Audacity

About Audacity

Audacity is a free audio recording, editing and mixing software, distributed under the GNU GPL (General Public License). It is available on all major platforms such as Windows, MAC OS X and Linux.

Audacity has really created a great impact in a very short time due to its remarkable features, which have made users forgo many other audio editing and recording software for this. It has an easy user interface and supports 32-bit floating point audio, which makes it a simple but very useful tool for audio editors. The last thing you need for editing your audio files is to work in a mind-boggling environment, cluttered with design flaws, and you can be sure Audacity offers you no such thing. But the settings might be a bit uncomfortable, at least at the beginning.

Another remarkable fact is the size of Audacity, which is simply 15 MB for its setup file. I am impressed that this freeware uses low-memory resources. It supports various Windows versions, which means that even older PCs that are still running on older versions of the OS can benefit from the software. Although the software is very useful in producing podcasts, it is not really a publishing software. So if you need to publish them, some other software must be used.

When we launched the free audio editor for the first time, it displayed a window showing us different methods of getting help. But need to have an internet connection for help.

On the top left side of the grey user interface were familiar buttons for pausing, playing and stopping. Here are three others for recording and skipping to the start and end. Below them were sliders for selecting the respective levels of speaker, microphone and playback speed. In the middle upper section were buttons for selecting different tools, while the playback and recording levels were on the top right side.

The window displaying audio waves, either of a loaded file or the one being recorded, was in the middle section of the program window. Below them were numbers showing audio position, selection start and either end or length. It also displayed the Project rate and ‘Snap To’ option.

We could let the program use default sound and recording devices on our system or select the specific ones we wanted to use. Recording was as easy as pressing the ‘Record’ button. With the help of Audacity, you can record almost any sort of audio, and one of its many recording benefits includes digitizing analogue recordings from tape. Apart from a microphone, you can even record any sound that you can hear playing from your computer.

Although it is a good idea to make as clean a recording as possible, we did not have to worry too much about where we took our recordings because we could later apply relevant effects to improve quality. For example, we could amplify sounds and then remove noise by selecting a small section with the noise we wanted to filter to generate a noise profile.

In the second step of removing noise, we could adjust noise reduction, sensitivity, frequency smoothing and attack or delay time. We could then choose either to remove or isolate the noise.

When it comes to editing, Audacity is as good as it is in recording and offers you a variety of editing tools, which should fulfil most of your audio editing requirements. You can edit frequently used audio file types such as MP3, among many other extensions, and you can cut, copy or mix various audio file segments.

You can also edit the pitch and the tone of the audio recording. The software is equipped with a remarkable beat analyzer and a mouse zoom feature, which makes the life of an editor much easier. Whether you are looking for the noise reduction feature, cropping, fading, mixing, echo, tempo or other basic features, you will find them all in Audacity. However, it still does not feature many of the sophisticated editing features.

Under the ‘Transport’ menu, we could choose to turn ‘Overdub’ either on or off depending on whether we wanted to erase earlier tracks or create a multi-track file.

Is Audacity Free

Yes, Audacity is fully free of charge. There is no hidden cost.  No registration or hardware purchase is required. Just download – install ___________ enjoy.

It is an open-source audio management software.

Features

• Easy-to-use free audio editor
• Real-time preview of your project
• Record live audio via the microphone
• Import, edit and combine sound files
• Export your recordings in many different audio formats
• Supports 16-bit, 24-bit and 32-bit sound quality
• LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST, and Audio Unit plug-ins for audio effect
• Free music editor and music mixing software

How to Install Audacity?

