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Audacity 1.3.

4 Manual
Dominic Mazzoni
Scott Granneman
Tony Oetzmann
Matt Brubeck
Gale Andrews
Richard Ash
Leland Lucius
James Crook
Christian Brochec
Alexandre Prokoudine
2
Contents

1 Tutorial - Editing an Existing File 19


1.1 Step 1: Find a file to edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2 Step 2: Open the file with Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.3 Step 2: Look at the waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.4 Step 3: Listen to the audio file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.5 Step 4: Create a 10-second clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.6 Step 5: Fade out the last second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.7 Step 6: Export the resulting file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2 Tutorial - Your First Recording 23


2.1 Step 1: Plug in your input source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Step 2: Configure Audacity to record from that device . . . . . . . 24
2.3 Step 3: Do a test recording, set levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 Step 4: Full Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 Step 5: Edit Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 Step 6: Save or Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3 Tutorial - Mixing a Narration With Background Music 27


3.1 Step 1: Record narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2 Step 2: Import background music file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3 Step 3: Time-shift the tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4 Step 4: Adjust relative volume levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 Step 5: Smooth fade of the background music . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Step 6: Save and Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.7 Bonus: Listening while recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4 Tutorial - Copying tapes, LPs or minidiscs to CD 29


4.1 Connecting the equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3
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4.2 Setting up Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35


4.3 Recording, editing and exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5 Effect Menu 39
5.1 Classes of Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.2 Purpose of Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.3 List of Built-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.4 VST Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.5 Nyquist Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.6 LADSPA Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

6 Effect Menu 49
6.1 Classes of Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.2 Purpose of Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.3 List of Built-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.4 VST Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6.5 Nyquist Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.6 LADSPA Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

7 Digital Audio 59
7.1 Digital Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.2 Digital Audio Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.3 Sample rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.4 Sample formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.5 Size of audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.6 Clipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.7 Compressed Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

8 Audacity Tracks and Clips 67


8.1 Stereo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

9 Audacity Selection 71
9.1 Special characteristics of audio selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9.2 Selecting using the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.3 The Selection Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9.4 Selecting using the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.5 Selecting while audio is playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9.6 Snap-to Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
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9.7 Track Selection using the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80


9.8 Menu commands for selecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
9.9 Label Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

10 Audacity Setup and Configuration 83


10.1 Temporary Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
10.2 Audio Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
10.3 Volume controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

11 Audacity Projects 87
11.1 Audacity Projects on disk = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

12 Playing and Recording 93


12.1 Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
12.2 Play Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
12.3 Special Playback Keyboard Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
12.4 Timer Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

13 Zooming 99
13.1 Time Scale Zooming (Horizontally) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
13.2 Vertical zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

14 Undo, Redo and History 105


14.1 Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
14.2 History Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

15 Audio CDs 109


15.1 CD Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
15.2 CD-audio and Audacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
15.3 CD creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
15.4 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
15.5 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
15.6 OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
15.7 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
15.8 BURNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
15.9 Burning different types of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
15.10Burning separate CD tracks from a long file or recording . . . . . 115

16 Recording Quality 117


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16.1 Inside the Computer (including external audio devices) . . . . . . 117

17 Recovery 121

18 Batch Processing 123


18.1 What Is Batch Processing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
18.2 How to Use Batch Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

19 Customization 125

20 Simplifying Audacity 127


20.1 The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
20.2 The Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
20.3 Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

21 Accessibility 131

22 Menu Reference 133

23 File Menu 135


23.1 New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
23.2 Open... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
23.3 Recent Files... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
23.4 Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
23.5 Save Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
23.6 Save Project As... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
23.7 Check Dependencies... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
23.8 Metadata EditorOpen Metadata Editor... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
23.9 Import... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
23.10Export... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
23.11Export Selection... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
23.12Export Labels... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
23.13Export Multiple... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
23.14media:ApplyChain.pngApply Chain... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
23.15Edit ChainsEdit Chains... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
23.16Page Setup... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
23.17Print... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
23.18Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CONTENTS 7

24 Edit Menu 143


24.1 Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
24.2 Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
24.3 Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
24.4 Split Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
24.5 Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
24.6 Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
24.7 Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
24.8 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
24.9 Split Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
24.10Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
24.11Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
24.12Join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
24.13Disjoin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
24.14Duplicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
24.15Labeled Regions... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
24.16Select All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
24.17Select Left at Playback Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
24.18Select Right at Playback Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.19Select Start to Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.20Select Cursor to End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.21Find Zero Crossings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.22Move Cursor To Selection Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.23Move Cursor To Selection End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.24Move Cursor To Track Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24.25Move Cursor To Track End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24.26Selection Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24.27Selection Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24.28Snap-To... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
24.29Play Region... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

25 View Menu 153


25.1 Zoom In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.2 Zoom Normal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.3 Zoom Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.4 Fit in Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.5 Fit Vertically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.6 Zoom to Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
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25.7 Collapse All Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154


25.8 Expand All Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.9 Show Clipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
25.10History... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
25.11Toolbars... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

26 Tracks Menu 157


26.1 Add New Track... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
26.2 Stereo to Mono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.3 Mix and Render . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
26.4 Resample... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.5 Remove Track(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
26.6 Align... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.7 ”alignzero” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.8 ”aligncursor” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.9 ”alignselectionstart” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.10”alignselectionend” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.11”alignendcursor” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.12”alignendselectionstart” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.13”alignendselectionend” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.14”aligntogether” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.15”alignmovecursor” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.16Add Label at Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
26.17Add Label at Playback Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

27 Generate Menu 163


27.1 Audio Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
27.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
27.3 Chirp... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
27.4 DTMF Tones... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
27.5 Noise... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
27.6 Silence... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
27.7 Tone... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
27.8 Plug-in Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

28 Effect Menu 167


28.1 Classes of Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
28.2 Purpose of Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
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28.3 List of Built-in Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169


28.4 VST Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
28.5 Nyquist Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
28.6 LADSPA Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

29 Analyze Menu 177


29.1 Plot Spectrum... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
29.2 Find Clipping... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
29.3 Beat Finder... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
29.4 Regular interval labels... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
29.5 Silence Finder... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

30 Help Menu 183


30.1 About Audacity... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
30.2 Show Welcome Message... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
30.3 Index... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
30.4 Run Benchmark... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
30.5 Audio Device Info... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

31 Toolbars 185
31.1 List of Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
31.2 Arranging Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

32 Tools Toolbar 187


32.1 Audacity SelectionSelection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
32.2 Envelope ToolEnvelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
32.3 Draw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
32.4 ZoomingZoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
32.5 Time Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
32.6 Multi-ToolMulti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

33 Control Toolbar 191


33.1 Image:Play.pngThe Play buttonPlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
33.2 Image:Loop.pngThe Loop Play buttonLoop . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
33.3 Image:Record.pngThe Record buttonRecord . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
33.4 Image:Stop.pngThe Stop buttonStop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
33.5 Image:Pause.pngThe Pause buttonPause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
33.6 Image:Rewind.pngThe Skip to Start buttonSkip to Start . . . . . . 192
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33.7 Image:FFwd.pngThe Skip to End buttonSkip to End . . . . . . . . 192


33.8 Play and Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
33.9 Pause and Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
33.10Skip to Start/End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

34 Edit Toolbar 195


34.1 Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
34.2 Undo, Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
34.3 Zooming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

35 Mixer Toolbar 197


35.1 Output Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
35.2 Input Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
35.3 Input Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

36 Meter Toolbar 201

37 Transcription Toolbar 203

38 Selection Bar 205

39 Timeline 207

40 Tracks 209
40.1 Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
40.2 Label Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
40.3 Time Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
40.4 Note Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

41 Audio Tracks 211


41.1 Track Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
41.2 Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
41.3 Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

42 Label Tracks 215


42.1 Creating Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
42.2 Selecting a label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
42.3 Deleting labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
42.4 Editing labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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42.5 Adding labels while playing or recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220


42.6 Importing and Exporting labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

43 Time Tracks 223


43.1 Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
43.2 To Use (Time Warping Tutorial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

44 Preferences 225
44.1 Where are preferences stored? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

45 Audio IO Preferences 227


45.1 Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
45.2 Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
45.3 Playthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
45.4 Cut Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
45.5 Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
45.6 Seek Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
45.7 Effects Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

46 Quality Preferences 231


46.1 Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
46.2 Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

47 Import / Export Preferences 235


47.1 MP3 Export Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
47.2 When importing audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
47.3 When saving a project that depends on other audio... . . . . . . . 237
47.4 When exporting tracks to an audio file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

48 Interface Preferences 239


48.1 Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
48.2 Show / Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
48.3 Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
48.4 Display range minimum.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
48.5 Other interface choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

49 Spectrogram Preferences 245


49.1 FFT Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
49.2 Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
12 CONTENTS

50 Directory Preferences 247


50.1 Temporary files directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
50.2 Auto save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
50.3 Audio cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

51 Keyboard Preferences 249


51.1 Command/Key Combination window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
51.2 Modifying the key bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
51.3 Exporting and importing the key bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

52 Mouse Preferences 253

53 Index 255
53.1 Audacity 1.4 User Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

54 Glossary 259
54.1 General Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
54.2 Audio File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

55 FAQ 263
55.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

56 Credits 267
56.1 Brief History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
56.2 The Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

57 License 269
57.1 Audacity License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
57.2 GNU General Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

58 Information for Developers 279

59 Audacity Project Format 281


59.1 aup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Copyright

This manual is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 License1 .
You are free:

• to Share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work

• to Remix - to adapt the work

Under the following condition:

• Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the
author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or
your use of the work).

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of
this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from
the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral
rights.

1
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

13
14 CONTENTS
Introduction

Why Audacity?

Audacity is one of the most frequently downloaded digital audio editors in the
world. Tens of millions of people have used it to record a podcast, create a demo
CD of their garage band, transfer old vinyl records to CD, or just have fun with
audio. But there are dozens of other software programs with similar capabili-
ties...why should you choose Audacity?
The simplest reason? Because it’s free.
Audacity is developed by a team of volunteers and released under an open-source
license (more on this below). What that means for you is that you don’t have to
pay for Audacity - it’s freely downloadable from the Internet with no limitations
or restrictions. We hope you’ll find Audacity to be an enormously useful and fun
tool that will put you in control of digital audio files. Even if you find Audacity
too limited for your own advanced needs, there’s no reason you can’t use other
software alongside Audacity - perhaps even expensive commercial software. As
long as Audacity is free and has some unique capabilities, or is better at some
tasks than other software, it can always be part of your toolbox.
Another reason to choose Audacity is that it’s the only audio editing software that
runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Every other piece of software you
will find only works on one, or maybe two of these platforms. Why should this
matter to you? Most of us only have one type of computer; perhaps like the major-
ity of people you have a typical PC running Microsoft Windows. Or maybe you
have a Macintosh and you’ve used nothing but Macs for years. But your friends or
co-workers may well use different sorts of computer, and Audacity enables both
you and them to use the same audio software, sharing tips and resources with one

15
16 CONTENTS

another. You can even share your Audacity project file with those on other oper-
ating systems, as long as it’s complete with all its audio data, so doesn’t depend
on files only on your computer.
Also, Audacity has been translated into more than 30 languages and has large user
communities in countries around the world. If you have business partners, friends
or family in another part of the world, they can use Audacity too.
Finally, many people simply find Audacity the easiest to use. That’s not to say that
everything will be obvious or easy at first - editing audio is not usually as easy as
editing an email. But Audacity was written with the average user in mind. We
don’t assume you’ve been in a recording studio and that you know what a ”mixer
bus” or an ”edit decision list” is. Whenever possible, Audacity lets you do what
you want to do without worrying about how it works internally. You may still
have to learn some new terminology along the way where it really is necessary,
but that’s what this Manual is for.

Why free?
So why is Audacity given away for free like this? First, free, open source soft-
ware is more common than you may realize - the popular Firefox, BitTorrent or
OpenOffice applications are all open-source software. More than half of the web
sites on the Internet are powered by Apache, another open-source software pro-
gram, and many of these run on Linux, an entirely open-source operating system.
Sometimes open-source developers are paid by major corporations who benefit
from the software; in other cases they survive on donations, a small amount of rel-
evant advertising or on individual contributors doing paid consultancy. Audacity
is a case of the latter.
Audacity’s team of about a dozen developers around the world are thus volunteers
for the most part, developing Audacity in their spare time because they love it. But
we always need more help. Besides more programmers with C++ knowledge, we
need ordinary users to help the project in many ways. There is always work to be
done keeping documentation up-to-date, translating Audacity into new languages,
and answering user queries on our Forum2 . If you would like to contribute, don’t
hesitate to write to us at audacity-feedback@lists.sourceforge.net.
2
http://audacityteam.org/forum/
CONTENTS 17

Open-Source Software
Open-source software means that all of the programming source code is dis-
tributed free along with the software. Usually, source code is kept secret, meaning
that the person or organization that created the software is the only one with the
power to change it. By this means they control the software, charging whatever
price they want, or can throw away the source code at any time and discontinue the
software altogether. With open-source software, the source code is licensed to the
world so that anyone can see how the program works, and even modify it if they
so choose. In the case of Audacity, the source code is provided under the terms of
the GNU General Public License3 (GPL). The GPL allows you to do whatever you
want with Audacity, including modify it and redistribute it, providing you offer it
under the same license and make its source code available. For more details, see
the full text of the License at the end of this Manual.
Why should you care that you can modify Audacity? You’re probably not a pro-
grammer yourself. But the fact that anyone can download the Audacity source
code and modify it means that Audacity is not likely to die. Even if the original
developers move on to something else, it’s always possible for another developer
to come along and continue where they left off. In fact, this is almost certain to
happen if enough people want Audacity to continue and are willing to chip in a
little.

About This Manual


The Manual is divided into several sections. The first part contains some Tutorials
which walk you through various common tasks and provide a really quick way
to get started. The tutorials have the aim of getting you up and running as soon
as possible. It’s best to try to follow along with Audacity while you read these
tutorials, but of course feel free to skip any tutorials that don’t sound interesting
or useful to you. Many people may find that after going through a couple of
tutorials, they’re ready to explore the rest of Audacity on their own, and use this
Manual as a reference when they get stuck.
If you want to understand Audacity in greater detail, though, the ”Using Audac-
ity” section of the Manual is required reading. ”Foundations” lets you start from
3
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL
18 CONTENTS

the beginning, introducing you to the fundamentals of digital audio and then ex-
plaining the concepts you need in order to work with Audacity. We recommend
you read ”Foundations” through from beginning to end, since each concept builds
on the previous one. Then there is a ”Help with Advanced Issues” section. Here
you can read only those pages that apply to you, such as working with Audio CDs
or customizing Audacity with additional plug-ins, as and when you need to.
The main part of the Manual is a complete Reference to Audacity, including an
explanation of every button, tool, menu item, and dialog box in the whole pro-
gram. This is the place to turn when you need to know exactly what something in
the program does.
At the end of the Manual, you’ll find an alphabetical Index where you can search
the page contents, a Glossary of technical terms used in the Manual, and our
Frequently Asked Questions. Finally there are our Credits and License pages.
Chapter 1

Tutorial - Editing an Existing File

The easiest way to use Audacity is to open up an existing audio file and make
small changes. If you’ve never used Audacity before, this is a great place to start.

1.1 Step 1: Find a file to edit


Audacity can open many common audio file formats, including WAV, AIFF, and
MP3. Audacity cannot open WMA files or copy-protected music files.
If you want to edit music that you have on an audio CD, you need to ”rip” the
music into an audio file. See Ripping from an Audio CD (page ??).
Don’t have any audio files handy? There’s lots of free music online! Here’s one
song you can download:

• Stay Away From Me by Joshua Morin1

This recording is free, distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike


license2 , which gives you the right to create a derivative work without paying roy-
alties, as long as you give credit and make your derivative work free, too. This is
similar to the license for Audacity (page 269), which allows any programmer to
modify it and redistribute it for free.
1
http://www.opsound.org/artist/joshuamorin
2
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/

19
20 CHAPTER 1. TUTORIAL - EDITING AN EXISTING FILE

1.2 Step 2: Open the file with Audacity


Open Audacity. To open an audio file, you can select ”Open” from the File menu,
but a handy shortcut is to just drag and drop the file into Audacity:

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/OpeningDocsWinWindows: Drag the audio

(Linux users: you can run Audacity on the command line and give the name of
the file to open as a command-line argument.)

1.3 Step 2: Look at the waveform


Talk about the relation between the waveform and the audio; just explain that
roughly, when the waveform is ”larger”, the audio is louder, and vice versa. Point
out the left and right channels. Talk about the ruler and how it shows you the
length of the audio in minutes and seconds.

1.4 Step 3: Listen to the audio file

Talk about the Play and Stop buttons. If you don’t hear anything, see Audacity
Setup and Configuration (page 83).
Introduce the Spacebar as a shortcut. Click on the waveform to choose a place
to start, then press Play. Click and drag to create a selection, and then when you
press Play, only the selection will Play.
Note that you can select audio entirely using the keyboard.
Introduce the Skip to Start button and its keyboard shortcut (the Home key on
most keyboards? - please check this). It’s kind of like Rewind, but it’s not for
playback, it’s for
1.5. STEP 4: CREATE A 10-SECOND CLIP 21

Introduce keys to skip around while listening.


Audacity has even more ways to control audio playback. For a more thorough
description of all of the possible ways to listen to audio, see the section on Playing
and Recording (page 93).

1.5 Step 4: Create a 10-second clip


Introduce the idea of editing kind of like how you edit a word-processing docu-
ment. Focus on Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear. We’re going to cut the document
down to just 10 seconds or so.
Focus on the idea of selecting audio first, and then choosing the operation. Make
sure this is clear.
Introduce the Zoom commands. Use the Zoom commands so that you can make
maximal use of your Audacity window to see as much detail as you need, or to
make sure you see the entire file when necessary.
Walk through deleting all but approximately 10 seconds of audio.
Introduce the Selection Bar at the bottom of the screen as an alternative way to do
a more accurate cut.
Introduce Undo and talk about unlimited undo and redo.

1.6 Step 5: Fade out the last second


Reiterate the concept of selecting first, then choosing an operation. In this case,
we’re applying an effect, but the idea is the same when doing a Cut, Clear, or
Silence.

1.7 Step 6: Export the resulting file


Talk about the difference between exporting and saving. Exporting allows other
programs to open files, rather than just Audacity.
22 CHAPTER 1. TUTORIAL - EDITING AN EXISTING FILE

WAV first. Close and open the file. Always suggest a new name for the edited file,
and keep the original around unless you’re absolutely sure you can delete it.
Then optionally talk about exporting MP3. This is tricky because it requires down-
loading an extra program. Note that version 1.3.3 makes this much easier and we
have new LAME installers.
Chapter 2

Tutorial - Your First Recording

2.1 Step 1: Plug in your input source

Talk about various types of audio cables you might have and how you need to
adapt them for a typical sound card. Some of the images to use.

23
24 CHAPTER 2. TUTORIAL - YOUR FIRST RECORDING

2.2 Step 2: Configure Audacity to record from that


device
Start with Audio I/O Preferences
Next, input source from Meter toolbar - though note that this is less and less
necessary these days. (Is the input device on the toolbar yet? If so, the Preferences
may not be necessary!)
Click on the recording meter in the Meter toolbar to start recording. Show a before
and after picture so it’s really clear to the user.

2.3 Step 3: Do a test recording, set levels


Adjust based on meter, then try recording a few seconds, and play it back
Talk about clipping and why it’s bad. Show pictures of egregious clipping:

Undo

2.4 Step 4: Full Recording


Also talk about timed recording

2.5 Step 5: Edit Recording


Trim beginning and end, normalize volume
2.6. STEP 6: SAVE OR EXPORT 25

2.6 Step 6: Save or Export


26 CHAPTER 2. TUTORIAL - YOUR FIRST RECORDING
Chapter 3

Tutorial - Mixing a Narration With


Background Music

3.1 Step 1: Record narration

Similar to previous tutorial

3.2 Step 2: Import background music file

Talk about importing and automatic mixing


Mute, solo

27
28CHAPTER 3. TUTORIAL - MIXING A NARRATION WITH BACKGROUND MUSIC

3.3 Step 3: Time-shift the tracks

3.4 Step 4: Adjust relative volume levels

3.5 Step 5: Smooth fade of the background music

3.6 Step 6: Save and Export

3.7 Bonus: Listening while recording


Preferences: play existing tracks while recording new one (is this on by default?)
What if you wanted to listen to the background audio while narrating? (Give
examples, like narrating over a concert recording, etc.)
Talk about wearing headphones, so that your microphone doesn’t pick up audio
feedback.
Chapter 4

Tutorial - Copying tapes, LPs or


minidiscs to CD

You can use Audacity and your computer to record sound from any external device
which outputs an audio signal. Although cassette tapes and records (LPs) are the
most popular examples, Audacity can be used just as easily to record audio from
the following:

• Open-reel tape decks

• Minidisc (MD) players

• Radios

• Mixers

• Video cassette recorders (VCRs) and DVD players (recording from a dedi-
cated line-out containing audio output only)

• Televisions (via a SCART adaptor cable connected to the computer sound


card, or through a TV or VCR’s audio out)

• Personal digital voice recorders (DVRs)

• Portable MP3 players (such as iPods)

• Other computers

29
30CHAPTER 4. TUTORIAL - COPYING TAPES, LPS OR MINIDISCS TO CD

4.1 Connecting the equipment


You need to run an appropriate cable from an ”out” jack on the external device
(e.g. a tape deck, or an amplifier or receiver connected to a turntable) to the line-
in port of the computer. You should not connect a standard turntable directly to a
computer - see the next section below. A typical cable you might use is a stereo
mini to RCA cable:

The RCA end might connect to the jacks in the back of your cassette player:
4.1. CONNECTING THE EQUIPMENT 31

The stereo-mini end should be connected to your computer’s line-in jack, usually
found in the back. The line-in is normally coloured blue, but check your computer
manual. You should not generally connect to the microphone port of the computer,
as this port, besides typically being monophonic, will excessively amplify the
stronger signals produced by a tape deck or receiver/amplifier. The only exception
to this might be the outputs of some personal recorders supplied with a minijack
intended for connection to the microphone input of a recorder. To record in stereo,
plug the audio cable into the blue port.
32CHAPTER 4. TUTORIAL - COPYING TAPES, LPS OR MINIDISCS TO CD

The terms ”jack”, ”socket”, and ”port” can be used interchangeably. Until the
advent of the Walkman in the 1980s, audio sockets were frequently 1/4 inch
in diameter. Although professional audio equipment and guitar amplifiers
continue to use this 1/4 inch standard, most contemporary consumer audio
equipment has standardised on sockets that are half that size. Often called
a ’minijack’ or a ’miniplug’, these sockets will appear as 1/8 inch (3.5 mm)
diameter holes. On computers, minijacks are used for the headphone, mi-
crophone (if present), and line-in (line-input) sockets. Most portable music
players - including cassette players, CD players, and MP3 players - use mini-
jacks exclusively for the headphones. However, some smartphone devices
that can also play music use a 2.5 mm jack to maintain compatibility with
hands-free telephony devices. Adapters to allow use of 2.5 mm equipment
with 3.5 mm jacks are readily available at electronics stores and online. An-
other significant exception to this rule involves the headphone jacks used in
better quality (home) audio equipment, such as home theater receivers and
cassette decks, where the larger 1/4 inch jack is normally used.
Also note that audio plugs (which fit into these sockets) can be either mono-
phonic or stereophonic. A stereophonic plug can be identified by its use of
three metallic rings separated by an insulator, while monophonic plugs will
have only two rings. Note that the very tip of the plug and the shaft itself
are both considered ’rings’. Some electronic stores sell cables that are mono-
phonic, so it would be wise to inspect the plug to make sure it is what you
want prior to making a purchase. In general, and especially if you are a
novice, you will always want to purchase cables that are stereophonic.

If your device does not have RCA out, the headphone jack is a good ”out” jack to
choose, since it will allow you to adjust the output level of the source device. If
you choose this approach, the most typical setup is to use a cable with a 1/8 inch
(3.5 mm) stereo jack at one end (for connecting to the device’s headphone jack),
and an identical 1/8 inch stereo jack on the other end (for connecting to the line-in
socket on your computer). If the device you are recording from has a 1/4 inch
(6.3 mm) headphone jack, you will need to get a 1/4 to 1/8 inch adaptor. Such
an adapter is often included free with most new headphones, or can be purchased
separately at any electronics store.
4.1. CONNECTING THE EQUIPMENT 33

Some professionals with high-grade equipment would prefer to use the source de-
vice’s ”aux out”, ”tape out”, ”line-out” or ”record” output (if so equipped), since
that approach bypasses an unnecessary stage of (possibly low-quality) amplifica-
tion, and standardises the signal at a fixed (non-adjustable) level of approximately
1 - 1.5 volts, resulting in a higher quality recording. If you choose this approach,
you will need a cable that has dual RCA red/white plugs at one end (for connect-
ing to the ”aux out”, ”tape out” or ”record” jack of the device) and a stereophonic
1/8 inch (3.5 mm) plug at the other end (for connecting to your computer’s line-in
port).

4.1.1 Special note on connecting a tape deck

If you wish to record from an audio cassette or a reel-to-reel tape deck, you can
connect that deck directly to your computer without the need for any external
amplifier or receiver. Simply connect the deck’s ”line-out” RCA jacks to your
computer’s ”line in” jack, using a cable described above. You can also connect to
the headphones out jack of an integrated cassette deck or to that of an amplifier
connected to the tape deck. If you do this (or if the ”line-out” volume of your deck
is adjustable), it’s best to set that level quite close to its maximum, and adjust the
recording level using Audacity’s input volume slider (see below). This helps keep
the inherent tape noise to a minimum in the signal sent to Audacity. If the cassette
you are playing has been encoded with Dolby ®1 as denoted by the Dolby
Double-D symbol2 , then you must enable Dolby playback on your tape deck, or
the recording of the tape will sound over-bright.

Before transferring your cassette, you may want to clean and align your tape
heads.

1
http://www.dolby.com
2
http://www.dolby.com/images/mainnav/logo.gif
34CHAPTER 4. TUTORIAL - COPYING TAPES, LPS OR MINIDISCS TO CD

4.1.2 Special note on connecting a standalone turntable

If you have a standalone turntable, you must not connect it directly to your com-
puter. Instead, you must connect it to an amplifier or receiver with a ”phono”
or turntable input, or to a phono pre-amplifier - and then record from the am-
plifier’s ”line out” or ”tape out” jacks. This is for two reasons: (1) the audio
signals produced by a phono cartridge are too weak to record directly, and (2)
most records manufactured from the 1950s onwards were produced with a stan-
dard type of equalization called ”RIAA”, which emphasizes high frequencies and
de-emphasizes (reduces) low frequencies. If left uncorrected, this will result in
a recording that sounds very ”tinny”. All amplifiers containing a ”phono” stage
will both boost the signal to line-level so it’s suitable for input into a tape deck
or a computer, and will reverse the RIAA equalization so that the records sound
”normal” again. If you have an integrated ”stack system” or ”entertainment cen-
ter” into which you plug your speakers, your record deck is already connected to
a suitable amplifier.

4.1.3 Special note on connecting a USB turntable

A USB turntable is a relatively new kind of turntable which is designed to con-


nect directly to your computer’s USB port. The concerns noted in the ’standalone
turntable’ section above do not apply here, as the necessary pre-amplification and
RIAA equalization are already built into the USB turntable. There are some spe-
cial playback and recording device settings you need to observe when using USB
turntables - see our help page on USB turntables (page ??).
Once these settings are adjusted, the remaining instructions for recording, editing
and exporting your recording remain the same as for all other equipment, and can
be read by jumping down to Recording, editing and exporting (page ??), Step 6),
below.

