# Debian Edu / Skolelinux Audacity manual

## Audacity manual

This is a manual for audacity, based on the 1.2.4b-2.1+b1 version from the Debian Edu Etch 3.0 release.

The version at is a wiki and updated frequently.

Translations are part of the `debian-edu-doc` package, which can be installed on a webserver, and is available online.

## Before you start

Setting up Audacity is not hard, if you remember to setup Audacity to use JACK, this is to make it possible to run other programs that use sound at the same time. The guide for setting up JACK to run smoothly is here:

I used Audacity 1.3.3-Beta when i make this documentation.

So to set Audacity to use jack you have to go in the menu --> Edit ---> Preferences.

edittojack.png

The next thing you have to be aware of that the project rate must be the same sample rate you have set in jack.

samplerate.png

### Plugins

There are some plugins you probably want:

** audio Plugins **
swh-plugins
mcp-plugins
terminatorx

fixme: put on some audio plugin you have experience with

Now you are ready to start recording.

### Where do i find audacity

Well you can simply just install it with aptitude, and you can also take a look at the projects page here

## Doing some recording

First thing to remember when you do a recording, is that you are careful that the record volume settings, not set to loud. It's better to have to low setting rather to loud on this.

recording.png

And when you have recorded what you want, you can normalize the recording so the volume automatically set right volume on the record without any danger of have part of the sound overdriven.

normalize.png

And after you have normalized the recorded segment, it looks like this:

normalized.png

Now the volume on this recorded segment is corrected. This is a better way to be sure that the record you have done not are overdriven, so have to Low setting and afterwards let audacity fix the volume on it.

Now we want to remove noise from the record, maybe some background hiss from your microphone. So first part is to make a "noise profile" of what you want to remove from your recorded segment.

1. First zoom out so you more clearly can see the recording.

zoom.png

2. Then mark what you want to make a profile of. Buy left click on mouse and hold down on the segment, and drag. You mark the zone you need to get the profile of.

marking.png

3. Then choose that you want to use Noise removal.

noiseremoval.png

4. Then Create "noise profile".

getnoiseprofile.png

5. Then you choose the whole record by clicking CTRL + A, and choose noise removal again from menu, but this time press OK.

Then if you want to add some reverb, other nice effects to your liking, you just search the big menu that is available after you installed the plugins I recommended.

You have several way to export your finished result. You can export it as WAV, AIFF MP3, OGG, FLAC, just choose export in the file menu.

## Importing Audio

With audacity you can import audio of the regular variety: Audio, MIDI, Labels and Raw Data. You can directly import MP3 files into the project, and mixing different song together in audacity.

Let me give you example.

First my main song "smurfesangen", and then you can import for mixing, one another song, just choose in the menu > > file > > Import Audio, then the newly imported audio will come under your first audio, the possibility to mixing here is huge.

mixingaudio.png

## Tool section

toolbox.png

### Selection tool

To split the audio so you can move part of it you have to first with the selection tool, choose where you want to cut it. And then with "ctrl + I" split it. And then with time shift tool you can move the segment.

### Zooming tool

With the Zooming tool you can zoom into the audio segment and then manipulate the audio with the drawing tool.

manipulating.png

### Envelope Tool

With the envelope tool you can manipulate the volume by increasing or decreasing the volume wherever you are on the segment.

manipulating1.png

### Time Shifting Tool

with this you can move your audio segments around.

## Copyright and authors

This document is written and copyrighted by Alf Tonny Bätz (2008, 2009), Holger Levsen (2009) and is released under the GPL2 or any later version. Enjoy!

If you add content to it, please only do so if you are the author of it and plan to release it under the same conditions! Then add your name here and release it under the "GPL v2 or any later version" licence.

## Appendix A - The GNU Public License

### Audacity manual

Copyright (C) 2008,2009 Alf Tonny Bätz < alfton@gmail.com > and others, see the Copyright chapter for the full list of copyright owners.