Often recordings have some background or room noise, caused by a fan, a hum from an amplifier, or other unwanted sounds.
The NOISE REMOVAL in Audacity is an effect that is pretty effective (no pun intended) at removing that kind of stuff… but you have to be very careful or else you might wind up with distorted sections of audio in the things you actually wanted to keep!
In this tutorial I’m going to explain what all the functions of the NOISE REMOVAL tool do… and show you how I use it to get the best results.
MUSIC: used by permission of Dan over at http://www.danosongs.com
Let me know what you’d like to know how to do using the free Audacity program and I’ll get it put together!
Too many people want to do a podcast with Audacity
but are intimidated by the technological side of audio and video. So they never even try to do that podcast they’ve been wanting to do. That’s too bad, because it’s really not that hard. It just takes a basic knowledge of the Audacity program, some organization of what you want to say and the order you want to say it in, and some time to mix it all together.
Really, it’s not that hard to make your podcast with Audacity.
In order to prove it to you, I decided to do a screen recording of me putting together an episode of my podcast – the Christian Home and Family Podcast – so that you can see it’s really not all that hard.
It’s kind of long (over 20 minutes) but shows you the practical, hands-on things you’ll run into when you try to make your podcast with Audacity.
I even make a couple of mistakes that you can learn from. In this Audacity tutorial you will see me…
Open an Audacity project
Import an mp3 file
Use the time shift tool to move things around
Use the envelope tool to fade tracks in and out
Use the cut tool to take sections out of a track
Use the copy function to copy an entire track
Use the paste function to paste the entire track into my project
Use the “minimize” tab to make my screen easier to navigate and work with
Use the zoom in and zoom out tools to manipulate tracks even more
Use the Dyson Compressor effect to increase the volume level on some of my tracks
Save the entire project
Mix and Render the entire project
Export the project as an mp3 file (for uploading to my server space at Libsyn)
Looks like a lot. And it is a lot. But it’s a lot of easy stuff once you get the hang of it. You’ll see in the video… I shoot through it all pretty quickly because I’m used to making my podcast with Audacity, so it’s almost second nature.
OK, enough talk… here’s the tutorial.
Leave me some comments below… or let me know what YOU would like to learn to do in Audacity… and I can make that happen!
Remove vocals in Audacity, with an additional “secret sauce” to keep the low end strong.
Before I get too far into this, I have to make the disclaimer that I made in the video:
YOU CAN’T ENTIRELY REMOVE VOCALS FROM A MIXED PIECE OF MUSIC.
It’s like trying to get the yeast out of a baked loaf of bread. Can’t be done and still preserve the bread… or the song in this case.
You can, however use an effect or two that will push the vocals to the “back side” of the track, enabling you to somewhat “hide” them in the mix.
But when most people remove vocals, they only take one step, which results in a very “hollow” sounding track of music. If you want to remove vocals using Audacity… and do it in a way that avoids that outcome, you came to the right place because I’m going to show you how! (Thanks for the idea from Joe Gilder over at Home Studio Corner).
Many people on MAC have had a hard time finding the plugins mentioned on this video. I’m not a MAC guy, so I don’t know how to help you other than pointing you to the guy whose email address is listed on the plugins inside Audacity.
For both the Inverter plugin and the LS Filter plugin, the creator is named Steve and can be reached here (according to the “about” section on the plugin) steve (@) plugin (dot) org (dot) uk – contact him to see if he has an OS version.
In this Audacity video tutorial you’re gonna learn how to:
Split your stereo track into a split mono track (necessary to use the inverter properly on this one).
Use the “Inverter” effect (you can also use the “invert” effect if you want… I cover that in this video) to push the vocals to the back of the track.
Use a “low pass filter” effect (I give you a handful of them in this tutorial) to make a copy of your original stereo track with a beefed up low end, which returns much of the fullness of the track, minus the vocals!
Let me know what you’d like to know how to do using the free Audacity program and I’ll get it put together!
Intro Mix – part 2 – learn to put tracks together in Audacity
This is the second part of a tutorial on putting together 4 separate files in Audacity, (find tutorial 1 here) how to arrange them within your project, and how to adjust the volume of each track so that they sound “mixed” together. The project I’m working on in this tutorial is an intro for my podcast which I’ve been needing to put together for quite a while. In this tutorial for Audacity, you’ll learn…
How to use the Dyson Compressor effect to balance out audio volume levels.
How to mix and render the tracks together.
Let me know what you’d like to know how to do and I’ll get it put together!
Intro Mix – part 1 – learn to put tracks together in Audacity
One of the coolest things about Audacity is the ability it gives you to put tracks together… and the possibilities are truly endless. You can mix voices, music, sound effects, and other stuff, tweak it, change it, distort it, add effects, all kind of cool thing. In this tutorial (part 1) you will learn how to bring 4 separate files into Audacity, how to arrange them within your project, and how to adjust the volume of each track so that they sound “mixed” together. The project I’m working on in this tutorial is an intro for my podcast which I’ve been needing to put together for quite a while. In this tutorial for Audacity, you’ll learn…
How to combine 4 tracks into one sensible intro track.
How to adjust volume levels to mix your tracks together.
How to prepare for effects to be added to your track (see part 2 for the actual effects)
There’s a ton more things you can do in Audacity. Let me know what you’d like to know how to do and I’ll get it put together!
Tutorials for Audacity – Advanced #1 – Effects in Audacity – Amplify, Fade In, Fade Out
Effects in Audacity are some of the coolest functions. They enable you to make your recording really stand out and move toward the professional quality you are looking for. If you learn how to use various Audacity effects the right way, you’ll be far, far ahead of the learning curve! The following Audacity Effects will be covered in this screencast video tutorial for Audacity…
Effect in Audacity to increase the loudness in a track (Audacity amplify effect)
Fade music up using the Effect in Audacity called “fade in”
Fade music out using the Audacity effect called “fade out”
There’s a ton more Audacity effects – let me know which ones you’d like to see me cover in a future tutorial! Use the comment section below!
