Using Audacity to make a recording Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems and can be downloaded from: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Audacity icon 1. Open Audacity software on your computer. 2. Check that your microphone is connected. The main Audacity screen 1
Control Panel 1. Play Material already recorded 2. Record New material 3. Pause Playback or recording of material 4. Stop Playback or recording Before you start recording, make sure your input device (microphone, headset etc.) is connected to the computer, and any drivers of software needed to run it are installed. Select your input source from the drop down menu (may not display on all computers due to your settings) e.g. Microphone. If the area is greyed-out and you are unable to select anything it may be because you plugged the headphones in after you started the programme. If this is the case, try restarting Audacity with the headphones already plugged in. 2
Recording Once you have selected Record, Audacity will start recording. As you speak into your microphone or import from an external device you will see the red bar above the Microphone icon showing your voice level. You can adjust the level by using the slider next to the microphone icon underneath. You will also see a waveform which represents the audio that is being recorded. You can use the Blue pause button to pause recording then select it again to continue. When the recording is finished, press the yellow Stop button to stop recording. If you press the stop button and then record again, the recording will start in a new track below the current one. 3
To Save your Project Once you have finished your recording select File and Save Project As. Saving your project means that you can re-open it in Audacity and make further changes if necessary. To Save your Recording Saving your recording means that you export the audio you have recorded into a sound file that you can use elsewhere. You can choose to save it as a wav, mp3 or ogg file. Wav and ogg are high quality file formats but they produce much larger file sizes. If you are intending to use your audio on the web, you should export it as an mp3 file, which compresses the information to produce a smaller file size. To save as a WAV file select File - Export as WAV. Give the file a name and save it. To save your recording as an MP3 select File Export as MP3 See notes below: If you are trying to save an mp3 file, you may see a warning message asking if you want to locate a file called lame_enc.dll. This file is needed to convert the audio to mp3. If asked select Yes and locate where the file is saved. If this file is not on your computer it may be downloaded from http://winlame.sourceforge.net/ Once downloaded and saved it does not have to be done again 4
Editing your recording To edit a part of your recording choose the selection tool icon, which looks like a capital I. Select the area you wish to edit by dragging across the area with the left mouse button held down. The selected area is shown in a darker grey. You may play back the area you selected by clicking on the Play button or pressing the Space bar on the keyboard. You can then either cut the selected area out, copy it to paste in elsewhere in the recording, or apply an effect to just that part of the recording. To remove the highlighted section, click on Cut from the Edit menu. This is also useful for moving a part of your recording to another part by cutting and then pasting, or inserting another recording. You can apply an effect from the effect menu, for example Amplify to make the selection louder. 5
If you have cut or copied some of your recording and want to paste it somewhere else, locate the section you want to paste it to and using the selection tool mark the area where you want to paste to by clicking that part of the waveform. This will place a vertical black line into the waveform. Choose Paste from the Edit menu and the audio that you placed in the clipboard will be pasted from the black line. You could also paste in all or part of another recording, or add music to the start and end. If you are creating a podcast, you may want to start with a short introduction then a short section of music and then the actual voice recording ending with the music. If you choose to do this you must make sure that you have permission for any music or other audio materials that are protected by copyright. Do NOT paste a WAV file into an MP3 file or vice versa as you will find that you will end up sounding like Donald Duck or something similar, stay with one format, preferably WAV, and you can convert to MP3 later. Once you have edited your recording, save it as a new file rather than overwriting the existing one. If you realise you missed a part or edited away too much, you can then refer back to your original unedited recording. 6
If you find your recording too quiet, you can increase the amplification. Select the part of your recording you wish to amplify, or press CTRL+A to select all of your recording. From the Effect menu, click on Amplify, or select any of the other available effects that suit your requirements. A new window will appear, you can then move the slider to the right to increase the volume of the recording or left to decrease it. Use the Preview button to listen to your changes, and when you are happy with them, click on OK to apply the changes. Beware of increasing the volume too much as the recording could become distorted. 7
Importing from other sources You can import recordings from another source into Audacity e.g. from an external cassette or CD player. Once the external equipment is connected to your computer, select the appropriate input source from the dropdown menu such as Mic, Line In, or Aux (auxiliary). These correspond to the most common input sockets for most computers and usually found on the back of the computer. When importing from an external source use the same procedure for recording as with recording from a microphone. Remember not to mix WAV and MP3 files together. Recording tips Plan the structure for your recording, and break it into clear sections which you can record one part at a time using the pause button. This will save you having to re-record the whole piece if you make a mistake. Don t write everything down word for word as this will sound wooden. Use bullet points; write down key words and important points. If possible say it in your own words and without reading from a script. Ambient noise from open windows etc. can affect the quality of your recording. If necessary unplug your phone, turn off any radio or TVs, and put a do not disturb sign on your door in order to avoid interruptions. Run through what you will say at least once before the actual recording: get used to talking it through and get a realistic idea of the time it will take. Try some practice recordings before you embark on the real thing. 8
When you start recording, record a sentence and check that it sounds ok and that the microphone is in a good position to pick up all people you are recording. Keep the microphone away from any loudspeakers to avoid feedback or high pitched whistling Try to use the pause button rather than the stop button between sections, to create one large file, rather than lots of small ones. It is easier to edit one big file than lots of small ones which you then have to paste together. Leave a pause in your speech between each section or paragraph. This way if you make a mistake it will be easier to edit and start again from your last pause. Don t worry about making mistakes, simply leave a gap and start the sentence again. You can edit it later. Don t worry about umms and errs you can edit these out if you wish. If you are recording an interview leave a gap (about 3 seconds) between each question and answer if someone makes a mistake and wants to start again it will be easier to edit. Sometimes the computer screen can be distracting, turn off your monitor or turn away your laptop during your recording if possible. Before you begin to edit your recording, playback the entire recording first, listening to what you have recorded. This will help you to identify which areas you wish to edit. When you have edited your recording, save it as a new file rather than overwriting the existing one, then if you realise you missed a part or edited away too much you are able to refer back to your original unedited recording. File sizes and Settings Size matters It is important to be aware of the final size of your recorded file, especially if the file will be available over the internet. The larger the file the longer it will take to download, also the files are stored on a local server and keeping the files as small as possible will preserve space. This section will attempt to show you how keep the file as small as possible. If you are going to use your audio file in NILE your file must not be larger than 10mb. Sample Rate: This is a measure of how many times per second the computer makes a recording of a voice. There are frequency settings within Audacity between 11025Hz and 9600Hz, the lower setting means fewer recordings per second which means a lower quality recording, but also a smaller file size. You can change the sample rate by clicking on Edit Preferences and then clicking on the Quality tab. You may want to play around with this 9
setting if your file is too large, to find a balance between sound quality and file size. Sample format: This is measured in bit which means how bits of memory the computer uses for each recording. Again the lower the number the lower the quality of the recording, and the smaller the file size. This can be changed in the File Formats section of the Preferences screen. Recommended settings Sample rate: 44100Hz and Sample format 16 bit. These are the settings used by the BBC in their podcasts and CDs. Example: A WAV file of 2mins and 30 secs recorded with the default settings (sample rate of 44100Kh and a bit rate of 128) has a file size of 14.3MB. When converted to an MP3 file the size is reduced to 2.39MB, if the bit rate is reduced to 56 the file is further reduced to 1.04mb without any noticeable loss of sound quality. Don t forget, you can also contact the NILE team directly at academicitsupport@northampton.ac.uk, where one of our dedicated team will help with any NILE enquiries or problems. 10