1. Double-click on the installer
2. Select the language to use during the installation and click Next
3. In the welcome setup wizard click Next
4. Read the following license information and click Next
5. Select destination location where you want to install it and click Next
6. Leave everything at default and click Next
7. Setup is now ready to install, so click Install
8. Finally, click Finish to launch the software

Interface

File

New	To create a new project.
Open…	To export saved projects or audio files from the computer. Support the following formats… AUP3 project files (“.aup3) AUP project files (“.aup) WAV, AIFF, and other uncompressed types Ogg Vorbis files FLAC files MP3 files List of Files in basic text format WavPack files MIDI files FFmpeg-compatible files Opus files
Recent Files	To show and edit recently saved projects.
Open From Cloud…	Export projects or audio files from the online cloud site (audio.com). If you are logged in to the cloud, you will see the saved project in a separate pop-up interface. Select your desired project from here. Click on Next.
Save Project	Save Project – Save a new project on the cloud or your computer as you want. Save Project As… – To save a new project separately. Backup Project… – To backup a new project separately.
Save To Cloud…	Type the project name. Now click Link Account and link your Audacity app with audio.com. Finally, save your project in this cloud storage.
Update Cloud Audio Preview	Preview audio that you have saved in the cloud.
Close	To close the active project.
Export Audio…	Export to computer Export your project to the following audio formats… WAV (Microsoft) Other uncompressed files MP3 Files Ogg Vorbis Files Opus Files FLAC Files WavPack Files M4A (AAC) Files (FFmpeg) AC3 Files (FFmpeg) AMR (narrow band) Files (FFmpeg) WMA (version 2) Files (FFmpeg) Custom FFmpeg Export MP2 Files Audio Channels can be chosen Mono, Stereo or Custom mapping. Export Range can choose an Entire Project, Multiple Files or Current Selection mode. Share to audio.com You can also share your uncompressed audio files on audio.com and get the download link. Anyone can download the file in MP3 and WAV audio format.
Export Other	To export Labels or MIDI files only.
Import	Import any audio files from your computer and edit them. Supports Audio formats… AUP3 project files (“.aup3) AUP project files (“.aup) WAV, AIFF, and other uncompressed types Ogg Vorbis files FLAC files MP3 files List of Files in basic text format WavPack files MIDI files FFmpeg-compatible files Opus files Supports MIDI formats… MIDI and Allegro files (“.mid;”.midi;.gro) MIDI files (.mid;*.midi) Allegro files (“.gro) Supports Labels… Text files (“.txt) SubRip text file (“.srt) Supports RAW Date… AUP3 project files (“.aup3) AUP project files (“.aup) WAV, AIFF, and other uncompressed types Ogg Vorbis files FLAC files MP3 files List of Files in basic text format WavPack files MIDI files FFmpeg-compatible files Opus files
Share Audio…	Share on the internet to show your friends around the world.
Exit	To completely close the Audacity software.

Edit

Undo Record	To go back
Redo	To go the next
Cut	To cut selected clip
Delete	To delete the selected clip
Copy	To copy the selected clip
Paste	Paste the clip you recently copied
Duplicate	To duplicate the selected clip
Remove Special	Split Cut Split Delete Silence Audio Trim Audio
Audio Clips	Split Split New Join Detach at Silences. Pitch and Speed… Pitch Down Pitch Up Rename Clip… Render Pitch and Speed
Labels	Label Editor Add Label at Selection Add Label at Playback Position Paste Text to New Label Typing Creates New Labels
Labeled Audio	Cut Delete Split Cut Split Delete Silence Audio Copy Split Join Detach at Silences
Metadata Editor	To edit the metadata tag of each exported file.
Preferences	To get various settings of all tools including applications.

Select

All	To select everything.
None	To unselect
Tracks	In All Tracks In All Sync-Locked Tracks
Region	Left at Playback Position Right at Playback Position Track Start to Cursor Cursor to Track End Track Start to End Store Selection Retrieve Selection
Spectral	Toggle Spectral Selection Next Higher Peak Frequency Next Lower Peak Frequency
Audio Clips	Previous Clip Boundary to Cursor Cursor to Next Clip Boundary Previous Clip Next Clip
Cursor to Stored Cursor Position	Selects from the current cursor position to a previously saved cursor position.
Store Cursor Position	Save the current cursor position for use in a later selection.
At Zero Crossings	It is used to move the edges of the selected region slightly so that they are at an incremental zero crossing point.

