Audacity

This tutorial, initially written by Tierney Steelberg, Digital Liberal Arts Specialist at Grinnell College’s DLAC, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This tutorial was reviewed and further built out (especially the Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference, Understanding Audio File Formats, and the majority of the Troubleshooting section) by Ngoc Ta ’27, Vivero Digital Fellow at Grinnell College.

Table of Contents

1. What is Audacity?
2. Navigating the Toolbar
3. Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference
4. Audacity Walkthrough
   • Getting Started
   • Selecting, Trimming, Shifting Tracks
   • Recording Audio
   • Adjusting Volume
   • Saving Your Project
   • Exporting Your Project
5. Troubleshooting
   • Microphone Not Detected
   • Audio Sounds Muffled or Quiet
   • Audio Has Background Noise or Static
   • Playback Sounds Choppy or Distorted
   • Can’t Hear Anything During Playback
   • Trouble Opening Certain Filetypes? Install the FFMPEG Library
6. Copyright & Licensing
7. Accessibility
8. Understanding Audio File Formats
   • MP3 vs. WAV
   • Understanding Bitrate
   • Sample Rate
   • Quick Export Guide
9. Level Up
10. Resources

What Is Audacity?

Audacity is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder, meaning it can be used to both record and edit audio. It is a free and open source software available for installation on a wide variety of operating systems at https://www.audacityteam.org/download/.​

Audacity is available on campus computers.

Navigating the Toolbar

The image above showcases Audacity’s toolbars, which can be found at the top of the window, above the audio tracks area. This tutorial will make the most use of the T​ransport​, Tools, and ​Edit ​toolbars. The positioning of the toolbars may look slightly different on your computer, but the icons and layout should remain the same.

If you are not seeing all the necessary toolbars, they are likely not currently enabled. You can enable them by going to View > Toolbars and then selecting the toolbars you want visible.

Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference

Learning keyboard shortcuts will speed up your editing workflow significantly. The most useful ones have been listed below. Note that Mac user use Cmd (⌘) instead of Ctrl.

You can also reassign shortcuts or assign new shortcuts in Preferences (Ctrl+P on Windows or Cmd+, on Mac).

Playback & Navigation

• Spacebar – Play/Pause
• Shift + Spacebar – Loop play (plays selection repeatedly)
• Home – Jump to beginning of project
• End – Jump to end of project

Editing

• Ctrl + Z (Windows) / Cmd + Z (Mac) – Undo
• Ctrl + X – Cut
• Ctrl + C – Copy
• Ctrl + V – Paste
• Ctrl + A – Select all
• Delete – Delete selected audio

Selection

• Shift + Left/Right Arrow – Extend selection
• Shift + K – Select from cursor to end of track
• Shift + J – Select from beginning to cursor

Zoom

• Ctrl + 1 – Zoom in
• Ctrl + 3 – Zoom out
• Ctrl + 2 – Zoom normal
• Ctrl + F – Fit project in width

Recording

• R – Start recording
• Shift + R – Record on new track
• P – Pause

Audacity Walkthrough

First, download some audio to play around with: you can download an episode of the All Things Grinnell podcast at https://www.grinnell.edu/about/leadership/offices-services/communications/podcast/all-things-grinnell.

Getting Started

Import one of your audio recordings, or a sample one, from the File menu (File > Import… > Audio). This recording will appear as a new track. Every separate “sound” or recording should appear on its own track, for maximum flexibility. Think of a podcast or audio drama you have listened to in the past: what sounds does it contain? Each of those is its own track (fade-in music, host introduction, sound effects, a guest interview…).

You can name your tracks by clicking the pulldown menu next to the track, and clicking “Name…”. From here, you can also move tracks up or down to organize them.

Use the zoom tools (shaped like magnifying glasses) in the Edit toolbar to zoom in and out from your audio: you want to zoom in to see specific sections and do more fine-tuned editing, and then zoom out to see your project as a whole.

Selecting, Trimming, Shifting Tracks

You can select a portion of a track for deletion by using the Selection Tool button to highlight a portion of a track: click the button, then click and drag on a track to choose a portion of it, then hit the “delete” key to remove that portion, or the cut and paste buttons to move it elsewhere.

• You can also split tracks by clicking your cursor at the spot you want to split (to bring the playhead there) and then using the Edit menu to split the track: Edit > Clip Boundaries > Split. Tip: double-click on a split section of a track to then select that entire segment and delete or move it.
• You can use the Cut / Copy / Paste buttons to remove or move around small subsections of audio. If you do not see these buttons, click View > Toolbars and enable the additional toolbars you may be missing.

