Introduction
This guide will quickly get you started recording and editing a podcast, as well as provide some tips and best practices.
Getting Started with Audacity / Tutorials
This Getting Started + Tips is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to learning Audacity, as such guides already exist as noted below. These are the best practices we have found for those just getting started with Audacity.
For full tutorial options:
- Audacity offers tutorials on their site.
- Through the UVA Library you can also access LinkedIn Learning tutorials, which are professionally made software guides.
Why Audacity?
Audacity (download here) is an open-source audio editing software. It is completely free and available on all platforms.
While it has its quirks, and might not be the best pick for a very complicated podcast, it is a fine introduction to audio editing.
For more complicated podcasts and audio projects, we recommend Hindenberg Audio, which has a full 30 day free trial and is then $12/month-to-month or $60/year for the first year as an educator. We also have it installed in our Audio Studio in Wilson Hall.
STEP I: Recording Audio
Recording at Home
If you are recording at home, consider the following tips:
- Record in a closet full of clothes
- Record under a duvet or blanket
Though it might feel strange, recording in this manner will give you the best audio, since the sound will not echo in your room. It may seem odd to imagine, but journalists the world over are often recording narration for their stories under the covers of their hotel beds!
If you are interested in checking out recording equipment, please visit the Learning Design & Technology equipment reservation site (https://ldtreservations.as.virginia.edu)
Recording in a Studio
There are multiple options for recording in a studio at UVA:
- The Robertson Media Center WhisperRoomsTM (https://cal.lib.virginia.edu/space/8468)
- The Learning Design & Technology Audio Studio (https://learningdesign.as.virginia.edu/audio-studio)
- The Gibson Audio Studio
Recording in Audacity
Step One: click the red record button in the top left of the screen.
When you are done, click the stop button. You should now have an audio track that looks like this:
Step Two: name your new track. It is a good habit to name your tracks as you create them. Click on the down arrow next to the words "Audio Track" and then click Name.
Enter a track name that makes sense, such as "narration" or your name.
STEP I-a: Importing Audio (optional)
If you already have recorded audio on your computer, or you want to import other audio (e.g. music), you can import it into Audacity. To import audio (such as a music clip), select File > Import > Audio from the menu.
NOTE: Be sure to name any tracks you import (e.g. "music") just as you did in step two above.
FAQ: Where do I get audio to use for sound effects or background music?
To be safe, don't use licensed music or sounds, instead use these free resources:
- Free Music Archive (https://freemusicarchive.org/)
- Free Sounds (https://freesound.org/)
STEP II: Normalize Audio
Audacity has a number of audio engineering tools, which we will be totally ignoring... except for one. Any time we record audio or import audio, we want to "normalize" it before we go further. This means making soft voices louder and loud voices softer, such that we have a fairly "normal" distribution of volumes. Listeners will thus not have to turn up their volume to hear soft voices, nor turn it down lest they be blasted by loud voices.
- From the menu, click Select > All
- Then click Effects > Normalize
- Finally click OK (unless you want to play with the settings, but generally the default settings are good).
When you are done, your audio should now look like this:
Notice how the histogram (graph of the volume levels) is now more distributed from top to bottom.
STEP III: Editing Audio
The primary work of editing will be choosing which segments of audio you want to keep, and in which order you want to put them.
Destructive vs Non-Destructive Editing
There are two ways to edit audio: destructive and non-destructive. Destructive will "destroy" your audio, as in delete it so you can not get it back, whereas non-destructive will not .As you might expect, we want to focus on non-destructive editing.
Creating "Scratch Tracks"
It's common to have tracks you only use for editing. These are called "scratch tracks". To create a new track do the following:
- Click Tracks on the menu
- Add new
- Mono or Stereo track (your recording / imported tracks will either be mono, i.e. one audio sample or stereo, i.e. left + right audio samples)
Common Editing Scenarios
Non-Destructive Editing Scenario One: Deleting Audio
If you want to delete some audio from a clip non-destructively, follow these steps:
- Position your playhead on the histogram (audio graph) approximately where you want to delete the audio segment.
- Right click and select Split Clip.
- Drag the corners of the two split clips until you have edited out the audio you no longer want.
- Move the clips via clicking on their title bars back together to create a seamless cut.
Using this method, you can always drag the two split clips apart and drag the corners the opposite way to "rediscover" the audio you cropped out originally. This is why it is non-destructive.
Non-Destructive Editing Scenario Two: Moving Audio
Another common scenario is you want to move a segment of audio from one place to another. Here is how you would do it:
- Click and drag on the histogram (audio graph) to select a segment of audio.
- Right click and select Split Clip
- Drag the audio clip by its title bar anywhere you want it to be.
Non-Destructive Editing Scenario Three: Fading a Clip
When you want to fade in or out (have the volume get steadily louder or softer), you will use a new tool, the envelope tool. Follow these steps:
- Click and drag on the histogram (audio graph) to select the segment you want to fade.
- Select the envelope tool.
- Click once at the start of your selection.
- Click again at the end.
- Click and drag the first set of envelope dots down to make the envelope small at the beginning.
To Fade Out do the same steps as above, but make the end of the envelope quiet instead of the start (i.e. drag the right side of the envelope down in #5 instead of the left).
STEP IV: Exporting and Saving
As you work, periodically click File > Save. This will save your project as an Audacity Project (AUP) file, which you can go back and edit later.
NOTE: Please consider saving your work to a cloud location such as UVA Box or OneDrive!
Once you are completely finished, select File > Export to output an audio file that you can upload for others to listen to. You have two main options:
- Export to MP3 exports a compressed file [this is the most common option as the file size is much smaller]
- Export to WAV exports an uncompressed file [this is an uncommon option; you would select this if you are archiving your audio in a library, for instance]
Once you have an exported file, you can send it to people via email, put it up on cloud storage and send people the shared link, or put it on an LMS like Canvas or a web content management tool like Wordpress.
Podcast Editing Tips
- Shorter is better! Aim for a short, concise podcast.
- Professional podcasts use audio engineers and their staff do A LOT of editing (to remove "ums", to delete pauses, to get the timing perfect, etc.) Don't feel bad if yours doesn't sound as good as Radiolab on your first try.
- Use music and sound effects to signal to your listeners the mood of the narration. This helps the brain process what its hearing by front-loading the emotional template for the segment.
- Your main two cuts are jump cuts (sudden cut) and fade cuts. Jump cuts are used when shifting back and forth rapidly between two segments, or when you want to signal abrupt stops. Fade cuts are when you want your listener to ease down into a pause or the end of the segment. Both have their place and can be used for different effect.
- Don't be afraid of silence! Your listeners need time to process and think about what they're hearing. Give them breaks and use silence to create drama, intrigue, or moments of reflection.
- Make sure you have permission before recording, and tell anybody else being recorded when you start the recording. This is both sound personal practice and legal practice.
Questions?
Hopefully you now feel confident to create your first podcast! If you would like further help, please feel free to reach out to [email protected]. Happy podcasting :)
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