What is audacity? Review Audacity is an audio tool like no other. About the program's capabilities

Audacity is a program designed for processing and recording podcasts. This utility contains a package of functions with which you can completely edit your own voice. For example, you can make it soft or rough and so on. Let's take a closer look at how to use Audacity. In essence, there is nothing complicated about it, but the large functionality can confuse a beginner.

About the program's capabilities

As noted above, the feature set is quite large, and it can be difficult to understand how to use Audacity the first time. So let's look at the latest version of the program as an example. You can export and import WAV, FLAC audio files. In addition, you can record, for example, from a webcam microphone or other source, there are no restrictions. If you have a modern sound card (multichannel), you can record up to 16 channels. If noise occurs, you can remove it using a sample that is installed automatically. There are also possibilities to change the tone while maintaining the tempo or vice versa. The libsndfile library allows you to save the result in almost any format. Of course, Audacity has much more more features, but if you list them all, it will take a lot of time.

Supported Formats

It has already been said that this utility works with almost all modern audio file extensions. One of the most important formats is AUP, which is native to this program. It is in this extension that all projects are stored. If you plan to use the recording in other utilities, it is recommended to re-encode the file, since AUP only reads Audacity. The standard WAV format for Windows OS is also supported. His characteristic feature is that all files are not compressed. In case of use operating system Macintosh, you can use AIFF. Sun/au and Next computers use the same formats. Distinctive feature is that low compression ratio is used. Certainly, free program Audacity also supports MP3. IN latest version Ogg Vorbis was added. This extension is considered to be an analogue of MP3, but the sound quality here is much higher.

How to use Audacity?

It all depends on what exactly you want to do. In any case, you will need the main toolbar. Here you can work with selection, which allows you to select individual parts (fragments) of a recording, cut them and paste them. There is also this useful feature, as “Envelope Change”. This tool will help you adjust fades and volume rises on individual sections of the track. It is also possible to shift the recording in time, zoom and much more. As for the main button panel, everything is simple. It contains the most necessary functions such as "Start", "Pause", "Stop", "Rewind and skip to the end of the track", as well as "Record". First, you need to deal with this and only then move on.

How to save in Audacity?

Regardless of your intentions, you must be able to maintain the result. There is absolutely nothing complicated here, just press the hotkey combination Ctrl+S or select “Save” in the menu. Please note that changes will be recorded in AUP format, so if you intend to use the recording in other programs, it is recommended to select a more common extension. You can export the file using the menu or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+S. It is also possible to change the save location and name of the recording. Once you have done everything, you can rest assured, especially since when you exit the program you will be asked to rewrite the result again for further use in Audacity.

Consider the "Edit" menu

You can cancel here last changes, which will allow you to avoid mistakes, because the presence of such a function allows you to take a step back and not lose anything. This menu contains such important options as “Copy” and “Paste”, and you will need them almost every time. To completely extinguish any signals in a certain section of the track, you can use the “Fill with Silence” function. There are appropriate options for scaling, such as “Zoom In” and “Zoom Out,” and there is also the ability to change the size of a specific section of the podcast. As practice shows, often the entire recording is not required, but only some part of it is needed. In the “Edit” menu, you can select the “Crop” function and thereby remove everything that is outside the selection. In principle, we are already finished with this menu. It is worth paying attention to the drop-down menu, which opens by right-clicking on the track. Basic information about the open record is displayed here.

Design, creation and effects

If you don't understand menu data, it will be very difficult to create a quality podcast. The Project menu is where you'll do most of the importing. This includes audio tracks, codes, notes, and also has the ability to download Raw files. As for the “Creation” menu, here you can insert a pause into the track using the “Silence” function; to do this, you need to select a part of the recording and click on the corresponding function. In addition, it is possible to create waves (spectral) different lengths and amplitudes. The number of effects in the program is simply off the charts. There is no point in describing them all. There are interesting possibilities, for example, normalization. It allows you to equalize the sound level of the entire recording, which can be extremely useful. The FFT filter is good for boosting and cutting frequencies. Besides all this, there is inversion and repetition. The functions are very easy to use. To do this, you just need to select sections of the tracks and apply the necessary options. It was already noted above that you can either trim or insert a piece of an Audacity track, the same applies to noise, which can be either added or removed.