 

As you import more audio, Audacity defaults to having tracks overlap. You don’t want this for your podcast. To move a track so that it plays after another, click the Time Shift Tool button in the Tools Toolbar (double-headed arrow), and then drag and drop it where you want it. A yellow line will appear when the end of one track is aligned with the beginning of another (but remember that you may sometimes want more of a pause).

• You can move multiple tracks by using the Selection Tool to select audio from multiple tracks, clicking the Time Shift Tool, and then clicking and dragging from within the selected area. This allows you to add audio before or after two consecutive tracks.
• To remove the beginning and end of a track (ex: dead air at the beginning and end of a recording), select the area of a track you want to keep, then click the “trim outside selection” button
  

Recording Audio

You can record audio content directly into Audacity. First, create a new track to make editing easier: Tracks > Add New… > Stereo Track. Then click the red “record” button once to begin the recording, then click the stop button (in the Transport Toolbar) to stop the recording. Then use the time shift tool to move it where you want it.

• You can use an external USB microphone to record with better sound quality: just plug it into your computer, and select it from the input source dropdown (with a microphone icon) in the Device Toolbar at the top. You can also use headphones with a built-in mic. And iPhone recording quality has increased greatly in recent years.
• Each time you click record, Audacity creates a new track. If you want to record on the same track, click pause instead of stop, and then resume your recording by clicking the pause button again.
• If your recording has consistent unwanted background noise (like the sound of a fan), you can try using Audacity’s Noise Reduction effect.

Adjusting Volume

You can adjust the volume of your audio project using the Envelope Tool button: click it, then drag the center of your track up or down.

If you want to boost or reduce the volume of just a particular section, create an “envelope” with the envelope tool by clicking the beginning and end of the section you want to adjust, and then dragging the center of that section up or down to adjust the volume. This can be used at the end of a clip or in transitions to fade audio in or out (though it’s not a complete fade – there are effects you can use if you want that – Fade In and Fade Out). You can move your envelope around by clicking and dragging the points to the left or right, or delete a point by clicking and dragging it upwards. You can also use the Amplify effect to increase volume of a quieter section.

Saving Your Project

While you’re working, you can save your project as an in-progress Audacity file (extension “.aup”), which will also create a data folder: click File and then Save Project…

Note that saving and exporting are 2 separate things: the .aup file is editable in Audacity as separate tracks, while the .mp3 is a playable file that no longer contains the edits and differentiation between your tracks.

Exporting Your Project

Export your finished project as an MP3 by clicking File > Export > Export as MP3. This exports a playable audio file that you can share with others, upload to website as an audio file, or even upload to a platform like SoundCloud.

Note that saving and exporting are 2 separate things: the .aup file is editable in Audacity as separate tracks, while the .mp3 is a playable file that no longer contains the edits and differentiation between your tracks.

Play the audio file on your computer and critique it with your collaborators: what changes do you want to make?

Troubleshooting

Microphone Not Detected

Audacity doesn’t recognize your microphone or shows “no input devices found.”

1. Check that your microphone is plugged in properly, then restart Audacity after plugging it in.
2. Go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and select your microphone from the “Recording Device” dropdown.
3. On Windows: Right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select “Sounds,” go to the “Recording” tab, and make sure your microphone is set as the default device and not disabled.
4. On Mac: Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Microphone and ensure Audacity has permission to access your microphone.
5. Try quitting and reopening Audacity after changing system settings.

Audio Sounds Muffled or Quiet

Your recording sounds unclear, distant, or too quiet.

1. Check microphone position: Make sure you’re 6-12 inches from the mic and speaking directly toward it.
2. Adjust input volume: Before recording, speak at your normal volume and watch the input meter (the bars next to the microphone icon). Adjust the recording volume slider so the bars reach about -12 to -6 dB (about halfway to three-quarters of the way up). The bars should never hit the red zone.
3. Use the Amplify effect: After recording, select your audio and go to Effect > Amplify to increase volume. Audacity will suggest a safe amplification level.
4. Try the Normalize effect: Select your audio and go to Effect > Normalize. Check “Normalize peak amplitude to” and set it to -1.0 dB. This makes your audio as loud as possible without distortion
5. Check your microphone: Some USB mics have physical gain knobs – make sure they’re not turned all the way down.

Audio Has Background Noise or Static

You hear hissing, humming, or other unwanted background noise.

• Use Noise Reduction
  1. Select a section of your recording that contains ONLY the background noise (no speaking).
  2. Go to Effect > Noise Reduction.
  3. Click “Get Noise Profile”
  4. Select the entire audio track (Ctrl+A)
  5. Go back to Effect > Noise Reduction
  6. Adjust settings (start with defaults) and click “OK”
• Record in a quieter space: Turn off fans, close windows, move away from computers or refrigerators
• Use a better microphone: Built-in laptop mics pick up more background noise than external USB mics

Playback Sounds Choppy or Distorted

Audio skips, stutters, or sounds distorted during playback.

