Audacity

Audacity is an audio recording and editing tool which is used by both consumers and professionals alike. You really can use it for anything to do with sound, to allow you to get the results that you're looking for. You can import tracks from a wide range of different sources, whether that be from a file (many different formats available, such as the very common MP3 file) or from a direct input source such as a microphone. You can set these options yourself very easily.

When input has been added into it you're able to edit it too. You can do many things very easily, such as removing background noise or even vocals if you want to. This is only the start though as it's also possible to add extra effects to the sound, including making it more crisp. These are very helpful if you're a professional music creator that wants to make the sound as good as possible but doesn't have the money to invest in very expensive tools.

Required Operating System

Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

Application Type

File Size

19.8MB

Date Created

28th May, 2000

Software Version

2.0.0

Last Updated

March 13th, 2012

Required

Windows OS, hard disk space

Download Link

Audacity Download

Our Review

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Before you even do anything with this program, the first thing you're going to need is something to work from. This is usually some audio that you've recorded yourself using other equipment, or it could even be another song. It doesn't really matter what it is, but what does matter is the form that it's in. You're going to need to make sure it is stored digitally in one of the common industry formats which you should be doing anyway.

One of the things that people love about this editor is the compatibility that it brings. A lot of tools may just concentrate on the basics such as MP3 which could be useful to some, but could mean that you have to convert your raw audio into something else which could cause audio quality loss. This is something you won't get with Audacity.

The common formats are supported such as WAV and AIFF that you would expect, but for those who like to use different ones you'll be glad to know that even smaller less-known ones are available such as AAC (Apple's own format) and AMR. There really is no limit on what you can do with this.

The software comes built-in with support for many different files, but it can't provide functionality for absolutely everything. This is something you might be concerned about but you shouldn't, because libraries can be added which will give you this functionality without you needing to update the software at all. It can all be done automatically, you just need to make sure you install the correct library.

One of the most common libraries that most people will have heard of or installed is called FFmpeg. It includes codecs which allow you to work with files in formats the editor wouldn't normally expect and it all comes in one package. This is perhaps the main library that you're going to need, it tries to cater for all needs by giving everything to you. It's all free, too.

There isn't really anything else we can say but the support for these additions is definitely something you should be happy about, it makes it so much easier for you in the future as you no longer have to rely on the development team to keep releasing updates to match whatever your needs are at the time.

We've already talked about a lot of technical features that you'll find in Audacity but what we haven't really covered is how you can do some of the more basic things that ordinary users can and will need to do. As you would expect, you're able to do all of them using this program so there's nothing to worry about on that front. We'll just talk about a few of the simple edits here.

One thing you may need to do is to change the tempo of the song. This is surprisingly common, if you have quite a fast song you might want to hear what it sounds when it is just a bit slower, although don't make it too slow otherwise you'll definitely hear quality losses. This can be done with just a simple option in the Preferences panel, definitely worth a look at if this is what you're trying to achieve.

Although not quite as popular, you may also want to change the pitch of the track. This can be done for entertainment purposes or for something more practical, but either way the process is exactly the same. It can be done as above, by looking in the Preferences panel.

The most obvious thing you're going to need before you can start recording audio into the software is some form of input which will convert the sound into a digital format that can then be stored by your computer and other devices. Most people will have the hardware required to do this as a lot of it is usually built into your computer by default, but we'll explain now.

A sound card is essential for this, you won't be able to do anything without it. If you bought your machine from a store you can be almost guaranteed that it has one already but if you created it yourself you may/may not have included one. They really don't cost too much though, you can get a decent card for around $30 - $40 these days which could be a very good investment.

You're then going to need something which will provide the input and work with the sound card. This is usually in the form of a microphone, but can also come from USB and Firewire devices as well as direct line input if you want. Having good quality input is essential if you want to make something that you'll be able to distribute to the general public.