4.1.4 Special note on connecting a Minidisc player

Some users find that the line-level output of Minidisc players is too strong for
recording on a computer and causes distortion, since its level is not adjustable.
If you are encountering this problem, try connecting your cable to the player’s
4.2. SETTING UP AUDACITY 35

headphone jack instead. Since the strength of the headphone signal is easily ad-
justable, you can then reduce the signal level sent to the PC. On most players, this
means using the same shared line out/headphones out socket/jack, but choosing
the headphones out option in the player’s ”Sound Out” Preferences menu.

4.2 Setting up Audacity

Help if you don’t have a line-in port


Some Macs and notebook/laptop computers do not have a line-in port. In that
case check if your microphone port can be toggled to line-in with a switch, or
by changing the recording source in the software. On some laptops this line-
level source is called ”mix” or ”stereo mix”, in which case you could select
this source in the system sound preferences (or on Windows and Linux, in
Audacity as described above). If you see a line-in option available, always
choose that as your recording source. If you have neither a line-in port nor
any way to switch the microphone port to line-in, you need to add a line-in
by adding a USB sound card, or other suitable audio input/output device that
connects to the computer via USB. Examples of recommendable input/output
devices are the iMica which has a standard 1/8 inch input, and the Behringer
UCA202b which has left and right RCA inputs.
If recording into a USB device, set this as the ”Recording Device” in the
Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences. Where you use a simple I/O device
like iMic or Behringer, the Audacity Mixer Toolbar input selector will not
be in use, although you’ll need to set the line/mic toggle switch on iMic to
”line”. In the case of a full USB sound card you will need to select line-in as
the input source in the same way as you choose input sources for your inbuilt
audio device.
a
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/Griffin
b
http://www.behringer.com/UCA202/index.cfm?lang=ENG
36CHAPTER 4. TUTORIAL - COPYING TAPES, LPS OR MINIDISCS TO CD

4.3 Recording, editing and exporting

Create a new Project by clicking File ¿ Save Project As. Start your recording
by pressing the red Record button, then starting the player. You can pause and
restart the recording between tracks or sides with the blue Pause button, which
keeps your recording on one track within Audacity. This is the easiest way to
record into Audacity, because having just one track on screen allows you to split
the recording up into the different songs or sections using ”labels”. See Step 10)
below for more on this.
If you do want to start new tracks or sides of the tape or LP on a new track in
Audacity, then press the yellow Stop button to stop recording, get the LP or tape
to where you want to go to, then press the red Record button in Audacity and start
the player. The recording will now restart on a new track.
When you have finished recording, press the yellow Stop button and save your
recording into the Project you started (File ¿ Save Project). Now the data is safe,
you can edit it in Audacity if you want to (for example, cut redundant pieces out),
or come back to it later by re-opening the saved Project file with the File ¿ Open
command. See Cut, Paste, and More (page ??) for help with editing.
You may also want to remove steady noise such as tape hiss or vinyl roar using
Audacity’s Noise Removal (page 171), and clicks from records using its Click
Removal (page ??)
8) When you are happy with your editing, you need to export the recording as an
audio file such as .WAV or .MP3 that you can either play on your computer media
player (e.g. on iTunes or Windows Media Player), or which you can burn to an
audio or MP3 CD. See sections 9) and 10) below about the difference between
audio and MP3 CDs. To export a single audio file, use the File ¿ Export As..
command. If your recording contains multiple tracks or songs, you may want to
export these from your Project as separate audio files. This would be necessary if
you wanted to burn a CD with separate CD tracks corresponding to each track in
your recording. To prepare your recording for export as separate audio files, mark
the split points between the sections with the Project ¿ Add Label at Selection
command. This places labels (in a new Label Track underneath the audio track)
which both act as split points to divide your recording and can carry the name you
want for the track. Then you use the File ¿ Export Multiple command to export
your multiple audio files at one go, based on your chosen split points.
4.3. RECORDING, EDITING AND EXPORTING 37

9) .WAV, .AIFF and .MP3 are the most common formats for exporting. .WAV and
.AIFF files are of identical quality to the original recording, but take up 10 MB or
more of disc space per minute. If you want to burn an ”audio CD” that will play
on any standalone CD player (note these only give you 74 - 80 minutes’ playing
time), export your recording as a 44 100 Hz, 16 bit stereo .WAV or .AIFF file.
See: Audio CDs (page 109).
10) If you want your exported audio file to be smaller (you’d want to do this for
example if you wanted to make it available on the internet), you can export as
.MP3, at the expense of losing some of the audio quality of the original. You can
also burn the MP3s to a ”data CD” or ”MP3 CD” which will give you (at Audac-
ity’s default MP3 export settings) over 11 hours’ playing time on the CD. Note
you can only play these kind of CDs in computers, MP3 CD players (including
some newer automotive players), or some DVD players. Generally, you will see
an MP3 logo printed somewhere on the device if it is MP3-capable. Note that
most players manufactured prior to 2005 will not be able to play MP3 CDs. To
export as an .MP3, you first need to add the LAME encoder (page ??) to your
system and show Audacity where it is.
11) If you are exporting your file to a media program which has its own ”Library”
such as Windows Media Player, iTunes or Real Player, you would generally drag
your exported file into the program’s Library, or use the media program’s built-in
commands to add the exported file to its Library. For more help on importing
your audio file into iTunes (e.g. for burning to CD or for putting on an iPod), see
Exporting to iTunes and iPod (page ??).
38CHAPTER 4. TUTORIAL - COPYING TAPES, LPS OR MINIDISCS TO CD
Chapter 5

Effect Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuEffect textbfRepeat Last EffectPerform the la

Audacity includes many built-in effects and also lets you use a wide range of plug-
in effects. You can download many free plugins for Audacity on http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/plugi
Website. More information is also available at http://www.kvr-vst.com, http://www.plugin.org.uk/
and http://www.ladspa.org/.
To apply an effect, select part or all of the tracks you want to modify, and select
the effect from the menu. Titles which end in an ellipsis (...) will bring up a dialog
asking you for more parameters.

5.1 Classes of Effect


There are four classes of effects - the built-in Effects, and three classes of plug-in
effect which allow you to download and install additional effects. All classes of
effect are applied in the same way. The four effects classes are:

• Built-in Effects

• VST Effect Plug-ins

39
40 CHAPTER 5. EFFECT MENU

• Nyquist Effect Plug-ins

• LADSPA Effect Plug-ins

5.2 Purpose of Effects

Effects in any of the four classes can perform similar tasks. These are Audacity’s
built-in effects grouped by purpose:

5.2.1 Volume changes

(no effect on tone quality)


Amplify (page ??) Auto Duck (page ??) Compressor (page ??) Fade In Fade Out
Leveller Normalize create additional links (page ??)

5.2.2 Tone changes

Bass Boost Echo Equalization (page ??) Phaser Wahwah create additional links
(page ??)

5.2.3 Pitch and tempo changes

Change Pitch without changing tempo Change Tempo without changing pitchChange
Speed affecting pitch and tempo create links (page ??)

5.2.4 Audio restoration

Click Removal Noise Removal (page ??) Repair Truncate Silence create addi-
tional links (page ??)
5.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 41

5.2.5 Other built-in effects


Invert Repeat Nyquist Prompt Reverse create additional links (page ??)

Most built-in effects have a ”Preview” button. This allows you to listen to
how the first three seconds of your selected audio will sound with your effect
applied. If it does not sound quite as you want, simply adjust the controls
of the effect and preview again. The preview length can be changed on the
Audio I/O (page 227) tab of Preferences (page 225).

5.2.6 Generate and Analyze plug-ins


Nyquist plug-ins are also used to provide some of Audacity’s built-in audio gen-
erators (page 163) and analysis tools (page 177). You can similarly add either
Nyquist or LADSPA generation and analysis plug-ins to Audacity which will then
appear under the Generate or Analyze Menu.

5.3 List of Built-in Effects

5.3.1 Amplify...
This effect increases or decreases the volume of the audio you have selected.
When you open the dialog, Audacity automatically calculates the maximum amount
you could amplify the selected audio without causing clipping (distortion caused
by trying to make the audio too loud).
create link to the Amplify page (page ??)

5.3.2 Auto DuckAuto Duck...


Reduces (ducks) the volume of one or more tracks whenever the volume of a
specified ”control” track reaches a particular level. Typically used to make a music
42 CHAPTER 5. EFFECT MENU

track softer whenever speech in a commentary track is heard.

5.3.3 BassBoost...

This is a safe, smooth filter which can amplify the lower frequencies while leaving
most of the other frequencies alone. It is most effective if you don’t try to boost
too much; 12 dB is usually just right.

5.3.4 :Image:ChangePitch.pngChange Pitch...

5.3.5 media:ChangeSpeed.pngChange Speed...

5.3.6 media:ChangeTempo.pngChange Tempo...

5.3.7 media:ClickRemoval.pngClick Removal...

5.3.8 Compressor...

Compresses the dynamic range by making the soft parts louder, and the loud parts
softer.?????? More details here (page ??)

5.3.9 EchoEcho...

Repeats the selected audio again and again, normally softer each time. The delay
time between each repeat is fixed, with no pause in between each repeat. For
a more configurable echo effect with a variable delay time and pitch-changed
echoes, see Delay... (page 175)

5.3.10 Equalization...

Adjusts the volume levels of particular frequencies.


5.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 43

5.3.11 Fade In
Applies a linear fade-in to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-in depends
entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customizable
logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page
187).

5.3.12 Fade Out


Applies a linear fade-out to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-out de-
pends entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customiz-
able logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page

187).

5.3.13 Invert
This effect flips the audio samples upside-down. This normally does not affect
the sound of the audio at all. It is occasionally useful, for example when the left
and right channels of a song both contain equal amounts of vocals, but unequal
amounts of background instruments. By inverting one of the channels and not the
other and then converting from stereo to mono, the vocals will cancel each other
out, leaving just the instrumentals. This only works if the exact same vocal signal
is present in both of the channels to begin with.

5.3.14 Leveller...

5.3.15 Noise Removal...


This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
44 CHAPTER 5. EFFECT MENU

background. More details here (page ??).


MERGE THIS OLD TEXT IF ANYTHING USEFUL
The Noise Removal function in Audacity 1.3.x and higher is greatly improved
over the Noise Removal included with Audacity 1.2.x. But with improvement
comes a small amount of added complexity for the end user.
In order to use Noise Removal, you need an audio clip with two things:
The procedure for using Noise Removal is as follows:
This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
background.
Removing noise is a two-step process.

• In the first step you teach the software about the noise, using a portion of
your sound which contains all noise and no signal,

where the recording is silent except for the noise.

• In the second you use that information to remove the noise from the rest of
the recording.

First off, you need to find a section of recording that contains only noise, and
not any of your wanted sound, or people talking and the like. This doesn’t need
to be very long, a second is enough, and in necessary you can make it up from
several places in the project (using copy and paste).Now choose Noise Removal...
from the Effect menu and click ”Get Profile”. Audacity learns from this selection
what the noise sounds like, so it knows what to filter out later.Next, select all of
the audio where you want the noise removed from and choose Noise Removal...
again. In th elower half of the dialog adjust the slider to control how agressive
the noise removal is. Most of the time you want a low setting unless the noise is
really bad.Finaly, click the ”Remove Noise” button to start processing. This may
take a little while because it’s quite a complex effect to apply.
If too much or not enough noise was removed, you can Undo (from the Edit menu)
and try Noise Removal... again with a different noise removal level. You don’t
have to get a new noise profile again if you think the first one was fine.
5.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 45

Removing noise usually results in some distortion. This is normal and there’s
virtually nothing you can do about it. When there’s only a little bit of noise, and
the signal (i.e. the voice or the music or whatever) is much louder than the noise,
this effect works well and there’s very little audible distortion. But when the noise
is very loud, when the noise is variable, or when the signal is not much louder
than the noise, then the result is often too distorted.
If you are still having problems then the following tips may help:

• Do any click removal, compression or other effects after doing noise re-
moval, not first. It works best as close to the source of the noise as possible.

• Make the selection you use to teach audacity about the noise a little quieter
before you do ”Get Profile”, using the amplify effect.

• Duplicate your source track before you apply noise removal, and adjust the
relative volume of the two tracks to get the best sound quality.

5.3.16 media:Normalize.pngNormalize...

5.3.17 media:NyquistPrompt.pngNyquist Prompt...

5.3.18 Phaser

The name ”Phaser” comes from ”Phase Shifter”, because it works by combining
phase-shifted signals with the original signal. The movement of the phase-shifted
signals is controlled using a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO).

5.3.19 Repair

fix one particular very short click, pop, or other glitch no more than 128 samples
long
46 CHAPTER 5. EFFECT MENU

5.3.20 :media:Repeat.pngRepeat...

5.3.21 Reverse
This effect reverses the selected audio temporally; after the effect the end of the
audio will be heard first and the beginning last. Some people reverse small por-
tions of audio to make inappropriate language unintelligible, while others believe
you can hear subliminal messages if you listen to speech backwards. You can
also create interesting sound effects by recording natural events and reversing the
audio.

5.3.22 Truncate Silence...


automatically try to find and eliminate audible silences. Don’t use with faded
audio.

5.3.23 Wahwah...
Rapid tone quality variations, like that guitar sound so popular in the 1970’s.
This effect uses a moving bandpass filter to create its sound. A low frequency
oscillator (LFO) is used to control the movement of the filter throughout the fre-
quency spectrum.
The WahWah effect automatically adjusts the phase of the left and right chan-
nels when given a stereo recording, so that the effect seems to travel across the
speakers.

5.4 VST Effects


• To use a VST plug-in effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called
”Plug-Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides.
If there is no directory, create one.

• You will also need to download and unzip the VST Enabler (page ??) broken
link (page ??) to the same directory.
5.5. NYQUIST EFFECTS 47

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect menu.

5.5 Nyquist Effects


• To use a Nyquist1 effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called ”Plug-
Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides. Upon
installation, some nyquist scripts are included, so you needn’t worry about
creating this directory.

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect, Generate or Analyze menus.

5.5.1 Cross Fade In

5.5.2 Cross Fade Out

5.5.3 Delay...

5.5.4 High Pass Filter...

5.5.5 Low Pass Filter...

5.5.6 Tremolo...

5.6 LADSPA Effects


These originally started out in a Linux plugin format under the Linux Audio De-
veloper’s Simple Plugin API2 , but can now be used in Windows and OS X as
well. There are lots of free plugins available, and no enabler is needed. More
information can be found on the web3 .
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist (programming language)
2
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2001/02/02/ladspa.html
3
http://www.ladspa.org/
48 CHAPTER 5. EFFECT MENU

Getting a good reverb sound depends a lot on the source audio and can take a
lot of experimentation. One good strategy is to select a small portion of audio (a
few seconds) and try to add reverb. Listen to it, then Undo and try it again with
different settings. Keep doing this until you’ve found the settings you like the
sound of best, and then Undo one last time, Select All, then apply the effect to
your entire recording.
Chapter 6

Effect Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuEffect textbfRepeat Last EffectPerform the la

Audacity includes many built-in effects and also lets you use a wide range of plug-
in effects. You can download many free plugins for Audacity on http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/plugi
Website. More information is also available at http://www.kvr-vst.com, http://www.plugin.org.uk/
and http://www.ladspa.org/.
To apply an effect, select part or all of the tracks you want to modify, and select
the effect from the menu. Titles which end in an ellipsis (...) will bring up a dialog
asking you for more parameters.

6.1 Classes of Effect


There are four classes of effects - the built-in Effects, and three classes of plug-in
effect which allow you to download and install additional effects. All classes of
effect are applied in the same way. The four effects classes are:

• Built-in Effects

• VST Effect Plug-ins

49
50 CHAPTER 6. EFFECT MENU

• Nyquist Effect Plug-ins

• LADSPA Effect Plug-ins

6.2 Purpose of Effects

Effects in any of the four classes can perform similar tasks. These are Audacity’s
built-in effects grouped by purpose:

6.2.1 Volume changes

(no effect on tone quality)


Amplify (page ??) Auto Duck (page ??) Compressor (page ??) Fade In Fade Out
Leveller Normalize create additional links (page ??)

6.2.2 Tone changes

Bass Boost Echo Equalization (page ??) Phaser Wahwah create additional links
(page ??)

6.2.3 Pitch and tempo changes

Change Pitch without changing tempo Change Tempo without changing pitchChange
Speed affecting pitch and tempo create links (page ??)

6.2.4 Audio restoration

Click Removal Noise Removal (page ??) Repair Truncate Silence create addi-
tional links (page ??)
6.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 51

6.2.5 Other built-in effects


Invert Repeat Nyquist Prompt Reverse create additional links (page ??)

Most built-in effects have a ”Preview” button. This allows you to listen to
how the first three seconds of your selected audio will sound with your effect
applied. If it does not sound quite as you want, simply adjust the controls
of the effect and preview again. The preview length can be changed on the
Audio I/O (page 227) tab of Preferences (page 225).

6.2.6 Generate and Analyze plug-ins


Nyquist plug-ins are also used to provide some of Audacity’s built-in audio gen-
erators (page 163) and analysis tools (page 177). You can similarly add either
Nyquist or LADSPA generation and analysis plug-ins to Audacity which will then
appear under the Generate or Analyze Menu.

6.3 List of Built-in Effects

6.3.1 Amplify...
This effect increases or decreases the volume of the audio you have selected.
When you open the dialog, Audacity automatically calculates the maximum amount
you could amplify the selected audio without causing clipping (distortion caused
by trying to make the audio too loud).
create link to the Amplify page (page ??)

6.3.2 Auto DuckAuto Duck...


Reduces (ducks) the volume of one or more tracks whenever the volume of a
specified ”control” track reaches a particular level. Typically used to make a music
52 CHAPTER 6. EFFECT MENU

track softer whenever speech in a commentary track is heard.

6.3.3 BassBoost...

This is a safe, smooth filter which can amplify the lower frequencies while leaving
most of the other frequencies alone. It is most effective if you don’t try to boost
too much; 12 dB is usually just right.

6.3.4 :Image:ChangePitch.pngChange Pitch...

6.3.5 media:ChangeSpeed.pngChange Speed...

6.3.6 media:ChangeTempo.pngChange Tempo...

6.3.7 media:ClickRemoval.pngClick Removal...

6.3.8 Compressor...

Compresses the dynamic range by making the soft parts louder, and the loud parts
softer.?????? More details here (page ??)

6.3.9 EchoEcho...

Repeats the selected audio again and again, normally softer each time. The delay
time between each repeat is fixed, with no pause in between each repeat. For
a more configurable echo effect with a variable delay time and pitch-changed
echoes, see Delay... (page 175)

6.3.10 Equalization...

Adjusts the volume levels of particular frequencies.


6.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 53

6.3.11 Fade In
Applies a linear fade-in to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-in depends
entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customizable
logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page
187).

6.3.12 Fade Out


Applies a linear fade-out to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-out de-
pends entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customiz-
able logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page

187).

6.3.13 Invert
This effect flips the audio samples upside-down. This normally does not affect
the sound of the audio at all. It is occasionally useful, for example when the left
and right channels of a song both contain equal amounts of vocals, but unequal
amounts of background instruments. By inverting one of the channels and not the
other and then converting from stereo to mono, the vocals will cancel each other
out, leaving just the instrumentals. This only works if the exact same vocal signal
is present in both of the channels to begin with.

6.3.14 Leveller...

6.3.15 Noise Removal...


This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
54 CHAPTER 6. EFFECT MENU

background. More details here (page ??).


MERGE THIS OLD TEXT IF ANYTHING USEFUL
The Noise Removal function in Audacity 1.3.x and higher is greatly improved
over the Noise Removal included with Audacity 1.2.x. But with improvement
comes a small amount of added complexity for the end user.
In order to use Noise Removal, you need an audio clip with two things:
The procedure for using Noise Removal is as follows:
This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
background.
Removing noise is a two-step process.

• In the first step you teach the software about the noise, using a portion of
your sound which contains all noise and no signal,

where the recording is silent except for the noise.

• In the second you use that information to remove the noise from the rest of
the recording.

First off, you need to find a section of recording that contains only noise, and
not any of your wanted sound, or people talking and the like. This doesn’t need
to be very long, a second is enough, and in necessary you can make it up from
several places in the project (using copy and paste).Now choose Noise Removal...
from the Effect menu and click ”Get Profile”. Audacity learns from this selection
what the noise sounds like, so it knows what to filter out later.Next, select all of
the audio where you want the noise removed from and choose Noise Removal...
again. In th elower half of the dialog adjust the slider to control how agressive
the noise removal is. Most of the time you want a low setting unless the noise is
really bad.Finaly, click the ”Remove Noise” button to start processing. This may
take a little while because it’s quite a complex effect to apply.
If too much or not enough noise was removed, you can Undo (from the Edit menu)
and try Noise Removal... again with a different noise removal level. You don’t
have to get a new noise profile again if you think the first one was fine.
6.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 55

Removing noise usually results in some distortion. This is normal and there’s
virtually nothing you can do about it. When there’s only a little bit of noise, and
the signal (i.e. the voice or the music or whatever) is much louder than the noise,
this effect works well and there’s very little audible distortion. But when the noise
is very loud, when the noise is variable, or when the signal is not much louder
than the noise, then the result is often too distorted.
If you are still having problems then the following tips may help:

• Do any click removal, compression or other effects after doing noise re-
moval, not first. It works best as close to the source of the noise as possible.

• Make the selection you use to teach audacity about the noise a little quieter
before you do ”Get Profile”, using the amplify effect.

• Duplicate your source track before you apply noise removal, and adjust the
relative volume of the two tracks to get the best sound quality.

6.3.16 media:Normalize.pngNormalize...

6.3.17 media:NyquistPrompt.pngNyquist Prompt...

6.3.18 Phaser

The name ”Phaser” comes from ”Phase Shifter”, because it works by combining
phase-shifted signals with the original signal. The movement of the phase-shifted
signals is controlled using a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO).

6.3.19 Repair

fix one particular very short click, pop, or other glitch no more than 128 samples
long
56 CHAPTER 6. EFFECT MENU

6.3.20 :media:Repeat.pngRepeat...

6.3.21 Reverse
This effect reverses the selected audio temporally; after the effect the end of the
audio will be heard first and the beginning last. Some people reverse small por-
tions of audio to make inappropriate language unintelligible, while others believe
you can hear subliminal messages if you listen to speech backwards. You can
also create interesting sound effects by recording natural events and reversing the
audio.

6.3.22 Truncate Silence...


automatically try to find and eliminate audible silences. Don’t use with faded
audio.

6.3.23 Wahwah...
Rapid tone quality variations, like that guitar sound so popular in the 1970’s.
This effect uses a moving bandpass filter to create its sound. A low frequency
oscillator (LFO) is used to control the movement of the filter throughout the fre-
quency spectrum.
The WahWah effect automatically adjusts the phase of the left and right chan-
nels when given a stereo recording, so that the effect seems to travel across the
speakers.

6.4 VST Effects


• To use a VST plug-in effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called
”Plug-Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides.
If there is no directory, create one.

• You will also need to download and unzip the VST Enabler (page ??) broken
link (page ??) to the same directory.
6.5. NYQUIST EFFECTS 57

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect menu.

6.5 Nyquist Effects


• To use a Nyquist1 effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called ”Plug-
Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides. Upon
installation, some nyquist scripts are included, so you needn’t worry about
creating this directory.

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect, Generate or Analyze menus.

6.5.1 Cross Fade In

6.5.2 Cross Fade Out

6.5.3 Delay...

6.5.4 High Pass Filter...

6.5.5 Low Pass Filter...

6.5.6 Tremolo...

6.6 LADSPA Effects


These originally started out in a Linux plugin format under the Linux Audio De-
veloper’s Simple Plugin API2 , but can now be used in Windows and OS X as
well. There are lots of free plugins available, and no enabler is needed. More
information can be found on the web3 .
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist (programming language)
2
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2001/02/02/ladspa.html
3
http://www.ladspa.org/
58 CHAPTER 6. EFFECT MENU

Getting a good reverb sound depends a lot on the source audio and can take a
lot of experimentation. One good strategy is to select a small portion of audio (a
few seconds) and try to add reverb. Listen to it, then Undo and try it again with
different settings. Keep doing this until you’ve found the settings you like the
sound of best, and then Undo one last time, Select All, then apply the effect to
your entire recording.
Chapter 7

Digital Audio

7.1 Digital Sampling


All sounds we hear with our ears are pressure waves in air. Starting with Thomas
Edison’s demonstration of the first phonograph in 1877, it has been possible to
capture these pressure waves onto a physical medium and then reproduce these
later by regenerating the same pressure waves. Audio pressure waves, or wave-
forms, look something like this:

Analog recording media such as a phonograph records and cassette tapes represent
the shape of the waveform directly, using the depth of the groove for a record
or the amount of magnetization for a tape. Analog recording can reproduce an
impressive array of sounds, but it also suffers from problems of noise. Notably,
each time an analog recording is copied, more noise is introduced, decreasing the
fidelity. This noise can be minimized but not completely eliminated.

59
60 CHAPTER 7. DIGITAL AUDIO

Digital recording works differently: it samples the waveform at evenly-spaced


timepoints, representing each sample as a precise number. Digital recordings,
whether stored on a compact disc (CD), digital audio tape (DAT), or on a per-
sonal computer, do not degrade over time and can be copied perfectly without
introducing any additional noise. The following image illustrates a sampled audio
waveform:

Digital audio can be edited and mixed without introducing any additional noise.
In addition, many digital effects can be applied to digitized audio recordings to
simulate reverberation, enhance certain frequencies, or change the pitch, for ex-
ample. Audacity is a software program for editing, mixing, and applying effects
to digital audio recordings.
Audacity’s ability to play or record audio directly from your computer depends
on your specific computer hardware. Most desktop computers come with a sound
card with 1/8” jacks for you to plug in a microphone or other source for recording,
and speakers or headphones for listening. Many laptop computers have speakers
and a microphone built-in. The sound card that comes with most computers is
not particularly high quality; if you are interested in high-quality recording, see
Recording Quality (page 117) for more details. For information on how to set up
Audacity for playback and recording, see Audacity Setup and Configuration (page
83).

