Tutorial - Common Editing Tasks - Part 1

Tutorial - Common Editing Tasks - Part 1 - Quickies

Tutorial - III.Common Editing Tasks
Part 1 - Quickies - Part 1

This page will give you an idea of some of the possible things you can do with Audacity and walk you through the process.

Splitting an MP3 into two separate files

(Before you try to export MP3 files, read the section on Exporting MP3 Files for some important information on steps you need to do first.)

Open the MP3 file.
Select the part of it that you want to be the first file. Listen to it by clicking the Play button.
While this part is selected, choose Export Selection as MP3... from the File menu.
Now select the part you want to be the other song and Export again.

Mixing background music with a voiceover

Audacity makes it very easy to mix two different sounds together.

Open one sound (for example, the background music).
Select Import Audio... from the Project menu and open the other sound (for example, the voiceover).
Listen to your sound using the Play button. Audacity automatically mixes them together.
Choose the Time Shift tool and adjust the position of one track or the other until they're synchronized the way you want them. You can even move tracks around while they're playing.
If you hear clipping which wasn't present in either of the original files, it means that the combined volume of the two tracks is too loud. Select one or both of the tracks and then use the Amplify... effect to reduce the volumes until you don't hear clipping anymore.
Export as a WAV or MP3 file.

Recording harmonies with yourself

Open the Preferences, click on the Audio I/O tab, and check the box marked "Play other tracks while recording new one".
Click the Record button. Record yourself singing. Click Stop.
Click the Record button again. The first track you recorded will play, but Audacity will also record a new track at the same time, allowing you to sing harmony with yourself.
When you play the two tracks you recorded together, they probably won't be synchronized. This is normal and is not the fault of Audacity. To fix it, you will need to grab the Time Shift tool and slide one of the tracks around until it sounds right.

Recording two sound sources on separate tracks

Open the Preferences, click on the Audio I/O tab, and make sure "Record in Stereo" is checked.
Connect one sound source to the left channel of your soundcard and the other on the right. If you don't have an external mixer with a pan control, use a stereo/mono splitter cable.
Record your stereo track.
On the button with the track name is a drop-down menu. Select "Split Stereo Track" from this menu.
Use the drop down menu again to change each track to mono.
To make a panned stereo track out of each new mono track, select one track and choose Duplicate from the Edit menu. Reduce the level of one channel (using a negative value under Amplify in the Effect menu.) Then choose Make Stereo Track from the drop-down menu on the first track.
Repeat as neccesary for further tracks (see Recording harmonies with yourself above). If mastering from tape, a click recorded across all tracks will help you synchronize them in Audacity.