'Audacity' editor

[visualnickmos]

I've seen mention of Audacity editor on here; it seems quite interesting. I just wondered if anyone on here may use it, and if so, is it fairly user-friendly, and straightforward to download and install?

Thanks for any 'pointers'

[Bryn]

I've seen mention of Audacity editor on here; it seems quite interesting. I just wondered if anyone on here may use it, and if so, is it fairly user-friendly, and straightforward to download and install?

Thanks for any 'pointers'

I have used it a couple of times and found it o.k. but much prefer Sound Forge, a 'Studio', i.e. cut down version of which can be had for a reasonable price*. A good introduction to Audacity is this:

* Searching on amazon.co.uk shows that prices have gone up since Magix took Sound Forge over from Sony. Not only that but their licence is far more restrictive. The Sony versions may be installed on multiple computers but can only be used on one of them at any given time. With Magix you are confined to installing on just the one computer.

[gradus]

I have used it a couple of times and found it o.k. but much prefer Sound Forge, a 'Studio', i.e. cut down. version of which can be had for a reasonable price. A good introduction to Audacity is this:

As a non-technical person I find it overly complicated but even I manage to record the concerts etc that I want and it is free.

[visualnickmos]

Many thanks to you all, for the info.

[Dave2002]

I've seen mention of Audacity editor on here; it seems quite interesting. I just wondered if anyone on here may use it, and if so, is it fairly user-friendly, and straightforward to download and install?

Thanks for any 'pointers'

The cuckoo extract I put up recently (via SoundCloud) was edited using Audacity. I used three features -

1. Trim the audio to just a relatively short selection - that is easy to do. Select the portion before the wanted start. Hit delete and it goes. Similarly for trimming the end.

2. The volume levels even though recorded at high gain were too low, so I applied the Amplify filter in Audacity. Actually there was one thing to note there, as there was a high volume spike in the waveform, which would have upset that - so that was trimmed out. Then the Amplify filter comes up with a suggestion of how much (in dB) which maximises the volume without pushing any of the waveforms into clipping.

3. I also used the fade out at the end - though it wasn't very effective.

Re download and install - it's pretty easy, though if one wants to use mp3 or other codecs (mp4,aac etc) then sometimes additional installs are needed. It's not usually a problem. Should be OK to download and install within about 10 minutes (or less) typically.

Audacity creates a lot (hundreds/thousands) of small data files, which taken together can use up a lot of space. I usually keep them, but if the results are OK in whatever the desired output format, then quite a lot of space can be saved by deleting them.

How easy it is and how useful it is depends on what one wants to do. It can do quite a decent job of removing noise, by using the selective noise filter - that relies on having an appropriate length of "silence" somewhere in the recording, so if making a recording it's useful to have several seconds (or more) beforehand - and to keep running through quiet patches. It can also do spectral analysis to spot specific noise - such as mains hum, to enable one to decide whether to invoke the noise filter.

Definitely give it a go!

I did once have a quite nice mp3 editor running on Windows which was easy to use - but the obvious limitation of that was - well mp3!

[Dave2002]

I have used it a couple of times and found it o.k. but much prefer Sound Forge, a 'Studio', i.e. cut down version of which can be had for a reasonable price*. A good introduction to Audacity is this:

A curious thing happens in my Firefox browser - it won't play that video in full screen mode. However, it is possible to find the URL of the YouTube video (use the Share option), then use that instead and then full screen mode is available.

It's quite a good video, though it doesn't make clear the differences (slight) between Mac and Windows versions. Mainly these would be the keyboard shortcuts, which were barely mentioned. Rather than using the Zoom in/Zoom out on screen icons, it is easier to use cmd-1/cmd-3 etc. on a Mac, or the equivalent CTRL key strokes on a Win PC. The other odd thing in the video is the assumption that input is direct into Audacity. I tend to use microphones which record to SDHC cards. These may record in a number of formats, so the way to deal with this is to use the Import command to get the data into Audacity. There is no mention of sampling rates or bit levels - maybe that's too complex for short video tutorial. Mostly it'll just work, but the project level should be at least as high as the input source, and (arguably) ideally match the source precisely. That won't always work, as sometimes clips recorded at different sampling rates and bit levels might need to be joined together.

