Audacity

Using Audacity

From the 2008 Learning Technologies Showcase and Testdrive presentation at Mount Royal College.

Presented by Cynthia Wannamaker:

Audacity is a FREE audio editor and recorder which works in Windows, Mac or Linus operating systems.

Audacity is a FREE download from the internet. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

In order to export MP3 files from Audacity, you will also need to download LAME MP3 encoding software. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3

Once all that technical stuff is done, you can get underway!

With Audacity, you can import files in to work with or record directly into the program.

The advantage of Audacity over other programs is that you can combine, or "mix" audio tracks together, as you might want to do if you were, for example, podcasting a play and wanted to add sound effects to it.

Learn more about the software [|here] or follow a tutorial [|here].

DEMONSTRATION

- Audacity "accepts" outside data in only two formats: WAV and MP3. Sheri and I recorded two parts of a Guided Meditation on Gabcast yesterday. Since our Gabcasts are recorded in MP3 format, we can directly import them to Audacity (demo). We could also - with the purchase of a $10 microphone,have recorded our parts directly into the Audacity program.

- I wanted to add sound effects to our Guided Meditation, so I took out some sound effect recordings from the library. Unfortunately, these recordings are often in Windows Media Format, or something that is playable by Windows Media, but not by Audacity. In order for Audacity to import these audio files, we have to use the advanced feature of Windows Media player to rip a selection from the CD in MP3 format. Once ripped, we'll check the "My Music" section of "My Documents" for the file (Look under the "Library" menu and click on "rip music": then choose "MP3" from the drop down menu in the Windows Media Player).

- To combine these, I want to start with Sheri's part, followed by my part. I can do this by aligning track. Now, during my speech, I'd like to add birdsong and stream noises playing simultaneously as I speak, so I need to align these tracks with my part.

Here's what the final version sounds like: media type="file" key="GuidedMed.mp3"