© UNT in partnership with TEA1 Digital & Interactive Media Digital Audio Editing

Digital Audio Sound:  Sound is simply waves of compressed air that move out from its source, similar to dropping a stone in water.  Your ears are sensitive to these compressed waves. As the sound waves interact with your ear drum, the signal is sent to your brain, converting them to the sounds that you recognize. © UNT in partnership with TEA2IT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing

Digital Audio  Analog Sound © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing3 Analog sound is recorded by using some property of the original sound to reproduce the signal. Often when analog sound is recorded, external interference, called noise, can get recorded each time the sound is re-recorded, resulting in each generation of the recording losing quality.

Digital Audio © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing4  Digital Sound Digital audio is sound that has been stored as numerical data which can be easily reproduced and manipulated. Digital sound can be reproduced numerous times without losing quality.

Audio Equipment  In addition to your computer, the only additional piece of hardware you will need is a microphone.  A simple PC microphone will work. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing5  Make sure the microphone is connected to the microphone input on your computer.

Audio Equipment  You will also need some recording and editing software as well. For this lesson we will use an audio editing program called Audacity.  Audacity is an Open Source Audio Editing application that can be downloaded and distributed for free. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing6

Basics of Audacity  Open Audacity  Should have an icon that looks like blue ear phones with sound waves. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing7

Basics of Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing8 ●Record ●Skip to End ●Skip to Start ●Stop ●Playback ●Pause

Basics of Audacity  Mixer Toolbar © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing9 The left slider is the volume control of the playback. The right slider is the Recoding Volume Dropdown menu allows you to select the input source for recording.

Basics of Audacity  Editing Toolbar © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing10 Cut Copy Paste Trip Outside Selection Silence Selection Undo Redo Zoom In Zoom Out Fit selection in Window Fit project in Window The Editing Toolbar provides many shortcuts to common editing tools used to modify audio clips.

Basics of Audacity  Audacity Project File .aup  Can be reopened and individual components can be edited.  Cannot be read on standard audio players.  Common Audio file types .wav – Windows audio file .mp3 – Requires an additional update to create © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing11

Using Audacity  We will first create a simple recorded audio clip using your own voice.  You will need to make sure your microphone is properly connected to your computer.  Next, make sure Audacity is open. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing12

Using Audacity  Press the Record button and read the poem below into the microphone. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing13 Sandra’s seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll, Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins’ gold. Donald heard a mermaid sing, Suzy spied an elf, But all the magic I have known, I’ve had to make myself.  When finished, press the Stop button.

Using Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing14 Two tracks will appear in your Audacity window. Tracks are graphical representations of the sound waves. The two tracks shown indicate that the audio was created in stereo.

Using Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing15 ●Click on Effect. ●Select Leveller from the list.

Using Audacity  Saving an Audio File  Can save as an Audacity Project  Saved as a Project  Can open and edit individual tracks and added components of an audio file  Cannot be played on standard computer audio players  Can save as a standard audio file  Exported  Compresses all tracks into a single track  Cannot be reopened to be edited  Can be played on standard computer audio players © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing16

Using Audacity  Saving an Audio File  Click on File  Select Export  Select the location specified by your instructor.  Enter Magic as the file name.  Set the Save as Type to WAV.  Click Save. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing17

Using Audacity  Saving an Audio File  You will then be asked to enter data about the audio file.  Enter your name next to Artist Name.  Click Ok. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing18

Using Audacity  Open the file MoonLanding.mp3. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing19 The file is the communication between the Apollo 11 and Mission Control before and after Neil Armstrong steps onto the Moon’s surface.

Using Audacity  Locate the Tool Selector toolbar.  Click on the Selection Tool.  Listen to the audio and select the portion of the audio where Neil Armstrong says “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  The phrase is around the 3:30 area of the clip. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing20

Using Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing21 “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The selected clip should just be a small portion of the original sound clip.

Using Audacity  Trimming the Clip  We want to trim away everything outside of the selected area.  From the Editing Toolbar, select the Trim tool. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing22

Using Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing23  Finishing the clip  When we cut away the excess sound clip, the selected clip is still almost 3 minutes into the sound clip.

Using Audacity  From the Tool Selection toolbar, select the Time Shift tool. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing24 Drag the clip to the far left of the time line.

Using Audacity © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing25  Click the Playback button to make sure that only the selected clip plays, and that it plays immediately at the start of the clip.  Export the audio file as MoonLanding.wav

Podcasting  Media distributed over the internet via syndicated download.  Podcasting is not limited to iPod. The concept was conceived by Apple.  Podcasts can be viewed on computers, iPods, or PDAs.  Podcasts allow visitors subscribe and automatically download audio clips and listen to them offline. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing26

Podcasting with Audacity  Audacity can be used for creating Podcasts  Podcasts audio files must be saved as an mp3.  Will need to install an update called Lame, which will allow Audacity to create MP3 files.  When you try to export as an MP3 the first time, it will give you the option of going to the download page to install the update. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing27

© UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing28 How Podcasts Work Originally, broadcasts were made at specific times. You had to be available at that time to receive the broadcast.

Podcasting © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing29 Podcasting utilizes a feature knows as RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Used for content that is updated regularly. Requires you to use a program such as a Reader to check for articles or a Receiver to download podcasts. The Reader/Receiver automatically checks for updates.

Podcasting Receivers © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing30 Google Reader iTunes Juice The Podcast Receiver will automatically check the RSS Channel page regularly and download any new podcasts.

© UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing31 Upload files to your server and update your RSS feed page. Subscribers automatically receive the updates to their devices

© UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing32 The RSS feed, or RSS Channel, is a special page that contains all the Podcasts and is recognized by Readers and Receivers. Visitors enter the URL of this page in their Podcast Receiver to subscribe. Available podcasts Podcast Channel

Creating the Podcast  To create your podcast:  Record your podcast.  Upload to your podcast server.  Update your podcast channel.  Your subscribers will automatically receive your new podcast on their receiver. © UNT in partnership with TEAIT: Digital and Interactive Media – Digital Audio Editing33