Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/images/audacity-linux-small.jpg
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/images/audacity-windows.png

Audacity is one of the best freeware software available for audio production, and compares with some of the best, paid software around. Here is how you go about installing and using this software. You can download Audacity from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/.

Installing audacity is no big deal, and all you need to click on are the Next buttons (as usual) until the installation starts and finishes.

Audacity installs by default in C:\Program Files\Audacity\, unless you really need to change the path. This is the main folder. Inside this folder you will find another folder which is of much importance to us. This is the Plug-Ins folder. This is where you will keep all your plug-ins and use them as and when required by you. There are plenty of plug-ins available for Audacity and all you need to do is search the Net for some.

Here is the screen that you see when you run Audacity for the first time. For importing a file into Audacity, click on File > Open and then look for any audio file to import. Audacity can import WAV, MP3 and Ogg files.

If you are recording something then you need to use the microphone to record audio into Audacity. If you notice, the default selection in Audacity is the microphone. For recording, here's what you need to do.

Place your microphone close to your instrument. Make sure it isn't in your way while you're playing. To record, press the round red button, which is similar in almost all recording programs for computers.

You will not see the waveform while recording, but you will be able to monitor the amplitude. If it is getting close to the top and bottom of the panel, ( 1.0 and -1.0) lower the microphone volume using the slider with a microphone picture by it. If it is very thin, without getting near the "0.5 and -0.5" at the loudest points, you may need to raise the volume a little. When done, click on the square stop button. On playback the waveform will appear.

Once the recording is finished, click the Play button and it will play the music you just recorded. The next thing is to remove the blank space at the beginning and end of the recording. For now, trim to the approximate size (take care to not trim too much since you can set the start and end points more precisely with the 'Cut' tool later). Just place the mouse cursor right before the spot from where the music starts. Now holding the left mouse button down drag to the right, the waveform background will darken where you are dragging because you are selecting this area. When you get to the end of the music release the mouse button and go to Edit and click on it. Selecting 'trim' will remove the sections before and after the selected area.

Listen to the edited track so you know that you didn't cut it too short and if you did, don't worry, you can always undo what you did by clicking on 'Undo' under 'Edit' in the menu. Now to save the music file, go to File > Save project as, or if you want to save it as a WAV file, 'Export as WAV'. It will then let you chose where to save it and name it.

Once you have saved it, you can now load it back into the program and fool around with it all you want without messing with the copy you saved. If you have pauses within the music that you want removed, listen carefully and watch as you play your file back, making note of just where you think you need to cut. Then, place the mouse cursor at the left side of the spot that you need to cut out and holding the left mouse button down drag to the right. The waveform background will darken where you are dragging because you are selecting this area. Let up on the mouse button when you think you have marked the right area. If you think you marked it wrong, just move the cursor anywhere outside the panel the waveform is in, and left click-this will erase what you marked so you can start over.

You can also add various effects and more to the recording that you made. You can also use VST and Nyquist plug-ins. All this for free! The only thing that you need to have is a good system that can provide the software the juice that it needs to run properly.

Have fun, and send us some of the audio you create!