7.2 Digital Audio Quality


The quality of a digital audio recording depends heavily on two factors: the sam-
ple rate and the sample format or bit depth. Increasing the sample rate or the
number of bits in each sample increases the quality of the recording, but also
increases the amount of space used by audio files on a computer or disk.
7.3. SAMPLE RATES 61

7.3 Sample rates

Sample rates are measured in hertz (Hz), or cycles per second. This value simply
represents the number of samples captured per second in order to represent the
waveform; the more samples per second, the higher the resolution, and thus the
more precise the measurement is of the waveform. The human ear is sensitive
to sound patterns with frequencies between approximately 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz.
Sounds outside that range are essentially inaudible, although Rupert Neve1 has
subjectively proven the existence of pysychoacoustic fidelity that can be heard
above this supposed limit of 20,000kHz.
Capturing a sound at a particular frequency requires a sampling rate of at least
twice that frequency (known as the Nyquist2 frequency). Therefore a sample rate
of 40,000 Hz is the absolute minimum necessary to reproduce sounds within the
range of human hearing, though higher rates (called over sampling3 ) may increase
quality even further by avoiding any aliasing artifacts around the Nyquist fre-
quency. The sample rate used by audio CDs is 44,100 Hz. Human speech is
intelligible even if frequencies above 4,000 Hz are eliminated; in fact telephones
only transmit frequencies between 200 Hz and 4,000 Hz. Therefore a common
sample rate for audio recordings is 8,000 Hz, which is sometimes called speech
quality. Note that very steep filtering (called an anti-aliasing filter) is required
above the Nyquist frequency in order to prohibit signal above this cutoff point
from being folded back into the audible range by the digital converter, and creat-
ing the distorting artifacts of aliasing noise.
The most common sample rates, measured in kilohertz (KHz, or 1,000 Hz), are 8
KHz, 16 KHz, 22.05 KHz, 22.25 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz, 96 KHz, and 192 KHz.
Audacity supports any of these sample rates, however most computer sound cards
are limited to 48 KHz or sometimes 96 KHz. Again, the most common sample
rate by far is 44.1 KHz (44100 Hz).
In the image below, the left half has a low sample rate, and the right half has a
high sample rate (ie. high resolution):

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert neve
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist frequency
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversampling
62 CHAPTER 7. DIGITAL AUDIO

7.4 Sample formats


The other measure of audio quality is the sample format (or bit depth), which is
usually measured by the number of computer bits used to represent each sample.
The more bits that are used, the more precise the representation of each sample.
Increasing the number of bits also increases the maximum dynamic range of the
audio recording, in other words the difference in volume between the loudest and
softest possible sounds that can be represented.
Dynamic range is measured in decibels (dB). The human ear can perceive sounds
with a dynamic range of at least 90 dB. However, whenever possible it is a good
idea to record digital audio with a dynamic range of far more than 90 dB, in part
so that sounds that are too soft can be amplified for maximum fidelity. Note that
although signals recorded at generally low levels can be raised (ie normalised) to
advantage the available dynamic range, the recording of low level signals will not
use all of the available bit depth and this loss of resolution cannot be re-captured
simply by normalising the overall level of the digital waveform.
Common sample formats, and their respective dynamic range include:

• 8-bit integer: 45 dB
• 16-bit integer: 90 dB
• 24-bit integer: 135 dB
• 32-bit floating point: near-infinite dB

Other sample formats such as ADPCM approximate 16-bit audio with compressed
4-bit samples. Audacity can import many of these formats, but they are rarely used
because of much better newer compression methods.
7.5. SIZE OF AUDIO FILES 63

Audio CDs and most computer audio file formats use 16-bit integers. By default,
Audacity uses 32-bit floating-point samples internally while you are working on a
project and exports your final mix using 16-bit integers. This gives you somewhat
better quality than audio programs that use purely 16-bit or 24-bit audio samples.
Audacity’s default sample format can be configured in the Quality Preferences
(page 231) or set individually for each track in the Track Drop-Down Menu (page
??).
In the image below, the left half has a sample format with few bits, and the right
half has a sample format with more bits. If you think of the sample rate as the
spacing between vertical gridlines, the sample format is the spacing between hor-
izontal gridlines.

7.5 Size of audio files


Audio files are very large, much larger than most files you probably work with
(unless you work with video files). To determine the size of an uncompressed
audio file, multiply the sample rate (e.g., 44100 Hz) by the sample format bit rate
(e.g. 16-bit) by the number of channels (2 for stereo) by the number of seconds. A
completely full 74-minute stereo audio CD takes up over 6 billion bits. Divide this
by 8 to get the number of bytes; an audio CD is a little less than 800 megabytes
(MB). See compressed audio, below.

7.6 Clipping
One limitation of digital audio is that it cannot deal with sound pressure waves
that exceed the maximum levels it is designed to deal with. When a signal is
64 CHAPTER 7. DIGITAL AUDIO

recorded that exceeds the maximum level, samples outside the range are clipped
to the maximum value, like this:

A sound recorded with clipping will sound distorted and harsh. While there are
some techniques that can eliminate a small amount of noise due to clipping, it is
always preferable to avoid clipping while recording. Change the volume on your
input source (microphone, cassette player, record player) and set Audacity’s input
volume control (in the Mixer Toolbar (page 197)) such that the waveform is as
large as possible (for maximum fidelity) without clipping.

7.7 Compressed Audio


Because digital audio files are so large, reduced sample rates were typically used
whenever possible. In 1991, the MP3 (MPEG I, layer 3) standard changed every-
thing. MP3 is a lossy compression technique that can dramatically reduce the file
size of a digital audio file with surprisingly little effect on the quality. One second
of CD-quality audio takes up 1.4 megabits, while a common bitrate for MP3 files
is 128 kilobits, which is a compression factor of more than 10x! MP3 works by
cleverly ”throwing away” details about the audio waveform that humans are not
very sensitive to, based on a psychoacoustic model of how our ears and brains pro-
cess sounds. All MP3 files are not created alike; different psychoacoustic models
will lead to different amounts of perceived distortion in the audio file.
With good speakers, anyone can hear the difference between a 128k MP3 and an
uncompressed audio file from a CD. 192k and 256k MP3 files are more popular
among audiophiles who prefer higher quality.
There are many other lossy compressed audio file formats. Audacity fully sup-
7.7. COMPRESSED AUDIO 65

ports the ”Ogg Vorbis”4 format, which is similar to MP3 but is a completely open,
patent-free standard. Over time the quality of Ogg Vorbis files has come to sur-
pass the quality of MP3, and its format is more extensible so more improvements
are possible. Ogg Vorbis is a great choice for your own audio, however the reality
is that many more devices such as iPods and other portable audio players support
MP3 but not Ogg Vorbis yet.
Other well-known compression methods include ATRAC, used by Sony Minidisc
recorders, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and AAC.

4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg vorbis
66 CHAPTER 7. DIGITAL AUDIO
Chapter 8

Audacity Tracks and Clips

An Audacity project can contain as many tracks as you want. Each track can
contain several audio clips which can be moved around independently, but share
several properties of the track such as its overall volume, panning, sample rate,
and sample format.

The Audacity project shown above has three tracks (”Sax 1”, ”Sax 2”, and ”Drums”).
The first track has 2 clips, the second track has no clips, and the third track has 1

67
68 CHAPTER 8. AUDACITY TRACKS AND CLIPS

clip. A clip can be moved from one track to another simply by dragging it using
the Time Shift Tool (page 189):

All audio files that are imported or new audio that is recorded goes into a new
track. Afterwards, you can move or copy and paste audio into existing tracks. To
split a track into multiple clips, select part of the track and choose Split Cut from
the Edit Menu (page 143).
Many track properties can be accessed by clicking the title of the track, near the
upper-left corner, bringing up a menu something like this:

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Track menu open The options in this men

8.1 Stereo
Stereo Tracks contain a single label area to the left with two waveforms on the
right. The top waveform represents the left channel and the bottom waveform
represents the right channel, as in this example:
8.1. STEREO 69

By default, the two channels of a stereo track are always edited simultaneously.
However, you can split them apart and work with them independently by opening
the track menu (see above) and selecting Split Stereo Track.

- ToDo (page pagereftodo) ”’THIS IS OLD CONTENT FROM Tracks and Clips (page pagereftracks and
70 CHAPTER 8. AUDACITY TRACKS AND CLIPS
Chapter 9

Audacity Selection

9.1 Special characteristics of audio selection

In a word processor, most operations are performed by selecting a range of text


(usually with the mouse), then choosing some option from a toolbar or menu,
for example to cut the text, or make it bold. Audacity works much the same
way: most operations are performed by selecting audio with the mouse and then
applying some operation.
Audacity selections can be more complicated than word processor selections,
though. In Audacity, the selection involves a set of selected tracks, and then a
range of time within those selected tracks. This is because sometimes you might
want to select multiple tracks so that any changes you make apply to all of them,
but other times you might want to affect the tracks individually. In either case,
you may or may not want the edits to apply to the whole time range of the tracks.
Normally, you select both the tracks and the time range simultaneously, by click-
ing and dragging. For example, to create the following selection, make sure you’re

using the Selection tool and click the cursor at 5.0 seconds in the first track,
and drag rightwards to 7.0 seconds on the timeline (page 207) so that the gray
selection area extends down into the second track:

71
72 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION

Note that the selection area does not extend down to the third track because that
track is not selected. Therefore, any operation you perform will now only affect
the selected area of the first two tracks.
It’s possible to change the selected time range and which tracks are selected inde-
pendently. To change the selected time range, you have several options:

• Move the mouse cursor to one of the edges of the selection until it changes
to a different pointer. Click and drag to change that edge of the selection.
• Shift-click near one of the edges of the selection to extend or contract the
selection to the time point you clicked on.
• Use Shift + LeftArrow, Shift + RightArrow, Control + Shift + LeftArrow,
and Control + Shift + RightArrow to move the two edges of the selection
in either direction.

To change which tracks are selected without affecting the time range, you also
have multiple options:

• Shift-click on the Audio Tracks#Track Panel (page 211) to left of the wave-
form to toggle its selection
9.2. SELECTING USING THE MOUSE 73

• Press Shift+UpArrow, Shift+DownArrow, Control+Shift+UpArrow, and Con-


trol+Shift+DownArrow to extend or contract the selection up or down tracks.

• Press UpArrow or DownArrow to change the focused track, then press the
Enter key to toggle its selection.

Note that it is possible to have a time range selected but no tracks selected. In that
case, you will only see the evidence of the selected time range in the timeline.
Audio editing is different from text editing in another way, too. With audio, it
usually isn’t obvious from the waveform what you want to select, so you really
want to listen just to the left and right edges (page 78) of a selection to make sure
you are editing the correct part. But if you are new to audio editing, don’t worry.
For now, you can just click and drag (page 73) to create a selection on a single
track, and hit spacebar to listen to all of it. Come back here for more help when
you start to work on more advanced projects and are having trouble selecting what
you want.
Besides clicking and dragging with the mouse, there are several other ways to
select audio, some of which will be better for visually impaired users or those
who have difficulty with the mouse. Let’s look at all the different ways to select
audio now.

9.2 Selecting using the mouse


The easiest way to select a range of audio is to click and drag. If it’s not already
chosen, choose the Selection tool from the Tools toolbar, below:

Now click the left mouse button anywhere inside of an audio track, and click and
drag to the other edge of your selection, and release. Some tips:

• You can drag from left to right or from right to left, it doesn’t matter.
74 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION

• You can start your selection in one track, and end it in another track, and
both tracks (plus the tracks in-between) will all end up selected.
• If you move the mouse past the left or right edge of the window while drag-
ging, Audacity will scroll the window in that direction as long as the mouse
button is down.

To extend or contract an existing selection, hold down the Shift key while clicking
the mouse. The nearest edge of the selection will jump to the current mouse cursor
location. This is really useful if you know exactly what you want to select but it
doesn’t easily fit on the screen at once:

• Click at one edge of the selection


• Scroll until the other edge is in view
• Shift-click to set the other edge of the selection

You can also extend or contract a selection by positioning the mouse near the edge
of a selection, then clicking and dragging. The selected portion of a track with the
cursor is changed to a pointing hand, see below:

The cursor changes to a pointing hand when you are near the edge of a selection,
so you know when you can click and drag to extend or contract the selection.

Do you find it annoying when Audacity drags the edges of a selection when
you were trying to create a new selection? No problem, you can turn off
that feature! Just open the Preferences, then click on the Interface tab, and
uncheck the box labeled ”Dragging of left/right selection edges”.
9.3. THE SELECTION BAR 75

9.3 The Selection Bar

One handy way to keep track of what you’ve selected and to make precise modi-
fications is to use the Selection Bar (page 205) (shown above). For our purposes
here, let’s concentrate on the main purpose of the bar, the Selection Start and
End/Length boxes. By changing the radio button from End to Length, you can
display and control the length of the selection instead of the endpoint. Which
one is useful for you depends on the circumstances: if you need a clip from a
song that’s exactly 30 seconds long, you may want to set the length to 30, and
then modify the start until you have just what you want. Other times you may
know the exact end time but need to figure out where to start, independent of the
resulting length.
You can edit the time displayed in the Selection Bar using the mouse and/or key-
board. To change a particular digit, you can just click on it and type a new value,
see below.

You can also edit the boxes in the Selection Bar entirely using the keyboard, see
below.

Key Action
Ctrl-F6 Move the focus to/from the Selection Bar
Tab Move between controls in Selection Bar
Left/Right arrow Move cursor in a Selection Bar control
Up/Down arrow Increase or decrease the highlighted digit
Backspace Delete the last number pressed
76 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION

In the figure above, the selection is displayed in units of hours, minutes, and sec-
onds. As shown, it doesn’t display any more accuracy than that, so it’s hard to
tell if you have half of a second selected, which can be very important sometimes.
That’s no problem, because Audacity gives you a plethora of choices of possible
ways to display the time in the selection bar. To get these choices, click on the
right triangle to the right of each box, or alternatively, right-click anywhere in the
box to open the context menu.
The different time formats are listed in the table below. It’s okay if most of them
don’t mean anything to you. Most of them are intended for people using Audacity
for very specific purposes, especially editing soundtracks for video, and those
people will know which one they want.

Selection Name Example Notes


seconds 005,408 seconds
hh:mm:ss 01 h 30 m 08 s Hours, minutes, seco
dd:hh:mm:ss 00 days 01 h 30 m 08 s Days, hours, minutes, s
hh:mm:ss + milliseconds 01 h 30 m 08.500 s
hh:mm:ss + samples 01 h 30 m 08 s + 22500 samples Based on your chosen sam
samples 238,514,850 samples
hh:mm:ss + film frames (24 fps) 01 h 30 m 08 s + 12 frames
film frames (24 fps) 129,804 frames
hh:mm:ss + NTSC drop frames 01 h 30 m 08 s + 14 frames American video form
hh:mm:ss + NTSC non-drop frames 01 h 30 m 03 s + 02 frames
NTSC frames 162,092 frames
hh:mm:ss + PAL frames (25 fps) 01 h 30 m 08 s + 12 frames European video form
PAL frames (25 fps) 135,212 frames
hh:mm:ss + CDDA frames (75 fps) 01 h 30 m 08 s + 37 frames Audio CD frames
CDDA frames (75 fps) 405,637 frames
9.4. SELECTING USING THE KEYBOARD 77

9.4 Selecting using the keyboard


You can modify the selection entirely using the keyboard. The currently focused
track is indicated with a glowing border, as you can see from the track called
”Guest” in this image:

To change the focused track, just press the up and down arrow keys. In this image,
we pressed down arrow to change focus to the ”Bkgnd” track:

Once a track is focused, press ”ENTER” or ”RETURN” to change it from being


selected to not selected, or from not selected to selected.
78 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION

To modify the time range, press the left and right arrow keys in combination with
SHIFT + CTRL. If you don’t already have a selection, just a cursor, then pressing
the left or right arrow keys will move the cursor. If you do have a selection,
pressing the left arrow will take you to the beginning of the selection, and the
right arrow will take you to the end.
If you hold down Shift while pressing the right arrow, you can extend the selection
to the right. Similarly, SHIFT + LEFT extends the selection to the left.
CTRL + SHIFT contracts the selection. CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT contracts the
right edge to the left, and CTRL + SHIFT + RIGHT contracts the left edge to the
right.

9.5 Selecting while audio is playing


Sometimes the easiest way to select an exact portion of audio is to mark the selec-
tion boundaries while you’re playing audio. To do this, press the ’[’ key to mark
the left edge of the audio, and the ’]’ key to mark the right edge.
After you’ve done that, you’ll definitely want to listen to the resulting selection
to make sure it was right. Press the spacebar to hear just the selection. There are
many additional keyboard shortcuts that let you listen to just the beginning or end
of a selection - see Playing and Recording (page 93) for a complete list.

9.6 Snap-to Guides


Audacity makes it really easy to make a selection that starts or end at a natural
boundary, like the start or end of a track or clip.
1.4 has support for a new type of snapping, in addition to Edit ¿ Snap-to. For the
new snapping, when you take the following actions:

• Creating a selection with the mouse

• Modifying the selection boundaries

• Sliding / time-shifting a clip


9.6. SNAP-TO GUIDES 79

the selection boundaries or the boundaries of the clip you’re time-shifting will
snap to the following locations:

• Time 0

• The start or end of any clip, in any track

• The start or end of any label

Whenever snapping is taking place, a yellow vertical line appears to indicate snap-
ping is taking place. If there is more than one logical place to snap to within a
couple of pixels, it will not snap anywhere, to err on the side of caution. In that
case, zoom in.
In the image below, we’re dragging a clip in the ”Guest” track leftwards with
the mouse. When the clip reaches the right-hand boundary of the clip above it,
a bright vertical guide line appears showing the position of the snap boundary
through all the tracks. Now that the guide line has appeared, we can release
the mouse and the dragged clip will be perfectly aligned with the one above:

A Snap Guide appears (the vertical yellow line) when the selection has snapped
to the start or end of an audio clip from any of the tracks.
80 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION

If there are two boundaries very close to one another and it’s not obvious which
one is better, Audacity will not snap to either. If you want to snap to one of them,
zoom in so that you can clearly position the mouse closer to one than the other.

9.7 Track Selection using the mouse

There are two very useful things you can do by clicking in the label area to the
left of a track, like this - make sure that you click in a neutral area, not inside one
of the buttons or sliders.
Clicking on a track’s label area will select the entire track. That’s a very easy
way to apply an effect to an entire track. If you want to select all tracks, you can
alternatively choose Select All from the Edit menu.
There’s another handy way to select an entire track or clip: just double-click inside
of it.
If you hold down Shift while clicking on a track’s label, you can toggle the selec-
tion of that track. For example, if you want to select the first and third tracks only,
you could choose Select All and then shift-click on the middle track to deselect it
while leaving the others selected.
Note that it is possible to have a time range selected but no tracks selected. In that
case, you will only see the evidence of the selected time range in the timeline.
9.8. MENU COMMANDS FOR SELECTING 81

9.8 Menu commands for selecting


The Edit menu has several commands that are useful for selecting, see below.

Command Action
Select... All Select all audio in all tracks
Select... None Deselect everything and move the cursor to 0.0
Left at Playback Position Sets the left selection boundary based on audio playback
Right at Playback Position Sets the right selection boundary based on audio playback
Start to Cursor Select from the start of the track or clip to the cursor position.
Cursor to End Selection from the cursor position to the end of the track or clip.
Selection Save Remembers the current selection time range
Selection Restore Restores the time range from Selection Save

9.9 Label Tracks


Another really handy way to keep track of a particular selection is to use a label
track. For more information, see Label Tracks (page 215).
82 CHAPTER 9. AUDACITY SELECTION
Chapter 10

Audacity Setup and Configuration

For many users, Audacity will just work ”out of the box”, and you can immedi-
ately begin playing and recording. However, because there are so many different
types of computers and ways to configure computers, some users may need to set
up Audacity the first time they use it.

10.1 Temporary Files


Most users have only one hard disk. However, if you have multiple hard disks,
you will want to make sure that Audacity uses your largest or fastest hard disk to
store audio. Open the Preferences (page 225) (in the Edit menu, or the Audacity
menu on Mac OS X) and click on the Directories tab. Make sure that the directory
listed is on your preferred hard disk.
Note: if your home directory is mounted from a remote server, you definitely do
not want Audacity’s temporary directory to be there!

10.2 Audio Devices


Locate the three colored analog audio ports on the back of your computer - almost
every PC will have these as part of your computer’s built-in sound card.The red
jack is for microphone input (usually mono, not stereo),the green jack is for line

83
84 CHAPTER 10. AUDACITY SETUP AND CONFIGURATION

output (to your speakers or headphones) andthe blue jack is for stereo line input
(like from a cassette player).

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/ComputerBackBack of a typical PC inclu

If you have a Mac, your audio ports will look something more like the image
below. In this picture, the left jack is for stereo line input (like from a micro-
phone or cassette player) and the right jack is for line output (to your speakers or
headphones).

For better audio quality, many people use a USB audio device. If you have such
a device, attach your microphone and speakers to that device, and plug the device
into your computer’s USB port.

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=0.925450]images/USB PlugUSB Cable and Plug includegr

If you are using a USB audio device, or if your computer has more than one built-
in sound card to choose from, you will need to tell Audacity which device to use
for recording and playback. Open the Preferences (page 225) (in the Edit menu,
10.3. VOLUME CONTROLS 85

or the Audacity menu on Mac OS X) and click on the Audio I/O tab. Choose your
preferred sound card or audio device from the lists provided. Usually you should
choose the same device for recording and playback, but it is possible for them to
be different.

10.3 Volume controls


After you have set your preferred audio device, look at the Mixer Toolbar:

The two sliders control the volume levels on your sound card, and the selector
on the right controls the input source for recording (such as ”Line In” or ”Mic”).
Adjust these appropriately.

• If you are unable to move the sliders, or if the sliders always ”jump back”
to the same value no matter where you put them, don’t panic: some sound
cards do not have level controls, and some of them have controls that are not
compatible with Audacity. To adjust your sound card levels, you will need
to use other system software or perhaps a special control panel that came
with your sound card.

Now you are ready to play and record audio.


86 CHAPTER 10. AUDACITY SETUP AND CONFIGURATION
Chapter 11

Audacity Projects

Audacity projects contain audio clips arranged onto tracks along with additional
information. These projects are stored in AUP files. Whilst this Audacity Project
Format (page 281) makes working with the audio easier and more rapid, the for-
mat is not compatible with any other audio program. When you Save an Audacity
project, you save in the Audacity Project Format, i.e. as an AUP file. The AUP
file cannot be used in an MP3 player.
To use the audio outside Audacity, you Export the audio into another format, as
described on the File Menu (page 135). The format you need will depend on how
you plan to use the audio. For an MP3 player you will want MP3 format. For
burning to a CD you will want WAV format.
If instead you have audio which you want to use in Audacity but which wasn’t
recorded in Audacity, you will usually need to Import the audio. This is also an
option on the File Menu (page 135).

11.0.1 Dependencies

When you open or import an uncompressed audio file such as WAV or AIFF,
Audacity saves time by not making a copy of the file. Instead, it refers back to
the original file as you manipulate it within your project (while not ever making
any changes to that file unless you tell it to). You must be careful not to modify
files that you have open in Audacity with another program. When you save an
Audacity project, Audacity will tell you about these dependencies and give you

87
88 CHAPTER 11. AUDACITY PROJECTS

the option of copying all of the audio data into your Audacity project, making
it safe to delete, move, or modify the original audio files if you choose. At any
time, choose Check Dependencies... from the File Menu (page 135) to see if your
project depends on any external files.

11.0.2 Outline

Suggested tutorial (walk through):

• Open a new project.

• Generate some sound using DTMF.

• Close Audacity saving the project.

• Try to play the AUP in Media player. You can’t.

• Open the project you just had.

• Export the audio as WAV.

• Close Audacity.

• Play the WAV in Windows Media Player. You can.

Much less top heavy with explanation, much more a walk through of steps. Doesn’t
try to tackle ’dependencies’.
Possible title for tutorial:

• ”Understanding Project File Format”

• Or rather than a new tutorial, add the information in in the relevant place in
Tutorial - Editing an Existing File (page 19)? It already has a note that it
needs the exporting/saving difference explaining.
89

11.0.3 Old Text (to be Cannibalized)

Audacity projects are stored in an AUP file, which is a format thathas been highly
optimized for Audacity so that it can open and saveprojects extremely quickly. In
order to achieve this speed, Audacitybreaks larger audio files into several smaller
pieces and stores thesepieces in a directory with a similar name as the project.For
example, if you name a project ”chanson”, then Audacity will create aproject file
called which stores the generalinformation about your project, and it will store
your audio in severalfiles inside a directory called .The Audacity Project format
is not compatible with any other audioprograms, so when you are finished work-
ing on a project and youwant to be able to edit the audio in another program,
selectExport As... (page ??) from the File Menu (page 135).
Audacity is sometimes used to open a file, make a quick change, and write it back
to disk, and it is sometimes used to mix together a dozen tracks with hundreds of
effects to create a song. For all of these needs, big and small, Audacity encapsu-
lates whatever you’re working on inside an Audacity project.
In Audacity, each window represents an Audacity project. A project represents
one complete piece of audio, which might be a short recording, a 3-minute song,
or an hour-long entire CD. It can have multiple tracks, hundreds of audio clips,
labels, and more, but a single timeline. Audacity projects can be saved to disk and
then loaded back later so you can continue where you left off. When you save an
Audacity project, nearly everything about the window is saved: all of your tracks
and editing information, for example. The only thing that is lost when you save
and close the window is the history; you can no longer undo changes. (However,
you can always save ”snapshots” of your project at any time.)

11.0.4 Saving vs. Exporting

Audacity projects are saved to disk in a way that is very efficient for Audacity.
While the format is open in theory, it is not intended to be used by other pro-
grams. When you want to create audio that can be opened by another program,
copied to an iPod, or burned to a CD, for example, you should export the file
as a standard format like WAV or MP3. See Audio File Formats (page ??) for
more info. However, when you export audio, you lose information about sepa-
rate tracks, labels, and other Audacity-specific editing information. Only the final
mixed audio is saved. So you should save an Audacity Project if you want to make
90 CHAPTER 11. AUDACITY PROJECTS

changes later.

11.1 Audacity Projects on disk =


Rather than using a single file, an Audacity project is split into several files, often
hundreds or thousands, each one containing about 10 seconds of audio. When you
save a project called MyRecording, for example, Audacity creates two items on
disk:

• MyRecording.aup - the main project file

• MyRecording data - a folder containing the small audio files making up


the project

Both of these items, and all of the files inside the data folder, are totally critical
to the project! If you move one to another location, you must move the other. If
you need to send an Audacity project to someone else, and a standard format like
WAV or MP3 won’t do, it’s often best to create a Zip archive of the project file
and data folder.
If you accidentally lose the project file or some of the data files, you will need
to have Audacity recover as much of the project as possible. You will lose a lot
of editing information, but often much of your recording can be salvaged. See
Recovery (page 121) for more information.
In most software programs you talk about Opening and Saving. Audacity can do
those too. So what’s up with Importing and Exporting?
A really common operation in Audacity is to combine many audio files into one.
This could be for creating a mix tape, splicing together different segments from a
mix tape, or reassembling a complete symphony from movements stored as four
different CD tracks.
While it is possible to open each file and then copy and paste the contents into the
same file, the preferred method in Audacity is to open just one project window,
then import all of the different audio files into that window.
When the Import dialog is open, shift-click, control-click, or cmd-click (Mac) to
select multiple files to import at once.
11.1. AUDACITY PROJECTS ON DISK = 91

You can also drag and drop files directly into Audacity’s window.
Save: saves a project, in Audacity’s internal format. Fast to open again later, but
you can’t use the Audacity project in a different program.
Export: mixes all of your audio down to a single mono or stereo track. You lose
any extra information, like multiple tracks, volume edits, or labels; only the audio
is saved.