Audacity will also work with multi-track - though perhaps not in record mode. Each track in the timeline can be pre-recorded, then all the tracks can be mixed together, and relative time shifts and filters applied to each track.

Basically try it out, and see if it can work for you.

Ah - one very odd thing which I didn't know for a long while. If one loads up a DVD and drags the DVD icon over the Audacity screen, it is possible to extract the sound track. I guess this works for most video files as well. It may not work for some sources with copy protection, but I have found it works for quite a few video sources. (I hope I'm not remembering this incorrectly .... don't want to mislead you ....)

[MrGongGong]

Audacity is fine and free
If you are going to do a lot of detailed editing you will probably find it a bit "clunky"
but there are some features that are really fantastic such as the way it shows and edits volume envelopes like this

[Dave2002]

Audacity is fine and free
If you are going to do a lot of detailed editing you will probably find it a bit "clunky"
but there are some features that are really fantastic such as the way it shows and edits volume envelopes like this

Those pictures are pretty, and I tried to replicate them with my own input. Not really too difficult, but is that useful? Could be for fade outs I suppose. Maybe a log scale would work better (is that what I mean?) - a factor of 10 looks pretty and impressive on the screen, but in audio terms it's not that significant. Getting an envelope which takes a signal from its current level, then up 20dB, then down 50dB would be hard to do with visual interactive tools surely. Maybe there is a log scale - I've just not found it yet.

PS: OK - I found it - it's possible to set the range to 0dB to -120dB and then shape the waveforms. dB scale is much better for that kind of manipulation.

[richardfinegold]

I used it several years ago when I was digitalizing a few lps. It worked well but I have nothing to compare it to

[MrGongGong]

Those pictures are pretty, and I tried to replicate them with my own input. Not really too difficult, but is that useful? Could be for fade outs I suppose. Maybe a log scale would work better (is that what I mean?) - a factor of 10 looks pretty and impressive on the screen, but in audio terms it's not that significant. Getting an envelope which takes a signal from its current level, then up 20dB, then down 50dB would be hard to do with visual interactive tools surely. Maybe there is a log scale - I've just not found it yet.

PS: OK - I found it - it's possible to set the range to 0dB to -120dB and then shape the waveforms. dB scale is much better for that kind of manipulation.

It's massively useful if you are learning how to edit volume envelopes
and much clearer than this, for example.

[Dave2002]

What software was that taken from? Why is that harder than the Audacity version - doesn't look too bad to me, but then I've not used it.

I'm not saying that managing envelopes isn't useful for some people, but for many people it is perhaps a step too far. Do you find it really useful - and is that for creative work, or "simply" for making adjustments to existing recordings?

[Flay]

Until now I had been using "Total Recorder" to record my music, but for some reason it's stopped working properly, replaying instead a clipped sound at speed. So I've started using Audacity - it'll take me a while to sort it all out.

If recording from the BBC Radio Player, what type of export file would you recommend to use? Would "M4A (AAC) Files (Ffmpeg)" be most appropriate? The size appears large (163MB for Mahler 3), but should I expect this?

Forgive my simplicity, but I'm not a Techie

[Cockney Sparrow]

Others might give more informed suggestions, but I've used mp3 at 320kbs (highest possible) stereo for music and 128 or 192 kbs for speech. I don't use portable players much at all so file size was not an issue when storage was costly. mp3 was playable both on iPods and non Apple players which was why I chose that. AAC - I used to have to convert it to mp3 for some players (I think it is an Apple format or at least one of their standard formats?) If a very high quality is needed I chose FLAC but knew I would need to copy/convert that to mp3 if I wanted to hear it on the move.

But, having used Total recorder for 30 or more years, I would be reluctant to learn the ways of Audacity. In your place, if there was still a problem after a reboot of the computer, I would uninstall the program and re-install it - I'm sure if you can locate your product key, you can download the Tot Rec again without cost (although of course check before you uninstall). (Also, I have sent you a PM).

[Flay]

Thanks for the advice, CS. Reinstalling Total Recorder is a good idea. I do often listen using my phone while on the move. Fortunately an incredible amount can be stored on a micro-SD card.

[Dave2002]

I used to use Total Recorder - very good program. Since I shifted away from PCs I've used other software, including Audacity.
I would certainly back the notion of trying to get a good new install of your copy of TR, since you are familiar with it. You could check with the software support team to see if they have any information about your particular problem.