05 - podcasting module 2010 - activity 4 - editing audio

8/8/2019 05 - Podcasting Module 2010 - Activity 4 - Editing Audio

1/9

September 2010 v.1

Activity 4 - Editing Audio with Audacity

Editing Your Audio File

Using your sample 30 second recording, you will now explore theoptions available for editing with Audacity. You must select a

portion of your audio file in order to edit (cut, copy, duplicate or

silence) it.

Make a Selection

Click the selection tool Move your mouse point to an area of the wav file graphic Press and hold the left mouse button while you drag the

mouse to mark an area

Press the spacebar to listen to the audio in the marked area Note, that even though you can mark an area larger than or extending beyond the

actual audio clip in the track, the operations will only work on the actual clip. Playback

however will work outside the clip.

To extend or contract your selection, hold down the SHIFT button and click on thearea you wish your selection to extend or contract to.

If you click at a spot that is on the right hand side from the middle of the currentselection, you will set the right hand boundary of your new selection.


2/9

September 2010 v.1

Editing the Selection:

Cutting:

Select Cutfrom the Editmenu or press CTRL+XBefore the cut After the cut

To undo this operation, select Undo in the Editmenu or press CTRL+ZCopying:

Select Copyfrom the Edit menu to copy the selection to the clipboard. You can then paste that data back in to any track by clicking where you want

this audio to be inserted and select Paste in the Editmenu, or press CTRL+V.

Working With Tracks

Audacity always records to a new track You can import other sound files to create your

desired output (background music, sounds, etc.)

o Project, Import Audio You can mute individual tracks for editing purposes. To hear the tracks, press the green play button.


3/9

September 2010 v.1

Importing Audio

You may wish to add some background music or another audio

effect to your file. You will need to have the file stored on your

computer.

Select Project, Import Audio Browse your computer for the file you wish to import

The imported file will appear on the

new track. Take note of how long it is

in comparison to your audio file. You may need to edit your

imported file.

The second track in the diagram to the left contains an intro loop. In

order to make room for the intro, the audio track must be split and

moved to the right. To do this:

1. Position your cursor at the beginning of the audio track2. Select the Time Shift tool3. Using the Time Shift tool hold the cursor over the

audio track recording, click and

hold the left mouse button

down and move the recording to make room for track two.

Fade Out Effect

Adding a fade out:

1. Select the portion of the track that you want to have fade out2. Select Effect, Fade Out3. Your sound wave will turn into a cone shape


4/9

September 2010 v.1

Making a mistake when recording?

When making a recording it can be frustrating if you say the wrong thing or make a mistake,

especially if you are doing a long recording, because you may come to the conclusion youll

need to start again. This is not the case as outlined in fig 5.

1. DONT PANIC!2. While recording it is recommended that you record a silent strip for about 3 seconds, this

produces a flat-line in the sound that can be used to identify the mistake later.

3. If you require time to compose yourself press the Pause button to temporarily stop therecording. Press the pause button again to continue the recording.

4. Continue by repeating the section leading up to the mistake and carrying on with thecorrect dialogue.

Section with the mistake Silent for 3 seconds and

maybe pause

Continue with the correct

dialogueFig 5

5. To remove the mistake after you have completed the recording and pressed stop.6. Listen to the section in which you made the mistake to decide what needs to be

removed. This may take a few attempts.7. Once you have decided what needs to be removed from the recording, use the cursor

to highlight the section as seen in fig 6. This is done by left clicking the mouse at the

start of the section, then hold down the left mouse button and move the cursor along

the required section.

Remo

ve

this

section of the recording by pressing the Delete key on the keyboard and the sound wave will

realign itself as shown in fig 7, shortening the length of the recording by the amount of time

removed.

Fig 6


5/9

September 2010 v.1

Adding some dialogue to my recording?

If youve made a recording, but once youve listened to it you notice that you left something

out.

1.Simply press record again. This will open a secondAudio Track, as seen in fig 8.

To place this Audio Track into the position required in the recording use the Time Shift tool

found in the Control Toolbar. This is done in the following steps:

2. Position the cursor line at the point in the recording where the second recording will fitin, shown in Fig 9 on the following page.

Fig 7

Fig 8


6/9

September 2010 v.1

3. Then go tothe Edit

menu on the

menu bar

and select

the Splitoption. This creates a small gap in the recording as shown in Fig 10.

4. Using the Time Shift tool hold the cursor over the second audio track recording, clickand hold down the left mouse button and move the recording to a position where the

start of it is aligned with the split as shown in fig 11.

Fig 9

Fig 10


7/9


8/9

September 2010 v.1

Working With Tracks

Audacity always records to a new track You can import other sound files to create your

desired output (background music, sounds, etc.)

1. Project, Import Audio You can mute individual tracks for editing purposes. To hear the tracks, press the green play button.

Personalize your recording

Once youve completed your recording and you are happy with how it sounds, you can

personalise it by giving it a title and putting your name on it.

1. This is done by going to the Project menu on the Menu bar and selecting Edit ID3 Tags,which brings up the box shown in fig 13.

2. This allows you to add a Title to your recording, this could be the main theme of thePodcast.

3. TheArtistname which is you if you recorded it.4. AnAlbum name, this could be the name of a series

of Podcasts. If your recording is one of a series of

Podcasts its position in the order can be put in the

Track Number.

5. The yearit was produced can be put in the Yearbox.

6. For the Genre this can be selected from a large list,as a Podcast tends to be a vocalrecording this is

the genre selected.

7. Finally if you wish you can add further comments.Finish and save the information by pressing ok.

Fig 13


9/9

September 2010 v.1

Saving Your Recording

1. You can save your recording by going to the File Menu and selecting Save Project As2. This option saves the recording as an Audacity Project which is a format called .aup.3. This format can then be listened to again but only on Audacity software.4. Unfortunately this format can not be played on typical digital audio devices.5. Therefore the file has to be converted into an mp3 format, which is much more

accessible.

6. This can be done by selecting the Export As mp3 option on the File Menu.Unfortunately Audacity doesnt have the ability to do this on its own. To achieve this we need

an add-on called lame_enc.dllwhich has to be downloaded from the internet and is also free.

This will only need to be done once. Follow the instructions on the following page.

Exporting Your Final Project to WAV/MP3

Once you have completed all of your audio editing, you will need to export your work. Go the

File Menu > Export to WAV to export your audio file.

You will be prompted to save your work in a

location. When the audio is exported, you

are finished. Congratulations!

05 - podcasting module 2010 - activity 4 - editing audio

Documents