A little more about using the program

To help you navigate the menu more confidently, we recommend memorizing several hotkey combinations. Create new project you can use the combination Ctrl+N, to open it you need to press Ctrl+O, and to close it Ctrl+W. You can open the settings menu using the combination Ctrl+P. As for navigation, everything is quite simple. You can start and stop recording using the spacebar key, increase - Ctrl+1, decrease - Ctrl+3. In addition, you can import a track using the Ctrl+L combination. As you may have already noticed, the utility is quite functional, so it is suitable for both a professional and a novice user. And since anyone can learn to use Audacity, the program is of particular interest to those who like to record tracks and podcasts.

Conclusion

As noted above, this article does not describe all the functions, and this is due to the fact that there are incredibly many of them, and you can talk about them for an infinitely long time. You can podcast, its pace, as well as speed, but this is not all the possibilities. There is a function for dividing a track into many parts, noise suppression and much more. It can be said that one of best products for working with audio is Audacity. You now know how to save your project to MP3, the main thing is to save the result as often as possible. That's basically all that can be said on this topic. If you plan to study the utility on professional level, then use the technical documentation.

I have been asked more than once how to use Audacity program for recording and editing sound. On other occasions, I myself have recommended this program to my blog visitors. But, I could not link to quality ones for Audacity on my blog. Therefore, I set out to find such lessons on the Internet and publish them on my resource, promising my readers that I would definitely do this.

And now, finally, it’s happened! A little late, but I'm keeping my promise. I looked through a lot of video tutorials on working with this audio editor and didn’t find any this moment nothing better than Igor Kozlov's video course. Although his lessons do not reveal absolutely all the capabilities of this wonderful program, they provide more than full review all the necessary functions for recording and mixing high-quality audio podcasts, dubbing books and even creating ringtones!

For those who are not yet familiar with Audacity, below is a brief description of it and some of its features. Those who already know and appreciate this program, and want to master it better, can immediately proceed to watch the video lessons.

Audacity is a popular, free and easy-to-use audio editor that allows you to record, process and restore a variety of audio files. It supports working with multiple tracks and has a wide range of tools, including trimming, splicing tracks, mixing, sound normalization, changing tempo, tone, applying various effects and much more. The editor's functionality can be expanded with many additional plugins.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of information business people use the Audacity program once again confirms its popularity. Why did many people choose this program? Despite its free nature, Audacity has all the necessary functionality to create high-quality podcasts And audio courses. In addition, it is easy to use, very convenient and does not consume a lot of system resources.

Here are just some of its features:

  • Import, export, edit and save files in MP2, MP3, WAV, FLAC, Vorbis and other formats;
  • Record sound while simultaneously listening to existing tracks;
  • Recording from a microphone, line input (cassette recorder, records, etc.), which makes it possible to digitize analog sound;
  • Removing static noise, crackling, hum, clicks and other defects in the audio track;
  • Changing frequency characteristics using an equalizer and filters;
  • Using the “pencil” to edit individual sample points;
  • Mixing audio tracks with different frequency characteristics into a single project;
  • Unlimited change history for step-by-step undo and redo actions.

Technical information.

  • Operating system: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, etc.
  • License type: GNU GPL (freely distributed)
  • Interface language: multilingual (including Russian)

Now let's move directly to Audacity video lessons. From this course you will learn how to work in Audacity, how to trim a track, how to record a podcast, how to edit it, add background music, how to save in Audacity to the desired format and much more.

Video course:


Audacity. Sound recording and processing

Lesson 1. Installing and configuring the program

This video tutorial explains how to download Audacity, how to install it, and how to make the initial settings for exporting a project to mp3 format. Links from the lesson are given below the video.

This article discusses the main functions of the Audacity program, designed for creating amateur sound recordings and professional audio modeling.