When you have the required hardware to do it, you're then ready to start the actual recording going. As you would expect you're going to need this audio editor installed which will take this input and then store it onto your hard drive for you using the settings that you've provided. One of the benefits that people appreciate is the high sample rates that can be recorded using this - up to 192,000Hz depending on your hardware. If you need anything higher than this you're going to need very professional and expensive hardware.

To start the recording going, there is just one simple button to do the job, just press the red button start it and then press it again to stop it. It's very easy to do. If you want great quality audio you'll need to do much more though, managing each individual sound through different channels will make it much easier for you to edit it later on but does require more specialist equipment.

There are some other features included too, such as timer record which will let you choose a time before the recording starts so that you can prepare yourself first of all. It's all very simple to set up so you shouldn't have too much of an issue doing it.

When the recording has started you have to remember a few key things, a lot of which will probably seem obvious to you. Background noise is something that can be rather tricky to get rid of no matter what tool you use so you really do need to keep it to a minimum, hence why hiring out a studio may be a good idea if you're doing any kind of professional work. It obviously depends on the situation you're in, though.

We've also mentioned this before but the quality of your microphone is of significant importance. You really won't achieve much in this industry using poor quality hardware, if you do you could end up with grainy and unusable material that won't be good for anyone. Make sure you have everything you need before you try or else you'll just waste your time. Recording can be a long and painful process but it's worth it when you get it right.

After the recording has finished, you'll then want to work on editing it. As soon as you've pressed the stop button, the audio you've recorded will be added and you can either play it back or begin editing immediately, entirely up to you.

There are many different ways of editing the sound and the tracks included in your audio but you probably won't need to use a lot of them. Basic users may only want to do very simple manipulation which is perfectly fine and is very easy to do. If this is the case, you can probably go ahead and do it straight away without having to learn about any complicated tools that are packaged with the software.

If you just want to move sections of the audio around then you should have no problems. You can simply drag your mouse to make a selection and then either cut, copy or remove it completely. You can then paste this part of the track elsewhere in Audacity and you can do this as many times as you want. This is a really simple technique but is normally what a consumer wants to do.

Another good thing to have is the undo and redo functions. If you make an edit and then want to reverse the actions you've taken then you should use the undo button. It can go really far back too, it remembers all of your actions since you first opened the application, something that can be really useful. You can also use the redo button as much as you want too as this remembers all of the actions that you've taken too.

The majority of people who are using this won't be wanting to make simple movements around the track, they want to make more complicated changes that will have a more subtle impact on the sound. There are many of these that you can do, you just need to learn what your options are and how you can use them.

Effects are one of the biggest that you can use, we've mentioned them briefly so far but not talked much about the different ones. There are ones that will simply change the style of the sound, such as the "echo" effect which will make everything sound like it has an echo, or there's the "reverse" effect which will simply play all of the sound in reverse which could make it sound quite interesting. There are some others such as "WahWah" that could be worth looking into.

There are other effects that will simply remove certain elements of the sound that you may not want. For example, this could be annoying background noise that you can't get rid of otherwise, static or humming noises, maybe even vocals if you want to do that. The freedom is all yours, you just have to decide what you want. It is important that you go and look at all of the different effects, though.

Whilst this editor is fairly good on memory usage, sometimes if you have a lot of problems open on your computer then you could encounter some problems, which is something you really need to avoid when you're working on important projects such as professional sound. In a lot of pieces of software like this you're likely to have lost all of the edits that you made before you last saved your project, which can sometimes be a lot of time and work lost.

However, this tool has a crash recovery tool built in which actually stores all of the work you're doing. If for some reason the program fails to respond, it saves it all in a hidden directory for you so that when it closes down unexpectedly you won't lose any data at all. You may be wondering how you can actually retrieve this data, well it's actually really simple.

When you open it up again after the crash, you should find a window popping up which tells you that the application crashed and asks you if you want to recover the work you've lost. By pressing the yes button, the data will then be retrieved and added to the window you're working on. Make sure you then save the project because you will lose the data if you close it without doing so.