bomots PROFESSIONAL OPEN-SOURCE- AND LINUX-KNOW-HOW . com Markus Priemer Audacity compact Professional sound processing with the best free audio editor Markus Priemer Audacity compact User Manual With foreword and contributions by Markus Meyer 2 Audacity compact All rights reserved. This book may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted by photocopying, recording or in any other way in its entirety or in part without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Likewise, in accordance with the right of communication to the public, prior consent of the publisher is needed to exhibit the book and its contents. The publisher notes that the mentioned company and brand names as well as product trademarks are as a rule protected by trademark and patent laws. Publisher and author do not guarantee the functional capability of the described procedures and standards. © 2009 bomots verlag Publisher: Dr. Holger Reibold Translation: Heike Mieth, M.A.; Susanne Fahn, M.A. Cover design: bomots verlag Text design: bomots verlag Cover: Photocase/Sascha Duffner Printing: COD ISBN: 978-3-939316-65-7 www.bomots.de 3 Table of Contents FOREWORD............................................................................7 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................9 1.1 Sounds, sound waves and digital audio.................................................. 9 1.2 Audio data and compression................................................................ 17 1.3 Via microphone directly onto the computer ........................................ 17 1.4 What exactly is Audacity?.................................................................... 24 1.5 The functional range of Audacity ........................................................ 25 2 SETUP OF THE PROGRAMME......................................27 2.1 The various toolbars............................................................................. 28 2.2 Selection toolbar................................................................................... 36 2.3 Computer latency................................................................................. 40 2.4 Calculating the computer latency ........................................................ 40 3 WORKING WITH AUDACITY..........................................43 3.1 Opening and importing files................................................................. 43 3.2 Marking of audio tracks....................................................................... 47 3.3 Editing audio tracks............................................................................. 51 3.3.1 Cut and delete with preliminary check............................................. 51 Aucacity compact 4 Table of Contents 3.3.2 Cut and split cut.............................................................................. 53 3.3.3 Copy .............................................................................................. 53 3.3.4 Paste............................................................................................... 54 3.3.5 Trim............................................................................................... 56 3.3.6 Split delete ..................................................................................... 57 3.3.7 Silence Audio................................................................................. 58 3.3.8 Split ............................................................................................... 59 3.4 Command menu ................................................................................... 60 3.5 Placing cuts optimally .......................................................................... 61 3.5.1 Cut preview.................................................................................... 62 3.5.2 Variable playback regions............................................................... 63 3.5.3 Finding zero crossings .................................................................... 65 3.6 The different tracks.............................................................................. 65 3.6.1 Audio tracks................................................................................... 66 3.6.2 Label track ..................................................................................... 69 3.6.3 Time track...................................................................................... 72 3.6.4 MIDI track ..................................................................................... 74 3.7 Recordings............................................................................................ 76 3.8 Working with shortcuts........................................................................ 76 4 EXAMPLES OF USE .......................................................81 4.1 Cut audio tracks via labels................................................................... 81 4.2 Removing background noises............................................................... 84 5 EFFECTS.........................................................................87 5.1 Appliance of effects .............................................................................. 87 5.2 Standard effects.................................................................................... 88 5.2.1 Fade in/out ..................................................................................... 89 5.2.2 Auto duck....................................................................................... 90 5.2.3 Bass boost ...................................................................................... 91 5.2.4 Echo............................................................................................... 92 www.bomots.de 5 5.2.5 Equalization ................................................................................... 92 5.2.6 Change speed ................................................................................. 94 5.2.7 Invert.............................................................................................. 95 5.2.8 Click removal................................................................................. 96 5.2.9 Compressor .................................................................................... 97 5.2.10 Leveller .......................................................................................... 98 5.2.11 Normalize....................................................................................... 98 5.2.12 Nyquist prompt............................................................................... 99 5.2.13 Phaser .......................................................................................... 100 5.2.14 Noise removal .............................................................................. 101 5.2.15 Repair .......................................................................................... 103 5.2.16 Reverse ........................................................................................ 103 5.2.17 Truncate silence............................................................................ 103 5.2.18 Change tempo............................................................................... 104 5.2.19 Change pitch ................................................................................ 105 5.2.20 Amplify........................................................................................ 106 5.2.21 Wahwah ....................................................................................... 107 5.2.22 Repeat .......................................................................................... 108 5.3 Problems and possible solutions......................................................... 109 5.3.1 Recording with interruptions and disturbances .............................. 109 5.3.2 Recording has differing recording levels ....................................... 110 5.3.3 Recordings do not run “centred“ ................................................... 111 6 PREFERENCES ............................................................113 6.1 Audio I/O............................................................................................ 113 6.2 Quality................................................................................................ 115 6.3 Import / Export .................................................................................. 116 6.4 Spectrograms...................................................................................... 118 6.5 Directories .......................................................................................... 119 6.6 Adjusting the programme interface................................................... 120 6.7 Keyboard............................................................................................ 123 6.8 Mouse setup........................................................................................ 124 Aucacity compact 6 Table of Contents 7 COMMAND LIST ...........................................................127 7.1 File...................................................................................................... 127 7.2 Edit ..................................................................................................... 129 7.3 View.................................................................................................... 131 7.4 Tracks................................................................................................. 132 7.5 Generate ............................................................................................