Learning how to use Audacity for basic audio tasks doesn't have to be hard. Audacity is a powerful and simple-to-use audio recording and production piece of software for Windows and Macintosh. It is designed to make the recording process as easy as using a tape player, while offering multitrack recording and powerful audio effects processing plugins for those who like to tinker. The software is even completely free!
Open Beta News Update! Now available from audacity.sourceforge.net is open beta v1.39, stable release. Dozens of new features are added, as well as interface tweaks.
Tips
Spend the time to adjust the microphone level carefully before starting. It is much harder to fix your track after.
If you are going to be using Audacity for a lot of podcasting, it pays to invest in a quality microphone and headphones.
Learn to tell if your audio tracks are at proper levels by the shape of the waveforms. Are they too short or tall?
Audacity doesn't auto-save your work, so make sure to save often!
Play around with the different plug-ins such as the equalizers to make your track sound just right. There are many to learn.
Introduction
Using Audacity to create podcasts with music and even entire songs, on its surface, is little more complex than pressing the record button. To create podcasts with backing music, you'll need the software, a microphone and headphones, and your background music in .wav, .aiff., .midi or .mp3 files.
For the purposes of this article, we will assume you have the Audacity software installed on your computer. If you don't, get it from Download.com or Sourceforge.net. The Audacity page on Sourceforge is a great place to get more information.
Audacity Tutorial for Podcasting
In this video, Rob White teaches how to do basic podcast recording in Audacity for Windows, though it is also available for Macs. He goes through everything step by step, from talking about how to set up your microphone to actually saving the file when you're done.
Step 1: Setting Up For Recording in Audacity
Plug in a microphone and some headphones into your computer and open the Audacity software. It pays to have a decent microphone and a good pair of headphones. Audacity is compatible with USB microphones and headphones as well as those that plug into your computer's microphone input and output.
To get set for recording voice podcasts, place the microphone on your desk about 2.5 feet from where you will be speaking; far enough away that you won't get any bleed from your headphones
Step 2: Recording the Vocal Track
Don your headphones, click the record button and begin speaking "test, test, test" and then cut the recording. Play it back through your headphones. Does it sound warped and clipped, like music does when played too loud in the car? If so, adjust the slider next to the image of the microphone in the top left corner of the screen down a bit, and try your test again. When your voice is coming out nice and clear, resume your recording.
Step 3: Adding Background Audio
Insert some background music or sound effects by dropping down under the "Project" menu to "New Audio Track." Import your audio track based on its file type under the "Project" menu after clicking at the beginning of the track you just created.
Now, copy and paste or use the Generate pull-down menu and select "Silence" until you have the background track the way you like it. You can always cut a little bit here and there from your vocal track by selecting some of the dead space and hitting the delete key.
Step 4: Adding Audio Effects
Add some effects to your podcast or audio tracks with the plug-ins under the "Effects" tab. For more control over your podcasts or audio tracks in Audacity, download the effects pack from the Sourceforge page and run the installer. It will be automatically added to Audacity.
The best effects to use for voice are a little bit of reverb for which there are several plugin options, and the "Noise Removal" and "Click Removal" options. Both will require you select a small sample of the audio, preferably of both your voice and backing tracks, and test the plug-ins out to get the perfect amount of noise or click removal.
Step 5: Finishing and Exporting
As soon as you are satisfied with your track, go to the file menu and select "Export as WAV" or "Export as AIFF" depending on whether you are using Windows or Macintosh, respectively. Finally, after you have a high-quality copy of your audio saved to the disk, go back to the file menu and select "Export as MP3."
Audacity does the rest, and your podcast or audio track is now ready for upload to the web!