11.1.1 Export formats

In the chapter on Digital Audio (page 59), we talked a little bit about compression.
When you export audio from Audacity, you have to decide whether to export it
compressed or uncompressed.
The most common uncompressed export formats are WAV (most common on
Windows), AIFF (most common on Mac). Good for CD-quality audio. Good
for burning onto a CD. Not good for emailing or uploading to the Internet unless
it’s just a few seconds worth of audio.
Audacity supports three common types of compressed audio as well: MP3, MP2,
and Ogg Vorbis.
MP3 is the most common file format found on the Internet. If you’re creating a
song or podcast to share with others online, this is probably your best bet. If you
use the 128 kbit compression setting, you’re getting a factor of 10 compression.
MP2 is used in radio broadcast industry. If you’re sending something to a radio
station, this may be the format they expect. For anything else, there’s probably no
good reason to use it, because MP3 supercedes it.
Ogg Vorbis is a free alternative to MP3. Independent listening tests consistently
show that an Ogg Vorbis file that’s the same size as an MP3 file will sound better,
or equivalently, if you have two files that sound the same, the Ogg Vorbis file will
be smaller. You can find free Ogg Vorbis players for Windows, Mac OS X and
Linux, and hundreds of portable digital players support it as well. However, Ogg
Vorbis is still less well-known, and many portable devices like the iPod do not
support it. The fact that Ogg Vorbis is great and patent-free means that Audacity
comes with full Ogg Vorbis support built-in, while MP3 support must be added
on separately.
92 CHAPTER 11. AUDACITY PROJECTS

There are two famous compressed audio formats that Audacity does not sup-
port. One of these is WMA, a secret format developed by Microsoft. Au-
dacity cannot work with that format at all because Microsoft keeps its details
hidden. The other is AAC, which is famous for being used by iTunes and the
iPod. AAC is a public, documented format, and a future version of Audacity
will probably offer full support for it - but not at the time of this writing.
Chapter 12

Playing and Recording

The easiest way to control Audacity playback and recording is with the Control
Toolbar (page 191) (below).

Play: If a subset of the time range is selected in the main window, only the
selection will be played. If there is no selection, playback will begin wherever the
editing cursor is. To start playback from the beginning, choose Skip to Start.

Loop: Hold down Shift while pressing Play to loop the current selection,
playing it over and over again until you press Stop.

Record: Recording begins at the current cursor location or at the beginning of


the current selection, but always creates a new track.

Stop: will stop playing or recording immediately.

Pause: will temporarily pause playing or recording without losing your place.

Skip to Start: move the cursor to the beginning of the audio. This is often
useful if you want to play everything, or record a new track starting from the
beginning.

93
94 CHAPTER 12. PLAYING AND RECORDING

Skip to End: move the cursor to the end of the audio.

12.1 Keyboard Shortcuts

There are several keyboard shortcuts you can use that work exactly the same as
the buttons in the Control Toolbar (page 191), listed in the table below.

Key Action
textbfSpacebar Play or Stop
textbfL or textbfShift-Spacebar Loop
textbfR Record
textbfP Pause
textbfHome Skip to Start
textbfEnd Skip to End

12.2 Play Regions

The current region being played is indicated by arrows in the ruler - for example
in the figure below, the play region is from 15 to 45 seconds. During playback, a
green triangle indicates the current playback position - in this example, at about
the 25 second mark (second figure below).

 
You can play simply by clicking and dragging in the Ruler to create a play region!
That’s a great way to play without modifying the selection. Also, if you do modify
the selection or the play region after playback has begun, it does not affect the
active play region. The audio will stop whenever it would have based on the play
region when playback began.
12.3. SPECIAL PLAYBACK KEYBOARD COMMANDS 95

12.3 Special Playback Keyboard Commands


There are three extra keyboard commands that let you play a few seconds of audio
without changing the selection. They can be really useful during editing, such as
when you’re trying to find the exact spot to cut and paste (below).

Key Action
textbf1 Play One Second
textbfB Play To Selection
textbfC Play Cut Preview

12.3.1 Play One Second (’1’)


Press 1 while the mouse is pointing to a particular time, and you will hear 1 second
of audio centered at that time. For example, position the mouse at 1.0 seconds and
press ’1’, and you will hear the time range from 0.5 to 1.5 seconds (below).

12.3.2 Play To Selection (’B’)


96 CHAPTER 12. PLAYING AND RECORDING

Suppose you’ve selected a range of audio (above), and you want to make sure it’s
exactly what you want to cut out. In order to determine whether you’ve selected
exactly the right range of audio, you can not only listen to the selection, but you
can listen to the audio before and after the selection. If you press the spacebar,
you’ll hear the whole selection (indicated by the playback region shown in the
ruler) (below).

 
The ”B” key lets you play the audio from the mouse to the selection - what you
get depends on where the mouse pointer is. Move the mouse to a part of the audio
you’re interested in hearing, and press ’B’, without clicking the mouse button (the
first through the fourth figures below). 
If the mouse pointer is to the left of the selection and you press ’B’, you’ll hear
the audio up to the selection.

If the mouse pointer is inside the left side of the selection and you press ’B’, you’ll
hear the first part of the selection up to the mouse pointer.
12.4. TIMER RECORDING 97

If the mouse pointer is inside the right side of the selection and you press ’B’,
you’ll hear from the mouse pointer to the end of the selection.

Finally if the mouse pointer is to the right of the selection and you press ’B’, you’ll
hear from the selection to the mouse pointer.

12.3.3 Play Cut Preview (’C’)


Press the ’C’ key to hear 1 second of audio before and then 1 second of audio after
the selection - as if the selection was deleted (below).

All keyboard shortcuts are customizable! Change using the Keyboard tab of
the Preferences (page 225).

12.4 Timer Recording


Yet another way to record is using the Timer Record dialog, found in the Tracks
menu (below).
98 CHAPTER 12. PLAYING AND RECORDING

Use it to start recording later, or to record for a certain duration before stopping.
Chapter 13

Zooming

(The figure above) shows Audacity’s view of an entire song, zoomed all the way
out. It’s really useful to get an idea of the whole piece from start to finish, but it’s
hard to see much detail - like a forest with no trees.
Zooming the time scale, or zooming ”horizontally”, is something you’ll do all the
time. It lets you focus on the first 15 seconds, for example (first figure below), the
last 15 seconds (second figure below), or even a tiny fraction of a second, where
you can see the individual audio samples, much more detail (third figure below).

 
Occasionally you will even want to zoom vertically in order to see individual
samples more clearly (below).

99
100 CHAPTER 13. ZOOMING

If you get lost, refer to the ruler at the top of the window. It always shows
you exactly where you are in time, in hours:minutes:seconds.

13.1 Time Scale Zooming (Horizontally)


There are five ways to zoom:

13.1.1 View Menu

You’ll find all sorts of useful commands for zooming at the top of the View Menu:

• Zoom In: Doubles the current zoom level.

• Zoom Normal: Reverts back to Audacity’s default zoom, where you can see
5 - 10 seconds at a time.

• Zoom Out: Cuts the current zoom level in half.

• Fit In Window: Zooms out just enough so that you can see the entire project.

• Fit Vertically: This doesn’t actually zoom, it resizes all of your tracks so
that they fit in the window vertically.

• Zoom to Selection: If you have audio selected, this zooms and scrolls so
that the selection just fits in the window.
13.1. TIME SCALE ZOOMING (HORIZONTALLY) 101

13.1.2 Zoom Tool

You can get very precise control over zooming using the Zoom Tool, which you
can choose from the Tools Toolbar. The Zoom Tool is in the lower-left cor-
ner(below).

To zoom in, position the mouse cursor over a track and click. To zoom out, you
can shift-click or press your right mouse button. The zooming is centered on the
position of the mouse cursor, so if you click on the left side of a waveform, the
audio will be centered at that point after zooming.
You can zoom in on a specific region by clicking and dragging. Position the mouse
at the left edge of the region you are interested, then click and hold the mouse
button, then drag the mouse to the right (first image, below). When you release
the mouse button, Audacity will zoom in to that region (next image, below).

And After zooming in on the selection. the selection fits the Audacity window.
102 CHAPTER 13. ZOOMING

13.1.3 Zooming Using the Edit Toolbar

The four buttons on the right of the Edit Toolbar (below) give you additional
shortcuts you can use for zooming.

• Zoom In: Doubles the current zoom level.

• Zoom Out: Cuts the current zoom level in half.

• Zoom to Selection: If you have audio selected, this zooms and scrolls
so that the selection just fits in the window.

• Fit In Window: Zooms out just enough so that you can see the entire
project.

13.1.4 Zooming Using the Scroll Wheel

If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can use it to zoom. Position the mouse
cursor over the audio tracks, hold don the Control key on your keyboard, and
scroll up to zoom in, or scroll down to zoom out.

Mac users: Hold down both Command and Control while using the scroll
wheel.
13.2. VERTICAL ZOOMING 103

13.2 Vertical zooming


Vertical zooming is not nearly as useful as horizontal zooming, but occasionally
you will find it useful. You don’t need to choose a tool, just move the mouse over
the vertical ruler of a track, and it becomes a magnifying glass, indicating that you
can zoom vertically(below).

Click once to zoom in, and shift-click or right-click to zoom out. Alternatively,
click once and hold down the mouse button, then drag to select a vertical region
(first image, below). When you release the mouse button, exactly the range you
outlined will be shown vertically (next image, below).

 
You can zoom in quite a bit, and zoom out by a factor 2 also.

When zooming out, sometimes it takes two clicks to get back to the normal
vertical zoom level, where the vertical ruler goes from -1.0 to 1.0. Just click
again; Audacity will automatically snap to the normal zoom level whenever
you’re close.
104 CHAPTER 13. ZOOMING
Chapter 14

Undo, Redo and History

14.1 Undo and Redo


Audacity is a forgiving program. If you’re afraid of messing up, you can relax,
because Audacity is designed to let you try something and then undo it if you
don’t like it. This is really the only way to get by with audio because it can be so
unpredictable. It’s hard to imagine what it would sound like to mix two sounds
together until you do it, so there sure had better be a way to undo!
Audacity has unlimited undo back to the last time you opened a document. That
means you can make a hundred changes, then change your mind and undo them
all. Undo and redo are very fast, so even if you applied an effect that took five
minutes, undoing it will take just a second or two, and just a second to redo as
well. Use it to listen to the ”before” and ”after” versions of a document.
There are actually four ways to Undo or Redo:

• The options in the ”Edit” menu

• Two buttons in the Edit Toolbar: Undo and Redo

• Select ”History...” from the View menu and click on an action

• Use the Keyboard shortcuts see the table below

105
106 CHAPTER 14. UNDO, REDO AND HISTORY

Windows Linux Mac


textbfUndo Ctrl-Z Ctrl-Z includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images
textbfRedo Ctrl-Y Ctrl-Shift-Z includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Cm

Only changes that modify the document matter - things that you can’t undo in-
clude:

• Saving or exporting

• Changing the selection (the selection is saved with the action)

Once you undo, if you then choose a new action, you’ve lost the original path, i.e.
you can’t undo the undo! Here’s another way to look at it - suppose you made ten
edits, numbered 1 through 10. Now you undo your way back to step 5, and then
perform a new edit, which we’ll call 6b because it’s different than the original 6.
At this point you can undo back to step 5 or all the way back to 1, but you can’t
get back to the original 6 through 10 anymore. Once you make a change in step
5, you lose whatever edits you had made after that step.
Saving does not erase your undo history. But closing a document does; only the
last saved version is remembered, you can’t save multiple versions all at once.

14.2 History Window

The Undo History lets you view and manage all of the actions you’ve taken since
you opened a document. You can open it by selecting View ¿ History...
14.2. HISTORY WINDOW 107

Next to each action in the History window is a number telling you how much
space each edit took on disk. If you’re running low on disk space, you can delete
some of the levels of undo in order to recover the space instantly by pressing the
Discard button. The only other way to recover it would be to save your document
and quit, then restart Audacity.
You can click on any action to jump directly to that point in time. It’s the same as
choosing Undo or Redo multiple times.
108 CHAPTER 14. UNDO, REDO AND HISTORY
Chapter 15

Audio CDs

15.1 CD Format
The vast majority of music CDs are encoded according to the Red Book (page
??) Standard. The Red Book standard is a 16-bit, 44.1KHz PCM (page ??) audio
signal. This is very similar (though not directly compatible with) WAV and AIFF
files encoded at 16-bit, 44.1KHz. The sound quality is identical across those for-
mats, but the data is organized differently/// i.e. a data stream not a file which is
why most OSes can’t open it///

15.2 CD-audio and Audacity


Audacity cannot read CD-audio directly. In order to edit audio from a CD using
Audacity, the audio data must first be extracted from the CD and converted to a
format that Audacity can read. This process is known as ripping. Audacity cannot
rip CD-audio, other software must be used.

15.3 CD creation
Just as Audacity cannot read CD-audio, it also cannot be used to create audio CDs
directly. Software that can is called CD-burning software.

109
110 CHAPTER 15. AUDIO CDS

15.3.1 Preparing Audio Files


The best way to prepare your audio for the CD-burning process is to export (page
??) to the WAV or AIFF format at 16-bit, 44.1KHz. It may be possible to use
other formats if your CD-burning supports them, but they may not give the best
quality.
Once you have these files prepared, your CD-burning software can use them to
burn a disc.

15.3.2 Common Pitfalls


• Wrong sample rate. Most CD-burning software expects all files to be at
44.1KHz.

• 2-second gap added to the end of each track. Your CD-burning software
should provide an option to remove this gap.

• Unsupported formats. Some CD-burning software does not support com-


pressed formats such as MP3, Ogg, or M4A/AAC.

RIPPING
Audacity does not contain any function for importing (ripping) audio from CDs.
This can, however, be achieved by using other programs to extract the data into a
file format Audacity does support.

15.4 Introduction
Users new to audio editing are often surprised to find that they cannot import the
audio from CDs into Audacity with the Project ¿ Import Audio command. In
fact, most operating systems don’t actually allow the import of data from the CD
tracks into applications, because audio CDs don’t have files or a file system like
computer media, but consist essentially of a stream of bits on the disk. That is
why when you look at an audio CD in a file manager like Windows Explorer, each
CD track will appear only as a small .cda ”file” 44 bytes in size, which is merely
header information for the stream.
15.5. WINDOWS 111

So in order to import tracks from an audio CD, you must first usually extract
(or ”rip”) the tracks to a .WAV or .AIFF audio file using CD extraction software.
Then you can import that .WAV or .AIFF into Audacity with the usual Project ¿
Import Audio command. You can also extract CDs to the much smaller .MP3
format, but this is not recommended if you want to edit the audio in Audacity,
because every time you encode to MP3 you lose audio data. On the other hand
.WAV and .AIFF are lossless. You can always export your audio from Audacity
to .MP3 after you’ve edited it, but to save un-necessary losses, import the audio in
the first place as .WAV or AIFF.

15.5 Windows
For users on Windows, Audacity recommends ”’CD-EX”’1 as a fully featured CD
extraction program which can extract to the .WAV format you need for editing the
audio in Audacity.
In the CD-EX window, simply select the CD tracks you want to extract to .WAV
and press F8 or Convert ¿ Extract CD track(s) to .WAV. Normally, every CD
track will be extracted to its own audio file, but CD-EX also has a nice feature that
lets you extract any range of audio (including all of it) to a single file. So if you
want to extract a sample of two CD tracks that starts in the middle of one track
and ends in the middle of another, you can. To do this, right-click on any of the
tracks ¿ Extract partial CD Track, or press F10.
Make sure you know where to look for the exported .WAV files when you import
them into Audacity. By default CD-EX saves the .WAV to one of your Documents
and Settings folders for whatever account you are logged into at the time. If in
CD-EX you click Options ¿ Settings ¿ Filenames tab and look in the second
text box from the top (marked ”.WAV –¿ MP3”), you will see the location where
it saves its output files from CD extraction or file conversion.
You can also extract audio CDs to .WAV with Windows Media Player 11 (click
Tools ¿ Options ¿ Rip Music and choose ”WAV (Lossless)” in the Format drop-
down in ”Rip Settings”), or to .WAV or .AIFF with the Windows version of
”’iTunes”’2 (see below). Earlier versions of Windows Media Player are not recom-
mended for extracting CD audio for editing in Audacity, because they are unable
1
http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/cdex/en/install/cdex 151.exe
2
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
112 CHAPTER 15. AUDIO CDS

to extract to .WAV.

15.6 OS X
”’iTunes”’3 is the built in media player for Mac computers.
To extract CD audio in iTtunes, set the ”conversion format” in its Preferences
at Advanced ¿ Importing: Import using .WAV or .AIFF encoder. Under that,
choose the ”automatic” setting. Then insert your CD in the computer and click
”Audio CD” on the ”Source” pane on the left. Select the tracks you want to
extract and right-click or control-click on them and then click the option ”convert
selection to .WAV” (or ”.. to .AIFF”).
OS X users do have an additional quick way to import CDs, because when a CD is
put in the drive, the .cda tracks are mounted as .AIFF files in the Finder. It’s thus
possible to either drag the .AIFF files from the Finder into Audacity, or use the
Project ¿ Import Audio command, instead of extracting the audio. Note however
that if you import CD tracks into Audacity from Finder and save them as a Project,
the CD must be present next time you open the Project, unless you set Audacity to
make a copy of the data. To do this, go to the File Formats tab of Preferences and
where it says ”when importing uncompressed audio....”, check the radio button
”make a copy of the file before editing”.
Another possibility is to use ”’Max”’4 , a free software CD-ripping and encoding
application. It has full support for encoding into the FLAC (page ??) loss-less
audio format, which is rather tricky to set up in iTunes5 .

15.7 Linux
If you are on Linux or other Unix-like systems you can use ”’K3b”’6 or ”’Grip”’7
for Gnome desktops.
3
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
4
http://sbooth.org/Max/
5
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
6
http://www.k3b.org/
7
http://www.nostatic.org/grip/
15.8. BURNING 113

15.8 BURNING
Audacity does not enable you to burn CDs directly, so you need to export an
audio file (usually a .WAV or .AIFF) from Audacity, then burn that file to a CD
with burning software such as Windows Media Player (built into Windows) or
iTunes (built into OS X). Either of these applications will require you to add the
files for burning to a playlist before you can burn them. You can do this by simply
dragging the files from the location you exported them to, into the playlist. Real
Player is different and requires you to add files to ”My Library” with its File ¿
Add Files to My Library command before you can burn them to CD. If you have
not yet created a Real Player library, see this link8 and for help burning to CD on
Real Player go here9 .
You can also use a standalone burning program like Nero or Toast to burn your
exported files. If you do this, it’s always best to open the files from within that
software, not drag and drop them from your file manager.
Hint: Windows Media Player 11 will not accept .WAV files for burning if they
are dragged straight into a burn list, but have not previously been played in Media
Player. You will see a red symbol and a ”length of file cannot be determined”
error. To solve this problem with a .WAV that has never been played in Media
Player, drag the file into the Media Player Library or into a playlist, then from
there into a burn list. Also, this version of Windows Media Player does not accept
.AIFF files for burning, so you must export as .WAV. Neither of these problems
affect previous versions of Media Player.

15.9 Burning different types of CD


There are two main types of CD - an ”audio CD” and a ”data CD”. An audio
CD (sometimes called a ”music CD”) will play on any standalone CD player, as
well as as in your computer and in DVD players. A data CD (sometimes called
an MP3 CD where the data it contains are MP3 files) will not normally play on
standalone CD players. It will play on computers, most DVD players and in MP3
CD players. So if you want to play your CD on a standalone player, or give it to
8
http://pocketpccentral.net/mp3c/howto/realplayer/library.htm
9
http://home.real.com/product/help/rp10v2 gold/en/CD Create
CD.htm
114 CHAPTER 15. AUDIO CDS

others and be sure they’ll be able to play it, you need to tell your burning software
to burn as an audio CD. For example, to set iTunes up to burn an audio CD, you
go to the Advanced tab of its Preferences, click the Burning tab, and at ”Disc
Format”, select the ”Audio CD” radio button.

15.9.1 Audio CDs

Audio CDs always contain high quality uncompressed PCM stereo data at 44 100
Hz sample rate, 16 bit resolution. So if you want to burn an audio CD, you should
always export the file you want to burn as a 44 100 Hz 16 bit stereo WAV or AIFF
file. To configure Audacity to do this:
Be sure to tell your burning software to burn an ”audio CD” or ”music CD” (not
a ”data CD” or MP3 CD”). Always use a high quality CD-R disc, as some stan-
dalone CD players may refuse to play CD-RW discs properly.
Because audio CDs must always contain uncompressed 44 100 Hz 16 bit stereo
audio, they are necessarily limited on a 650 MB (”Red Book Standard”) or 700
MB audio CD to 74 - 80 minutes playing time respectively. If you need more
playing time (e.g. to try and accommodate a C90 cassette or two LPs onto one
CD), some CD burners will let you ”overburn” into the blank CD space so as to
extend the playing time by a further few minutes, so giving you the possibility of
up to 80 minutes’ playing time on a 650 MB disc or up to 86 minutes on a 700
MB disc. Overburning (if your burning software and burner supports it) is always
done using Disc at Once (DAO) mode in which the tracks are burnt continuously
without turning the laser off. It is also theoretically possible to overburn using ”90
minute” (790 MB) or ”99 minute” (870 MB) CD-R discs. However there is no
guarantee whatsoever that your CD burner will accept such CD-R discs, or that
your CD player will play anything other than a Red Book Standard 650 MB disc
burned with 74 minutes of audio.

15.9.2 Data CDs/data DVDs

For burning really long files to optical media, you must burn either a ”data CD” or
a ”data DVD”. For example if you burn MP3 files to a 700 MB ”data CD” (which
your burning software may call an ”MP3 CD”), using Audacity’s default 128 kbps
MP3 export bitrate, this gives you over 11.5 hours’ playing time on the CD. If you
15.10. BURNING SEPARATE CD TRACKS FROM A LONG FILE OR RECORDING115

went to ”MP3 Export Setup” in the File Formats tab of Audacity Preferences and
reduced the MP3 bitrate to 64 kbps, you would reduce the quality of the exported
audio but could then fit about 23 hours of audio on the CD. If your DVD player
can read data DVDs containing MP3 files, then you could get for example nearly
80 hours of 128 kbps quality MP3 audio on a 4.7 GB data DVD.

15.10 Burning separate CD tracks from a long file


or recording
If you have a file or recording from an LP or cassette and want to burn separate
CD tracks from it corresponding to each track on the LP or cassette, see Splitting
recordings into separate tracks (page ??).
116 CHAPTER 15. AUDIO CDS
Chapter 16

Recording Quality

There are many factors that will affect the quality of any recordings you make.
Factors like performance and environment are beyond the scope of this manual,
but they should not be ignored.

16.1 Inside the Computer (including external audio


devices)

The biggest factor for making a digital recording is often the Analog to Digital
Converter or ADC (page ??). In a computer system, this piece of equipment
is often called a sound card. Sound cards that are integrated into a computer’s
motherboard are ubiquitous now, but have a poor reputation for recording quality.
Anyone who wants to make high quality recordings should seriously consider
using a higher-quality sound card, but for many users the motherboard sound card
might well be acceptable.
A typical Sound Card has three or more ports, often color-coded (though not uni-
versally). Each of these ports has a different purpose and it’s up to the user to
select the right port to plug their audio equipment in to.

117
118 CHAPTER 16. RECORDING QUALITY

Typical Sound Card with 5 ports.


If this picture does not look familiar, or your sound card uses different color codes,
refer to the documentation that came with your sound card.

Mic In

Generally the Mic In port on a computer is only meant to have a small computer
microphone plugged into it. If you have a microphone with an 1/8” (3.5mm)
3-conductor jack plug1 , it will probably work if plugged into this port.

Line In

The Line In port is the highest quality input available on most sound cards (like
the one pictured above). It expects to have a Line level signal plugged into it, this
is the same level used by most consumer-level audio equipment. Equipment such
as tape decks, record players, MiniDisc players, Video Game Systems and so on
should be plugged into this port.

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack plug
16.1. INSIDE THE COMPUTER (INCLUDING EXTERNAL AUDIO DEVICES)119

16.1.1 Recording Level


In the world of digital audio, it is important to record a signal at a sufficiently high
level in order to avoid a recording with a high noise floor (page ??). ///Audacity
provides controls to adjust the level of the signal being recorded///. In order to
record the best possible signal, this volume level should be adjusted to record at
the highest level possible, without clipping (page 260) the signal. Clipped signals
will be distorted and are not generally fixable, so finding the delicate balance
between ”loud enough” and ”too loud” is important.
We recommend setting the recording volume so that the highest peak of a recorded
signal will reach about -6 dB away from clipping. -6 dB is equivalent to a height
of 0.5 on Audacity’s default waveform (page ??) display.
The easiest way to adjust this slider is to make a test recording with a loud input
signal. While the test signal is recording, adjust the input volume slider so that the
peaks of the audio never go higher than 0.5 in the track display.
///Then normalize or amplify///
120 CHAPTER 16. RECORDING QUALITY
Chapter 17

Recovery

ToDo (page ??)

121
122 CHAPTER 17. RECOVERY
Chapter 18

Batch Processing

18.1 What Is Batch Processing?


Batch processing is processing a number of Audio files. For example:

• Converting a number of files from .wav format to .mp3

• Removing noise from a number of files.

• Adding a small amount of echo to a number of files and then reducing the
bitrate.

• Some other combination of steps applied to a number of files.

Audacity has simple batch processing abilities. You can set up a fixed chain of
commands to be applied to audio files and then apply them to a number of audio
files.

18.2 How to Use Batch Processing


• To set up a chain of commands to be performed in batch mode, use the
Batch Preferences (page ??) dialog.

123
124 CHAPTER 18. BATCH PROCESSING

• Once you have the batch chain set up, you can apply it to a number of files
using the menu item Files¿Batch processing
Chapter 19

Customization

Audacity can be customized in a number of ways:

• Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts: You can use keyboard combinations


(page ??) to perform many actions in Audacity. For example pressing CTRL
+ 1 on the keyboard zooms in a step. The combinations associated with
different actions can be changed on the Keyboard Preferences (page 249)
tab. Mouse clicks and movements can also be used to perform some actions.
The Mouse Preferences (page 253) tab lists the mouse gestures which are
available but these cannot be changed at the moment.

• Plug-ins: Audacity can be customized by the addition of plug-ins.

– A number of Nyquist plug-ins are already included with Audacity


which you’ll see in the Audacity plug-ins folder with a file name end-
ing in ”.ny”. Nyquist is a dialect of LISP specially developed for audio
processing. It can generate or process sound effects, or analyze audio
content. You can download1 additional Nyquist plug-ins from us, or
create new ones2 in any text editor.
– Other plug-in formats: LADSPA and VST effects are other types of
plug-in which can be added to Audacity - see the Audacity plug-ins
1
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/nyquistplugins
2
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/nyquist

125
126 CHAPTER 19. CUSTOMIZATION

page3 for details. It’s also now possible to add ”’VAMP”’4 plug-ins
to Audacity these are used to output descriptive information about the
selected audio.

• Ultimate Customization: Anyone can download our latest development


source code5 . Changing the code and recompiling Audacity allows you to
change any aspect of its behavior. This code can then potentially be incor-
porated into Audacity for the benefit of all users. If you are interested in
working with the Audacity codebase please consider joining our Developer
Community (page 279).

3
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/plugins
4
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Vamp Plug-ins
5
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/community/developers#cvs
Chapter 20

Simplifying Audacity

This page is intended for teachers and people who want to create an easier
version of Audacity for others to use.

20.1 The Problem


Audacity has many features, but this can make it intimidating for new users.
We’ve had many requests for a simplified version of Audacity that is easier to
use. One problem is that different people have different ideas of what is ”simple”.
A second problem is that many settings are most useful when getting Audacity set
up - settings for recording and playback, to get the MP3 library installed, settings
for latency, quality and directories. These settings need to be available during
setting Audacity up. They are probably best hidden from users who want to use
an already set up version of Audacity.

