2. AUDACITY-GETTING STARTED
PLEASE FOLLOW ALONG CAREFULLY AND STAY WITH THE
GROUP UNTIL WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE (you will
be moving at your own paces soon enough)
THERE IS ONLY ONE OF ME AND I CAN ONLY DO SO
MUCH ON AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL – I SIMPLY CAN’T
REPEAT MYSELF 20+ TIMES SO PAY ATTENTION THE
FIRST TIME
THERE WILL BE ENOUGH ROADBLOCKS AND HICCUPS
WITHOUT ONE OF THEM BEING THAT YOU SIMPLY
WEREN’T PAYING ATTENTION
3. ALWAYS PLUG YOUR HEADPHONES IN BEFORE STARTING AUDACITY!
Start AUDACITY
Open the “YOUR LAST NAME-AUDACITY EXERCISE #1” project file from your USB by
double clicking it – DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OTHER FILE!
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
4. This is where we left off – you’ve copied, pasted, and
edited the soundbites you want to keep into a new
track and your raw track is MUTED
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
5. When delivering your narration DO:
IMAGINE YOU ARE TALKING TO SOMEONE SPECIFIC
GIVE YOUR DELIVERY VARIETY AND INFLECTION
FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THE MATERIAL
When delivering your narration DON’T:
BE FLAT AND MONOTONE
SOUND LIKE YOU’RE JUST READING – YOU’RE TALKING
TO SOMEONE, NOT READING TO THEM
MUMBLE OR SLUR YOUR WORDS – PROPER
ENUNCIATION IS VITAL!
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
6. Now you are going to record your narration using the supplied script – first mute
the track with the saved bites – if you don’t, you will hear them play as you record
your narration
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
7. GO TO TRANSPORT ON THE MAIN MENU AND CHOOSE RECORD NEW
TRACK
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
8. SPEAK INTO THE MICROPHONE AND YOU SHOULD SEE THE AUDIO
APPEAR IN THE NEW TRACK
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
9. IF YOU DON’T SEE AUDIO BEING RECORDED – CHECK THE RECORDING
INPUT AT THE TOP TO THE RIGHT – SELECT THE MICROPHONE OPTION
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
10. ONCE YOU’RE RECORDING – READ THE NARRATION SCRIPT
STRAIGHT THROUGH WITHOUT STOPPING THE RECORDING BUT
AUDIBLY PAUSE BETWEEN EACH PART – MAKE SURE THE LEVELS
ARE NOT IN THE RED OR TOO LOW!
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
11. YOU ARE GOING TO EDIT THIS DOWN SO FEEL FREE
TO REDO WHATEVER PART YOU WOULD LIKE BUT
DON’T HIT STOP UNTIL YOU ARE COMPLETELY
DONE!
ALL YOUR NARRATION SHOULD BE ON ONE TRACK
WE WILL HOLD UNTIL EVERYONE HAS RECORDED
THEIR NARRATION
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
12. NOW THAT YOU ARE DONE WITH YOUR NARRATION YOUR
LAYOUT SHOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
13. You are now going to remove the parts of the
narration you DON’T want but you are NOT going
to edit it the way you trimmed the Trump bites
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
15. MAKE CERTAIN THAT’S THE PART YOU WANT GONE
YOU DON’T WANT IT TO CLOSE UP, THOUGH, YOU WANT TO LEAVE
AN EMPTY GAP
GO TO EDIT – REMOVE SPECIAL – SPLIT DELETE
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
16. GO TO EDIT – REMOVE SPECIAL – SPLIT DELETE
THIS WILL REMOVE THE HIGHLIGHTED PART AND LEAVE AN
EMPTY SPACE
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
17. NOW DO THIS FOR ALL THE PARTS
OF THE NARRATION YOU WANT
REMOVED – LEAVING ONLY THE
TRACK AS ASSIGNED
WE WILL NOT MOVE ON UNTIL
EVERYONE HAS DONE THESE BASIC
EDITS
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
18. Once you’re done, your layout should look
something like this:
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
19. Now you’re going to use the TIME SHIFT TOOL to
move the bites around into the correct sequence
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
20. Once you select the TIME SHIFT TOOL you can
move the bites around in their tracks so you want
to sequence them so they sound natural when
played:
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
21. Each track has its own VOLUME SLIDER that you will
use to make sure the levels of each track are
relative and sound good; the narration and the
sound bites should be heard at basically the same
level
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
22. WHEN YOU’RE DONE YOUR LAYOUT SHOULD LOOK
SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND IT SHOULD SOUND
PROFESSIONAL WHEN PLAYED:
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
23. You are now going to add the music bed, make final
adjustments, and export and submit the file
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
24. Go to the appropriate week and download/save the file
“NEWSCAST MUSIC” to your USB drive in the “MMJ
AUDIO” folder
AS WITH ALL YOUR AUDIO FILES AND MATERIAL, THIS
SHOULD PLACED IN YOUR DESKTOP MMJ AUDIO FOLDER
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
25. Within AUDACITY select FILE – IMPORT – AUDIO and
select the “NEWSCAST MUSIC” file which you just saved
to your AUDIO folder
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
26. After the import is complete, your layout should look
something like this with 3 active tracks and one muted
track:
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
27. Use each track’s VOLUME
SLIDER to make sure the
levels of each track are
relative and sound good;
the narration and the
sound bites should be
heard at basically the
same level with the
music underneath it all –
the music should NOT be
the focus – it’s there to
provide a unifying quality
and mask the edits
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
28. You also want to
make sure the music
matches the rest of
your audio in length
– use the edit tools
we’ve already
covered to adjust
music length
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
29. Lastly – how long is it? If
it’s NOT 60 seconds, you
need to find a way to
lengthen or shorten it so it
is…
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
30. LISTEN CLOSELY TO YOUR FILE! IS IT…
Consistent in sound levels - does it simply
sound good?
Edited smoothly with no errors such as clipping
of words or unnecessary gaps?
Narrated in an engaged and well-delivered
manner as per the provided script?
Exactly 60 seconds/one minutes long?
THE GRADE FOR THIS EXERCISE DEPENDS ON
THESE FOUR FACTORS!
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
31. Once you’re satisfied with how it sounds, close the
RAW AUDIO track so all that remains are the 3 active
tracks (Sound Bites, Narration, and Music):
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
32. Go FILE – EXPORT AUDIO and save it as an MP3 file
into your AUDIO folder
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
33. ONCE EXPORTING IS FINISHED – LOCATE THE
EXPORTED FILE ON YOUR USB AND PLAY IT
AGAIN! Never just trust that it exported
correctly – ALWAYS CHECK IT!
If you’re satisfied with it, go to the appropriate
folder and use the ATTACH FILE option to
submit your finished exercise file
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
35. NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED FOR CREDIT
USE CLASS LAB TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS AND
GET HELP!
I’VE GIVEN YOU THE TOOLS AND AM HERE TO
PROVIDE FULL SUPPORT BUT YOU ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FINAL PRODUCT
I EVALUATE THESE AS IF I WERE A TYPICAL
LISTENER, NOT JUST YOUR TEACHER
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
36. THIS FORMAT IS WHAT I EXPECT IF
YOU USE AUDIO IN YOUR
SEMESTER PROJECT:
SOUNDBITES FROM INTERVIEW
SUBJECT(S)
NARRATION FROM YOU
MUSIC BED
AUDACITY-EXERCISE
