Audacity Manual Contents

My experimentation page

Sand-Box for when I have to make tricksy edits.

Peter 18Dec12: I moved the "Digital Audio" down to be the last item in the "Understanding Audacity>Foundations" section. It is indeed a "foundations" topic imo - but I wanted this section to provide greater focus on "Audacity Projects" which is a truly key topic, important for all users. The material on the Digital Audio page is useful and interesting background but not absolutely necessary for understanding the use of Audacity - apart, that is, from the final section on compressed audio - but we are attempting to deal with (some of) that in Audacity Projects.

• Gale 18Dec12: I moved Digital Audio back up to third in line, as I hope a reasonable, logical compromise. I am fine with Projects first but on the -manual list I suggested we may even need a new, short Foundations page that addresses the export/save dichotomy directly, and moves Importing Audio and File Export Dialog up into "Understanding Audacity".
• Peter 19Dec12: following the feedback from Gale here and in an email thread on the reworking of Audacity Projects I have worked today on some revisions to the main landing page:
  1. I moved "Importing" and "Exporting" from the "More Details for the Project Window" up to "Understanding Audacity>Foundations" (with the handles of "Exporting audio files" and Importing audio"
  2. In the "More Details for the Project Window" I created importing and exporting links in the title "Details for Importing and Exporting"
  3. I did experiment with having a single line, two links, in "Understanding Audacity>Foundations" for "Exporting and Importing audio files" but I think I prefer it on two separate lines to aid the flow.
  4. I moved "Getting Started" over to be the first tutorial in the Tutorials section. It seems to me to be far more suited to be a tutial than a "Quick where and how" as it is now.
  5. I moved "Finding the correct effect ..." down into "Understanding Audacity>Editing" I think it fits just as well there (and perhaps better) than it does in "Quick where and how"
  6. This left me with just "More help ..." in "Quick where and how" - so I moved that to the bottom of the left section and retitled it "Further Help" - I think it sits well there as ideally we want to RTFM the "Foundations" and "Editing" before they ask questions on the forum.
  7. This leaves us with "What is an Audacity Project" as the top-most, left-most position in the "Using Audacity" - a prime location for key information thus drawing the reader's eye to it.
  8. I renamed "What is an Audacity Project" to "Managing an Audacity Project" based on a steer from Gale - it seems a more apposite title to me
  9. I added a "read the FAQs" with an FAQ link to the "Further Help>More Help" - it doesn't hurt to steer them there a second/third time.
  10. I left "Digital Audio Fundamentals" as the third item in "Understanding Audacity>Foundations", where Gale placed it yesterday, as I like it there.
  11. I added divids on the "Index of E,G&A" so that I could set direct navigation links to tha generators and analyzers section on the "Index of E,G&A" from the "Understanding Audacity>Editing" section.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - most common questions are answered in the FAQ

Using Audacity

Understanding Audacity

• Foundations
  • Managing an Audacity Project
  • Audacity Setup and Configuration
  • Digital Audio Fundamentals
  • Playing and Recording
  • Importing audio
  • Audio Tracks
  • The Waveform Display
  • Saving Audacity projects
  • Exporting audio files
• Editing
  • Selecting Audio
  • Clips - separate audio regions within a track
  • Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks
  • Sync-Lock Tracks
  • Zooming
  • Finding the correct effect, generator or analyzer
  • Mixing Audio Tracks
  • Undo, Redo and History

Further Help

• More help - Search the Wiki , ask on the Forum, read the FAQs

Tutorials

• Getting Started - Recording, Importing, Editing, Exporting...
• Editing an Audio File - Import the file, edit and export it
• Your First Recording - Recording microphone or guitar
• Mixing Voice with Background Music - For podcasts
• Recording Multi-track Overdubs - more complex recording
• Copying tapes, LPs and other media to CD or computer
• Recording streaming audio playing on the computer
• Vocal Removal and Isolation
• Making Ringtones - for your cellphone
• Example Workflows - Some sample workflows

Help with Advanced Topics

• Accessibility (Audacity for the visually impaired)
• Audio CDs
• Batch Processing
• Crash Recovery
• Customization
• Latency when recording
• Scripting
• Simplifying Audacity

Reference

Guide to the Project Window

1 Menu Bar   2 Transport Toolbar   3 Tools Toolbar   4 Meter Toolbar   5 Mixer Toolbar   6 Edit Toolbar  
7 Transcription Toolbar   8 Device Toolbar   9 Timeline   10 Track Control Panel   11 Audio Track   12 Selection Toolbar  

Hover over and click on the image to learn more. Skip the image

More Details for the Project Window

Additional Menus on Mac:

Audacity

Window

Additional Track types:

Label Tracks

Time Tracks

Note Tracks

Details for Importing and Exporting:

LAME MP3 export and FFmpeg import/export libraries for more formats

On-Demand Loading of uncompressed files

Metadata Editor

Toolbars Overview - including how to arrange Toolbars

Preferences - changing your settings

Devices

Playback

Recording

Quality

Interface

Tracks

Import/Export

Extended Import

Projects

Libraries

Spectrograms

Directories

Warnings

Effects

Keyboard

Mouse

Modules

Preferences are at the bottom of the Edit menu (or in the Audacity menu on Mac).

Many settings can be changed including keyboard shortcuts and the interface language.

Preferences settings can be reset to default at any time.

Index, Glossary and More

• Index
• Glossary of Terms - digital audio terms and file formats
• Credits

• Audacity License
• Information for Developers - join our developer community

• Information for the Media - Audacity and free, open software

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