View

Zoom	Zoom In Zoom Normal Zoom Out Zoom to Selection Zoom Toggle
Track Size	Fit to Width Fit to Height Collapse All Tracks Expand Collapsed Tracks
Skip to	Selection Start Selection Eand
History	To view and manage all the steps you have taken since opening a project.
Mixer	To view the Mixer tool.
Toolbars	Reset Toolbars Transport Toolbar Tools Toolbar Recording Meter Toolbar Playback Meter Toolbar Edit Toolbar Cut/Copy/Paste Toolbar Play-at-Speed Toolbar Device Toolbar Selection Toolbar Time Toolbar Spectral Selection Toolbar Share Audio Toolbar Audio Setup Toolbar Snapping Toolbar Time Signature Toolbar
Timeline	Minutes and Seconds. Beats and Measures
Enable Extra Menus
Show Track Name as overlay
Show Clipping in Waveform

Transport

Playing	Play/Stop Play/Stop and Set Cursor Play Once/Stop Pause
Recording	Record Record New Track Timer Record… Punch and Roll Record Pause
Scrubbing	Scrub Seek Scrub Ruler
Cursor to	Selection Start Selection End Track Start Track End Previous Clip Boundary Next Clip Boundary Project Start Project End
Looping	Enable Looping Clear Loop Set Loop to Selection Set Loop In Set Loop Out
Rescan Audio Devices
Transport Options	Set sound activation level… Enable sound activated recording Continuous scrolling Hear other tracks during recording Enable audible input monitoring

Tracks

Add New	Mono Track Stereo Track Label Track Time Track
Mix	Mix Stereo Down to Mono Mix and Render Mix and Render to New Track
Resample…
Remove Tracks
Mute/Unmute	Mute All Tracks Unmute All Tracks Mute Tracks Unmute Tracks
Pan	Left Right Center
Align Tracks	Align End to End Align Together Start to Zero Start to Cursor/Selection Start Start to Selection End End to Cursor/Selection Start End to Selection End Move Selection with Tracks
Sort Tracks	By Start Time By name
Keep tracks synchronized (Sync-Lock)

Generate

Plugin Manager
Chirp…
DTMF Tones…
Noise…
Pluck…
Rhythm Track…
Risset Drum…
Silence…
Tone…

Effect

Plugin Manager
Add Realtime Effects
Repeat Last Effect
Volume and Compression	Amplify… Auto Duck… Compressor… Limiter… Loudness Normalization… Normalize…
Fading	Adjustable Fade… Crossfade Clips Crossfade Tracks…. Fade In Fade Out Studio Fade Out
Pitch and Tempo	Change Pitch… Change Speed and Pitch… Change Tempo… Paulstretch… Sliding Stretch…
EQ and Filters	Bass and Treble…. Filter Curve EQ… Graphic EQ… High-Pass Filter… Low-Pass Filter… Notch Filter… Shelf Filter…
Noise Removal and Repair	Click Removal… Clip Fix… Noise Gate… Noise Reduction… Repair
Delay and Reverb	Delay… Echo… Reverb…
Distortion and Modulation	Distortion… Phaser… Tremolo… Vocoder… Wahwah…
Special	Invert Repeat… Reverse Truncate Silence…
Spectral Tools	Spectral Delete Spectral Edit Multi Tool Spectral Edit Parametric EQ… Spectral Edit Shelves…

Analyze

Plugin Manager
Contrast…
Plot Spectrum…
Beat Finder…
Find Clipping…
Label Sounds….
Measure RMS

Tools

Plugin Manager
Macro Manager
Apply Macro	Palette…
Reset Configuration
Run Benchmark…
Nyquist Plugin Installer…
Nyquist Prompt…
Regular Interval Labels…
Sample Data Export…
Sample Data Import…