Goals: Today we will:

• identify various types of audio resources
• locate Audacity and LAME
• download Audacity and LAME
• edit and create audio files using Audacity software
• identify web-based repositories for copyright-free audio resources
• import audio files into Audacity
• navigate the Audacity audio-editing environment
• use Audacity’s basic audio editing tools
• adjust/add effects to imported audio tracks
• create additional audio tracks within an audio project
• layer and combine different audio resources in order to generate completely new audio tracks
• render completed Audacity files into different formats

Audacity & Lame

Find Audacity and Lame

Audacity is an open source program that allows users to edit sound. In order to use it more effectively, consider dowloading LAME, an mp3 encoder that comes in assorted "flavors":
Windows
Macintosh
Linux

Install Audacity and LAME

Here are a few directions (from different sites) for installing Audacity and LAME.

• Center for Teaching Innovation
• Guides and Tutorials has instructions and lots of other useful resources.
• How To Podcast has step by step directions
• Indiacom's site (with a very helpful video)
• SEGATech's guide to installing both programs

Using Audacity

Shortcuts

Want to use keystroke commands? Sourceforge has a page of Audacity shortcuts!

Tools

Audacity has tools and control buttons that make editing sound easy and productive. The main tools that most people need to use when editing sound are:

• The Selection Tool (it helps users cut, copy, and paste sounds)
• The Envelope Tool
• Time Shift Tool (a useful way of aligning sounds)

Note that Audacity's Preferences also help users make the most of the resource.

The Transom Tools site has an excellent description of the tools and how they work written by Jeff Towne.

The Audacity Manual also offers a tutorial for beginners. Check the Quickies section!