Recording with Audacity
Audacity is an excellent choice for recording from a microphone or any other external source. Fortunately it is open-source software written by a team of volunteers under the GNU General Public License. The information on this page is intended as a partial guide to using Audacity for Voice Recording purposes. For detailed information on using the software, and to download your own copy, visit http://audacity.sourceforge.net.
Getting Started:
- Open Audacity from your Programs Menu
- The controls are very straight-forward. The PAUSE button is especially useful for long recordings where breaks are required The main controls from left to right are: REWIND/PLAY/RECORD/PAUSE/STOP/FAST FORWARD
- Use the sliders to adjust playback and recording levels. Select the appropriate recording source device from the drop down menu. You can record from a Line source, or a Microphone for example.
- Start your recording by pressing the red RECORD button.
- Check the VU Level Meters to make sure they are active by speaking into the microphone. The left meter represents the playback level coming through the headphones, and the right meter represents the microphone volume level. An ideal recording will approach the 0db (Zero Decibel) level, without reaching or passing it. If the levels exceed the 0db level, distortion and clipping may be introduced into your recording.
- The ideal amplitude of the recording shouldn't be too thick or too thin. It should appear as a full-bodied waveform as shown below -
- Audacity is a multitrack recorder by default. This means that every time RECORD + STOP is pressed, a new recording track will appear below a previous one. During playback, ALL tracks are merged to one single track resulting a mixed audio file. For example the following two tracks shown here will be superimposed if the file is saved at this point in time. This is considered a feature when working with multiple tracks for mixing different instruments into a song for example, or voice recordings containing more than one speaker.
- To avoid merging, close additional tracks before saving, by selecting the X in the upper left corner of each additional track OR - select FILE / NEW to open an entirely new Audacity Window, and close off the old one. Only ONE Track should be visible when saving a voice recording.
- Voice recordings typically only require one single track, so when saving an audio file select FILE/EXPORT AS WAV (.wav). Since Audacity is a multitrack recorder, it allows for saving of multitrack recording projects projects into its own native format (.aup - audacity project). If you are working with multiple tracks, this format is good for re-opening your project at a later time. Audacity also supports MP3 encoding, however an encoder (availabe at the Audacity homepage) must be installed first.
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