Advanced Audio Recording & Editing

BIG AUDIO SUITES ARE GREAT, but they can be intimidating to say the least—sometimes you just want something that works, without having to think too much about it. Enter Audacity, from

www.audacityteam.org.

Audacity has become popular on all desktop platforms, and has started popping up on YouTube tutorials quite a bit. Known for its ease of use and intuitive interface, Audacity is perhaps the audio equivalent of Microsoft Paint [erm…–Ed]— it can’t do deeply complicated tasks, but then it was never intended to do so. It’s designed around simple controls that most people can guess their way around, although that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve some great results with it. –JOHN KNIGHT

1 AUDACIOUS AUDIO

Although, technically, Audacity can record multi-channel digital audio, the interface really isn’t designed for it—it’s meant for simple recording in mono or stereo. If you’re looking for a Pro Tools replacement, Audacity isn’t it; try Ardour instead. However, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use wave editor and a fast, simple way of making stereo mixes, Audacity may be what you’re looking for. This open-source tool enables you to get deep into the waveform and perform easy cuts and edits, making it very popular among technicians who want to cut together quick edits, and apply basic effects without getting bogged down by a complex interface.

>> Nevertheless, Audacity has undergone some changes lately, and at first glance, some long-time users might have their nose put out of joint [ Image A]. So, for the new users, we’ll give you a walkthrough of the major features, and for the veterans, we’ll show you what’s changed, and how to adapt to it. We won’t be showing you all the features, but we will cover enough of the essentials to start a workflow.

2 SOUNDS GOOD

In order to show you how Audacity works, we first need to have some audio to play with. You can either import some existing audio, or just record random sound (blank silence is fine)—it doesn’t really matter, as long as there’s an audio track of some sort. If you want to add some existing audio tracks, you can run through a maze of GUI prompts if you really like, or you can just click and drag them on to the editing field. As for recording audio, just hit the “Record” button in the main toolbar, and if you’re using an Internet mic, clap your hands a few times—that should show up on the waveform. Press “Stop” when you’re done, and we’ll be able to look at Audacity properly.

The Device Toolbar enables you to change which soundcard you want to use, and which audio host will run the system—likely your motherboards HD audio output (generally Realtek). For your recording device, you probably have options for Default (again through your motherboards integrated audio) or for a USB microphone if present. A dedicated soundcard will probably run quicker and be kinder on the system.

Perhaps of chief importance is the number of Recording Channels. Here you can choose between one channel for mono or two for stereo. Don’t just choose stereo because you think stereo equals better. If you’re recording a single instrument, it may be easier in the long run to record this in mono, even if you will ultimately be creating something in a stereo image. If you’re recording something like an FM broadcast or capturing computer audio, this is something you will want to do in stereo.

3 TOOLS TOUR

Audacity’s toolbar—which has the snappy name of “Audacity Tools Toolbar”—houses the main tools, such as Select, Draw, Time Shift, and Zoom. By default, the Selection tool is enabled, and is used for highlighting audio before doing things such as cutting and pasting, muting sections, and so on. Cutting and pasting is done by the usual shortcuts, so you’ll have no problems there, and you can use the Delete key on selected bits of audio. You can select the magnifying glass for Zoom: Left-clicking zooms in, and right-clicking zooms out. You can zoom right down to the grains of each waveform if you want to do some hardcore manual editing, and if you select the Draw tool, you can even re-draw the shape of the wave.

If one of your tracks is out of sync with the other recorded tracks, you can use the Time Shift tool to correct it. If you click and drag left or right it moves the timing forward or backward, and you can even move a track to before the zero-second mark. Further on the

right are the zoom controls, all with different magnifying glass icons, which replicate the Zoom tool. The icons with the “+” and “-” enable you to zoom all the way in to the fine points of a waveform, or back out so you can see the track as a whole.

Less obvious, but crucial when you get the hang of things, are the next two controls: “Fit selection in window” and “Fit project in window.” When you have some audio selected, “Fit selection in window” zooms in until your highlighted selection fits perfectly on the screen—no more and no less. When you need to see the project as a whole again, “Fit project in window” zooms all the way back out in one click.

