#What is audacity audio editor download

For historic reasons / compatibility with older audio hardware, you have a choice. The 'audio host' is the part of the computer's operating system that handles audio. Recording Step-by-Step Set the Recording Device either in the Devices section of Preferences or in Device Toolbar.

monitor and then adjust the recording level,Ĭorrect adjustment of level before recording is essential to avoid noise or distortion.

To jump the playback position forwards or backwards from where it is now, click on the Timeline above the waveform at the point you wish to hear.

Similarly, clicking the Skip to End button or pressing the End key will move the cursor to the end of the track. It is like rewind, but it is not for playback - it will only work when playback is stopped.

Clicking the Skip to Start button or pressing the Home key will move the cursor to the beginning of the track.

Click and drag to create a selection, and then when you click Play button only the selection will play. You can use the Space key on the keyboard as a shortcut for Play or Stop.Ĭlick on Selection Tool then click on the waveform to choose a place to start, then click the Play button. If you do not hear anything, see Audacity Setup and Configuration. Step 4: Listen to the imported audioĬlick the Play button to listen to the audio. The ruler above the waveform shows you the length of the audio in minutes and seconds. Where the waveform reaches closer to the top and bottom of the track, the audio is louder (and vice versa). The track name takes the name of the imported audio file ('No Town' in this example). The left channel is displayed in the top half of the track and the right channel in the bottom half. This image above shows a stereo waveform. Or drag and drop the file onto the timeline Import an audio file by selecting File > Import > Audio.

Step 1: Find a file to editĪudacity can import many common audio file formats, including WAV, AIFF, and MP3. It shows one or multiple tracks on a timeline.

#What is audacity audio editor download

'D' and the transition from 'iy' to 'ah' are also noticeable, but to a lesser extent.īelow is a link to the Audacity website, where the latest version is freely available to download and use.Īudacity, like most digital audio workstations (DAWs) shows a waveform of a recording on a track. Note how the letters 'K' and 'P' are very high-frequency sounds and stand out a bit from the rest of the word. Above is the waveform produced by an English speaker saying the word 'Wikipedia'. The voice is a set of complex sounds: long throated sounds (vowels) with shorter, higher sounds in between (consonants). Note the top recording is much louder in general than the bottom one.

You can tell from the vertical size of the waveform how loud it is - its amplitude. The visual representation of this is called a waveform.Ībove is a pair of stereo recordings as shown in Audacity - the left and right tracks of a recent song from a CD, followed by the left and right tracks of the same song on a vinyl LP record. In practice, sound captured by a microphone (or our ears) will nearly always be a complex wave - lots of different sounds of differing volumes stacked upon one another. A raspy sound like a washing machine or a librarian going 'shhhh' will be a very complex wave. We can record that electrical representation of sound to a magnetic tape or a vinyl record, or we can take samples of it tens of thousands of times per second, and record and playback those samples using a computer.Īudio, whether it's sound in the air, or electricity down a wire, can be represented as a wave, with the amplitude of the wave representing how loud it is - how big the vibration is - and the frequency of the wave representing its pitch - whether it's a low thud or hum, or something in the middle like someone saying 'ah', or something very high like hissing.Ī very pure sound like from a flute or a tuning fork will look like a pure sine wave. We can also make a microphone in a similar way: its vibration against the permanent magnet, picked up from the vibration of the surround air, causes the electromagnet to move, which creates electricity. This is a speaker: it causes the air around it to vibrate. We can use an electromagnet to create sound from electricity: by placing a coil of wire near a permanent magnet, attaching a paper cone to it, and then turning electricity to it off and on very quickly. That vibration causes the surrounding air to vibrate: sound! Much like our larynx can create sound by creating vibrations, our ears can pick up those vibrations. Audio, or sound, is a variation of air pressure, caused by the vibration of an object, like vocal cords or a guitar string or a hammer hitting a nail.