Question on Audacity mixer

I downloaded the program as suggested and am able to easily do a straight voice recording.

What I have been trying to figure out is how to mix sound effects, music ect., into my production. Controlling levels ect. I looked at the Audacity help index, could not find an answer.

I know this is a tall order, appreciate any help.



edited typo


[edit on 6-4-2006 by desert rat]

Audacity is not a 'mixing' program, it is an editing & recording program. You are going to have to look else where to mix.

These aren't cheap, but you'd be looking for something like Cubase, Audition, ACID, Sound Forge, ProTools (extreme high end), etc.

If you've recorded a voice track and you want to add sf/x, music etc. select:

-Project menu> Import Audio (ctrl I)
-select your sound(s) file from the browser
-sound will be loaded below your original recording.

You'll see two sliders to the left, volume and pan. You can mix levels here. The number of tracks is limited by processor/memory space, but yes you can mix tracks with Audacity.

If you want to create a fade in/out, select the envelope tool. (top left, second button top row, blue curve with two triangles) Blue lines will appear on your sound files. Clicking on these lines will create points. Click two or more points to create a fade. When you drag these points down, they will reduce the volume. Curve down=fade out, curve up=fade in.

To save the file as a .wav or .mp3, choose export as wav (or mp3). To save the project so you can re-edit it later, choose save as.

Hope that helps.

That helps a ton, thank you so much for your time.

I just tested it, I put a little background music under voice.

Will be more of a challenge to do fade ins and outs. This sure is neat stuff.

Originally posted by fingapointa
You'll see two sliders to the left, volume and pan. You can mix levels here. The number of tracks is limited by processor/memory space, but yes you can mix tracks with Audacity.

It's amazing what upgrading software will do, it's expanded a lot since the revision I had (3 years old). Thanks for the re-up, but it looks like a decent free alternative and I hope they keep expanding it.

As an offer to anyone (into ATS podcasts)..wanting mixing done for a better sound, I'll do it for you free. Just u2u if you're interested.

[edit on 7-4-2006 by Street Scholar]

Originally posted by Street Scholar

It's amazing what upgrading software will do, it's expanded a lot since the revision I had (3 years old). Thanks for the re-up, but it looks like a decent free alternative and I hope they keep expanding it.

As an offer to anyone (into ATS podcasts)..wanting mixing done for a better sound, I'll do it for you free. Just u2u if you're interested.

[edit on 7-4-2006 by Street Scholar]

Awesome, dude, thanks for the offer.

Yeah, Audacity has improved a fair bit, you can use directx effects now. It has noise reduction now (not great but it works).

Originally posted by desert rat

That helps a ton, thank you so much for your time.

No worries mate


[edit on 7-4-2006 by fingapointa]

Yes, thank you for the offer.

Don't forget the 'lame' extension that permits exporting as mp3s!!!

NC

I picked up some good Audacity tips here:


audacityteam.org...