Download Audacity in the Classroom

Audacity in the Classroom
Joe Comm
Overview
• A free download tool to record audio
files (voice, music, or both).
Materials
• Teacher laptops, power cords,
internet access,
headphones/earbuds and computer
microphones
Features & Benefits
• It’s free.
• It’s available for both Mac and PC.
• It’s fairly intuitive and doesn’t require a large
investment of time to learn.
• It will do 90% of what most people need.
• Most of what you learn in Audacity can be
applied to other audio editing programs.
• Popular, updated frequently, and has good
documentation and discussion boards
online.
Teacher Ideas
• Record make-up work for absentees
• Record mini-lessons for students who
need remediation
• Record songs that emphasize skills or
rules that need to be remembered
• Record stories for struggling readers
• Record book talks
Student Ideas
• Record book or movie reviews
• Practice reading and listening to
oneself for improvement
• Tell personal or fictional stories written
in class
• “Teach” mini-lessons on topics they
have mastered
• Conduct interviews for assignments
The Stock Market Game
This Week In GOAL
Skill Songs
Record Fluency Tests
Introduce a Lesson
Audio Lesson Preview
The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal
A GOAL Thematic Unit Presentation
Create Your Own
Audio Books
Record Slide Show
Narration
Record Book Talks
Edit Music
OUTTAKES
Can You See the Music?
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create Audio
Biographies
Create Audio Games
Use Music with
Reading
Set the Scene with
Sound Effects
Use to Show Progress
Celebrate Mistakes
Podcasting
Tutorial
• Basic buttons
• Microphone
• Recording
• Saving as mp3 file
• Adding audio (sounds, music)
• Editing and fine tuning
• Whole group project
• Individual projects
Download
• Download at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
− You will also need the LAME Encoder
for MP3 at http://www-
users.york.ac.uk/~raa110/audacity
/lame.html
Features
• The following is a list of features in
Audacity, the free audio editor. For
more information on how to use
these features, go to the help pages.
Recording
Audacity can record live audio through a
microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings
from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or
minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can
also capture streaming audio.
• Record from microphone, line input, or other
sources.
• Dub over existing tracks to create multitrack recordings.
• Record up to 16 channels at once (requires
multi-channel hardware).
• Level meters can monitor volume levels
before, during, and after recording.
Import Export
Import sound files, edit them, and combine
them with other files or new recordings.
Export your recordings in several common
file formats.
• Import and export WAV, AIFF, and AU, files.
• Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3
files).
• Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder
library.
• Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning
to CD.
• Import and export all file formats supported
by libsndfile.
Editing
• Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste,
and Delete.
• Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go
back any number of steps.
• Very fast editing of large files.
• Edit and mix an unlimited number of
tracks.
• Use the Drawing tool to alter
individual sample points.
• Fade the volume up or down
smoothly with the Envelope tool.
Effects
• Change the pitch without altering the
tempo, or vice-versa.
• Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant
background noises.
• Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter,
and Bass Boost effects.
• Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify,
and Normalize effects.
• Other built-in effects include:
Echo
Phaser
Wahwah
Reverse