20.2 The Solution


Audacity already contains a flexible system for changing the text in Audacity.
This is used for translating Audacity into different languages. When you select a

127
128 CHAPTER 20. SIMPLIFYING AUDACITY

different language in the Interface Preferences (page 239) Audacity will use text
from the file you specify in place of the text that it has built in. The language files
end with the suffix ”.mo”.

• We have added a small addition to this feature. If the translation of an item


in a menu starts with an ”!”, Audacity will leave that menu item out when
using that language. This allows us to radically cut down the menu.

We’ve created a ”simplified” language file which reduces the menus in a way
which we think is helpful.

Currently we only have a simplified language file for English. We may release
simplified language files in other languages, if there is demand for them.

We’ll explain where to get this language file from here

We suggest:

• You set up Audacity normally and confirm that recording, playback and
MP3 exporting work fine. The default sample rate is 44100 Hz. You may
want to set a lower rate if audio quality is not that important.

• You can hide the Mixer Toolbar (page 197) now, using the View Menu (page
153).

• Select the Multi-Tool as the tool mode to be used.

• You can now hide the Tools Toolbar (page 187).

• If you want to hide the Transcription Toolbar (page 203) and the Selection
Toolbar (page 205) you can do so too.

• Now go into the Interface Preferences (page 239).


20.3. ADVANCED 129

– If you don’t want the solo buttons, set the ”Solo button” mode to
”None”.
– Then in the ”Language” choice just above, select ”Simplified” as the
language.

• When you exit the Preferences dialog, you should find that menus have been
reduced and now contain fewer items.

If you look in the View Menu (page 153) you will see that there is a new item
called ”Simplified View” and that it has a check mark beside it.
Many of the items in the menus will now have gone. One of these is the ”Pref-
erences (page 225)” menu item at the foot of the Edit Menu (page 143), and its
hotkey (by default CTRL + P) will no longer work. If you need to access Prefer-
ences you can enable the full mode of Audacity again by unchecking ”Simplified
View” in the View Menu (page 153). This restores the full menus, letting you
make your changes. Click ”Simplified” again to remove access to Preferences.
In simplified mode the option to show or hide toolbars is removed from the menus,
which is why we suggest you choose which toolbars to show before enabling the
Simplified interface.

If you use this feature but find it is not helpful, you can either hide it or
remove it completely. To hide it, switch back to English as the language in
the Preferences. To remove it completely, remove the special language folder
called ”en-simple” from your Audacity installation folder.

20.3 Advanced

This is for people who have already got the existing ”Simplified” language
file and the steps above working, and now want to go further.
130 CHAPTER 20. SIMPLIFYING AUDACITY

• If you want to customize what menu items are made available and what
items are not, it is quite a lot more complex. If you ask on the Audacity
forum, there may be someone willing to create a custom ”simplified” lan-
guage file for you.

• If you want to create a new simplified language file yourself, it’s best to get
in touch with the Audacity developer list (audacity-devel AT lists DOT sourceforge DOT net
or click [mailto:audacity-devel@lists.sourceforge.net?subject=Customizing the simplified lan
here]. This is a new feature, and customizing it is not yet as easy as we
would like it to be. People who have used the tools for translating Audacity
will be familiar with the steps:

– Get hold of poEdit1 , a tool for editing language files.


– Get hold of the .po file for your version of Audacity, or generate a new
one from ”Menus.cpp”.
– Load the .po file into poEdit.
– Add ’!’ marks beside the translations of those menu items you want to
hide.
– Important: If you want to be able to switch simplified mode on and
off from the menus, then the translation of ’!Simplified Interface’ must
NOT start with an ’!’.
– Save the translation file as a .mo file. poEdit will warn you that some
strings are not translated, but that is not a problem. You can still use
the .mo file.

1
http://poedit.sourceforge.net/
Chapter 21

Accessibility

131
132 CHAPTER 21. ACCESSIBILITY
Chapter 22

Menu Reference

Every command in Audacity should appear in one of the menus, and is docu-
mented on these pages:

• File (page 135) - working with Audacity project files and other audio files

• Edit (page 143) - altering the audio in your project

• View (page 153) - changing how Audacity and your project appear on screen.

• Tracks (page 157) - adding, aligning and labeling audio tracks.

• Generate (page 163) - creating new audio in your project. Audio generating
plug-ins will also appear here.

• Effect (page 167) - processing the audio in your project. External Effects
plug-ins will also appear in this menu.

• Analyze (page 177) - analyzing the audio in your project. External plug-ins
that act on audio but don’t produce audio output will appear here, as well as
tools like Silence Finder and spectrograms.

• Help (page 183) - Short and detailed Help documents; license, build and
audio device information.

133
134 CHAPTER 22. MENU REFERENCE
Chapter 23

File Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuFile textbfNewCreates a new, empty Audacit

//////////////////////

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuFile textbfNewCreates a new, empty Audacit

//////////////

23.1 New
Creates a new and empty project window to start working on new or imported
Tracks. This new work environment can then be saved as an .AUP (page 281) file
for easy and full retrieval of its contents via the Save Project (page 136) or Save
Project As... (page 137) File menu functions.

135
136 CHAPTER 23. FILE MENU

23.2 Open...
Selecting Open presents you with a standard dialog box where you can select
either audio files, a list of files (.LOF) or an Audacity Project file to open. If your
current project window is ’blank’ then you essentially have an empty project to
work with, which will be used to load the file you choose here. If the project
already has tracks/data in it, then the file you open here will be loaded into a new
project, and appear in a new window.
The audio formats recognized by Audacity include :WAV (page ??)AIFF (page
??)MP3 (page ??)Ogg Vorbis (page ??)FLAC (page ??)

23.3 Recent Files...


As expected, this item will list the most recent files opened, including a full direc-
tory path if they are not stored in the default directory.

23.4 Close
Closes the current project window, prompting you to save your work if you haven’t
saved.

23.5 Save Project


Saves the current Audacity project .AUP file. Audacity projects are not intended
to be read by other programs, but they are fast to load and save within Audac-
ity.When you are finished working on a project and you want to be able touse it in
another program, select one of theExport commands instead (see below).
Note that most of the audio data for an Audacity project is notstored in the .AUP
file, but in adirectory (folder) with the same name as the project. For example,if
you save a project as , there will be a directorycalled created to store the actual
audio tracksof the project.
23.6. SAVE PROJECT AS... 137

23.6 Save Project As...


Saves the current Audacity project .AUP file, allowing you to give it a differ-
ent name or move it to a new location if you have already saved it in one loca-
tion.Audacity projects are not intended to be read by otherprograms, but they are
fast to load and save within Audacity.When you are finished working on a project
and you want to be able touse the combined track mix in another program, select
one of the Export (page ??)commands instead.

23.7 Check Dependencies...


An Audacity Project depends on all of the audio files that you’ve opened or im-
ported until you finish your project and export the finished mix, or specifically
make a copy of them by saving the Project in question. You should not delete
or move an audio file that Audacity is using in an unsaved project. The Check
Dependencies command will list all of the audio files that your project depends
on, and give you the option of copying them into the project (into a project data
folder) so that they become self-contained. The disadvantage of this method is
that it takes time to copy the files, and this uses up a lot of extra disk space.

23.8 Metadata EditorOpen Metadata Editor...


Use this function to edit the ID3 tags that will be applied to an exported an MP3
file.

23.9 Import...

23.9.1 Audio...

Similar to ’Open’, except that the file is added as a new track to your existing
project. This lets you mix two files together.
138 CHAPTER 23. FILE MENU

23.9.2 Labels...

See Label Tracks (page 215).

23.9.3 MIDI...

MIDI (page ??)

23.9.4 Raw Data...

This function attempts to import an uncompressed audio file that might be ”raw”
data without any headers to define its format, might have incorrect headers or be
otherwise partially corrupted, or might be in a format that Audacity is unable to
recognize.
First, select the file in question in the ”Select any uncompressed audio file” dialog.
Then select appropriate parameters to assist Audacity in the formatting of the data.
23.10. EXPORT... 139

The fields in the dialog require you select:

• encoding (PCM, ADPCM, float...)

• byte order (this is almost always Little-endian if the file was created on
Windows)

• number of channels (expected to be found in the file and created as a result)

• start offset in bytes

• percentage amount of the file to import

• sample rate to be applied to the created track

23.10 Export...
Exports the current Audacity project as an audio file format that can be read by
other programs.If there are multiple tracks in your project, they will be automat-
ically mixed in the exported data. For more information about mixing, see Mix
and Render (page 158) on the Tracks Menu (page 157).
You can choose the exported file format and settings from the File Export Dialog
(page ??).

23.11 Export Selection...


This is the same as Export, above, but it only exports the part of the project that is
selected. This is very useful if you want to save a small clip from part of a track
as a separate file.

23.12 Export Labels...


If you have any Label Tracks (page 215), thiscommand will export them as a text
file. This feature is commonlyused in Speech Recognition research to annotate
140 CHAPTER 23. FILE MENU

speech utterances and phrasesand then export the annotation to be later processed
by another program.To import these labels into a different project later, use theIm-
port... command, above.

23.13 Export Multiple...

This allows you to do multiple exports from Audacity with one command.Export
either multiple files based on the multiple tracks in the project, or based on the
labels in a single audio track. A great timesaver for splitting up long recordings
into separate CD tracks, or archiving multiple working tracks.See the Tutorial -
Copying tapes, LPs or minidiscs to CD (page 29) for an example of howthis is
used.

23.14 media:ApplyChain.pngApply Chain...

This function is similar to a ”Macro” of commands which allows you to select


a Chain (which is a sequence of commands created via Edit Chains below) and
apply it to either the current project, or to a specifically selected file.

23.15 Edit ChainsEdit Chains...

This function allows you to either edit, remove, or rename existing Chains, or add
a new Chain. When editing an existing Chain, the commands are listed in order
of first to last (End), and can be modified by double clicking, or highlighting
and pressing the spacebar. When adding a new chain, the Insert button allows
you to choose from a selection of common Audacity functions and effects, and
also specify the function parameters to be applied (see help items for specific
functions if required). These chained Commands can also be re-ordered or deleted
accordingly.
23.16. PAGE SETUP... 141

23.16 Page Setup...


Opens the standard Page Setup dialog box prior to printing.

23.17 Print...
Prints the contents of the Audacity window. The time ruler and all of your track
waveforms and label tracks are printed, with no decorations. Everything is printed
to one page.

23.18 Exit
Closes all project windows and exits Audacity.Although you will be asked if you
want to save changes to your project, it isn’t necessary for you to save changes
if you’ve already exported your mix as a WAV or MP3 and you are now finished
with it. On the other hand, if you areworking on a mix and plan to continue where
you left off, saving anAudacity Project will let you restore everything (as it is)
later.
142 CHAPTER 23. FILE MENU
Chapter 24

Edit Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuEdit textbfUndoUndoes the last command yo

24.1 Undo

This will undo the last editing operation you performed to your project. You
can undo as many times as you want, all the way back to when you opened the
window. To undo many operations, select History... from the View Menu (page
153).

24.2 Redo

This will redo any editing operations that were just undone.After you perform a
new editing operation, you can no longer redothe operations that were undone.

143
144 CHAPTER 24. EDIT MENU

24.3 Cut

Removes the selected audio data and places it on the clipboard. Any audio to the
right of the selection is shifted to the left.Only one ”thing” can be on the clipboard
at a time, but it may contain multiple tracks and clips.

24.4 Split Cut

Same as Cut, but none of the audio data to the right of the selection is shifted.
This leaves a gap and also splits the existing audio clip into two clips that can be
moved independently using the Move Tool (page ??).

24.5 Copy

Copies the selected audio data to the clipboard without removing it from the
project.
24.6. PASTE 145

24.6 Paste

Inserts whatever is on the clipboard at the position of theselection cursor in the


project, replacing whatever audio datais currently selected, if any.
When you select Paste and the cursor is inside a clip, the audio gets inserted into
the middle of the clip and the following audio is shifted to the right to make room

When you select Paste and the cursor is outside a clip, and there is enough room
for the audio on the clipboard, the audio on the clipboard is inserted without any
other clips being shifted over
146 CHAPTER 24. EDIT MENU

24.7 Trim

Removes all audio from the current clip except the selected part. Does not affect
other clips in the same track.

24.8 Delete

Removes the audio data that is currently selected withoutcopying it to the clip-
board.

24.9 Split Delete

Removes the selected audio without placing it on the clipboard, but does not shift
the following audio. The preceding and following audio are now separate clips
that can be moved independently.
24.10. SILENCE 147

24.10 Silence

Replaces the selection with silence

24.11 Split

Splits the current clip into up to three clips at the selection boundaries. The audio
before, within, and after the selection can now all be shifted independently
148 CHAPTER 24. EDIT MENU

24.12 Join

If you select an area that overlaps one or more clips, they are all joined into one
large clip. Regions in-between clips become silence.

24.13 Disjoin

In a selection area that includes absolute silences, creates individual non-silent


clips between the regions of silence. The silence becomes blank space between
the clips.

24.14 Duplicate

Creates a new track containing only the current selection as a new clip
24.15. LABELED REGIONS... 149

24.15 Labeled Regions...


Applies the following commands (with exactly the same meaning as above) to the
current selection area, if that area is denoted by a label:
Cut, Split Cut, Copy
Delete, Split Delete, Silence
Split, Join, Disjoin
In all cases, the labeled region itself is unaffected. For example, if you used the
standard Edit ¿ Delete command on a labeled region, the label itself would also
be deleted.

24.16 Select All


Selects all of the audio in all of the tracks.

24.17 Select Left at Playback Position


Select this command while Audacity is playing or recording to set the left edge of
the selection.
150 CHAPTER 24. EDIT MENU

24.18 Select Right at Playback Position

Select this command while Audacity is playing or recording to set the right edge
of the selection.

24.19 Select Start to Cursor

Changes the left edge of the cursor to be the start of the selected clip.

24.20 Select Cursor to End

Changes the right edge of the cursor to be the end of the selected clip.

24.21 Find Zero Crossings

Moves the cursor or the edges of the selection to the nearest point where the audio
waveform passes though zero. Use this to help achieve click-free cuts in audio, as
the two ends of the cut will exactly line up.

24.22 Move Cursor To Selection Start

Changes the right edge of the selection to equal the left edge.

24.23 Move Cursor To Selection End

Changes the left edge of the selection to equal the right edge.
24.24. MOVE CURSOR TO TRACK START 151

24.24 Move Cursor To Track Start


Moves the cursor to the start of the selected track

24.25 Move Cursor To Track End


Moves the cursor to the end of the selected track

24.26 Selection Save


Saves the current selection and position. This function only savesthe selection
boundaries, but not the actual audio data.

24.27 Selection Restore


Restores the selection to the project. You need to have an existing selection for
this to work.

24.28 Snap-To...
Turns snapping of the cursor to a grid of time values on or off.When off, your
cursor can be positioned on any sample in the audio file.When on, it is restricted
to certain points in time, determined by the timeformat in use. This is useful if
your project must follow an external timecodeexactly. You can change the current
timecode using the Selection Bar (page 205).

24.29 Play Region...


Lock and unlock the play region in the ruler. See Playing and Recording (page
93).
152 CHAPTER 24. EDIT MENU
Chapter 25

View Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuView textbfZoom inFits a shorter length of ti

25.1 Zoom In

Zooms in on the horizontal axis of the audio, displaying more detailabout less
time. You can also use the zoom tool to zoom in on aparticular part of the window.

25.2 Zoom Normal

Zooms to the default view, which displays about one inch per second.

25.3 Zoom Out

Zooms out, displaying less detail about more time.

153
154 CHAPTER 25. VIEW MENU

25.4 Fit in Window


Zooms out until the entire project just fits in the window.

25.5 Fit Vertically


Adjusts the height of all the tracks until they fit in the project window.

25.6 Zoom to Selection


Zooms in until the selected audio fills the width of the screen to show theselection
in more detail.

25.7 Collapse All Tracks


Collapses all tracks to take up the minimum amount of space. To collapse or
expand an individual track, click on the triangle on the lower-left of the track
label.

25.8 Expand All Tracks


Expands all tracks to their original size before the last collapse.
25.9. SHOW CLIPPING 155

25.9 Show Clipping

Click this menu item to turn display of clipped samples on and off - a check mark
in the item indicates that display is turned on. A clipped sample is one that is
outside the volume envelope defined by +1.0 to - 1.0 dB (this is the vertical scale
to left of the waveform when default Waveform (page 211) view is enabled, as
shown below). Clipped samples are bad, as they cause distortion and lost audio
information - avoid them where possible, for example by setting the recording
level (page 119) correctly. A clipped positive sample will have a red vertical line
through it extending from the top of the waveform to the center line. A clipped
negative sample will have the line extending from the bottom of the waveform
to the center line. Turn ”Show Clipping” off if it behaves sluggishly on slower
machines.
156 CHAPTER 25. VIEW MENU

 By going to Analyze (page 177) ¿ Find Clipping (page 180), clip-
ping can also be shown diagrammatically in a Label Track (page 215) so that
screen-readers can access the information. 

25.10 History...
Brings up the history window. It shows all the actions you have performed during
the current session,including importing. The right-hand column shows the amount
of hard disk space your operations used.You can jump back and forth between
editing steps quite easily by simply clicking on the entriesin the window.
The history window can be kept open at all times. It doesn’t interfere with any
other operations.

25.11 Toolbars...
These commands hide or show the six Audacity Toolbars:
Tools (page 187), Control (page 191), Edit (page 195), Mixer (page 197), Meter
(page 201) and Transcription (page 203)
Chapter 26

Tracks Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuTracks textbfAdd NewAdds a new audio, lab

26.1 Add New Track...


See Tracks (page 209) for details of the different kinds of tracks.

26.1.1 Audio Track

This creates a new empty audio track. This command is rarely needed,since im-
porting, recording, and mixing automatically create new tracksas needed. But
you can use this to cut or copy data from an existingtrack and paste it into a blank
track.

26.1.2 Stereo Track

Creates a stereo version of the new audio track above. You may needthis if you
start with a load of mono tracks and want to export a stereo mix.

157
158 CHAPTER 26. TRACKS MENU

26.1.3 Label Track


This creates a new Label track, which can be very useful fortextual annotation.
See the discussion on Label Tracks (page 215) for more informationon how to use
label tracks.

26.1.4 Time Track


Creates a special track in the project window that can be used to speed up and
slow downthe playback of associated audio tracks. This occurs according to the
speed percentages that are set in the Set Range (upper and lower) option found in
the Time Track dropdown menu (located on the track controls to the left of the
track itself). The Time Track affects all other audio tracks in the project.

26.2 Stereo to Mono


Converts any selected stereo tracks to mono. (To convert a mono track to stereo,
just duplicate it and select ”Make Stereo Track” from the top track’s pop-up menu.
Alternatively, duplicate it and just pan one track to the left and one to the right.)

26.3 Mix and Render


This command mixes all of the selected tracks down to a single monoor stereo
track and simultaneously applies all real-time transformationsfor the track, such
as gain, panning, or resampling.
The channel of a track being mixed affects whether itwill be mixed into the left
channel of the resulting track(s),the right channel, or both (mono). For example,
if you have four tracks:

• Track 1: left channel

• Track 2: left channel

• Track 3: right channel


26.4. RESAMPLE... 159

• Track 4: mono channel

and you select them all and perform a Mix and Render, you will end upwith two
tracks: the first will contain a mix of tracks 1, 2, and 4(the new left channel) and
the other will contain a mix of tracks3 and 4 (the new right channel).
Your tracks are implicitly mixed whenever you hit thePlay button on the Control
Toolbar (page 191) and whenever you select Export (page ??).
Note that if you try to mix two very loud tracks together, you mayget clipping (it
will sound like pops, clicks, and noise). To avoidthis, you should use the track
gain controls to reduce the amplitudeof all of your tracks.

26.4 Resample...

Allows you to change the sample rate of a track by resampling the audio to that
new rate.

26.5 Remove Track(s)

This command removes the selected track or tracks from the project.Even if only
part of a track is selected, the entire track is removed.You can also delete a track
by clicking the X in its upper-left corner.To cut out only part of the audio in a
track, useDelete (page ??), Split Delete (page ??) or Silence (page ??).
160 CHAPTER 26. TRACKS MENU

26.6 Align...

26.7 ”alignzero”

26.8 ”aligncursor”

26.9 ”alignselectionstart”

26.10 ”alignselectionend”

26.11 ”alignendcursor”

26.12 ”alignendselectionstart”

26.13 ”alignendselectionend”

26.14 ”aligntogether”

26.15 ”alignmovecursor”
Align and Move Cursor
These commands work just like the align commandswith the move cursor (page
??)command immediately following it.

26.16 Add Label at Selection


This menu item lets you create a new label at the current selection.You can title
the label by typing with the keyboard and then hitting ”Enter”when you’re done.
26.17. ADD LABEL AT PLAYBACK POSITION 161

The label saves your current selection - so when you clickon the label later it
will return the selection to the state it was in whenyou created the label.See the
discussion on Label Tracks (page 215) for more informationon how to use label
tracks.

26.17 Add Label at Playback Position


Like Add Label at Selection (page ??) butthe label is added at the current position
during playback.
162 CHAPTER 26. TRACKS MENU
Chapter 27

Generate Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuGenerate textbfChirp...Sound that smoothly

27.1 Audio Generation


The items in Generate menu are for creating a new section of audio, including
different types of tones and noise, or silence. The audio you create can be placed
into the project in three distinct ways:

• If there is no audio track already on screen, or no tracks on the screen are


selected, a new track is created of the duration you specify.

• If there is already a selected track or tracks on screen, but no selection of


audio, your specified duration of audio is inserted into those tracks at the
cursor point, thus extending the length of the selected track(s).

• If there is already a selected track or tracks on screen, with a region of audio


track selected, then that selected region is replaced with your chosen type
of audio, such as a tone or noise. The total length of the selected tracks thus
remains the same.

163
164 CHAPTER 27. GENERATE MENU

If there is no selected region of audio, the length of the created audio defaults to
30 seconds unless you specify another length. However some of the generators
such as Noise always remember the last length entered, so that last length becomes
their default.

27.2 Examples

Example 1: Insert two seconds of silence at the start of the track as a ”lead-
in”:

Example 2: Replace a 30 second section of audio starting at 1 minute 15


seconds with a tone:

The different types of generator are described below. All generators which have
a choice of amplitude allow a value between 0 (silence) and 1 (the maximum
possible volume without distortion).

27.3 Chirp...
Produces four varieties of pure tone like the Tone Generator, but allows you ad-
ditionally to set the starting and ending amplitude and frequency. Short tones can
thus be made to sound very much like a bird-call. As with Tone, created frequen-
cies can be in a range from 1 Hz to 20000 Hz (these outer limits are beyond the
hearing range of most humans).

27.4 DTMF Tones...


Generates dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tones like those produced by the
keypad on telephones. Enter numbers from 0 to 9, lower case letters from a to z,
27.5. NOISE... 165

and the * and # characters. You can also type the four ”priority” tones used by
the US Military (upper case A, B, C and D). As with most of the generators, you
can choose the amplitude and overall duration of the sequence. Use the slider to
select the ratio between the length of each tone in the series and the length of the
silences between them. This ratio is displayed underneath the slider as the ”duty
cycle”, along with the resulting duration of each tone and silence. For example, if
you create four tones in a sequence lasting four seconds, with a duty cycle of 50%,
the four tones and the three silences between them will all be the same length (571
milliseconds).

27.5 Noise...

Choose amplitude and one of three different ”colours” of noise. White noise is
that which has the greatest ability to mask other sounds, as it has similar energy at
all frequency levels. Pink noise and brown noise both have more energy at lower
frequencies, especially brown noise, which has the most muffled, low pitched
sound of the three types.

27.6 Silence...

Creates audio of zero amplitude, the only configurable setting being duration.
When applied to an audio selection, the result is identical to Edit (page 143) ¿
Silence (page 147).

27.7 Tone...

Choose amplitude and one of four different pure tones: Sine, Square, Sawtooth or
Square (no alias), with a frequency of 1 Hz to 20000 Hz.
166 CHAPTER 27. GENERATE MENU

27.8 Plug-in Generators


Any additional generators which appear underneath the menu divider are Nyquist
or LADSPA plug-ins. Audacity includes the following three Nyquist generators,
but more are available on our Nyquist download page1 .
Note: Nyquist generators do not take the length of any selected audio as the length
of the audio to be generated: specify the length required in the appropriate input
field(s) of the plug-in. Any selected audio will be replaced by the length of audio
specified in the plug-in, but the total length of the track(s) will change unless the
selected and specified lengths are identical.

27.8.1 Click Track...


Generates a track with regularly spaced sounds at a specified tempo and number
of beats per measure (bar). This can be used like a metronome for setting a pulse
to record against. To do this, enable ”Play other tracks while recording new one”
in the Audio I/O Preferences (page 227). Any length of track can be created
by adjusting ”number of measures” accordingly, and the type and pitch of the
sound can be customized. Once created, the track can be edited (for example, its
volume changed) like any audio track. Note: When exporting (page 139) your
finished recording, either close or mute the Click Track so that it’s not audible in
the recording - see Audio Tracks (page 211).

27.8.2 Pluck...
A synthesized pluck tone with abrupt or gradual fade-out, and selectable pitch
corresponding to a MIDI note.

27.8.3 Risset Drum...


Produces a realistic drum sound consisting of a sine wave ring-modulated by nar-
row band noise, an enharmonic tone and a relatively strong sine wave at the fun-
damental. The length of the drum sound is determined by the ”Decay” field.
1
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/nyquistplugins
Chapter 28

Effect Menu

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuEffect textbfRepeat Last EffectPerform the la

Audacity includes many built-in effects and also lets you use a wide range of plug-
in effects. You can download many free plugins for Audacity on http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/plugi
Website. More information is also available at http://www.kvr-vst.com, http://www.plugin.org.uk/
and http://www.ladspa.org/.
To apply an effect, select part or all of the tracks you want to modify, and select
the effect from the menu. Titles which end in an ellipsis (...) will bring up a dialog
asking you for more parameters.

28.1 Classes of Effect


There are four classes of effects - the built-in Effects, and three classes of plug-in
effect which allow you to download and install additional effects. All classes of
effect are applied in the same way. The four effects classes are:

• Built-in Effects

• VST Effect Plug-ins

167
168 CHAPTER 28. EFFECT MENU

• Nyquist Effect Plug-ins

• LADSPA Effect Plug-ins

28.2 Purpose of Effects

Effects in any of the four classes can perform similar tasks. These are Audacity’s
built-in effects grouped by purpose:

28.2.1 Volume changes

(no effect on tone quality)


Amplify (page ??) Auto Duck (page ??) Compressor (page ??) Fade In Fade Out
Leveller Normalize create additional links (page ??)

28.2.2 Tone changes

Bass Boost Echo Equalization (page ??) Phaser Wahwah create additional links
(page ??)

28.2.3 Pitch and tempo changes

Change Pitch without changing tempo Change Tempo without changing pitchChange
Speed affecting pitch and tempo create links (page ??)

28.2.4 Audio restoration

Click Removal Noise Removal (page ??) Repair Truncate Silence create addi-
tional links (page ??)
28.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 169

28.2.5 Other built-in effects


Invert Repeat Nyquist Prompt Reverse create additional links (page ??)

Most built-in effects have a ”Preview” button. This allows you to listen to
how the first three seconds of your selected audio will sound with your effect
applied. If it does not sound quite as you want, simply adjust the controls
of the effect and preview again. The preview length can be changed on the
Audio I/O (page 227) tab of Preferences (page 225).

