http://www.techradar.com/pro/linux May 2019 LXF249 69
Audio editing TuTorials
Audacityisstillthe
easiestwaytodo
multi-trackediting
andrecording,
eventhoughit’s
nowslightlymore
complicated.Addingeffects
one channel for mono or two for stereo. Don’t just
choose stereo because you think stereo = better.
If you’re recording a single instrument, it may be easier
in the long run to record this in mono, even if you will
ultimately be creating something in a stereo image.
If you’re recording something like an FM broadcast or
capturing computer audio, this is something you will
want to do in stereo.
Audacity’s toolbar – which has the snappy name
of ‘Audacity Tools Toolbar’ – houses the main tools
like Select, Draw, Time Shift and Zoom. By default the
Selection Tool will be enabled, and is used for
highlighting audio before doing things like cutting and
pasting, muting sections and so on. Cutting and pasting
is done by the usual shortcuts, so you’ll have no
problems there, and you can use the Delete key
on selected bits of audio. You can select the magnifying
glass for Zoom: left-clicking zooms in, and right-clicking
zooms out. You can zoom right down to the grains of
each waveform if you want to do some hardcore
manual editing, and if you select the Draw tool, you can
even re-draw the shape of the wave.
If one of your tracks is out of sync with the other
recorded tracks, you can use the Time Shift tool to
correct it. If you click and drag left or right it will move
the timing forwards or backwards, and you can even
move a track to before the zero-second mark.
Further on the right are the zoom controls, all with
different magnifying glass icons, which replicate the
Zoom tool. The icons with the + and - let you zoom all
the way in to the fine points of a waveform, or back out
so that you can see the track as a whole.
Going solo
Less obvious, but crucial when you get the hang
of things, are the next two controls: ‘Fit selection in
window’ and ‘Fit project in window’. When you have
some audio selected, ‘Fit selection in window’ will zoom
in until your highlighted selection fits perfectly on the
screen – no more and no less. When you need to see
the project as a whole again, ‘Fit project in window’
zooms all the way back out in one click.
Moving to the tracks in the main editing field, track
controls are on the left. Each track has a close button
which removes the track, and a drop-down menu.
Plenty of advanced options are in the drop-down menu,
but the main controls you’ll use are the Mute and Solo
buttons, plus the two sliders. The Mute and Solo
buttons should be fairly self-explanatory, but remember
that you mute each track individually, rather than all of
them en masse. While the Solo button will obviously
mute all other tracks, you can ‘solo’ more than one
track – something that will annoy many pedants!
Moving down to the two sliders, the first is the Gain
control. In simple terms it basically turns up and down
the volume of each track; in audiophile terms, this is
where pre-amp adjustments happen. The second slider
is the Pan control, which lets you move sound left and
right in a stereo image.
Looking to the advanced controls in the drop-down
menu, the first option is Name, where you can rename
each track individually. The Move Track Up and Move
Track Down features will become essential when you
start doing elaborate multi-layered editing, as this lets
you re-order the tracks.
More advanced users will want to check out the
options Swap Stereo Channels, Split Stereo Track and
Split Stereo to Mono. These features are so much
quicker and easier than what you encounter on
professional editing suites, and are perfect for anything
that involves switching between mono and stereo.Get recording
Getting started with the first track is the hardest part
of any recording session. You’ve got to make sure the
correct input is selected, get the levels right, and check
that your recording is actually coming through on your
program’s waveform. If you’re very lucky you’ll be able
to just hit the Record button and it will work. But even
with something as easy as Audacity, you’ll probably be
greeted with a blank wave and need to spend ten
minutes switching between inputs to find what’s wrong.
Before we get too negative, try your luck and hit the
big Record button. Make some noise and if all is well,
you will see the sound outputting into a waveform. If
you were greeted with silence and a flat line, first make
sure the recording option for that channel is enabled in
your mixer and that it’s not muted. Otherwise, try
changing entries from the Recording Device drop-down.
Unless you have a Goliath of a sound card, there
shouldn’t be too many entries to test, and you can
probably choose between several channels underBecause Audacity cuts out the complex audio buses that underlie big
editing suites, adding effects is incredibly easy. Just select whatever
audio you want to apply an effect to and choose it from the Effect
menu – and if more input is required, most effects have a settings
window with a handy Preview button. As for the effects included by
default, you will want to pay particular attention to Fade In and Fade
Out, Amplify, and Equalisation. Note that Amplify is useful for making
things both louder and quieter, as you can simply enter a negative
value if you want to turn something down.
While Audacity has a number of effects pre-installed, we
recommend installing extra plug-ins. Audacity supports LADSPA,
LV2, Nyquist, VAMP and VST plug-ins, and you should be able to find
quite a few plug-ins in your package manager. Just browse around
and install anything you like the look of! Anything to do with reverb,
chorus or flange is probably a good idea.do youhave
somepesky
audiothatonly
runsthrough
onespeaker?
youcanfixit
byclickingthe
track’sdrop-
downboxand
choosingsplit
stereotoMono.