Getting started with Audacity

First you need to check the functionality of the microphone. If everything is in order with the device, you can start recording. Recording audio tracks is the most commonly used function of Audacity. Using the program, you can easily record a podcast using the “Time Shift” function, which allows you to move the audio track along the timeline. This option also allows you to change the order in which audio tracks are moved by holding down the left mouse button and dragging up or down.

Audio Track Management


3. The volume of tracks is adjusted using the sliders with the “Plus” and “Minus” signs. Using volume control is necessary due to differences in sound levels between tracks. Some will sound louder or quieter than others. For podcasts, it is recommended to equalize the audio evenly across all tracks. The L/R slider is used to adjust the level of sound played from the right and left speakers. In this way, the user can create panoramic sound.

Sorting tracks

To perform auto-sorting (“Start/name”), you need to use the “Tracks” menu and select the last line “Sort Tracks By”. When sorting by time, you can achieve the correct playback sequence, while sorting by name is necessary when all the tracks have been named at the discretion of the user.

Video: Audacity, how to use. Lesson for Beginners

You've probably already heard about Audacity. This is a free, cross-platform program for recording, mixing and processing audio. It has a lot of cool features, you can record vocals, instruments, other sounds, and combine them into something interesting. You can also trim music files. Many people use Audacity to create podcasts or mix music.

In this article we will look at how to use Audacity, look at all its main features, and also talk about what interesting things you can do with it.

You can install the program by downloading the installer from the official website for Windows, Mac or Linux. And also from the official repositories of most Linux distributions. For example, for Ubuntu, the installation command would look like this:

sudo apt install audacity

After installation, you can find the program in the main menu. Next we’ll look at how to work with the audacity program, but let’s start with its interface.

1. Program interface

The program has a fairly familiar interface; at the top of the window there are recording control buttons, various tools and input device settings. Below is a diagram of the sound file, with which you can perform various actions, and even lower is the status bar:

  • Audio Control- standard controls, pause, play, stop, rewind, forward and record;
  • Tools- selection, conversion, editing, zooming, time shift, multi-mode and cropping;
  • Level meters- top for microphone input, bottom for output;
  • Regulators- playback volume and microphone sensitivity controls;
  • Quick Access Toolbar- shortcuts to various actions for quick access, such as cutting, pasting, copying, pasting silence, and so on;
  • Device selection panel- allows you to select the devices from which recording will be made;
  • Soundtrack- at the top there is a timeline, then audio tracks will appear here;
  • Tools of Time- here you can choose from what time to start processing the record.

2. Sound recording

Very often Audacity is used to record audio. First, in the devices row, select your microphone and click on the input monitoring slider to make sure everything is ok:

To stop recording, press the yellow stop button.

3. Sound track

We need to take a closer look at the audio track. It consists of the following components:

  • Timeline- here you can see the total length of the track and the current moment;
  • Audio properties- here you can change various properties audio tracks, using the cross you can delete songs;
  • Scrubber- this arrow marks the current position. It will appear when you start playback;
  • Audio track- visualizes signal changes throughout the recording.

As you can see, there is a huge amount of information displayed here. Any additional audio tracks will be located below so you can see information from them simultaneously.

4. Trimming tracks

You can cut out only the desired section of the track to save it later. For convenience, you can change the scale using the zoom tool.

You now have the part of the recording you need. You can also go the other way and just mark and delete the ones you don't need. Then save what's left. Using audacity is very easy.

5. Gluing tracks

You can combine several tracks into one. To do this, use the menu File ->Import upload some media files:

Then add them at the end of one, you can move the tracks using the time shift tool.

6. Mixing

You can set the tracks one below the other and then layer them so that they sound together. Then all that remains is to save the result:

7. Noise filtering

Often, extraneous noise gets into the recording. Therefore, you may need to use Audacity to combat noise. You need a section of the recording where there is only noise, mark it:

Then open the menu Effects and select Noise reduction:

From this menu select Define profile noise.

Then select the entire track and open the Noise Reduction window again, then click Ok to remove noise from the recording. You can also adjust the level of influence on noise using the dB slider and press Preview in order to evaluate how noise will be removed.