28.2.6 Generate and Analyze plug-ins


Nyquist plug-ins are also used to provide some of Audacity’s built-in audio gen-
erators (page 163) and analysis tools (page 177). You can similarly add either
Nyquist or LADSPA generation and analysis plug-ins to Audacity which will then
appear under the Generate or Analyze Menu.

28.3 List of Built-in Effects

28.3.1 Amplify...
This effect increases or decreases the volume of the audio you have selected.
When you open the dialog, Audacity automatically calculates the maximum amount
you could amplify the selected audio without causing clipping (distortion caused
by trying to make the audio too loud).
create link to the Amplify page (page ??)

28.3.2 Auto DuckAuto Duck...


Reduces (ducks) the volume of one or more tracks whenever the volume of a
specified ”control” track reaches a particular level. Typically used to make a music
170 CHAPTER 28. EFFECT MENU

track softer whenever speech in a commentary track is heard.

28.3.3 BassBoost...

This is a safe, smooth filter which can amplify the lower frequencies while leaving
most of the other frequencies alone. It is most effective if you don’t try to boost
too much; 12 dB is usually just right.

28.3.4 :Image:ChangePitch.pngChange Pitch...

28.3.5 media:ChangeSpeed.pngChange Speed...

28.3.6 media:ChangeTempo.pngChange Tempo...

28.3.7 media:ClickRemoval.pngClick Removal...

28.3.8 Compressor...

Compresses the dynamic range by making the soft parts louder, and the loud parts
softer.?????? More details here (page ??)

28.3.9 EchoEcho...

Repeats the selected audio again and again, normally softer each time. The delay
time between each repeat is fixed, with no pause in between each repeat. For
a more configurable echo effect with a variable delay time and pitch-changed
echoes, see Delay... (page 175)

28.3.10 Equalization...

Adjusts the volume levels of particular frequencies.


28.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 171

28.3.11 Fade In
Applies a linear fade-in to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-in depends
entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customizable
logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page
187).

28.3.12 Fade Out


Applies a linear fade-out to the selected audio - the rapidity of the fade-out de-
pends entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to. For a more customiz-
able logarithmic fade, use the Envelope Tool (page ??) on the Tools Toolbar (page

187).

28.3.13 Invert
This effect flips the audio samples upside-down. This normally does not affect
the sound of the audio at all. It is occasionally useful, for example when the left
and right channels of a song both contain equal amounts of vocals, but unequal
amounts of background instruments. By inverting one of the channels and not the
other and then converting from stereo to mono, the vocals will cancel each other
out, leaving just the instrumentals. This only works if the exact same vocal signal
is present in both of the channels to begin with.

28.3.14 Leveller...

28.3.15 Noise Removal...


This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
172 CHAPTER 28. EFFECT MENU

background. More details here (page ??).


MERGE THIS OLD TEXT IF ANYTHING USEFUL
The Noise Removal function in Audacity 1.3.x and higher is greatly improved
over the Noise Removal included with Audacity 1.2.x. But with improvement
comes a small amount of added complexity for the end user.
In order to use Noise Removal, you need an audio clip with two things:
The procedure for using Noise Removal is as follows:
This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape
noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the
background.
Removing noise is a two-step process.

• In the first step you teach the software about the noise, using a portion of
your sound which contains all noise and no signal,

where the recording is silent except for the noise.

• In the second you use that information to remove the noise from the rest of
the recording.

First off, you need to find a section of recording that contains only noise, and
not any of your wanted sound, or people talking and the like. This doesn’t need
to be very long, a second is enough, and in necessary you can make it up from
several places in the project (using copy and paste).Now choose Noise Removal...
from the Effect menu and click ”Get Profile”. Audacity learns from this selection
what the noise sounds like, so it knows what to filter out later.Next, select all of
the audio where you want the noise removed from and choose Noise Removal...
again. In th elower half of the dialog adjust the slider to control how agressive
the noise removal is. Most of the time you want a low setting unless the noise is
really bad.Finaly, click the ”Remove Noise” button to start processing. This may
take a little while because it’s quite a complex effect to apply.
If too much or not enough noise was removed, you can Undo (from the Edit menu)
and try Noise Removal... again with a different noise removal level. You don’t
have to get a new noise profile again if you think the first one was fine.
28.3. LIST OF BUILT-IN EFFECTS 173

Removing noise usually results in some distortion. This is normal and there’s
virtually nothing you can do about it. When there’s only a little bit of noise, and
the signal (i.e. the voice or the music or whatever) is much louder than the noise,
this effect works well and there’s very little audible distortion. But when the noise
is very loud, when the noise is variable, or when the signal is not much louder
than the noise, then the result is often too distorted.
If you are still having problems then the following tips may help:

• Do any click removal, compression or other effects after doing noise re-
moval, not first. It works best as close to the source of the noise as possible.

• Make the selection you use to teach audacity about the noise a little quieter
before you do ”Get Profile”, using the amplify effect.

• Duplicate your source track before you apply noise removal, and adjust the
relative volume of the two tracks to get the best sound quality.

28.3.16 media:Normalize.pngNormalize...

28.3.17 media:NyquistPrompt.pngNyquist Prompt...

28.3.18 Phaser

The name ”Phaser” comes from ”Phase Shifter”, because it works by combining
phase-shifted signals with the original signal. The movement of the phase-shifted
signals is controlled using a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO).

28.3.19 Repair

fix one particular very short click, pop, or other glitch no more than 128 samples
long
174 CHAPTER 28. EFFECT MENU

28.3.20 :media:Repeat.pngRepeat...

28.3.21 Reverse
This effect reverses the selected audio temporally; after the effect the end of the
audio will be heard first and the beginning last. Some people reverse small por-
tions of audio to make inappropriate language unintelligible, while others believe
you can hear subliminal messages if you listen to speech backwards. You can
also create interesting sound effects by recording natural events and reversing the
audio.

28.3.22 Truncate Silence...


automatically try to find and eliminate audible silences. Don’t use with faded
audio.

28.3.23 Wahwah...
Rapid tone quality variations, like that guitar sound so popular in the 1970’s.
This effect uses a moving bandpass filter to create its sound. A low frequency
oscillator (LFO) is used to control the movement of the filter throughout the fre-
quency spectrum.
The WahWah effect automatically adjusts the phase of the left and right chan-
nels when given a stereo recording, so that the effect seems to travel across the
speakers.

28.4 VST Effects


• To use a VST plug-in effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called
”Plug-Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides.
If there is no directory, create one.

• You will also need to download and unzip the VST Enabler (page ??) broken
link (page ??) to the same directory.
28.5. NYQUIST EFFECTS 175

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect menu.

28.5 Nyquist Effects


• To use a Nyquist1 effect, put the effect in the directory (folder) called ”Plug-
Ins”, which should be in the same directory where Audacity resides. Upon
installation, some nyquist scripts are included, so you needn’t worry about
creating this directory.

• The next time you launch Audacity, any plug-ins you added will appear in
the Effect, Generate or Analyze menus.

28.5.1 Cross Fade In

28.5.2 Cross Fade Out

28.5.3 Delay...

28.5.4 High Pass Filter...

28.5.5 Low Pass Filter...

28.5.6 Tremolo...

28.6 LADSPA Effects


These originally started out in a Linux plugin format under the Linux Audio De-
veloper’s Simple Plugin API2 , but can now be used in Windows and OS X as
well. There are lots of free plugins available, and no enabler is needed. More
information can be found on the web3 .
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist (programming language)
2
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2001/02/02/ladspa.html
3
http://www.ladspa.org/
176 CHAPTER 28. EFFECT MENU

Getting a good reverb sound depends a lot on the source audio and can take a
lot of experimentation. One good strategy is to select a small portion of audio (a
few seconds) and try to add reverb. Listen to it, then Undo and try it again with
different settings. Keep doing this until you’ve found the settings you like the
sound of best, and then Undo one last time, Select All, then apply the effect to
your entire recording.
Chapter 29

Analyze Menu

Analyze contains tools for finding out about the characteristics of your audio, or
labeling key features. Plug-ins that accept input but produce no output will also
be placed in the Analyze menu.

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/AnalyzeMenu textbfPlot SpectrumA graph display

177
178 CHAPTER 29. ANALYZE MENU

29.1 Plot Spectrum...

This takes the selected audio (which is a set of sound pressure values at points in
time) and converts it to a graph of frequencies against amplitudes. This is done
using a piece of maths known as a Fast Fourier Transform or FFT (page ??).
This gives a value for each narrow band of frequencies that represents how much
of those frequencies is present. All the values are then interpolated to create the
graph. Note that currently only the first 23.8 seconds of selected audio can be
analyzed.

The image above is a spectrum of the word ’Audacity’ spoken aloud. This
is the same waveform used as part of the example on the Track Drop-Down
Menu (page ??) page.

The following drop-down boxes let you configure the way the plot is calculated:
29.1. PLOT SPECTRUM... 179

29.1.1 Algorithm
Determines what type of processing is done on the audio data.

• Spectrum: (default) - Plots the FFT of the data as described above.


• Autocorrelation: These options measure to what extent the sound repeats
itself. This is done by taking two copies of the audio, and moving one
forward by one sample. The two copies are then multiplied together, and
all the values added up. This is repeated for two samples difference and so
on, up to the number of samples in the size option. This gives a small result
if the waveform is random (for example, noise) and a large result if it is
repetitive (like a musical note). By looking at the peaks in the plot, the key
frequencies present can be determined even if there is a lot of noise.
• Cepstrum:

29.1.2 Size
This controls how many frequency divisions are used for the spectrum, or how
many samples are used for the autocorrelation. In the Spectrum, a larger number
gives more accurate frequencies (narrow bands) but averages the result over a
longer period of time(because more samples are needed for the calculation). In
the Autocorrelation, a large size looks for repeating patterns over a larger range of
time offsets, and so will detect lower frequency patterns.

29.1.3 Function
Selects which mathematical function is used to pre-process the data. The basic
forms of the FFT and autocorrelation algorithm require infinitely long sections of
audio to work on, and so take infinitely long to complete. Hence the available
audio must be pre-processed in such a way that the finite length of the audio has
minimum effect. The available functions are known as ”windows”:

• Rectangular: is the simplest - it just cuts off the given block of samples
with a sharp cut, and so leaves a sharp click at each end of the data. This
means the results are often poor with a lot of random frequencies in them.
180 CHAPTER 29. ANALYZE MENU

• Hamming, Hanning, Bartlett: do a smooth fade in and out of the audio


data, and so give cleaner, more accurate results. Can someone explain what
the differences are? I’ve only done Hamming!

• Blackman, Blackman-Harris:

• Welch:

• Gaussian:

29.1.4 Axis
When using the Spectrum, the frequencies can be displayed on a linear scale (de-
fault, which gives equal width to each increment on the scale) or on a logarithmic
scale.

29.2 Find Clipping...


Looks for and displays runs of ”clipped” samples in a Label Track (page 215),
as a screen-reader accessible alternative to View (page 153) ¿ Show Clipping
(page 155). The number of samples for the ”Start threshold” and ”Stop threshold”
is configurable, and set to three by default. The ”threshold” is the number of
contiguous clipped samples that must be present before they will be labeled as
a run. The Start threshold therefore means the number of clipped samples that
must be present to left of a non-clipped sample before it will be labeled as an
individual run, and Stop threshold the number that must be present to right of
a non-clipped sample before it will be labeled as an individual run. Note that
unlike ”Show Clipping”, ”Find Clipping” is not automatic, so after any editing
that affects volume, or after import or recording of a new track, Find Clipping
must be run again.
Each individual run of clipped samples is marked in the format ”number of num-
ber”. For example, ”11 of 11” means there are 11 samples in this run of clipped
samples and all of them are clipped, while ”9 of 11” means only nine samples in
the run of 11 are clipped. Note that in the case of a stereo track, each channel will
have its own label, so if at one point both channels are clipped, two labels will
appear above each other.
29.3. BEAT FINDER... 181

29.3 Beat Finder...


Beat Finder attempts to place labels (page 215) at beats which are much louder
than the surrounding audio. It’s a fairly rough and ready tool, and won’t neces-
sarily work well on a typical modern pop music track with compressed dynamic
range. If you don’t get enough beats detected, try reducing the ”Threshold Per-
centage” setting.

29.4 Regular interval labels...


This places labels (page 215) in a long track so as to divide it into smaller, equally
sized segments. For example, you may want to break up a long file into smaller
audio files for distribution on the internet. The labels can contain the name of the
separate files, then File (page 135) ¿ Export Multiple... (page 140) will export
all the files in one process based on the label points. You can either choose the
number of labels to be created, or the interval between them.

29.5 Silence Finder...


This also places labels (page 215) in a long track to divide it up, but does so at
areas of silence according to the level and duration of silence you specify. This
is very useful to break up a long recording such as from an LP or cassette into its
individual tracks. The labels can contain the name of each track, and then File
(page 135) ¿ Export Multiple... (page 140) will export audio files in one process
corresponding to each track of the recording. If too many silences are detected,
increase the silence level and duration; if too few are detected, reduce the level
and duration.
182 CHAPTER 29. ANALYZE MENU
Chapter 30

Help Menu

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuHelp textbfAbout Audacity Audacity version

Help Menu:
Audacity version and build information, credits, and License.
”Getting Started” information and detailed help
Audacity speed test and audio device information.

183
184 CHAPTER 30. HELP MENU

About Audacity... (page 184) Version and build information, credits and Li-
cense
Show Welcome Message... (page 184) ”Getting Started” andIndex... (page
184) detailed help¡hr¿Run Benchmark... (page 184) Audacity Speed Test
¡hr¿Audio Device Info... (page 184) technical details of your sound device

//////////////////////////////////////////////

Menu
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/MenuHelp textbfAbout AudacityAudacit

30.1 About Audacity...

30.2 Show Welcome Message...

30.3 Index...

30.4 Run Benchmark...

30.5 Audio Device Info...


Chapter 31

Toolbars

Toolbars contain buttons, sliders and other controls covering most opera-
tions of Audacity, including playback, recording and editing. All are enabled
by default except Device Toolbar, but individual toolbars can be enabled or
hidden by clicking View (page 153) ¿ Toolbars (page 156) and checking or
unchecking the item as required.

31.1 List of Toolbars


• Control (page 191): Buttons to control playback and recording.

• Device (page ??): Convenient way to select playback and recording devices
without going into Audio I/O Preferences (page 227) to do so.

• Edit (page 195): Cut, copy, paste, trim, silence plus undo/redo and zoom
in/out

• Meter (page 201): Monitors the playback and recording volume to avoid
distortion.

• Mixer (page 197): Sets the playback and recording volume and (on some
systems) input source.

185
186 CHAPTER 31. TOOLBARS

• Selection (page 205): Display of timeline and audio position. Also sets the
project sample rate (page 61).

• Tools (page 187): Cursor tools for selecting, adjusting volume, zooming
and time-shifting audio.

• Transcription (page 203): Slow down or speed up playback (also affecting


pitch).

31.2 Arranging Toolbars


Toolbars can moved to any new positions on the window background by dragging
on their serrated left edge. When moving a toolbar into the top and bottom of
the Audacity screen which will normally be occupied by other toolbars, a blue
triangle will appear indicating a suitable docking position. All position changes
are remembered in the next Audacity session.
Chapter 32

Tools Toolbar

::

Tools Toolbar allows you to choose various tools for selection, volume ad-
justment, zooming and time-shifting of audio.

32.1 Audacity SelectionSelection

Click to select a start point for audio playback, or click and drag to select
a range of audio to play or edit. You can also create a selection area between two
points by clicking at one point, then holding down SHIFT while clicking at the
other point.

187
188 CHAPTER 32. TOOLS TOOLBAR

32.2 Envelope ToolEnvelope

Allows smooth volume changes to be made over the length of a track by


means of embedded volume ”control points”. Click in the track to create a control
point, then set the volume of that point by dragging one of its four vertically
arranged ”handles”. When you create other control points at different levels, a
smooth curve is interpolated between them. Dragging either the top or bottom
handle ensures you can never distort the track by dragging outside its original
volume envelope. Dragging an inner handle allows you to amplify a quiet piece
of audio beyond the original volume envelope of the track.

32.3 Draw

When zoomed in (page 99) to maximum level, lets you adjust the volume
level of individual audio samples (page 59). It can be used to eliminate narrow
clicks and pops in audio by smoothing out the contour of the samples, so that one
sample is not at a very different vertical position to its neighbors.

• Click above or below a sample to move it to that point (holding down CTRL
while clicking ensures only one sample is affected, even if you click near
another sample). Remember, the closer the sample is to the horizontal line
through the center of the track, the quieter the sample will be.
• Smooth a group of samples by holding down ALT, which changes the cursor
symbol to a brush. Then click halfway along the group to progressively
smooth out the samples.

Note: Draw Tool only works when using the default Waveform (dB) view (se-
lectable on the Track Drop-Down Menu (page ??)).

For very short lengths of audio up to 128 samples long, you can smooth out
audio automatically with Repair tool under the Effect Menu (page 167)
32.4. ZOOMINGZOOM 189

32.4 ZoomingZoom

Clicking once zooms in one step. Shift-click or right-click zooms out one
step. If you have a middle button, middle-click zooms in or out to Audacity’s
default zoom level of about one inch per second. Otherwise, use View (page 153)
¿ Zoom Normal (page 153) to do the same thing. You can zoom in without using
Zoom Tool by using keyboard shortcuts (page ??), or the zoom buttons on the
Edit Toolbar (page 195).

32.5 Time Shift

Allows you to synchronize audio in a project by dragging individual or


multiple tracks or clips (page 67) left or right along the timeline (page 207). Also
use this tool to drag individual tracks or clips up or down into another track. To
use, click in the audio you want to move, then drag in the required direction. If
more than one track is on screen and any part of the audio in those tracks overlaps,
the audio will move in all tracks that are selected (page 71). Note that the area
being dragged into must always have sufficient space.
If you want to move a group of adjacent clips without moving all the clips in that

track, use the Selection Tool to drag a selection area over them, then switch
to the Time Shift Tool and drag.

32.6 Multi-ToolMulti

Combines all five tools in one. One tool is available at a time, according to
the mouse position.
190 CHAPTER 32. TOOLS TOOLBAR
Chapter 33

Control Toolbar

33.1 Image:Play.pngThe Play buttonPlay


If an area of track is selected, only that selection will be played. Otherwise, play-
back begins wherever the selection cursor is.

33.2 Image:Loop.pngThe Loop Play buttonLoop


Hold down SHIFT while pressing Play to loop the current selection or the whole
track, playing it over and over again until you press Stop.

33.3 Image:Record.pngThe Record buttonRecord


Recording begins at either the current cursor location or at the beginning of the
current selection. Pressing Record always creates a new track, but holding down
SHIFT while pressing Record starts the recording at the end of the currently se-
lected track(s).

191
192 CHAPTER 33. CONTROL TOOLBAR

33.4 Image:Stop.pngThe Stop buttonStop

Stops playing or recording immediately.

33.5 Image:Pause.pngThe Pause buttonPause

Temporarily pauses playing or recording without losing your place. Press Pause a
second time to resume.

33.6 Image:Rewind.pngThe Skip to Start buttonSkip


to Start

Move the cursor to the beginning of the audio. This is useful if you want to play
everything, or record a new track starting from the beginning. SHIFT + Click
creates a selection area from the cursor to the start, or from the right edge of a
selection area to the start.

33.7 Image:FFwd.pngThe Skip to End buttonSkip


to End

Move the cursor to the end of the audio. SHIFT + Click creates a selection area
from the cursor to the end, or from the left edge of a selection area to the end.
33.8. PLAY AND RECORD 193

• The Control Toolbar has buttons for controlling playback and record-
ing.

• These buttons can also be controlled with keyboard shortcuts (page ??).

• The order of buttons on the Control Toolbar can be changed using an


option in Interface Preferences (page 239)

33.8 Play and Record

Play: If an area of track is selected, only that selection will be played. Other-
wise, playback begins wherever the selection cursor is.

Loop Play: Hold down SHIFT while pressing Play to loop the current selec-
tion or the whole track, playing it over and over again until you press Stop.

Record: Recording begins at either the current cursor location or at the be-
ginning of the current selection. Pressing Record always creates a new track, but
holding down Shift while pressing Record starts the recording at the end of the
currently selected track(s).

33.9 Pause and Stop

Pause: Temporarily pauses playing or recording without losing your place.


Press Pause a second time to resume.
Stop: Stops playing or recording immediately.
194 CHAPTER 33. CONTROL TOOLBAR

33.10 Skip to Start/End

Holding SHIFT down whilst clicking either of these buttons extends a selec-
tion area from the cursor position or current selection area to the start or end
respectively.

Skip to Start: Move the cursor to the beginning of the audio. This is useful
if you want to play everything, or record a new track starting from the beginning.

Skip to End: Move the cursor to the end of the audio.


Chapter 34

Edit Toolbar

These tools perform the same functions as those accessible through the Edit menu
(page 143),View menu (page 153) and keyboard shortcuts (page ??).

34.1 Editing

 Cut: Removes the selected audio data and places it on the clipboard.

 Copy: Copies the selected audio data to the clipboard without re-
moving it from the project.

 Paste: Either inserts the clipboard contents at the position of the


selection cursor, or replaces a selected area with the clipboard contents.

 Trim: Deletes everything but the selection.

195
196 CHAPTER 34. EDIT TOOLBAR

 Silence: Replaces the currently selected audio with absolute silence.

34.2 Undo, Redo

 Undo: Reverts the last editing operation. Audacity supports unlim-


ited ”stepwise” undo. This means you can undo every editing operation back to
the last time the project was opened, but you can’t undo one particular edit with-
out also undoing any changes made after that edit. You can review your editing
history and jump straight back to any particular edit point at View (page 153) ¿
History (page 156).

 Redo: Restores the previous editing operation that was just undone.
Note: If you undo an operation then perform any new one that appears in the
Undo History (page 156), you can no longer redo that undone operation.

34.3 Zooming

 Zoom In: Zooms in to a higher magnification level. You can con-


tinue to zoom in until you reach the level of displaying individual audio samples
(page 59).

 Zoom Out: Zooms out to a lower magnification level. You can zoom
out so far as to fit 228 hours of audio on the screen.

 Fit Selection: Zooms a selection region in or out so that it fits in


the available horizontal window area. The button is therefore grayed out unless a
selection region is made.

 Fit Project: Zooms in or out so that the entire audio of the project
fits in the available horizontal window area.
Chapter 35

Mixer Toolbar

Output Volume Slider: Sets the playback volume.


Input Volume Slider: Sets the recording volume.
Input Device Selector: Depending on your system, may allow selection of dif-
ferent inputs such as microphone or line-in (for devices such as record players or
cassette decks).
These sliders control the mixer settings of the sound card.

The sliders will jump to zero (left most position) if the sound card drivers do
notgive Audacity access to these functions. This is the case with some digital
I/O cardsfrom RME. Sound cards that have a custom mixer application rather
than the standard OS volume control usually won’t work with this function
of audacity.
On these cards you will not be able to control anything with these sliders.
You will need to set up the recording levels and the recording source using
the card’s mixer program.

197
198 CHAPTER 35. MIXER TOOLBAR

35.1 Output Slider


This is the left hand slider that lets you control the outputlevel of your sound card.
It actually controls the output setting ofthe sound card driver.
Should your output sound distorted, this is not the first placeto look. You might
get lucky though, so give it a quick slide. Usuallyhowever, the distortion comes
from the mix of your project clipping.You actually need to reduce the level of
your tracks. It is suggested youreduce every track by the same amount.

35.2 Input Slider


This is the right hand slider that lets you control the level of the input selected in
the Input Selector. It controlsthe recording level setting of the sound card driver.
What you record is also determined in the mixer settings onyour sound card. There
you can switch certain sources on and off, suchas the Line Input, the Microphone
Input or the CD Audio.
After selecting the corresponding input source with the Input Selector, you can
control the level of the recording with this slider. Use the VU Meters on the Meter
Toolbar to get the correct recordinglevel.
Should your input sound distorted, you should lower this slideruntil no distortion
can be heard, and the VU Meters do not hit the end oftheir travel.

35.3 Input Selector

Pick the input source you wish to record from. The


items in the list are provided by the sound card driver, so the options will vary
35.3. INPUT SELECTOR 199

with different sound cards. The image shows an example of the options you might
see, in this case with an an ESS 1969 sound card with the Line In input selected.
200 CHAPTER 35. MIXER TOOLBAR
Chapter 36

Meter Toolbar

The Meter Toolbar, showing the playback and recording meter

The green bar shows the playback level, and the red bar shows recording level.
The meter toolbar can also be undocked and displayed as a window in its own
right. It can be resized, giving longer scales for the meters and hence a more
accurate view of the volume levels.

201
202 CHAPTER 36. METER TOOLBAR
Chapter 37

Transcription Toolbar

Transcription Toolbar lets you play audio at a slower or faster speed than
normal, also affecting pitch. Slower than normal speeds can make it easier to
transcribe speech or song lyrics.

Transcription Toolbar has its own own Play button which plays selected audio at
the speed set by the slider to the right. Press spacebar to stop playback. Note that
whatever the setting on the slider, audio only plays at normal speed if you use
spacebar or the Play button on the Control Toolbar (page 191) to play.
Drag the slider to set a speed from one-hundredth of normal to three times as
fast, or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to change speed by 0.3x increments.
To set a precise playback speed, double click over the slider, enter your desired
speed in the box and click OK. It isn’t currently possible to change speed during
playback - changing speed takes effect after you stop and restart playback.

203
204 CHAPTER 37. TRANSCRIPTION TOOLBAR
Chapter 38

Selection Bar

The Selection Bar (above) is normally at the bottom of your Audacity window,
but like any of the Toolbars (page 185), you can move it wherever you want by
dragging the grab bar on the left side of the bar. Selection Bar shows and allows
editing of :

• Project Rate: The sample rate for the project, typically 44100 Hz. Chang-
ing this value immediately changes the sample rate at which new tracks will
be recorded or generated, and at which existing tracks will be played back,
mixed or exported.

• Snap To: If checked, selections and mouse clicks snap to the currently cho-
sen units. For example, the units in the image above are set to hours:minutes:seconds.
With Snap To enabled and the cursor at the start, clicking in the track at
2.8 seconds causes the cursor to jump to the nearest preceding unit, in this
case 2.0 seconds. To change the units to another format such as samples or
CDDA frames, click the downward pointing arrow in any of the three boxes
to right of Snap To. See Audacity Selection (page 75) for advanced usage
of the Selection Bar.

• Selection Start: If there is no selection, this shows the cursor position.

205
206 CHAPTER 38. SELECTION BAR

• (Selection) End/Length: Click the ”End” radio button to show the end
point of the selection. If there is no selection, the value is the same as
the Selection Start. Clicking the ”Length” button shows the length of the
selection instead (the value shows as zero if there is no selection).

• Audio Position: Displays the current real time position of playback or


recording.

Individual digits in the numerical entry boxes can be edited directly so as to


change the cursor position or selection area. Click on the digit and then either
use the mouse wheel, or use the up and down arrow on the keyboard to increment
the value.
Chapter 39

Timeline

The ruler above the tracks measures time. Depending on zooming (page 99) the
ruler may span minutes of audio or give a ’close up view’ of a few seconds.
The ruler is also marked up with various symbols:

• The selected range: is shown as a shaded region on the ruler.

