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Tutorial
Editing audio with Audacity
Material that you have recorded will usually require some editing. Editing at its most basic level
is cutting out the mistakes, getting rid of any material that you don't want and making sure your
recording levels are good – it’s about tidying up your recording. However, there's a lot more to
editing than that.
You will have to make decisions about what material to keep for your audio project - this can be
a difficult decision when you've spent a lot of valuable time recording it. You may also want to
'mix' different sounds together, add music to your recording, or add sound effects and different
background atmospheres. All of this is possible with Audacity sound editing software.
Editing Tools
Selection tool - for selecting the range of audio you want to edit or listen to.
Envelope tool - for changing the volume over a timed section.
Draw tool - for modifying individual samples.
Zoom tool - for zooming in and out.
Timeshift tool - for sliding tracks left or right.
Multi tool - lets you access all of these tools at once depending on the location
of the mouse and the keys you are holding down.
fig 1
1. The selection tool
This is used to find specific points in the waveform and to highlight relevant sections so that you
can zoom in, cut or copy them. When this tool is selected and you click on the waveform, you
will see a vertical cursor within the wave like this:
fig 2
Vertical cursor moving along waveform
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2. The time shift tool
This is used to move the waveform around inside its track. Click on the tool, click on the
waveform and with the left mouse button held down, slide the wave along the track into the
position you want it.
3. The magnifier tool
With this, you can zoom in or out of the waveform. To zoom in, select the magnifier and then
click on the left mouse button. To zoom out, click on the right mouse button. Copying, cutting
and pasting sections of the waveform is just like cutting and pasting text in a word document.
4. Cutting
To remove a clip of audio that you don't want, highlight the relevant section with the selection
tool. The highlighted section will appear darker:
fig 3
Highlighted section of waveform
Click on 'edit' and 'cut' or press the backspace key to delete the section
5. Cutting and pasting
If you want to move one part of the waveform and put it somewhere else, highlight the relevant
section, click on 'edit' and 'cut'. Place the selection cursor at the new position for the material,
click on 'edit' and 'paste'
6. Zooming in on the waveform
Sometimes you may need to zoom in on the waveform to find the exact edit point. When you
zoom in, you are effectively stretching the wave out.
7. Zooming in on a selected part of the wave
Highlight the part of the wave you want to see in more detail. Click on the 'fit selection in
window' icon: (fig 4) this will stretch your highlighted piece across the whole window. If you need
to zoom in any further, click on the magnifier tool. When you want to see the whole waveform
again, click on the 'fit project in window' icon: (fig 4).
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Fit selection in
window
Fit project in
window
fig 4
Zoom tools
8. Recording music
To add music to your audio firstly record the music in to Audacity. Select the appropriate
recording input from the drop down bar - usually Stereo Mix - play your CD track and click on
record.
9 Exporting your edited audio
When exporting your edited audio out of audacity export it as an MP3. Audacity will offer to find
the Lame MP3 encoder - click yes.
Save to an area that you will be able to browse when uploading your file.
This is the online help for Audacity. It is a quick reference, not a complete manual:
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~raa110/audacity/reference.html#toolbar_control
There is also a complete user's manual available online:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation
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