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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Podcasting for E-Learning: Setting Audacity Preferences

Setting Audacity Preferences on Your Computer

Before beginning a recording project in Audacity, it's necessary to configure your version of Audacity’s preferences in the Edit Preferences dialog box. This ensures that the sound source and playback options are set correctly as well as bit-rate, quality indicators and so on. Follow this step-by-step procedure to configure Audacity for your computer and operating system.

Configuring Audacity

You Try

  1. Launch Audacity
  2. Check the Preferences.
    Checking the Audacity preferences is very important step and should be done before you begin editing any audio. You can locate the Preferences Dialog box by going to Edit Preferences, or the shortcut key combination CTRL+P.
  3. Set Audio Input & Outputs.
    Select the Audio I/O tab from the choices across the top of the Preferences Dialog box. I/O is short for Input Output and is where you’ll tell it to record your sound from and where to play it back.
  4. Set Playback Output.

    Audacty_Pref_pb
    From the Playback Device: drop-down menu, select the output device that you would like to route the sound through. In this case, I’m sending the signal via my internal PC sound card.
  5. Set Recording Input.

    Audacty_Pref_IO

    From the Recording Device drop-down list, select the sound source you want to record from. In this case, I’m selecting the SigmaTel sound card, which takes input from the microphone that I’m going to use to record some voiceover narration.

    audacity_pref_chk
    If you’re recording music, select the Record in Stereo check box. If you’re just recording voice-over narration, leave it unchecked. Similarly, uncheck the "Play other tracks while recording new one” option (unless you’re Les Paul or Mary Ford).
  6. Sound Quality Tab.

    audacity_prefs_qual
    The Quality tab is where you’ll set the quality of your audio. The higher the sample rate, the better quality your audio, but the larger the file size will be. For CD quality sound, record at 44,100 Hz. You’ll typically leave the other settings at their factory defaults.

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