME v3 97 Find Lite 8a Rate hs 2 Setting up and recording a sound file 2 1 Equipment To make a spoken word recording you need a decent microphone and decent set of speakers A poor microphone means that your original sound source will not be good and no amount of editing and enhancement will make it sound professional A good pair of speakers with a flat response is also essential If your speakers do not faithfully represent the actual sound for example they do not play treble very well then you may end up boosting frequencies that are actually present but that you cannot hear through your speakers 2 2 Configure Audacity The first thing you may need to do is to set the audio input and output this is done via preferences It is probably best to choose your soundcard for output Audacity Preferences Aado I O Qualty Fie Formate Spechogsame Drectoses Intertace Keybowd Mowie D Play other back shie secceding new one Software Playthrough Play new tack wide recording t As you will be recording via a microphone select that as the input source A mono channel should be OK http www steeple org uk wiki Simple_guide_to_editing_in_Audacity Page 3 of 14 Simple guide to editing in Audacity Steeple 24 08 2009 14 29 Aado I O Quality Fite Formate Spechogsame Deectones intertace Keyboard Moure Piybsct Device Maroc Sard Mape Ospu Device H
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