8. Saving the result

If you just save what you got, Audacity will save the project. To get a finished audio file, you need to export it. To do this, open the File menu and select Export:

Hello everyone Let's talk about a program like Audacity, I'll tell you what it is and you can easily understand whether you need it or not. So what is it? And this is a sound editor, which is also free, but you know the functions in it, well, not sickly, pro-level, so to speak.

What can Audacity do? It can record sound and can change the tone without changing the tempo (this is probably a cool feature). Removing static noise, hum, hiss and other interference. There are all sorts of effects such as echo, phaser, wahwah and others. You can even create your own effects, but to do this you need to know some kind of Nyquist language. In general, this program is really for those who are versed in these matters. We can say that it is for computer musicians

So what did I do? And as usual, I downloaded the Audacity program onto my computer, installed it, and now let’s see a little about what it is all about!

When I launch Audacity, the following window immediately pops up:


Well, this window is like a greeting, if anything happens, there is a checkmark at the bottom so that it does not appear again. In general, I clicked OK in the window and now the entire window of the Audacity program is visible:


I’ll be honest, I won’t lie, I don’t understand anything here at all. Although I don’t think that I don’t understand software, I’ve tried a lot of things, a lot, even in the past I tried something like composing music in FL Studio.. But of course everything was terrible...

In the Audacity program, I opened the Create menu, there is something like Add/Remove plugins, this item:


Well, I clicked it and then the plugins window appeared, look, there are a lot of all kinds of plugins here:


If you click on Effects at the top, that is, open this menu, you will see this menu, there are a lot of different effects, although as I understand it, almost all of them are disabled (maybe you need to download some plugins for them to work):

Well, honestly guys, I’m not showing anything special here, because I stupidly don’t know this Audacity program. I realized that it is needed for musical matters, and the average user is unlikely to be interested in it, after all, there are a lot of all sorts of things for specialists, you need to dig and understand, in a word, study...

To open the program settings, you need to click Edit at the top, a menu will appear, there will be a Parameters item:

Well, here you go, here’s the settings window, here again, you can see for yourself what you need to figure out:


Excuse me if I’m not telling everything here very well, but I’m not good at this program, period. So what's left to show now? All that remains is to show you how to completely remove Audacity from your computer! Well, how to do this, you might think? You can remove Audacity using an uninstaller such as , it will remove the program and then find the remains in Windows and remove them too, which is generally excellent. But whether to use this deleter or not is up to you, as for me, it’s an excellent deleter

Well, now how to delete it in a simpleton way, so to speak. Guys, everything is simple here, don’t worry, just hold on Win buttons+ R and write a command like this:


Click OK, now look, a list window will open. installed programs, here you need to find the Audacity 2.1.2 program (well, of course, your version may be different), right-click on it and then select Delete:


Then there will be a message asking if you are sure that you want to remove Audacity, if you haven’t changed your mind, then click here Yes:


That's it, then after about two seconds a message appears that Audacity was deleted and all that, and that some elements could not be deleted:


Oops, what does this mean I’m curious? What is this, well, they say the program was deleted, but some of its elements remained, what kind of joke is this? Well, I started checking. So I then rebooted and checked some places where traces of the Audacity program could remain. So I checked the Program Files folders, but I couldn’t find anything there that related to Audacity. Then I checked the AppData\Roaming folder (to open it, just hold down Win + R and then write %AppData%), and there I already found the Audacity folder, I just took it and deleted it, it was deleted without any jokes

Guys, I also found the Audacity folder, which remains at this address:

%UserProfile%\AppData\Local

Delete it too, it's all the remnants of the program!

Well guys? Is that all? Once again, I apologize for not being able to fully tell you about the Audacity program, well, so to speak as it should be. But now you at least roughly understand what kind of Audacity program it is. And I think you can understand whether you need it or not, and if you don’t need it, then I showed you how to remove it. If I wrote something wrong, then I apologize. Good luck in life and may everything go well for you

13.11.2016

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