Editing using Audacity

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Time Narration
00:01 Hello friends. Welcome to the tutorial on Editing using Audacity.
00:08 This tutorial will explain how to edit an audio file. We will learn how to
00:14 open an audio file in audacity
00:16 convert a stereo file to mono. Attach labels. Cut,delete,move and amplify the audio. Filter background noise.Save and export the audio file.
00:27 For this tutorial, I am using the Ubuntu Linux 10.04 version operating system and Audacity version 1.3.
00:36 Audacity supports many audio formats including:
00:39 WAV (Windows Wave format)
00:41 AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)
00:43 Sun Au / NeXT
00:46 RCAM (Institut de Recherce et Coordination Acoustique / Musique)
00:49 MP3 (MPEG I, layer 3) (export requires separate encoder. see Lame Installation) Ogg Vorbis
00:53 Lets access Audacity through the Main menu item Applications >> Sound and Video >> Audacity.
01:04 An audacity help box opens. Let’s click OK.
01:09 To edit an audio file, we need to first import it into Audacity. To do this, go to File >> Import >> Audio.
01:21 When the browser window opens, browse for the audio file to be edited and click on Open.
01:31 The file opens in the Audacity window.
01:36 Save this file as an a u p file (i.e. Audacity project file) by clicking on File >> Save Project As.
01:47 Click OK in the box that opens.
01:51 Give your file a name. Here we will type 'Editing in Audacity'..
01:55 Check the folder, and Click on Save.
02:00 Select 'Copy All Audio into Project (safer)' option.
02:05 This creates a folder that will contain all the audacity project data files.
02:11 Look at the tracks. If there is only one track, then the audio is in MONO.
02:16 This will also be mentioned in the Label on the left panel.
02:21 Now, lets open another audio file.
02:35 If there are 2 tracks, then the audio is in STEREO. Again, this will be mentioned in the Label on the left panel.
02:45 To remove a track completely, select the track, click on Tracks tab and select Remove Tracks.
02:59 Alternately, delete tracks by clicking on the X at the extreme left.
03:04 If the audio file is in stereo mode and stereo output is not required, then one can convert the mode to mono.
03:12 To do so, go to the Tracks tab and select Mix and Render.
03:20 Now click on the drop-down arrow on the panel to the left of the audio file and select Split stereo to mono.
03:30 Delete one track.
03:35 To zoom into or out of a file click the cursor where you need to zoom on the file and click the zoom in or zoom out button on the Edit panel.
03:52 Alternately, place the cursor over the part of the file that you need to zoom into or out of.
04:03 Now press the Ctrl key down and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.
04:19 An audio file can be cut to remove unwanted parts, copied, pasted, deleted and treated with some special effects.
04:29 The volume of the file can also be increased or decreased.
04:35 Before editing, always listen to the whole audio file. You may want to label parts as you listen, for easy reference.
04:44 To do so, add a label track by clicking on Tracks >> add New and Label Track.
04:56 To add a label at a point, select the point with the cursor, go to the tracks tab,
04:54 and select Add label at selection.
05:08 You can type into the label.
05:16 Alternately, click at the point,
05:24 press Ctrl +B.
05:28 This opens a new Label track the first time.
05:32 Consecutive Ctrl+B will open new labels on the same track.
05:47 A label will open with the cursor at the point on the time line where the cursor is placed.
05:53 Place the cursor wherever required and press Ctrl+B for each new label.
06:07 Labels can also be moved.
06:15 To delete the labels, click inside the text box and press backspace till the label is deleted.
06:27 Another way to do this is to go to Tracks >> Edit Labels.
06:34 A window with all the labels listed will appear and the labels that need to be deleted can be selected and deleted by clicking on Remove button.
06:46 Click Ok.
06:55 After listening to the entire audio file once or more than once, the structure of the edit can be decided; parts of the file can be deleted or moved, as required.
07:07 Structure the edit based on what is appropriate for introduction, body and conclusion.
07:15 Remove repeats and bad sound. Effects can be used to enhance the impact of a message.
07:21 Unwanted sounds such as stammering and coughs that don't overlap the speech, repeats, and long silences can be removed.
07:32 To delete, select the Selection tool and select the part of the audio that needs to be deleted by left-click, drag and then release, press delete to delete that part of the audio.
07:50 To move one segment of audio to another part, select the part of the audio that needs to be moved by left-click, drag and then release, then cut that part by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+X.
08:07 We can also click on the Cut button in the Edit tools panel OR click on Edit >> Cut option.
08:22 Move the cursor to the place where the audio segment needs to be moved,
08:31 click there and paste the audio segment.
08:33 This can be done with either the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V or the Paste button
08:40 In the Edit tools panel or Edit >>
08:47 Paste option.
08:52 To reduce loud breaths, select the breath portion in the audio stream by
09:14 left-clicking, dragging and releasing.
09:17 Go to Effect >> Amplify. Enter -5 or -7
09:26 or more in the Amplification box, depending on how much you want to reduce the sound, and click Ok
09:43 To increase the volume of the parts that have recorded softly, select the audio go to Effect >> Amplify.
09:56 You will see a value already there. This value is optimal amplification for this file. You can also enter the amount you want.
10:12 Click Ok.
10:15 If the Ok button is not active, check the Allow Clipping option.
10:34 To filter out disturbing background noises, select a portion on the track with the sample noise.
10:47 Remember to select a portion without voice. Now click on Effect >>
10:55 Noise Removal.
10:59 Click on Get Noise Profile.
11:02 This will identify the noise sample to be filtered.
11:06 Now select the whole audio track by clicking anywhere on it.
11:11 Again, click on Effect >>
11:16 Noise Removal. Choose the Noise Reduction Level.
11:26 Use the lowest value that reduces the noise to an acceptable level.
11:31 Higher values will remove the noise completely but will result in distortion of the audio that remains.
11:37 Lets click OK.
11:44 It is advisable not to amplify the audio too much above the recommended value in the box because amplification also enhances background sounds.
11:54 Hisses and hums will become more prominent as well.
11:57 Save the project file regularly.
12:00: Finally, export the final project to the required audio format i.e. wav, mp3 and others.
12:09 We have already covered this part in the earlier tutorial. Kindly refer to it for details.
12:17 That's all we have in this tutorial. lets just summarize. In this we learned the basics of editing,using audacity
12;26 how to open an audio file ,convert stereo to mono, zoom in and out ,attach lables
12:35 structure and edit. Cut, delete, move audio. Amplify audio. Filter background noise
12:50 Edit the audio that you recorded in the first tutorial using the tips given above.
12:55 Use fade out and fade in where necessary.
13:01 Watch the video available at the following link (http://spoken-tutorial.org/What_is_a_Spoken_Tutorial)
13:06 It summarises the Spoken Tutorial project
13:10 If you do not have good bandwidth, you can download and watch it
13:15 The Spoken Tutorial Team conducts workshops using spoken tutorials
13:20 Gives certificates to those who pass an online test
13:25 For more details contact, contact@spoken-tutorial.org
13:30 Spoken Tutorial Project is a part of the Talk to a Teacher project.
13:35 supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, Government of India.
13:42 More information on this Mission is available at http://spoken-tutorial.org/NMEICT-intro
13:55 This brings us to the end of this tutorial.
13:58 Thank you.
14:01 This is Krupa Thimmaiah from ITforChange

Contributors and Content Editors

Sanmugam