Getting The Sound Just Right
The volume control that's worth keeping an eye on in used recording equipment is the master volume and, more importantly, the output volume meters - these will jump up and down as you play the song back. If these meters turn red at the right edge it means the output is distorting, so reduce the Output Volume control, found just below the Play button, until the red light disappears.
When the recording sounds fit for public consumption, it's time to save it in a file that can be shared. However, before doing so, it's worth trimming the start and end of your recording. This will remove the sound of you counting in, as well as any shuffling of instruments or false-starts. Click and drag the mouse across the area you want to delete and, simultaneously, across all the tracks. This is important, because if you miss any tracks the result will be a song played out of time. When the unwanted area is selected, press the Delete key on your keyboard to remove it.
Audacity can export in various formats but the simplest is to save the song as a WAV file. This file type is the same quality as a CD and will play in any audio software. Click File, Export as WAV, choose a sensible name and location on the hard disk and click Save. The various tracks will then be exported as a single stereo file. One word of warning: all tracks will be included, even if they are set to mute, so delete any unwanted tracks before saving the song.
This WAV file can be converted to a smaller MP3 file, or even saved to a CD, using Apple's free iTunes software.
To convert the song, open iTunes and click the Edit menu followed by Preferences. Click the Advanced tab, then click Importing, select MP3 Encoder from the list and click OK. Now drag and drop your WAV file into the iTunes library, right-click it and select 'Convert Selection to MP3'.
You've just recorded, mixed and saved your first recording, so what's next? There are countless other things to try. Have a go at copying and pasting parts of a recording into different sections. Or how about adding effects to change the character of a track? Drag the mouse across a track to select it, then choose something from the Effect menu. If you try this, though, remember the one downside of Audacity: it applies these effects permanently, so you can't adjust or remove them later.
This software makes it possible to try out different effects and it can also add extra synthesized sounds to your own acoustic recordings. Once you've caught the music-making bug, it can easily consume your evenings, weekends and bank balance, but there are few pastimes more rewarding.
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