Las Cruces Community Radio

Audacity Guide
Intro
These notes are to help you get started with using Audacity to record and edit
audio. They present the big picture for creating recordings and rely on the
Audacity documentation and tutorials for details.
You are welcome to use any equipment or software that can produce files with a
high enough quality for radio broadcasting.

Contents
This document contains the following sections:
1. Intro includes an overview of Audacity, a discussion of audio quality, and
where to get help.
2. Install and Configure shows how to setup Audacity on your computer.
3. Produce a Recording shows how to produce an audio file, which can be
broadcast or streamed.

Audacity
Audacity is a free, open source, audio editor and recording program. With it, you can
record and mix (combine) audio files and signals: cut, copy, and paste audio, use
multiple audio tracks, and apply effects.
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Audacity Guide
Audio Equipment
Good-quality audio equipment is required for recording and playback. Most modern
computers include an audio chip that can produce good audio; however, the
microphone and speakers on your computer are likely not of sufficient quality for
this task.
There are too many considerations to provide adequate purchasing advice in this
document. You can get background information on microphones from the E-Home
Recording Studio website, chapter 2. For listening, you can buy adequate-quality
headphones on sale for as little as $20, which is much more inexpensive than
speakers. Of course, there will be some trade-off between quality and price. In non-
studio environments, headphones help isolate your audio from ambient sound (the
noise produced by your surroundings).

Content Quality
For digital audio, there is a trade-off between the quality of the audio and the size of
the audio file. Lower-quality audio compresses the audio and the file by removing
the high (treble) and low (bass) sounds. The poorer-quality audio sounds
compressed or tinny on better-quality audio equipment.
To produce files with a high enough quality for radio broadcasting, use one of the
following formats:

WAV, the preferred format, is the format used in CDs

MP-3 with a 320-kbps bitrate is also acceptable

You cannot improve the quality of the audio by converting a low-quality format to a
higher quality format, so any content that you include in your recording should not
be poorly recorded or overly compressed. The Configure section of this document
includes instructions for configuring Audacity to produce files in one of the required
formats.

Help
Audacity has a lot of online help:

Audacity Manual (http://manual.audacityteam.org/) includes the following

sections, which are also accessible from the table-of-contents menu on the
left of the page
o The Contents page includes the following sections:
Guide to the Audacity Project Window is a snapshot of the
user interface. The locations of the icon groups change,
depending on the width of your screen. Click on the different
sections on the snapshot to go to the instructions for that
section.
Tutorials provide instructions for performing basic tasks.
Using Audacity includes links to the Getting Started Manual
and advanced topics.
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Audacity Guide
Index, Glossary and More
o Getting Started Manual
(http://manual.audacityteam.org/quick_help.html) presents the basic
steps needed to produce a recording, which are the basic tasks you
need to know. It is accessible from multiple links on the Contents page.
o Reference: Digital Audio
(http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/digital_audio.html) includes an
overview of digital audio for the curious.
Forum (http://forum.audacityteam.org/) contains help from the Audacity user
community. This is a good source for troubleshooting.
Wiki (http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Wiki_Home_Page) includes
links to additional information and advanced tutorials.
Use the tutorials to become familiar with Audacity. The Forum and Wiki are good
sources for advanced information and troubleshooting instructions.

Install and Configure

The section tells how to install Audacity on your PC. You can skip this step if you
already have a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) installed or if you will use the
stations PC to produce your recording.

Download and Install

Download Audacity by selecting your operating system from
http://www.audacityteam.org/download/ and following the instructions to install. The
download page also includes a link to the hardware and operating system
requirements for running Audacity.
For additional assistance with the installation:

Go to http://manual.audacityteam.org/ to display the Audacity Manual.

Scroll down to the sections Using Audacity and Quick Help to find links to
installation guides. These links take you to Audacitys Wiki page for
installation.
If you want to produce MP3 files, then you will also need to install the MP3 library,
called LAME. LAME is NOT required; however, it is free. Without it, Audacity will
produce Wave (.wav) files, which is the audio format and quality of a CD. To install
LAME for Audacity:
1. In Audacity, select the menus: Edit -> Preferences -> Libraries.
2. Click the Download button next to the label LAME MP3 Library. It directs
your browser to Audacitys installation Wiki page. Follow the instructions
to install LAME.
3. Return to the Preferences page and click the Locate button next to the
label MP3 Library. If you installed LAME in its default directory, Audacity
will locate it.
4. Click OK.
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Audacity Guide
Configure
To ensure that all of your audio files sound good on the radio, set the default audio
format immediately after you install Audacity. You change the format from the
Preferences page, which you display using the Edit > Preferences menus. Most of
the settings can be left to their default; however, you should configure the default
audio quality and may want to configure your default audio devices.

Configure the Default Wave Audio Quality

These settings produce audio in the same format (and quality) of a CD. See Quality
Preferences in the user manual for more information.
1. In Audacity, select the menus: Edit -> Preferences -> Quality
2. Set the Default Sample Format to 16-bit, which configures Audacity with
the same digital setting as a CD. The other settings can be left at their
defaults.
The Preferences page should look like this:

3. Click OK.

Configure Default Devices

If you always use the same audio devices, connect them to your computer and use
the Devices settings on the Preferences page to select these devices from the drop-
down lists. See the Devices Preferences and Connecting Up tutorials for information
on connecting audio devices to your computer.
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Audacity Guide
Produce a Recording
These are the steps needed to produce a recording. Details on performing each step
are included in the tutorials referenced in the instructions.

Audacity Projects
Audacity content is stored in a project folder using a proprietary format. The files in
the project folder are only usable by Audacity. This format allows you to organize
each audio clip in your project as a track, so it is easier to edit. Also, tracks can be
saved individually and combined as you work on a project. Usually, you will give
each audio source its own track. When you are happy with the content, save it as a
project, then export it into an audio file. The audio file gets played on the radio.
You may not be able to open projects with missing files. To copy a project, copy the
project folder and its contents or click the File -> Save As menus in Audacity to save
the project under another name.

Steps
The Getting Started guide and the Your First Recording tutorial present the basic
steps needed to produce a recording. At a minimum, you need to be able to perform
the tasks in these sections. You can perform the steps below as you follow the steps
in this tutorial.
These steps show how to produce an audio file with two tracks, one with the hosts
comments and another that contains music. The comments track will be recorded
via a microphone and the music track will be imported from a file. The links in this
section reference the topic in the Your First Recording tutorial.
After starting Audacity on your computer:
1. Connect any audio devices using the instructions in this tutorials:
a. The Connecting Up tutorial shows how to attach your equipment.
b. The Selecting Your Recording Device tutorial shows how to configure
Audacity to use the devices connected in the previous step.
2. Record your comments using the instruction in these two tutorials:
a. Making a Test Recording
b. Recording and Editing
3. Import the music using the instructions in the Editing an Existing Audio File
tutorial.
4. Save the project using the File > Save Project menus.
5. Export and audio file using the instructions from the previous tutorial (step 7
in Editing an Existing Audio File).