Audacity

Using the free open source software Audacity to record audio.

How to Download Audacity

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

  • Try to keep your audio segments less than 30 minutes in length.
  • Turn off all cell phones and try to make sure the phone will not ring during your recording.
  • Try to record your audio at nights or on the weekends when there is less likelihood of being interrupted.

Step 1

  • Open Audacity
  • Make sure the microphone is on and plugged into the correct plug on your computer.


 

Step 2

  • Select the source for your recording.

Step 3

  • Go to File > Preferences > Quality and make sure that the that the sample rate is set to 22050, and the sample format is set to 16bit.

Step 4

  • Press the Record button in the Audacity program to begin recording.
  • If you would like to pause before continuing, press the Pause button. To continue when you are ready, press the Record button.

Step 5

  • As you're recording, you'll see the levels of your voice being recorded. They should look similar to the levels shown.

Hint: If you notice a lot of extreme peaks, stop recording and listen to the audio you've recorded. If you hear a lot of distortion due to the levels being to high or if the levels aren't loud enough adjust your Mic volume.

  • When you've finished recording, press Stop.

Step 6

  • Once you are done recording, push the Stop button to stop recording.
  • Select File > Export As MP3. A window will pop up explaining that your tracks will be combined. Click OK.
  • Save to a location on your hard drive. A window will pop up asking you to label the artist/track information of your file. You may leave this blank.

EDITING TIPS

Tracks are created every time you start and stop recording. The first time you begin recording, the audio will record into a single track. If you stop and then press record again, the program will begin recording audio on the second track, and so on. Note: It is important that the audio portion of each track NOT overlap on the timeline. (Figure 7)

Add Audio

  • To add audio, click the selection tool, then click the point on the timeline where you would like your recording to begin and click Record. This will create a new track.

Move Audio

  • Move the audio on a track to the left or right along the timeline by using the Time Shift Tool.

Delete Audio

  • In order to delete unwanted sections of audio, highlight the part you want to remove using the mouse and press the Delete key.

Insert Silence

  • If you want to replace the selection with silence, select Edit > Silence. If you want to create silence for a section of the track, select that section using the mouse and select Generate > Silence.

    Note: Unlike Edit > Silence, Generate > Silence does not replace the selected portion, it adds equivalent time in silence.

The NEXT STEP...
 

Put your Audio on the Web

Insert your Audio into PowerPoint

  • Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  • Go to the slide you want the audio to be on.
  • Select Insert > Movies and Sound > Sound from file...
  • Locate your file and press OK.
  • Select Yes or No depending on if you want the audio file to play automatically or not.

Additional Resources