4 GOING SOLO

Moving to the tracks in the main editing field, track controls are on the left. Each track has a close button, which removes the track, and a drop-down menu. Plenty of advanced options are in the drop-down menu, but the main controls you’ll use are the “Mute” and “Solo” buttons, plus the two sliders. The “Mute” and “Solo” buttons should be fairly self-explanatory, but remember that you mute each track individually, rather than all of them en masse. While the “Solo” button obviously mutes all other tracks, you can “solo” more than one track—something that will annoy many pedants.

Moving down to the two sliders, the first is the “Gain” control. In simple terms, it basically turns up and down the volume of each track; in audiophile terms, this is where pre-amp adjustments happen. The second slider is “Pan” control, which lets you move sound left and right in a stereo image.

Looking to the advanced controls in the drop-down menu, the first option is “Name,” where you can rename each track individually. The “Move Track Up” and “Move Track Down” features become essential when you start doing elaborate multi-layered editing, as they let you reorder the tracks. More advanced users will want to check out the “Swap Stereo Channels,” “Split Stereo Track,” and “Split Stereo to Mono” options. These features are so much quicker and easier than those you encounter on pro editing suites, and are perfect for anything that involves switching between mono and stereo.

5 GET RECORDING

Getting started with the first track is the hardest part of any recording session. You’ve got to make sure the correct input is selected, get the levels right, and check that your recording is actually coming through on your program’s waveform. If you’re very lucky, you’ll be able to just hit “Record,” and it will work. But even with something as easy as Audacity, you’ll probably be greeted with a blank wave, and need to spend 10 minutes switching between inputs to find what’s wrong.

Before we get too negative, try your luck, and hit the big “Record” button. Make some noise, and if all is well,

you will see the sound outputting into a waveform. If you were greeted with silence and a flat line, first make sure the recording option for that channel is enabled in your mixer, and that it’s not muted. Otherwise, try changing entries from the “Recording Device” drop-down.

Unless you have a Goliath of a soundcard, there shouldn’t be too many entries to test, and you can probably choose between several channels under “Default.” Again this will probably default to your motherboards integrated audio, so be prepared to dive into your soundcard’s settings. You may have to open the “Advanced” tab in the “Audio Volume” section, and from the “Profile” drop-down box, we used “Analog Stereo Duplex.” If you’re using digital speakers, just try anything that enables an analog input. Once you have something that works, write down what you did, and don’t mess with it—record everything you can while it’s working. After this, Audacity should be smooth sailing. Now to tweak the recording levels.

The smaller the wave in height, the worse the signal-tonoise ratio is, making the track hissy and probably muffled. The louder the recorded input, the more likely it will “clip” the edge of the waveform, and sound horrible and distorted. You want to strike a balance where a good amount of space in the waveform is used, but also leave room in the dynamic range for sudden loud notes, such as a big cymbal crash. Keep turning up your instrument, input, or mixer desk until your waveform is getting near the edge, and back it off if it starts clipping. Depending on your underlying audio system, you may be able to turn the recording levels back down with the slider at the top-right of the window.

6 RUNNING TRACKS

Recording a piece of audio is great, but you can do that on just about anything. What makes Audacity so popular is that it does multi-track layered recording, and probably makes it easier than any other program out there. If you’re new to the concept of multi-track recording, it enables you to record sounds one at a time in layers, slowly building up a soundscape.

For instance, the most common usage is in music, where you may record each musician in isolation, rather than recording the band as a whole. You might lay down a drum track first, and with that first drum track in their headphones, the bassist can record their track in a new second layer. Then the guitarist could hear the drums and bass playing through their headphones, and record their guitar in a third layer. With the instrumentals finished, the singer can record their vocals.

If you’re a seasoned Audacity user, you need to know that things have changed. When you hit the “Record” button, Audacity used to create a new track automatically, and start recording in that. Now when you click “Record,” Audacity starts recording on the end of the current track, and just keeps on adding to it.

If you would rather record into a new track, use the keyboard instead of the mouse. Pressing R records on to the end of the current track, but Shift-R records into a new track. If you’re determined to have things the way they used to be, you can change it by choosing “Edit > Preferences” from the main menu. Open the “Recording” section, and in the “Options” field, click “Always record on a new track.”

Note that Audacity now has latency correction built in, but some audio device settings may result in an error regarding latency timing. If this is the case, you can also tweak your latency correction settings in the “Preferences” window. In the “Devices” section, you can tweak the buffer length and “Track shift after record” settings in the “Latency” field.