• The playback cursor: is shown as a green triangle.

• The record cursor: if present is shown as a red triangle.

• Quick-Play range: A selectable time range that always plays ”on demand”,
shown by arrowheads with a line connecting them. Select a range on the
ruler by dragging with the mouse, and that range will play as soon as you
release the mouse, even if audio is already playing elswhere. Neither an
already selected region or the cursor is affected by defining a Quick-Play
range. For other methods of navigating to playback points or areas, see
Playing and Recording (page 93).

The image of the ruler shows a selection and to the right a quick-play region with
the playback cursor part way through playing it.

207
208 CHAPTER 39. TIMELINE
Chapter 40

Tracks

Anything that is added to your project will be placed inside a track container,
underneath the timeline (page 207) of the project. These are the different types of
track:

40.1 Audio Tracks

Audio tracks contain digitally sampled (page 59) sounds. The tracks can be stereo
(with either joined or split left and right channels), or single channel (mono, left
or right). All tracks can be mixed (page ??) together, individually muted or made
solo, panned left or right , or given their own gain settings. Each can also have
their own sample rate (page 61) and bit depth (page 62). The track display offers
spectrum and pitch views as well as two waveform views. All these features can
be controlled on the Track Panel (page 211) and its Drop-Down Menu (page ??).
There is no limit imposed by Audacity on the number of audio tracks in a project,
though a fast, modern computer is needed to edit and play back more than three
or four long tracks.

209
210 CHAPTER 40. TRACKS

40.2 Label Tracks


These tracks contain labels which mark specific points or selection areas in the
project. They can be very useful to annotate projects, transcribe song lyrics or to
name multiple-exported (page 140) files.

40.3 Time Tracks


This special track allows you to gradually speed up or slow down playback of all
audio tracks in the project over time. An initial lower and upper speed is set, and
the time contour can be further edited with the same Envelope Tool (page ??) used
for making gradual changes in volume.

40.4 Note Tracks


Note Tracks display data from MIDI files - these can be imported with the File
(page 135) ¿ Import MIDI... (page 138) command. Note Tracks are not currently
editable or playable, but can be useful to visually compare a given MIDI file with
a sampled audio file (such as WAV) of the same music.
Chapter 41

Audio Tracks

An audio track containing digital audio has a Track Panel, a vertical scale with
units (except in the Pitch view) then the representation of the track itself (by de-
fault this is the ”Waveform” view as in the image above). New tracks are cre-
ated whenever you /import/ an audio file or /record/ into your project , can be
/generated/ with particular types of tone or noise. Or Tracks ¿ Add New ***
Expand/add links ***

///Needs new image with roll-up/down///

41.1 Track Panel


• X: To close the track

211
212 CHAPTER 41. AUDIO TRACKS

• Title: Clicking on this title gives a drop-down menu (page ??) giving vari-
ous options that affect this track only. Newly created tracks are called ”Au-
dio Track”. Options in the drop-down menu include changing the name,
sample rate and how the track is displayed.
• Track information: Gives in order, Stereo or Mono, the sampling rate in
Hz and the manner in which samples are represented.
• Mute: Click to silence this track when playing. Click again to unsilence.
• Solo: Click to play just this track. Click again to cancel. Solo takes prece-
dence over mute - the mute buttons usually have no effect whilst any solo
button is down. There are three options for exactly how the solo button op-
erates, described in Interface Preferences (page 239). One of the options is
not having the solo button at all.
• Gain: For this track.

• Pan: To make signal stronger on left or right earphone.

• Collapse: Click on this to make the track ’fold up’ into a smaller size. Click
again, or drag the lower edge of the track to restore the size.

With the Gain and Pan sliders, holding shift down whilst dragging the slider
will move in smaller increments.

Move the entire track up or down in the list of tracks by clicking on the panel
on the left and then dragging up or down.

41.2 Scale
• The scale for the waveform shows the number of dB. When the mouse is
over the scale it changes to a magnify icon. Clicking can increase the zoom,
41.3. DISPLAY 213

shift clicking to zoom back out. This is a zoom in the vertical direction, and
is used more rarely than the zoom on the time axis. See Zooming (page 99)
which covers both vertical and horizontal zooming.

41.3 Display

Click and drag between the two waveforms to change their relative height.

See Audacity Tracks and Clips (page 67) for more details on using the waveform
display.
214 CHAPTER 41. AUDIO TRACKS
Chapter 42

Label Tracks

A ”Label Track” is an additional track that can be created in your project. It is


used in conjunction with audio tracks but contains no audio itself. Features:

• Can annotate selected regions of audio with text labels.

• The labels can be moved, modified or deleted.

• Labels can also define different points in an audio track. This is a con-
venient way to mark different tracks in a recording then export them to
differently named audio files using File (page 135) ¿ Export Multi-
ple... (page 140)

215
216 CHAPTER 42. LABEL TRACKS

42.1 Creating Labels


Suppose that you have a recording and you want to annotate the questions and
answers so you can easily jump directly to a particular question or answer later on.
Initially, you may have something like the image below. Without any annotation
it’s almost impossible to tell them apart just looking at the waveform.

Here, we select the first question with the mouse (below). This may require listen-
ing to the audio several times to determine the exact boundaries of the selection.

Now choose Add Label at Selection from the Tracks menu, or type its keyboard
shortcut ( CTRL + B on Windows/Linux or CMD + B on the Mac). This creates a

new label track and a blank label outlining the current selection (below).
42.1. CREATING LABELS 217

The cursor is automatically positioned inside the label, so just type the name of
the label and then press Enter. Pressing Enter then allows you to use any cur-
rent keyboard shortcuts (page ??) normally, so you could press spacebar to listen
to the selection again if you wished. In the image below we’ve typed Question

1.
After this question comes the answer from the person being interviewed. We’ll
select this one by starting from the right side of the answer and dragging to the
left. Note that a vertical yellow guide appears when we get to the edge of the
first label, making it easy to line up the two labels (below). It’s common for the
next label to start exactly where the previous one ends, but it’s not necessary.

Once again, choose Add Label at Selection to create the next label, then type
its name and press Enter. Then in the following image, we’ve added even more

labels.
And here is a complete label track with several labels
218 CHAPTER 42. LABEL TRACKS

42.2 Selecting a label


Whenever you click on the title of a label inside the label track, it selects the label
and also selects that range of audio in all audio tracks. It also lets you edit the name

of the label.

This is a great way to save a selection and restore it later.

Press TAB to move from one label to the next, and SHIFT + TAB to move back-
wards.

42.3 Deleting labels


There are two ways to delete labels:
42.4. EDITING LABELS 219

• Click on the label’s title to select it, then press the Backspace key on your
keyboard until the title is gone. Once the title is empty, press Enter or just
press Backspace again to delete the label.

• You can manipulate a label track much the same way you’d manipulate an
Audio Track. You can select an area extending over a range of labels then
use commands like Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.

Another way to delete labels is to just remove the label track entirely and start
again. Click in the track and then choose Remove Tracks from the Tracks menu,
or alternatively click in the close box in the upper-left corner of that track.

If you need to cut or delete a section of audio that lies in-between labels,
select the area for deletion in both the audio track and the label track, then
the labels will remain in the correct place in relation to the remaining audio.

Like everything in Audacity, any edits to label tracks can be undone.

42.4 Editing labels


You can change the time boundaries of a label by clicking and dragging the little
handles on either side of each label. There are actually two handles on the side
of each label, or three where two labels meet. The purpose of these is so that you
can either adjust just one label, or two neighboring labels together.
At the junction where two labels meet, click and drag the center circle if you want
to adjust both circles simultaneously. If you want to adjust just one label, click
on the triangle corresponding to that label and the neighbor will be unaffected.
This is illustrated in the image below. On the left we move two neighboring labels
together by clicking on the center circle and dragging. On the right we move just
the label on the right by clicking on the triangle on the right and dragging:
220 CHAPTER 42. LABEL TRACKS

 
There is also a handy feature whereby you can select an area of text in a label,
then right-click (control-click on a Mac) and cut or copy that text. This allows
you to click in another label, right-click or control-click, then paste that text in.
So in our example you could select and copy ”Question” and then paste it into the
appropriate labels without having to type that word every time.
Sometimes it’s useful to edit multiple labels at once using a tabular view, similar to
editing a spreadsheet. To do this, select Edit Labels from the Tracks menu, which

brings up a dialog box showing all of your labels:


Use the arrow keys to move between cells. Handy buttons in the dialog let you
insert or delete labels, or import and export labels to a file (see the section on
importing and exporting below).

42.5 Adding labels while playing or recording


One of the easiest ways to create labels is while you’re playing or recording.
There’s a separate command for this, Add Label at Playback Position, also in
42.6. IMPORTING AND EXPORTING LABELS 221

the Tracks menu, or you can press its keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-M. Note that despite
the name of the command, it doesn’t only work while playing an existing track;
you can use it while recording a new one, too.
Note the difference between this and the previous command, Add Label at Selec-
tion. While playing or recording, both commands are useful. Use Add Label at
Playback Position to mark the exact spot you’re listening to, or use Add Label
at Selection if you want to make selections to label with the mouse while you’re
simultaneously listening.

42.6 Importing and Exporting labels


Labels are saved whenever you create an Audacity project, of course. Sometimes
it may be useful to use these labels in another program, for example if somebody
wanted to know the timecode where each piece of an interview starts or stops.
Audacity exports labels in a very simple text format, that looks something like
this:
0.285874 6.098646 Question 1
6.098646 13.054914 Answer 1
13.054914 20.916450 Question 2
20.916450 28.777986 Answer 2
The first column has the start time in seconds, the second column has the end
time, and the third column has the name of the label. Tab characters are used
in-between. This file format can be opened by any text editor, or by a spreadsheet
program.
You can export labels using the Edit Labels dialog box, or by selecting Export
Labels... from the File menu. Similarly, you can import labels using the Edit
Labels dialog box, or by selecting Import...Labels... from the File menu.
222 CHAPTER 42. LABEL TRACKS
Chapter 43

Time Tracks

Time Track is used in conjunction with one or more audio tracks (page 211) to
gradually increase or decrease playback speed over the length of the audio. Speed
changes are controlled by manipulating the blue ”time warp” line with the same
Envelope Tool (page ??) used for making gradual volume changes. If the blue line
is dragged above the horizontal, the audio plays faster; if dragged below, it plays
slower:

The degree of speed warping that occurs when the line is dragged to the top and
bottom of the time envelope is determined by ”Set Range” on the Time Track’s
drop-down menu.

Only one Time Track can be used in a project, and it affects all audio tracks
on screen.

223
224 CHAPTER 43. TIME TRACKS

43.1 Menu
Clicking on the triangle on the panel on the left of the track provides some options
for the time track.

• "Set Range" lets you set first the minimum and then the max-
imum pitch change. Values are expressed in percentage values relative to
100%.

43.2 To Use (Time Warping Tutorial)


• Start by choosing New Time Track from the Tracks Menu (page 157)
• Change the range of time warping by clicking on the Track Pop-Down Menu
and choosing Set Range (an option which only appears for Time Tracks)

The converter used will be the one(s) set up on the Quality Preferences (page 231)
tab of thePreferences (page 225). You can make separate choices for Realtime
(playback) and High Quality (exporting), trading speed against quality.
Older computers may be incapable of playing audio in real-time that makes use of
a Time Track, however you can always Export the file as a WAV and then playback
the WAV file later.

• To edit the time warping, choose the envelope tool from the Control Toolbar
- the same tool you use to edit amplitude envelopes in Audio Tracks. Click
to create and edit control points. Drag points off the track to delete them.

The Time Track has a ruler. As you edit the warping, the ruler will warp to show
you at what time playback will reach each place in the audio.
Chapter 44

Preferences

The Preferences dialog can be selected from the Edit Menu (page 143) or using
the shortcut CTRL + P (CMND + P on Macs). Here you can change many of the
default behaviors of Audacity. The dialog is split into nine sections, each of which
have their own clickable tab:

• Audio I/O (page 227) : To select Audio devices and their properties.

• Quality (page 231) : To select data rates and other trade offs between speed,
size and quality.

• Import / Export (page 235) : Location of the LAME MP3 (page ??) library.
Whether imported audio is copied into projects, if tracks are normalized,
how audio is mixed upon export.

Advanced settings for file formats when exporting are accessed using the
Options (page ??) button at time of export (page ??).

• Interface (page 239) : Interface behavior, hiding and showing of additional


information, language and preferred dB display range.

• Spectrograms (page 245) : Presentation of spectrogram.

225
226 CHAPTER 44. PREFERENCES

• Directories (page 247) : Where temporary files are stored and how often to
autosave.

• //// Batch (page ??) : Used for a chain of commands applied to a number of
audio files. Will almost certainly be removed/////

• Keyboard (page 249) : Keyboard shortcuts for commands.

• Mouse (page 253) : Mouse shortcuts for commands.

44.1 Where are preferences stored?


Audacity Preferences are stored in a configuration file called audacity.cfg. It is a
text file and can be edited with any text editor. If for any reason you wish to reset
your Preferences to factory settings, simply delete audacity.cfg. The configuration
file is stored at:

• Windows: Documents and Settings ¡user name¿ Application Data Audacity


audacity.cfg

• OS X: /Library/Application Support/audacity.cfg

• Linux: /.audacity-data/audacity.cfg

However if you a create a directory called ”Portable Settings” in the same direc-
tory as the Audacity executable, ”audacity.cfg” will be stored there instead. This
facilitates transfer of the user’s customized settings (for example, via a USB stick)
if Audacity is used on another computer. Note: a workround1 is needed where au-
dacity.cfg is on a computer running OS X.

1
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Portable
Audacity#Possible problem under OS X
Chapter 45

Audio IO Preferences

45.1 Playback
• Device: Selects the device for playback.

Under the device selection box is an indicator of the audio library that Audacity
is using, for example Portaudio v18 or Portaudio v19.

227
228 CHAPTER 45. AUDIO IO PREFERENCES

45.2 Recording
• Device: Selects the device used for recording.
• Channels: Mono, stereo or other.

–add notes about alsa etc for Linux–

45.3 Playthrough
• Play other tracks while recording new one: check to enable the feature
where you can listen to audio on your PC whilst recording,
• Software Playthrough: check so that a track being recorded is patched to
output too. You probably will want to listen to the output via headphones.

45.4 Cut Preview


Used to fine tune how previewing some edits to audio will sound

• Play before: How much audio before the region that is being removed to
play.
• Play after: How much audio after the region that is being removed to play.

45.5 Latency
• Audio to buffer: If you set this to 100ms the audio will take 0.1 seconds
to travel through the sound card. If you decrease this value then recordings
will be laid down with less delay and ’software playthrough’ may respond
faster. However, the CPU will have to work harder as it is taking the audio
through the soundcard in smaller chunks. If you set this value too low for
example to 1ms, then the CPU will not be able to keep up and recording
won’t work. 100ms is about right for most people.
45.6. SEEK TIME 229

• Latency Correction: On most consumer systems there will be a delay be-


tween singing or hitting your note and it being laid down in the recording.
By default Audacity will push recorded tracks backwards by 200 millisec-
onds to compensate for this, but you can adjust the correction value in this
preference so that your recorded tracks should normally end up properly
synchronised with the other tracks after the correction is applied.

45.6 Seek Time


• Short Period:

• Long Period:

45.7 Effects Preview


• Play when previewing: How much audio (in seconds) to play when pre-
viewing a sound effect.
230 CHAPTER 45. AUDIO IO PREFERENCES
Chapter 46

Quality Preferences

231
232 CHAPTER 46. QUALITY PREFERENCES

46.1 Sampling
This panel sets the Default Sample Rate (page 61) and Default Sample Format
(page 62) (bit depth) which will be used each time Audacity is launched, or each
time a new project window is opened.

• Default Sample Rate: The dropdown will offer you a choice of six sample
rates plus any additional ones that appear to be supported by the your audio
device. Generally you will want to use the default value of 44100 Hz. To
choose some other rate, click ”Other...” in the dropdown and type your rate
into the box to right of the dropdown. Changing default sample rate in this
dialog is effective immediately.

If you just want to make a temporary change on the fly without changing the
default rate, simply click the Project Rate dropdown at left of the Selection
Bar (page 205) and select or type in the rate you require.

• Default Sample Format: Affects both imported and newly recorded ma-
terial. The default 32-bit float resolution gives the highest quality of the
three choices but takes twice the storage space on disk compared to 16 bit
resolution.

46.2 Conversion
These options concern the trade-offs that arise when converting from one sam-
ple rate to another and one sample format to another. For example, sample rate
conversion is necessary whenever the sample rate of the track does not match the
current project rate. Sample format conversion would be required upon export if
you used the default 32 bit float sample format but exported a 16 bit audio file.

• Real-time and High-quality: Both the Sample Rate Converter and the
Dither (for conversion between sample formats) have options for use in dif-
ferent circumstances. The ”Real-time” options are only used when convert-
ing sample rates or formats for playback in Audacity. The ”High-quality”
46.2. CONVERSION 233

options are used for sound that is being converted for storage on disk, for
example when mixing or exporting.

• Option dropdown menus: The Real-time Sample Rate Converter defaults


to ”Fast Sinc Interpolation”. Use this if you find ”High-Quality Sinc In-
terpolation” gives jerky or uneven playback. The ”rectangular” and ”trian-
gular” Dither options are different rounding methods when converting to a
sample format with lower bit depth. The ”Shaped” dither means it is shaped
so that rounding errors are concentrated in the less easily heard frequencies.
234 CHAPTER 46. QUALITY PREFERENCES
Chapter 47

Import / Export Preferences

47.1 MP3 Export Library

• MP3 Export Library Version: This shows the current version of the LAME
MP3 (page ??) encoding library being used by Audacity for MP3 export. If
a suitable version of LAME is not accessible to Audacity, the message will

235
236 CHAPTER 47. IMPORT / EXPORT PREFERENCES

instead state that the library is ”not found”. In that case, use the provided
buttons to either locate LAME on your computer or download a free copy
of it, following the instructions on the LAME MP3 (page ??) page.

• Find Library: If you already have the LAME library on disk and Audacity
can’t find it, use this button to tell Audacity where it is.

• Download: Use this to fetch a copy of the LAME library.

• Quality settings for all exported file formats: Users of the previous stable
1.2.x Audacity will recall that bit rate and bit depth for exported files were
set on this Preferences tab (which was then called ”File Formats”). How-
ever, in Audacity 1.4 you now choose export settings for the various formats
at the time of export by clicking Options in the File Export Dialog (page
??). This saves the separate step of going into Preferences each time you
want to to change export settings.

47.2 When importing audio files


Audacity always makes a copy of compressed files like MP3 (page ??), OGG
(page ??) and FLAC (page ??) when it imports them. The data is copied either
into the temporary folder, or into the data folder of an open project. Uncom-
pressed files (WAV (page ??) or AIFF (page ??)) are very much larger, so may
lead to a shortage of disc space if copied in. Audacity therefore allows you to
choose from the following two options when importing WAV or AIFF files:

• Make a copy of uncompressed audio files before editing...: This is the


safest (and default) option, meaning that Audacity will always have its own
copy of imported files to work with. Also choose this option if you need
to open your Audacity .aup project file on another computer, or send it to
someone else. Note: you don’t need to choose this option if you are sending
an exported (page ??) audio file like an MP3 to someone else.

• Read uncompressed audio files directly from the original...: Import of


the audio will be faster, but Audacity will depend on the file remaining
accessible and having the same name and location as when you imported it.
If the file is inaccessible, the waveform will have no audio.
47.3. WHEN SAVING A PROJECT THAT DEPENDS ON OTHER AUDIO...237

• Normalize all tracks in project: The imported file (in any format) and all
audio tracks already on screen will be normalized to your current setting for
the normalize (page ??) effect.

47.3 When saving a project that depends on other


audio...
This option allows you to choose what happens if you are reading directly from
an uncompressed file and then attempt to save an Audacity project.

• Always copy all audio into project: Any dependency on external audio
files will be automatically removed. As soon as the project is saved, you can
safely move, rename or delete any audio files that were opened or imported.

• Do not copy any audio: The project will be saved automatically but will
depend on any opened or imported files remaining accessible and having
the same name and location as before.

• Ask User: Whenever you attempt to save a project that depends on other
audio files, you will be offered the option to copy the dependent audio files
in to the project, or not.

You can check at any time if your work depends on other files, and copy the
files in if you need to, by clicking File (page 135) ¿ Check Dependencies...
(page 137)

47.4 When exporting tracks to an audio file


• Always mix all tracks down...: This is Audacity’s default behavior and
means that if your project contains only mono tracks panned to center, they
will be mixed upon export to a file containing a single mono channel. The
audio will still play equally out of both speakers on most systems. If you
238 CHAPTER 47. IMPORT / EXPORT PREFERENCES

have any stereo tracks in your project (or any mono tracks panned away
from center), the exported file will be stereo, containing two channels (left
and right).

• Use custom mix: When this option is enabled, an Advanced Mixing Op-
tions (page ??) window appears immediately after the completing the File
Export Dialog (page ??). Advanced Mixing gives you much greater flexibil-
ity in mapping your audio tracks to specific output channels in the exported
file. In particular it allows export of multichannel files (that is, having more
than two channels of audio) in WAV, AIFF, OGG and FLAC formats.

• Show Metadata Editor prior to export step: By default, the Metadata


Editor (page ??) pops up every time you export a file with the File (page
135) ¿ Export... (page 139) or File (page 135) ¿ Export Multiple... (page
140) commands. Uncheck this option if you don’t want to add embedded
information tags to your files.
Chapter 48

Interface Preferences

239
240 CHAPTER 48. INTERFACE PREFERENCES

48.1 Behaviors
• Update display while playing: This steps the timeline (page 207) to left
during play or recording, so that the playback or recording cursor remains
visible. Most users would keep this enabled, but on slower computers turn-
ing it off can prevent interrupted playback or recording. Turning it off al-
lows you to drag the horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the screen to a
new playback position then restart playback (page 93) from there.

• Closing last window quits Audacity: Sets Audacity to quit when the last
project window you are working with is closed. Unchecking this can be
useful as it lets you use File ¿ Close to close the last window and then
create a new empty Project. To shut Audacity down with this preference
unchecked, you must use File ¿ Exit (on a Mac, Audacity ¿ Quit Audacity)
or the respective hotkey.

• Enable dragging left and right selection edges: Lets you expand or con-
tract existing selection areas with the mouse after they have been created. If
unchecked you must use the Selection Bar or keyboard to modify existing
selection areas. See Audacity Selection (page 71) for further details.

• Ergonomic order of audio I/O buttons: Sets the Control Toolbar (page
191) button order as: Pause, Play, Stop, Skip to Start, Skip to End, Record,
rather than: Skip to Start, Play, Record, Pause, Stop, Skip to End.

• Automatically fit tracks vertically zoomed: Tracks will be automatically


resized to fill the vertical space on screen without scrolling.

• ”Move track focus” cycles repeatedly through tracks: When using the
up and down arrow keys to change which track is focused, moving the focus
off one end (top or bottom) makes the focus jump to the other end.

• Editing a clip can move other clips: This ensures that when cutting and
pasting audio in or to left of a clip (page 67), clips or audio to the right of
the edit point can move, and the total length of the track change accordingly.
Unchecking this option pins the clips so that they can’t move. Therefore if
you are cutting, space will be created, and if there is insufficient space to
paste, an error message will display.
48.2. SHOW / HIDE 241

• Select all audio in project, if none selected: If you select no audio before
applying an effect, the effect will be automatically applied to all audio in all
tracks. This also applies to other menu items requiring an audio selection to
be made. If this preference is unchecked, all menu items requiring an audio
selection will remain grayed out until audio is selected.

• Beep on completion of longer activities: Audacity makes a quiet system


beep after completion of longer tasks. Visually impaired users may find this
useful, though the beep may not be audible on all computers.

48.2 Show / Hide

• Enable cut lines: Displays a light blue vertical line at the left edge of a cut
edit, which changes to red after clicking elsewhere in the track. Click on the
line at any time to restore the cut audio; if you restore in error, use Edit ¿
Undo Expand to get the cut line back. To remove the line without restoring
audio, right-click over it. Edit ¿ Undo Remove will restore the line if you
make a mistake.

• Show warnings about temp files: ??? When Audacity starts up, tells you
if there were files ’left over’ from a previous run of Audacity.

• Show prompt to save, even if project is empty: Most users should leave
this option enabled, so that Audacity warns you if you try to exit an un-
saved project with no tracks in it. You should not save an empty project, as
Audacity saves exactly what you see on the screen. If you see this warn-
ing that ”Saved project will be empty”, follow the instructions by clicking
”Cancel”, use Edit ¿ Undo to restore the tracks you want to save, then File
¿ Save Project.

• Show Welcome Message at program start up: Displays a ”Welcome


Screen” with useful hints for new users on topics such as recording and
playback, editing, exporting and CD burning. If you turn the Welcome
Message off, you can still access it from the Help menu.
242 CHAPTER 48. INTERFACE PREFERENCES

48.3 Modes
• CleanSpeech Mode: A customization of Audacity by Lynn Allan with lim-
ited menu options. It’s mainly used for quick clean-up and MP3 export of
a number of speech recordings, carried out as a batch process. The avail-
able effects in the ”CleanSpeech” batch chain are limited to Fade In, Fade
Out, Leveller, Noise Removal, Normalize, Stereo to Mono and Truncate Si-
lence. A simple ”MP3 Conversion” chain is also provided which has only a
Normalize effect.

48.4 Display range minimum..


• Sets the range of the vertical logarithmic scale used in the Waveform (db)
(page ??) track display (this display is selected in the Track Drop-Down
Menu (page ??)). The lowest value (-36 dB) is the default, as that gives you
the most vertical space to display the loudest part of the audio.

48.5 Other interface choices


• Language: This drop-down menu changes the language of the menus and
other on-screen text. Languages with unusual character sets require you to
have the correct fonts installed on your system, otherwise the menus will
display with ???? characters.

• Help:

– ”Standard” is what most people will want: Audacity will show help
in its built-in browser, using HTML files stored on your computer.
– ”In Browser” is similar, except the same files are displayed in your
default web browser.
– ”Internet” will always use the latest help files from the internet, open-
ing your default browser to do this.
48.5. OTHER INTERFACE CHOICES 243

• Solo Button: The ”Solo” button on the Track Panels (page 211) can behave
in three different ways:

– ”Standard” will suit those used to mixing desks and other profes-
sional audio software. Any number of tracks can be made solo so that
they mix (page ??) together, but if any solo button is down, the mute
buttons have no effect. If on any occasion you want the Solo button to
play only one track at a time (so that clicking it releases any other solo
buttons), hold down SHIFT when clicking Solo.
– In ”Simple” mode, ”Solo” means as it does in common parlance - a
track made solo is the only one that can be heard. If a track is solo, the
mute buttons are set down on all the other tracks, so that solo is just a
shortcut way of muting all tracks except one. If on any occasion you
want the Solo button to select multiple tracks for listening, hold down
SHIFT when clicking Solo.
– ”None” mode has no solo buttons, so you select the tracks you want
to play by unmuting them (clicking the mute buttons so that they are
up).
244 CHAPTER 48. INTERFACE PREFERENCES
Chapter 49

Spectrogram Preferences

You can view any audio track as a Spectrogram instead of a Waveform by


selecting either ”Spectrum” or ”Pitch (EAC)” from the Track Drop-Down
Menu (page ??). Spectrogram Preferences lets you adjust some of the settings
for these two views.

