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- Editing with Audacity
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I can record directly to Audacity using the record button at the top of the screen. If Audacity doesn't recognize my microphone, I can 'Rescan Audio Devices' (under the Transport menu) and anything that is connected to my computer should show up in the options under 'Recording Device' in the 'Audio Setup' menu.
Now that I have my audio files, I will add the clips to Audacity by clicking and dragging them into the workspace from my documents folder (or wherever you saved your files).
The tracks are listed from top to bottom and may contain stereo (left and right channels) or mono (one channel) channels. Stereo simply means that there are two separate channels for the left and right speakers which are usually slightly different. Mono means that there is one channel that sounds the same in both speakers. Within each channel, I can see the sound waves where the source is louder or quieter, the peaks will be higher or lower. The clap used for syncing will show up as a single vertical line because it is a quick loud sound.
The playback controls include pause, play, stop, forward, back, and record. You can play/stop by hitting the space bar. You can record directly to Audacity (unless you are using Vlab or Remote Access), which will create a new track for your recording.
When I import my clips into the workspace, they all start at the beginning of the timeline. When I click play, it sounds a bit garbled and overwhelming, making it a bit difficult to make my edits. The first things I am going to do are to set up my workspace so that I can focus on each aspect of my project without being overwhelmed with all of the clips.
Audacity allows you to move the order of the tracks as they show up in the workspace. For the most part, the order is a matter of personal preference and you will likely change the order several times throughout the editing process. To change the order, I can simply click on the downward arrow next to the name of each track and select 'move up' or 'move down.'
I can hide a track by clicking the mute button. I can hide all other tracks by clicking the solo button. Both of these are located below the track name. You can mute multiple tracks simultaneously and/or solo multiple tracks simultaneously. Depending the number of tracks you want to mute, one of these may be easier than the other -- this is a matter of personal preference.
I will begin my podcast with background music and then fade that back when I begin talking. So I will move those two tracks to the top of the workspace and I will mute the hiking sound and the interviewee tracks while I work on these first two tracks.
You can jump to different time points in the projects by clicking on the timeline at the top of the tracks. The project will play when you click on the timeline. You can select a section of a track by selecting (click and drag) the section and then hitting the space bar.
There are six different tools that you can use to manipulate your tracks. The selection tool, which looks like an I-beam, is the default tool. It allows you to select parts of the track.
Use the selection tool to select a section of a track and then hit the delete key to remove that section. If you delete a section in the middle or beginning of a track, the remaining following section will automatically move to start at the point where your deleted section began. To delete a middle section but keep the following section in the same place on the timeline, press ctrl+alt+k (cmd+alt+k on Macs).
To cut a section of the track so that you can move it somewhere else, you can click the scissor button or press ctrl+x. To cut a middle section but keep the following section in the same place on the timeline, press ctrl+alt+x (cmd+alt+x on Macs).
Note: Depending on your settings in Audacity, the 'cut' option may work differently where it does not preserve the timing (as shown in the video).
I can change my view of the tracks to be able to see a section more closely or to be able to see the entirety of a long section at once by using the Zoom tool. For longer projects, you will likely use this tool dozens of times throughout the editing process.
I will use the Zoom tool to sync up the claps in the speakers' tracks. This will enable me to fine-tune the placement of those tracks so that the claps happen at exactly the same time.
To undo or redo any changes you make, press ctrl+Z.
I want the background music to start off at full volume, but then decrease as the first speaker begins talking. The fade in and fade out effects will help me do this.
For the fade out, I will select just the last bit of the intro music and then apply the effect. If I were to select the whole track, it would slowly fade in throughout the duration of the track rather than just at the end.
To increase the overall volume of my voice recordings, I am going to use the amplify effect. This effect allows for level adjustment across a selected portion of a track. I'm going to amplify the entire duration of each voice recording, so I will double-click the track to select the entire thing and then select the Amplify tool and stick with the auto-calculated values that Audacity has given me so that I don't overdo it and cause the recordings to distort.
Once you have amplified your voice recordings you may notice that any imperfections have also been amplified. If you have a continuous white noise or background noise that you find distracting, such a ventilation system or computer fan, you can eliminate that sound from your recording. First you will want to create a noise profile from a section of your recording that is just the unwanted noise. This should be an almost flat line that is just a steady fuzzy thin line. If you can create a profile from a long section of this noise, you will get better results, so it's not a bad idea to record some dead air after your record your speaking part or conduct your interview.
In Audacity, select the portion of your recording that is the noise (not the whole track, just the unwanted noise). Then select 'Noise removal and repair' from the 'Effects' menu and then select 'Noise reduction.' With your unwanted noise selected, choose the 'Get Noise Profile' option by clicking that button.
Next, select the entire recording that was made with that noise and open the 'Noise reduction' options again. This time you can click 'OK' and most often you'll get good results without changing the auto-calculated settings. But if you're not completely happy or made a mistake, you can hit undo (ctrl+Z or cmd+Z) and try again. Consult the Audacity Noise Reduction section of the user manual for more tips on fine-tuning with this tool.
The envelope tool, which looks like an hourglass with curved line intersecting it, gives you precise control over the levels of your track throughout the timeline. You can boost a quiet section and lower a different section with this one tool. You can create points to set the levels by clicking along the track and then moving them up or down to raise or lower that section. Sometimes you will need to expand the size of the track as it appears in the workspace in order to get the levels just right. To do this, simply click on the lower border of the track (or channel) and drag down. This resizing doesn't affect the audio in any way, it simply makes it easier for you to see and manipulate the tools.
The envelope tool is perfect for controlling the level of background music -- particularly when you want to fade it out and back in at different points during the podcast.
The time shift tool, which looks like a double arrow, allows you to move sections of your tracks to different points along the timeline. You can also move audio segments along the timeline with the selection tool (instead of switching to the time shift tool) by clicking on the upper part of the segment.
I will use the time shift tool to move my speaking part to begin as the music fades to a lower level. Simply click on the track and drag it to where you want it moved. You can visually line up the sound waves but will likely need to listen back and tweak this more than once to get it exactly right.
I will also use the time shift tool to line up the hiking clip to start at the point where I begin talking about hiking. I can then delete the end of the hiking track so that it ends when I stop talking about hiking.
The time shift tool is what I am going to use to sync the two interview tracks. I will first move them to be next to each other and then I'll shift one of them so that the vertical lines that signify the clap(s) will line up with each other. Once I have them lined up, I can delete the clap from both tracks.
In order to line them up, I will also want to delete the beginning of the interviewee's track because he hit record a few seconds before I did. However, this is optional: you can move a track so that the beginning portion overflows past the beginning of the project and you will not hear any of the part that doesn't show up in the project.
You can learn more about these and the other tools at Audacity's manual page about the Tools Toolbar.
There are a number of effects in Audacity to enhance or control your audio tracks. This tutorial keeps things simple and uses only a couple basic effects, but you can explore others if you think your audio needs more help.
Some tools are usually not necessary, but can be useful to clean up an audio recording. For speaking parts, the compressor effect is particularly useful because it will reduces the dynamic range of the selected section. Simplified, this means the lows be closer to the highs so that if someone speaks unevenly or moves away from the mic during part of the interview, their audio level can be evened out. To use this tool, select the entire segment that needs attention and then select 'Volume and Compression' from the 'Effect' menu and then select 'Compressor.' As with the Amplify tool, it's probably best to stick with the values that Audacity auto-calculates unless you are feeling brave and want to do a deeper dive into sound engineering.