7 TRACK- ON-TRACK ACTION

Not only can Audacity do multi-track recording, but you can also edit each recorded layer individually, making tweaks to any layer without upsetting the others. Going back to the band example, if you simply recorded them in one live image, you would have to mix them together as a whole, and you wouldn’t be able to make many adjustments. But with separate tracks, you can correct mistakes, and tweak each recording individually.

For instance, if the guitarist plays a bum note or the drummer coughs during silence, you can simply mute their second of bad audio, and the rest of the song is unaffected. Or, if one instrument is too loud, you can turn the volume down on just that track, without affecting the volume levels of any other musician.

If you want to turn a track up or down, just move that track’s “Gain” slider. If you wish to mute a second of audio, simply highlight the portion of audio you don’t want, and press Ctrl-L, or click “Edit > Remove Special > Silence Audio.” For more advanced users who want to do volume automation, there is the Envelope Tool in the

main toolbar [ Image B]. This enables you to make smooth volume transitions by creating two lines: one on the edge of the track and one on the edge of the waveform, which can be dragged around to reshape the wave’s amplitude. The outer line brings down volume overall, but the inner line can be dragged upward to increase the wave’s amplitude.

8 PAN-DEMONIUM

The really fun bit of Audacity is creating custom stereo images. You can take a large selection of tracks, and by sliding the “Pan” control on each, you can create a large stereo image in your own virtual soundscape, making your music or home movies really come alive.

If this is something you’ll do a lot of, a common technique is to record individual voices or instruments separately in mono. This makes it easier to manage when you want to create a stereo mix, because if the imported track is already in stereo, it adds unnecessary complexity and file size. If you’ve recorded each voice in mono, simply import all the tracks into the same session, and assign their place in the stereo mix with the “Pan” slider.

A common scenario is with digitally recorded drums, where each drum mic has recorded to a separate channel, with each channel outputting to a separate wave file. If you import all of these files at once, you just hear a dull mono image, but if you use the “Pan” slider, you can place each drum and cymbal virtually, based on where they would sit in real life.

For instance, overhead mics are usually mixed far-left and far-right, the hi-hat on the left, the ride cymbal on the right, and the kick and snare are usually mixed around the center. If you put the snare slightly left and the kick slightly right, you will be able to hear each drum more clearly in the mix, and avoid overlapping frequencies.

9 TRADE-FREE EXPORTS

Simply saving your work isn’t going to be of much use, because the only thing that can read Audacity files is Audacity—you need to export your work. If you click “File” and look at the “Export” sub-menu, you’ll see a number of options. First, we need to differentiate between “Export as…” and “Export Selected Audio.” The “Export Selected Audio” option is simple enough: Whatever you highlight with the Selection Tool is saved to an external audio file. The “Export as…” and “Export Audio” options save an image of your work exactly as it sits now—mixer settings, effects, and everything. This is something you’ll want to do when you’ve got everything just the way you want it.

WAV files are something of a de facto standard in the mixing world, because pretty much anything can read them, although no one’s going to shout at you for using FLAC files. Use WAV or FLAC wherever you can while you’re mixing—most compressed formats, such as MP3 or OGG, are lossy, and should only be used for distribution after you’ve already made a proper master. If you don’t like WAV, OGG, or MP3, more encoding options are available using the “Export Audio” function.

For Audacity veterans, there is some cool new time-saving functionality for the “Tracks” menu, under the “Mix” sub-menu. There are three options: “Mix Stereo Down to Mono,” “Mix and Render,” and “Mix and Render to New Track.” The first option is pretty self-explanatory, converting any selected stereo tracks into mono. “Mix and Render” converts all your current tracks into one single track, including any volume or pan adjustments, added effects, and so on. Note that you have to “Select All” to make this work properly.

Lastly, “Mix and Render to New Track” does the same as “Mix and Render,” except it leaves the existing tracks as they are, and creates a new rendered track beneath your current tracks.

10 ALL MIXED UP

Audacity has undergone quite a few changes of late, most of which push it toward being a more viable and professional multi-track recording program. However, these changes also add to its bulk and complexity; the simple truth is that Audacity is no longer as simple as it once was, which may scare off some new users, and even put off some veterans.

Nevertheless, Audacity is still the friendly and intuitive program it has always been [ Image C]. As long as it doesn’t gain much more in complexity, existing users should be able to adjust, and Audacity will maintain its niche as the easiest way to get into multitrack recording and editing.