This lab introduces sound recording and mixing tools. We will use software called Audacity. Audacity is a free audio editing program available from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ We will use this audio software to record our own voice and a sound clip. Both sounds will then be mixed to produce a personal greeting.
Audacity is a digital sound editor for Windows. You might think of it as a paint program for audio -- just as a paint program enables you to create images with colors, brush strokes, and a variety of special effects, Audacity enables you to "paint" with sound: tones, pieces of songs and voices and miscellaneous noises, or just pure silence.
Materials
Procedure
The procedure is a three step process:
· Record your own voice message
· Import the sound clip
· Mix both sounds together
1. Click Start / Programs, select Audacity
2. Plug in your headset. If you have a headset with a microphone, plug the cables into the appropriate connectors on the PC. If you have a headset without a microphone, plug the cable into the connector for the microphone and use the LEFT ear pieces to record your voice (the left ear piece will work as a microphone).
3. Set the operating system audio control to record from your microphone
o Find the image of a loudspeaker towards the right-side of the taskbar and double-clink on it to bring up the Volume Control.
o Choose Options / Properties. Click the button for Adjust Volume for Recording. In the dialog box you will see a message Show the following volume controls.
o Adjust the volume by moving the volume sliders for Recording and Microphone to the top of the slider
o Close that window.
4. Open a new sound window using File/New.
10. Use the File / Export as WAV option to save your file as voice.wav
1. Locate a sound clip in .mp3 or .wav format (birds chirping, ocean waves, etc.).
2. Save this sound clip on your diskette or in the home folder on the computer's hard drive
3. From the File menu, select Project / Import Audio
4. Select the sound clip you would like to import
5. After completion of the import process, you should now see two audio files on the screen, the 1st audio file containing your voice, the 2nd audio file containing the imported sound.
6. Cut out the unwanted part of the sound clip recording. You can select and cut any part of the sound clip recording just like you would select and cut text. Select the part you want to delete, then select edit / delete from the File menu. Sounds, especially high quality sounds have large storage requirements, and it is recommended to keep the total length for this assignment to 20 seconds or less.
1. We will now mix our two recordings. We will mix the recordings using the quick mix function. This function will mix both sounds into one sound file.
2. Use Edit / Select / All from the File menu.
3. Select Project / Quick Mix. Both files are now mixed, and the voice recording is overlaying the sound clip in the beginning of the file.
4. Select the file by using Edit / Select / All
5. Save your audio file as Lab14greeting.wav using the File / Export as WAV option.
Submitting your .wav file:
Send
an e-mail to webster@towson.edu and
attach one file: Lab14greeting.wav
with the Subject Heading “COSC 109.102: Submitting Lab Assignment
#14”
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