9 Export the audio
Podcast services don’t import Audacity files, so while it’s
important to save your work you’ll also need to export an audio
file the podcast service can use. Different services have different
requirements (and will tell you what they are!) but if you’re
unsure, a CD-quality WAV file is a safe bet. Your podcast provider
will convert the WAV for downloading and streaming.
7
Cut and paste
You can move audio in exactly the same way you move
words around in Word. Simply highlight the section you want to
move, press [Ctrl] + [C] and move the cursor to the place you want
to put it. Now press [Ctrl] + [V]. Your selection has moved, but it’s
still on its own tracks, which means we can use the track controls
to adjust its gain and pan so it doesn’t overpower everything else.
5
Import audio
Podcasts are rarely just one voice: they usually feature
guests, music or clips. You can add another audio track to your
Audacity project by clicking on File > Import. As you can see here,
it brings it in as a separate pair of tracks rather than adding it to
the end or replacing what you’ve recorded. For stereo files such as
songs, you’ll have a track for the left speaker and one for the right.
10 Upload your podcast
The process for this is really simple but the specifics differ
from provider to provider, and there are lots and lots of providers:
they publish your finished podcast to Apple Podcasts, to Google
Play, to Spotify and to all the other main podcasting platforms.
You can usually publish your podcast for free, but the service will
put a little bit of advertising around it to pay the bills. Q8
Mix it up
Mixing – adjusting tracks – is an important part of
podcasting: you don’t want music to be terrifyingly loud or
anyone to be too quiet. To adjust the level of a track, use the slider
at the left. Those marked with + and – reduce or increase that
track’s volume, while L and R move it between the left and right
speakers. Try experimenting with some effects here too.6 Trim the track
We only want a bit of this song, so let’s trim it. To do that,
use your mouse to highlight the bit you want to get rid of and tap
the [Del] key. We’re going to do that on either side of the bit of
music we want, leaving just over 30 seconds of the song, and then
we’ll highlight the first five seconds and choose Effect > Fade In so
it comes in slowly. To add a fade to the end, choose Fade Out.26 |^ |^ April 2020