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Quality and try changing the “Default Sample Rate” to 44100 Hz.
2. Close other programs to free up computer resources.
3. If editing a large file, go to Edit > Preferences > Directories and make sure you have enough disk space in your temp folder.
4. Try exporting your project and playing the exported file – sometimes playback issues don’t affect the final export.

Can’t Hear Anything During Playback

Audacity is playing but no sound comes out.

1. Check the volume slider in Audacity (next to the speaker icon): make sure it’s not at zero.
2. Check your computer’s system volume.
3. Go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and verify the correct “Playback Device” is selected (usually your speakers or headphones).
4. Make sure your headphones/speakers are plugged in and turned on
5. Try playing audio in another program (like YouTube) to confirm your speakers work.

Trouble Opening Certain Filetypes? Install the FFMPEG Library

If Audacity is having issues opening certain filetypes (for example, .m4a), you can download the FFMPEG library to be able to import these files into Audacity. There are instructions on how to do so at https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_installing_the_ffmpeg_import_export_library.html – follow the instructions for your operating system and your version of Audacity.

Copyright & Licensing

When creating a podcast or other audio content that is shared publicly, it’s very important to look for and use images, clips, and audio that are licensed for you to reuse freely, so you do not have to worry about copyright infringement. If a media resource is copyrighted, or you are unsure of an its copyright status, do not use it on a video shared publicly.

You can also look for media with a Creative Commons license or media in the public domain: there are many resources online for finding free-to-use media licensed for use in this kind of project. Here are some potential resources:

• BBC Sound Library
• Transistor
• Pixabay Music (requires a free account)
• Freesound (requires a free account)
• Wikimedia Commons audio files

Accessibility

For accessibility purposes, you should provide a transcript or text alternative when creating audio-only projects. When creating a podcast, you can share your script. Don’t forget to make adjustments to the script for any changes you made on the fly, so the text alternative best reflects the audio.

Understanding Audio File Formats

When you export your finished audio project, you’ll need to choose a file format.

MP3 vs. WAV: Which Should You Use?

MP3 (Compressed format)

• Pros: Small file size, widely compatible, easy to share online or via email
• Cons: Lossy compression (some audio quality is lost)
• Best for: Podcasts, music for streaming, audio you’ll share online, files where storage space matters
• Typical file size: A 5-minute recording might be 5-10 MB

WAV (Uncompressed format)

• Pros: No quality loss, preserves original audio perfectly
• Cons: Very large file sizes
• Best for: Archival purposes, audio you’ll edit further later, professional projects where quality is critical
• Typical file size: A 5-minute recording might be 50 MB

General rule: Use MP3 for most projects unless you have a specific reason to need WAV quality.

Understanding Bitrate

When you export to MP3, Audacity will ask you to choose a bitrate. This controls the quality and file size of your MP3.

Bitrate options:

• 128 kbps – Lower quality, smallest file. Acceptable for voice-only podcasts where file size is critical
• 192 kbps – Good quality for voice. A balanced choice for most podcast projects
• 256 kbps – High quality. Good for music or audio where quality matters
• 320 kbps – Highest MP3 quality. Use for music or professional audio projects

We recommend 192 kbps for most Vivero projects, as it is a good balance between quality and file size for podcasts and voice recordings.

Sample Rate

Sample rate is another quality setting you might see. Here’s what you need to know:

• 44100 Hz – Standard for most audio projects, music CDs
• 48000 Hz – Standard for video and film audio
• 22050 Hz – Lower quality, smaller file size (rarely needed)

We recommend 44100 Hz for most Vivero projects, unless you’re creating audio specifically for video (then use 48000 Hz).

Level Up

• Play around with adding effects to your audio – of particular note are the Fade In and Fade Out effects for transitions, the Amplify effect to increase volume, the Change Tempo effect to slow down or speed up audio (without changing the pitch), or other effects to change the way voices sound (such as the Change Pitch effect).
• Try bleeping out “unwanted words and sounds” by following along with the LinkedIn Learning tutorial.
• Apply compression to your recording, to give it more consistent volume and thus make it sound more professional, by following along with the LinkedIn Learning tutorial.

Resources

• The Audacity Reference Manual provides a thorough overview and documentation of all the ins and outs of Audacity.
• LinkedIn Learning has an Audacity module if you want more in-depth knowledge of Audacity and/or you want a video walkthrough.