245
246 CHAPTER 49. SPECTROGRAM PREFERENCES

49.1 FFT Size


• Size: The radio buttons let you choose the size of the Fast Fourier Transform
(FFT) which affects how much vertical (frequency) detail you see. Larger
FFT sizes give more low frequency resolution and less temporal resolution,
and are slower.

• Window type: Determines precisely how the spectrogram is computed.


’Rectangular’ is slightly faster than other methods, but introduces some
artefacts. All methods give broadly similar results.

49.2 Display
• Grayscale: Shows gray shades in the Spectrum view instead of full colors.

• Minimum Frequency: This value will correspond to the bottom of the


vertical scale in the spectrogram. Frequencies below this value will not be
visible.

• Maximum Frequency: This value corresponds to the top of the vertical


scale. The value can be set anywhere between 200 Hz and half the current
sample rate (page 61) of the track (for example, 22050 Hz if its rate is 44100
Hz). For some uses such as speech recognition or pitch extraction, very high
frequencies are not visually important, so this allows you to hide these and
only focus on the important ones.
Chapter 50

Directory Preferences

50.1 Temporary files directory


• Location: Sets the location of Audacity’s temporary directory. Audacity
uses this directory whenever there is audio data that hasn’t yet been saved as
an Audacity Project. Exit and restart Audacity for changes to the temporary
directory to take effect. Make sure your temporary folder is on a fast disk

247
248 CHAPTER 50. DIRECTORY PREFERENCES

with plenty of free space. If you need to put it on a network drive, enable
the Audio cache option (see below).

50.2 Auto save


Saves the current state of your work automatically on a time interval basis. This
enables audio to be automatically recovered when you restart Audacity after a
crash or power failure.

• Auto save a copy... Turns auto save on or off.

• Auto save interval: Reduce the interval to make saving more frequent. This
will reduce the amount of audio lost if there is a crash between save points.

50.3 Audio cache


• Hold recorded data... Check this option if you need to use a slow disk such
as a network drive or USB key for your temporary folder. Slow disk drives
can’t keep up with audio recording, so this option holds the audio data in
memory until recording is complete. At that point, the data is saved to disk
as normal. If your drive does not have sufficient space, go to the Quality
tab of Preferences (page 231) and reduce the default sample format and if
necessary, the Project Rate (page 205).
Chapter 51

Keyboard Preferences

This preferences window sets the keyboard shortcuts which can be used for
numerous commands in Audacity as an alternative to using Menus (page
133), Toolbars (page 185) or mouse gestures (page 253).

249
250 CHAPTER 51. KEYBOARD PREFERENCES

51.1 Command/Key Combination window


These window headings list all the commands which can be attached to keyboard
shortcuts, together with their currently allocated shortcut or ”binding”. The com-
mands are listed in the following order:

• Menus (page 133)

• Cycle through Dock, Track View and Selection Bar

• Tools Toolbar (page 187)

• Control Toolbar (page 191) and associated Play commands

• Additional Delete keys

• Seek during playback

• Move and toggle track focus

• Move cursor

• Adjust selection regions

• Track Panel (page 211) and Track Drop-Down Menu (page ??) commands
for focused track

• Snap To

If you are looking for a particular command in the list and know its exact
name, you can jump to it by typing the first letter of its name until you reach
it.

A full list of the commands with their default key bindings is also available at
Keyboard Shortcut Reference (page ??).
51.2. MODIFYING THE KEY BINDINGS 251

51.2 Modifying the key bindings


• Input box and Set button: To change or add a binding:

• Clear: To remove a binding: select the item as above, then press ”Clear”.

• Defaults: Clicking this button reverts all bindings to those when you first
obtained Audacity. This button is handy if you decide you have not got
your changes right and want to start over again. Naturally you can also
press ”Cancel”, in which case all bindings will remain as they were before
you started to edit them.

51.3 Exporting and importing the key bindings


• Save... and Load...: You can export and import key bindings (for example
to keep a safe copy of your custom settings, or to transfer them to Audacity
on another machine). ”Save...” exports your bindings as an xml file, and
”Load...” imports the xml file back again. You can also edit this file in any
text editor and re-import it, as an alternative to editing the key bindings
in Preferences. Note however that Audacity does not check for bindings
which are allocated to more than one command when loading the file, so edit
carefully. The only entries you can usefully edit are the actual key bindings
themselves which are in the ”key” string at the end of each command. For
example, to set the key binding for ”New” to ”SHIFT + N”, the command
in the xml file should read:

Be sure not to delete the closing ”/¿” characters at the end of the command.
252 CHAPTER 51. KEYBOARD PREFERENCES
Chapter 52

Mouse Preferences

When using one of the Audacity tools (page 187), a number of tasks can be con-
veniently performed with the mouse by simple click and drag gestures. If your
mouse has a scroll wheel, you can also use the mouse for vertical or horizontal
scrolling of tracks on the Audacity screen, and to zoom in and out. The image
above has a complete list of the available mouse bindings, but currently these are

253
254 CHAPTER 52. MOUSE PREFERENCES

not configurable by the user.


Chapter 53

Index

53.1 Audacity 1.4 User Manual


• Accessibility (page 131)

• Advanced Mixing Options (page ??)

• Analyze Menu (page 177)

• Audio CDs (page 109)

• Audio Tracks (page 211)

• Auto Duck (page ??)

• Batch Processing (page 123)

• Clips and Tracks (page 67)

• Compressor (page ??)

• Configuration and Setup (page 83)

• Control Toolbar (page 191)

• Credits (page 267)

• Customization (page 125)

255
256 CHAPTER 53. INDEX

• Digital Audio (page 59)

• Edit Menu (page 143)

• Edit Toolbar (page 195)

• Editing

• Effect Menu (page 167)

• Envelope Tool (page ??)

• Equalization (page ??)

• Exporting

• FAQ (page 263)

• File Export Dialog (page ??)

• File Menu (page 135)

• FLAC Export Options (page ??)

• Generate Menu (page 163)

• Glossary (page 259)

• Help Menu (page 183)

• Information for Developers (page 279)

• Keyboard Shortcut Reference (page ??)

• Label Tracks (page 215)

• LAME MP3 (page ??)

• License (page 269)

• LPs

• Menu Reference (page 133)


53.1. AUDACITY 1.4 USER MANUAL 257

• Metadata Editor (page ??)

• Meter Toolbar (page 201)

• Mixer Toolbar (page 197)

• Mixing (page ??)

• MP2 Export Options (page ??)

• MP3 Export Options (page ??)

• Multi-Tool (page ??)

• Noise Removal (page ??)

• Ogg Vorbis Export Options (page ??)

• Playing and Recording (page 93)

• Preferences (page 225)

• Preferences - Audio I/O (page 227)

• Preferences - Directory (page 247)

• Preferences - Import / Export (page 235)

• Preferences - Interface (page 239)

• Preferences - Keyboard (page 249)

• Preferences - Mouse (page 253)

• Preferences - Quality (page 231)

• Preferences - Spectrogram (page 245)

• Projects (page 87)

• Project Format (page 281)

• Quick Guide (page ??)

• Recording
258 CHAPTER 53. INDEX

• Recovery (page 121)

• Selection (page 71)

• Selection Bar (page 205)

• Setup and Configuration (page 83)

• Simplifying Audacity (page 127)

• Spectrogram Analysis (page ??)

• Speech, mixing with background music (page 27)

• Tapes

• Time Tracks (page 223)

• Timeline (page 207)

• Toolbars (page 185)

• Tools Toolbar (page 187)

• Track Drop-Down Menu (page ??)

• Tracks Menu (page 157)

• Tracks (page 209)

• Tracks and Clips (page 67)

• Transcription Toolbar (page 203)

• Undo, Redo and History (page 105)

• View Menu (page 153)

• VST Effects (page ??)

• WAV, AIFF and Uncompressed Export Options (page ??)

• Zooming (page 99)


Chapter 54

Glossary

This page gives very brief explanations of technical terms related to digital audio,
with some links to Wikipedia for much more comprehensive explanations.

54.1 General Terms

Link
 
 
 
 
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude fo

259
260 CHAPTER 54. GLOSSARY

Bit

Bit Rate:

The number of computer bits (page 260) that are conveyed or processed per unit
of time. Normally expressed in kilobits per second (kbps).

CBR:

Cepstrum:

Some description here. It’s like a logarithm of a Fourier transform. We need a


better description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepstrum1

Clipping:

• Compressed Audio Format:

• Compression (page ??):

• Cycle:

• DAC:

• Data CDs:

• dB: (decibels) A logarithmic unit (typically of sound pressure) describing


the ratio of that unit to a reference level.

• Dynamic Range: The difference between the loudest and softest part in an
audio recording, the maximum possible being determined by its sample for-
mat (page ??). For a device, the difference between its maximum possible
undistorted signal and its Noise Floor (page ??).

• FFT: (Fast Fourier Transform). A method for performing Fourier trans-


forms (see below) quickly.
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepstrum
54.1. GENERAL TERMS 261

• Filter: A sound effect that lets some frequencies through and suppresses
others.

• Fourier Transform: A method for converting a waveform to a spectrum,


and back.

• Frequency: Audio frequency determines the pitch of a sound. Measured in


Hz (see below), higher frequencies have higher pitch.

• Gain:

• Interpolation:

• Harmonics: Most sounds are made up of a mix of different frequencies.


In musical sounds, the component frequencies are simple multiples of each
other, for example 100Hz, 200Hz, 300Hz. These are called harmonics of
the lowest frequency sound.

• High Pass Filter: A filter that lets high frequencies through.

• Hz (Hertz): Measures a frequency event in number of cycles per second.


See Frequency and Sample Rate, both of which are measured in Hz.

• LAME (page ??):

• Linear:

• Logarithmic:

• Lossless:

• Lossy:

• Low Pass Filter: A filter that lets low (bass) frequencies through.

• MP3 CDs:

• Noise Floor:

• PCM:

• Pitch:

• Red Book:
262 CHAPTER 54. GLOSSARY

• RMS:

• Sample Rate (page 61): Measured in Hz like Frequency (page ??), this
represents the number of digital samples captured per second in order to
represent the waveform.

• Sample Format (page 62): Also known as Bit Depth. The number of com-
puter bits (page ??) present in each audio sample. Determines the dynamic
range (page ??) of the audio.

• Spectrum: Presentation of a sound in terms of its component frequencies.

• Uncompressed Audio Format:

• VBR:

• Waveform:

• Wavelength:

54.2 Audio File Formats

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 textbfFLAC (pag
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 tex
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 textbfMP2 (page
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 textbfMP3 (page
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 textbfOgg Vorbis (pag
includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/Wikipedia1 textbfWAV (page pagerefwa
Chapter 55

FAQ

To be categorized:
[Gale] FAQ to be added for can’t open WAV files from portable players

55.0.1 How do I record streaming audio?

(This needs to be categorized.)


You can record streaming audio, Skype, or pretty much any program that outputs
sound. If you use Mac OS X, you may want to check out //www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/
Audio Hijack (page ??), a shareware program designed specifically for this pur-
pose. On Windows, you can sometimes record from the ”Wave Out” channel of
your sound card - choose it as the audio input device instead of ”Line In” or ”Mic”.
If all else fails, use a loopback cable:

includegraphics[trim=0 0 0 0, scale=1.000000]images/StereoMini-LoopbackA stereo mini loopback cable

263
264 CHAPTER 55. FAQ

55.1 General

55.1.1 How can I help to improve Audacity?

There are many ways you can help.

• If you are a programmer and you know C++, we can always use more de-
velopers. We especially need more Windows and MacOS programmers, as
many of the current developers prefer Linux.

• If you are bilingual, you can help us translate Audacity into another lan-
guage.

• If you are good at writing, you can help us write documentation and tutori-
als.

• Finally, anyone can submit bug reports and suggestions. The more detailed,
the better.

If you would like to help out in any one of these ways,please email the developers
at. You mayalso want to go to the Sourceforge web site and join themailing list
yourself.

55.1.2 I found a bug! Now what?

The most important thing when reporting a bug is to beas specific as possible.
Give us enough information thatwe can reproduce the bug ourselves, otherwise
it’s unlikelythat we’ll be able to fix it.

• Be sure to let us know what operating system you run (such as Windows
98, MacOS 9.1, Fedora Linux 3, etc.) and any other information about your
computer that you think might be relevant.

• Then, can you reproduce the bug? If it happens consistently, tell us the
exact sequence of events which causes the bug to occur. If you get an error
message, make sure you send us
55.1. GENERAL 265

the exact text of the error message.


We want to squash all of the bugs! Thanks for taking the time to help us track
them down.

55.1.3 Windows: What do I do with the .exe file?

From the browser, select the option to ”Run from currentlocation”. This launches
the Audacity setup program, which will install theAudacity program files and
create an entry in the start menu.

• If you already downloaded the file, just double-click on it to start the in-
staller.

• If you prefer not to use the Installer program, you can also download Au-
dacity as a ZIP file, which you can decompress using WinZip or any other
extraction program.

55.1.4 Windows: How do I uninstall Audacity?

Audacity can be uninstalled by openingAdd/Remove Programs in the Control


Panel. Select ”Audacity”from the list and click the button ”Add/Remove”.This
launches the Audacity uninstall program.

55.1.5 Mac: What do I do with the .sit file?

You need a recent version of StuffIt Expander. StuffIt Expandercomes with all
Macintoshes and is usually configured by defaultwith all Mac web browsers. If
Audacity does not decompressautomatically, drag ”audacity.sit” to StuffIt Ex-
pander to decompressit.
There is no need to install Audacity. Just drag the Audacityfolder to your Appli-
cations folder, or wherever else you wouldlike to put it. To uninstall, just drag the
entire folder tothe trash.
266 CHAPTER 55. FAQ

55.1.6 Unix: Why do I get failed dependencies when installing


from the RPM?
First, ensure that the wxGTK is installed; a link can be foundfrom our Linux page
- .Be sure that you use the appropriate version of wxGTK - Audacity 1.2.xrequires
wxGTK 2.4.x, and it will not work with any other version.

55.1.7 Why doesn’t Audacity ship with an MP3 encoder?


Unfortunately, the algorithm to encode or create MP3 filesis patented, and Audac-
ity would not be able toinclude an MP3 exporting algorithm without eithercharg-
ing a fee or violating the law in many countries.
As a compromise, Audacity comes with the ability to useother MP3 encoders,
which you must download separately.It is up to you to make sure you are in com-
pliance withany licensing restrictions imposed by MP3 encoders.
See LAME MP3 (page ??)
Chapter 56

Credits

56.1 Brief History


Audacity was started in 1999 by Dominic Mazzoni while he was a graduate stu-
dent at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA (USA). He was working on
a research project with his advisor, Professor Roger Dannenberg, and they needed
a tool that would let themvisualize audio analysis algorithms. Over time, this
program developed into a general audio editor, and other people started helping
out.
Today, Audacity is developed using Sourceforge1 , an online resource that allows
people around the world to collaborate on free software projects. Dozens of people
have contributed to Audacity, and progress is continually accelerating.

56.2 The Manual


The previous Manual for Audacity 1.2 was written by Tony Oetzmann, with major
contributions by Dominic Mazzoni. The current Manual builds on that work and
has significant contributions by the following:

• Dominic Mazzoni
1
http://www.sourceforge.net

267
268 CHAPTER 56. CREDITS

• Scott Granneman

• Tony Oetzmann

• Matt Brubeck

• Gale Andrews

• Richard Ash

• Leland Lucius

• James Crook

• Christian Brochrec

• Alexandre Prokoudine

Dominic is the current Audacity project leader. For a list of all past and present
contributors to the Audacity project and for personal contact information, please
visit the Credits2 page on our main website3 .

2
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/credits
3
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Chapter 57

License

57.1 Audacity License


Audacity is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL),
version 2. The full text of this license is below, unmodified.
Some of the software libraries that are included with Audacity are distributed
under different (GPL-compatible) licenses:

• wxWidgets: wxWindows License1 - Cross-platform GUI library

• expat: BSD-like license - Provides XML parsing.

• libid3tag: GPL - Reads/writes ID3 tags in MP3 files.

• libmad: GPL - Decodes MP3 files.

• libnyquist: BSD-like license - Functional language for manipulating audio;


available within Audacity for effects processing.

• libogg and libvorbis: BSD-like license - Decodes and encodes Ogg Vorbis
files.

• libsndfile: LGPL2 - Reads and writes uncompressed PCM audio files.


1
http://wxwidgets.org/about/newlicen.htm
2
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html

269
270 CHAPTER 57. LICENSE

• SoundTouch: LGPL3 - Changes tempo without changing pitch and vice


versa.

The full text of the GNU GPL follows.

57.2 GNU General Public License


Version 2, June 1991

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.51 Franklin Street, Fifth
Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USAEveryone is permitted to copy and distribute
verbatim copiesof this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

57.2.1 Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away yourfreedom to share
and change it. By contrast, the GNU General PublicLicense is intended to guar-
antee your freedom to share and change freesoftware–to make sure the software
is free for all its users. ThisGeneral Public License applies to most of the Free
SoftwareFoundation’s software and to any other program whose authors commit
tousing it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered bythe GNU
Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it toyour programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, notprice. Our Gen-
eral Public Licenses are designed to make sure that youhave the freedom to dis-
tribute copies of free software (and charge forthis service if you wish), that you
receive source code or can get itif you want it, that you can change the software or
use pieces of itin new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbidanyone to deny
you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.These restrictions translate
to certain responsibilities for you if youdistribute copies of the software, or if you
modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whethergratis or for a
fee, you must give the recipients all the rights thatyou have. You must make sure
3
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html
57.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 271

that they, too, receive or can get thesource code. And you must show them these
terms so they know theirrights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and(2) offer you
this license which gives you legal permission to copy,distribute and/or modify the
software.
Also, for each author’s protection and ours, we want to make certainthat everyone
understands that there is no warranty for this freesoftware. If the software is mod-
ified by someone else and passed on, wewant its recipients to know that what they
have is not the original, sothat any problems introduced by others will not reflect
on the originalauthors’ reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by softwarepatents. We wish
to avoid the danger that redistributors of a freeprogram will individually obtain
patent licenses, in effect making theprogram proprietary. To prevent this, we have
made it clear that anypatent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not li-
censed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution andmodification follow.

57.2.2 Terms and Conditions for Copying, Distribution and Mod-


ification

0. This License applies to any program or other work which containsa notice
placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributedunder the terms of
this General Public License. The ”Program”, below,refers to any such program
or work, and a ”work based on the Program”means either the Program or any
derivative work under copyright law:that is to say, a work containing the Program
or a portion of it,either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into an-
otherlanguage. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation inthe term
”modification”.) Each licensee is addressed as ”you”.
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are notcovered by this
License; they are outside its scope. The act ofrunning the Program is not re-
stricted, and the output from the Programis covered only if its contents constitute
a work based on theProgram (independent of having been made by running the
Program).Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program’ssource code as
272 CHAPTER 57. LICENSE

you receive it, in any medium, provided that youconspicuously and appropriately
publish on each copy an appropriatecopyright notice and disclaimer of warranty;
keep intact all thenotices that refer to this License and to the absence of any war-
ranty;and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this Licensealong
with the Program.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, andyou may at
your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portionof it, thus
forming a work based on the Program, and copy anddistribute such modifications
or work under the terms of Section 1above, provided that you also meet all of
these conditions:
a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent noticesstating that you
changed the files and the date of any change.
b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that inwhole or in part
contains or is derived from the Program or anypart thereof, to be licensed as a
whole at no charge to all thirdparties under the terms of this License.
c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactivelywhen run, you
must cause it, when started running for suchinteractive use in the most ordinary
way, to print or display anannouncement including an appropriate copyright notice
and anotice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you providea warranty)
and that users may redistribute the program underthese conditions, and telling
the user how to view a copy of thisLicense. (Exception: if the Program itself is
interactive butdoes not normally print such an announcement, your work based
onthe Program is not required to print an announcement.)
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. Ifidentifiable sections
of that work are not derived from the Program,and can be reasonably considered
independent and separate works inthemselves, then this License, and its terms, do
not apply to thosesections when you distribute them as separate works. But when
youdistribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work basedon the
Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms ofthis License, whose
permissions for other licensees extend to theentire whole, and thus to each and
every part regardless of who wrote it.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contestyour rights to
work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is toexercise the right to control the
distribution of derivative orcollective works based on the Program.
57.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 273

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Programwith the
Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume ofa storage or distri-
bution medium does not bring the other work underthe scope of this License.
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,under Section
2) in object code or executable form under the terms ofSections 1 and 2 above
provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readablesource code,
which must be distributed under the terms of Sections1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least threeyears, to give any third
party, for a charge no more than yourcost of physically performing source distri-
bution, a completemachine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to
bedistributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a mediumcustomarily
used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offerto distribute
corresponding source code. (This alternative isallowed only for noncommercial
distribution and only if youreceived the program in object code or executable form
with suchan offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work formaking mod-
ifications to it. For an executable work, complete sourcecode means all the source
code for all modules it contains, plus anyassociated interface definition files, plus
the scripts used tocontrol compilation and installation of the executable. However,
as aspecial exception, the source code distributed need not includeanything that is
normally distributed (in either source or binaryform) with the major components
(compiler, kernel, and so on) of theoperating system on which the executable runs,
unless that componentitself accompanies the executable.
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offeringaccess to copy from
a designated place, then offering equivalentaccess to copy the source code from
the same place counts asdistribution of the source code, even though third parties
are notcompelled to copy the source along with the object code.
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Programexcept as
expressly provided under this License. Any attemptotherwise to copy, modify,
sublicense or distribute the Program isvoid, and will automatically terminate your
rights under this License.However, parties who have received copies, or rights,
from you underthis License will not have their licenses terminated so long as
274 CHAPTER 57. LICENSE

suchparties remain in full compliance.


5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have notsigned it. How-
ever, nothing else grants you permission to modify ordistribute the Program or
its derivative works. These actions areprohibited by law if you do not accept this
License. Therefore, bymodifying or distributing the Program (or any work based
on theProgram), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, andall its
terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifyingthe Program or works
based on it.
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on theProgram),
the recipient automatically receives a license from theoriginal licensor to copy,
distribute or modify the Program subject tothese terms and conditions. You may
not impose any furtherrestrictions on the recipients’ exercise of the rights granted
herein.You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties tothis
License.
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patentinfringement or
for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),conditions are imposed on you
(whether by court order, agreement orotherwise) that contradict the conditions of
this License, they do notexcuse you from the conditions of this License. If you
cannotdistribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under thisLicense
and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence youmay not distribute
the Program at all. For example, if a patentlicense would not permit royalty-free
redistribution of the Program byall those who receive copies directly or indirectly
through you, thenthe only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be
torefrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable underany particular
circumstance, the balance of the section is intended toapply and the section as a
whole is intended to apply in othercircumstances.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe anypatents or other
property right claims or to contest validity of anysuch claims; this section has the
sole purpose of protecting theintegrity of the free software distribution system,
which isimplemented by public license practices. Many people have madegen-
erous contributions to the wide range of software distributedthrough that system
in reliance on consistent application of thatsystem; it is up to the author/donor to
decide if he or she is willingto distribute software through any other system and a
licensee cannotimpose that choice.
57.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 275

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed tobe a conse-
quence of the rest of this License.
8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted incertain countries
either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, theoriginal copyright holder who
places the Program under this Licensemay add an explicit geographical distribu-
tion limitation excludingthose countries, so that distribution is permitted only in
or amongcountries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporatesthe
limitation as if written in the body of this License.
9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versionsof the
General Public License from time to time. Such new versions willbe similar in
spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail toaddress new problems or
concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Programspecifies
a version number of this License which applies to it and ”anylater version”, you
have the option of following the terms and conditionseither of that version or of
any later version published by the FreeSoftware Foundation. If the Program does
not specify a version number ofthis License, you may choose any version ever
published by the Free SoftwareFoundation.
10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other freeprograms whose
distribution conditions are different, write to the authorto ask for permission. For
software which is copyrighted by the FreeSoftware Foundation, write to the Free
Software Foundation; we sometimesmake exceptions for this. Our decision will
be guided by the two goalsof preserving the free status of all derivatives of our
free software andof promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

57.2.3 NO WARRANTY

11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE


IS NO WARRANTYFOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED
BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHENOTHERWISE STATED IN WRIT-
ING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIESPROVIDE THE
PROGRAM ”AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EX-
PRESSEDOR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OFMERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
LAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK ASTO THE QUALITY AND PERFOR-
276 CHAPTER 57. LICENSE

MANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THEPROGRAM PROVE


DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVIC-
ING,REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED
TO IN WRITINGWILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY
WHO MAY MODIFY AND/ORREDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PER-
MITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,INCLUDING ANY
GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISIN-
GOUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUD-
ING BUT NOT LIMITEDTO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BYYOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR
A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHERPRO-
GRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN AD-
VISED OF THEPOSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

57.2.4 How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatestpossible use to
the public, the best way to achieve this is to make itfree software which everyone
can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safestto attach them to
the start of each source file to most effectivelyconvey the exclusion of warranty;
and each file should have at leastthe ”copyright” line and a pointer to where the
full notice is found.
¡one line to give the program’s name and a brief idea of what it does.¿Copyright
(C) 19yy ¡name of author¿
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modifyit under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published bythe Free Software Foun-
dation; either version 2 of the License, or(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty ofMERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See theGNU General Public Li-
cense for more details.
57.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 277

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public Licensealong with
this program; if not, write to the Free SoftwareFoundation, Inc., 51 Franklin
Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like thiswhen it starts
in an interactive mode:
The hypothetical commands ‘show w’ and ‘show c’ should show the appropri-
ateparts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use maybe
called something other than ‘show w’ and ‘show c’; they could even bemouse-
clicks or menu items–whatever suits your program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or yourschool,
if any, to sign a ”copyright disclaimer” for the program, ifnecessary. Here is a
sample; alter the names:
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program intopro-
prietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you mayconsider it
more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with thelibrary. If this is
what you want to do, use the GNU Library GeneralPublic License instead of this
License.
278 CHAPTER 57. LICENSE
Chapter 58

Information for Developers

If you are interested in joining our developer community please subscribe1 to our
audacity-devel mailing list.

• We have some information for developers2 on the Audacity main wiki.

1
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-devel
2
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:For
Developers

279
280 CHAPTER 58. INFORMATION FOR DEVELOPERS
Chapter 59

Audacity Project Format

59.1 aup
Audacity project files store information about the entirety of the project - the num-
ber of tracks and their time positions, details of clips (page 67) within the tracks,
amplitude envelope points (page ??), labels (page 215) and gain (page ??) and
pan data. In addition, ”summary information” is stored which enables the display
to be redrawn rapidly without Audacity examining the entire contents.
Audacity projects have a master file that ends with the suffix ”.aup”. In the same
directory as the master file is a folder called ” data”. This contains one or more
subfolders with many small audio files in .au format of size 1 MB or less. The
master file describes how to link these smaller files together to make up the clips
and tracks in the project.

• The .aup file is in an XML format. It can be opened in a text editor.

• The individual .au files are uncompressed, using 4 byte floating point num-
bers.

• The summary files have the same format as the audio files, but there are
fewer of them.

The structure of the project files is designed to make editing audio faster in Au-
dacity. By updating the .aup file, which is much smaller than the data folder,

281
282 CHAPTER 59. AUDACITY PROJECT FORMAT

Audacity can move audio around in the project without copying large quantities
of data from one place to another.

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