How to use Audacity to Record and Edit Audio

What is Audacity Audio?

The Audacity is a free-to-use, open-source digital audio editor and recorder software designed for macOS, Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems like Unix-like.

Audacity software project was started in the fall of 1999 by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg at Carnegie Mellon University, and released on May 28, 2000, as version 0.8.

As of March 2, 2022, Audacity is the most popular download at FossHub,[10] with over 111.6 million downloads since March 2015. It was previously served from Google Code and SourceForge, where it was downloaded over 200 million times.

Audacity Editing won the SourceForge 2007 and 2009 Community Choice Award for Best Project for Multimedia. It is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later.

Features of Audacity

Apart from recording audio from multiple sources, you can use this digital audio editing software to post-processing all audio types, such as adding normalization and fading in/out effects or trimming.

Other outstanding features of Audacity include:

• Editing multiple audio formats such as MP3, MP2, AIFF, FLAC, WAV
• Changing the speed or pitch
• Ability to record live sound and audio playback on PC
• Duplicating, cutting, blending, and grafting different sound documents together
• Scrubbing (for Version 2.1.1 and later)
• Timer Record that enables users to schedule when a recording begins and ends
• Noise reduction
• Voice reduction and isolation to create isolated vocal tracks or karaoke tracks
• Ability to save and load user presets for effect settings
• Converting cassette tapes and records into digital tracks

How To Record and Edit Audio with Audacity: A Step-by-Step Guide

The following step-by-step instructions highlight how to record and edit basic audio files.

Audacity Download

Once you download and open Audacity, you will be brought to the general layout dashboard.

While you can record directly from your computer, for the best sound quality it’s recommended that you purchase a separate microphone.

Audacity Podcast

The market is full of products that are specifically created for podcasts and business related recordings.
Chose your microphone by name and from there you can adjust the audio levels and conduct your microphone check.
Once your voice talent and script are prepared, you are ready to record. Be sure to place the microphone on a stable, unobstructed surface.

Audacity Review

Audacity Music lets you record in either 16-bit or 24-bit audio.

One of Audacity’s best qualities is that it can smoothly convert and combine any sounds you drag in, regardless of sample rate and formats. As for editing, users can cut and paste, duplicate, or delete audio, arrange multiple clips on the same track, and draw in edits right down to the sample level. The envelope tool allows you to add custom fades as well.

How To Make Music With Audacity?

Whether you want to record live instruments with a microphone or make a beat using samples, it’s no harm learning the software basics.

The Audio Host is the bridge between Audacity and the sound device you’re going to be using. Depending on your operating system, your Audio Host can be changeable or not. According to the official Audacity Manual, the Audio Host works like this:

how to use audacity on windows

MME: The most compatible and Audacity default;
Windows Direct Sound: Potentially less latency (more about that in a minute);
Windows WASAPI: Supports 24-bit recording devices;

On Mac, the only option is Core Audio.

On Linux, there is generally only one option: ALSA, but other options could be OSS or Jack Audio Connection Kit (also known as “Jack” or “Jackd”).

Is Audacity good for recording?

Audacity is good recording software, as it has more than enough functionality for most peoples’ needs. Its simple interface makes it easy to use, and it offers real-time monitoring, so you can adjust recording levels as you go. It also provides many editing options to optimize your recordings.

Audacity recording : It doesn’t matter what you want to record, such as podcasts, audiobooks, voiceovers, or music. Audacity’s functionality will help you achieve professional results.

You Can Connect a Variety of Audio Sources to Audacity

If you’re a basic user, connecting your microphone to your computer may be all you need. However, Audacity caters to more advanced needs also. It allows you to connect audio interfaces, which is vital if you want to record multiple tracks simultaneously.

Audacity Mac

Audacity is for Macs running macOS 11 Big Sur, 10.15 Catalina, 10.14 Mojave and 10.13 High Sierra. On Apple Silicon Macs Audacity runs in Rosetta.

What is FFmpeg for Audacity?

The FFmpeg library allows Audacity to import and export a much larger range of audio formats and also import audio from most video files.

how to download audacity

audacity free download & Installing

Audacity, Version: 3.1.3. Be aware that different versions of Audacity will vary in appearance and functionality.

If you’re working on a computer that is already equipped with Audacity, skip this section. Otherwise, use the following instructions to download and install Audacity.

To download and install Audacity:

1. From a web browser, navigate to audacityteam.org/download.
2. In the panel to the right, select the option for your computer operating system (Windows, macOS). The page will redirect and the download should begin after a few seconds.
   If prompted, select a storage location, and click “Save.”
3. After the download is finished, click the installation file from the bottom of the browser window.
   Alternatively, navigate to the download location and open the installation file. Check the Downloads folder.
4. Proceed through the installation process.
   Mac: Double-click the .dmg file. From the new window, drag-and-drop the Audacity icon to the Applications folder. This will install the program. When done, right-click the installer and select “Eject.”

Security Settings (Mac)

If the installation process gets stopped due to security reasons, adjust the computer’s security settings to make an exception for Audacity.

To make a security exception on Mac:

Navigate to System Preferences > Security & Privacy.
From the new window, click the Open Anyway button next to “_____ was blocked from opening because it is not from an identified developer” under “Allow apps downloaded from.”
Click Open from the next window to continue installation.

What does Audacity app do?

You can use Audacity for varying tasks such as recording, editing, mixing audio clips, adding effects, conversing audio files, and more. So, whether you are a podcaster, vlogger, audio producer, video producer, or just work with sound, it’s a great tool for you.

Is there an online version of Audacity?

Audacity online is an audio editor to import your own audios, remove noise, cut and combine clips, apply special audio effects and much more in order to achieve professional results.

Whether you are making music, podcasts, or audio books, Audacity is a very good tool to edit audios or music online.

The Best Audacity Alternatives

We’ve assembled a list of 10 options that can handle your audio editing tasks at least as well.

• Dark Audacity
• Ocenaudio
• Wavosaur
• Reaper
• Adobe Audition
• TwistedWave Online
• Hindenburg Journalist
• Fission
• Amadeus Pro
• Sound Forge Audio Studio 15

Is SoundBridge a good DAW?

SoundBridge is a bit light on plugins, but fortunately, it offers good VST support. It’s clean, capable, and easy to get started with.

Is SoundBridge completely free?

SoundBridge is free daw software and a Free Full-Featured DAW Designed with Simplicity in Mind.