EDITED: Added notes regarding wave files.
This is not an exhaustive post, nor am I some sound engineer or expert. This is just a post to help with some basic features and functions using Audacity. Any corrections or additions are sincerely welcome, especially from those with more mixing experience. I don't mind learning a thing or two either.
If you wish to export your music as MP3s then you will need to download the "Lame" (no it's not a joke
) MP3 library. The links are available from the Audacity site. Remember where you downloaded it to, because you will need to find it later to use MP3s in Audacity. If you are new or unfamiliar with computers I would suggest you save it in "My Documents", because it's easy to find. Before you enable the MP3s, remember to unzip the file, Audacity will not recognize zipped files.
Install Audacity, if you need help setting up your hardware, the following post may be of help: http://forum.bandmix.com/viewtopic.php?p=24267#24267
Selecting the recording source:
Ok assuming Audacity installed good and you have your hardware setup ok. Start Audacity. At the top in the center you will see a speaker and a microphone. Next to the microphone you will see a pull down arrow. Here is where you select the recording source. Depending on the hardware and O/S you may not see anything to select and yet it may still work. I know that's the case on mine.
Basic setup:
The first thing you will want to do is click on the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences". It's here where you select your save directories, sound quality and MP3 library.
The "Audio I/O" tab:
Determines the "input"/record source and the "playback"/speakers to use. You can also select the number of channels. I use "2 speaker (stereo)", although up to 16 channels are available. For now I highly suggest you use only two channels, unless your sound card supports it and you fully intend somehow to export 16 separate channels at once. In most cases the defaults for recording and playback should work. If you have troubles recording or can't hear any playback. Check your volumes first. Make sure you Windows volume isn't muted and the correct recording and playback devices are set in Windows. If that does nothing then change these values to get the correct device.
The "Play other tracks while recording a new one" means exactly that. If you are using just Audacity to record you can import audio, play it and record a new original track along side the imported audio with this enabled. The "Software Playthrough" Means it will play as you record. I would suggest the first option "Play other tracks while recording a new one", since less then high end machines will have lag using this second option and messing with the original volume level while recording live and trying to match the two is just an extra unnecessary ordeal that can be avoided.
The "Quality" tab:
Default sample rate should be 44100 Hz and perfectly acceptable. If you go higher on this then your file sizes will be bigger and it comes down to who will be listening. If you want to post your music on the net, chances are real good their sound card will be set at 44100 Hz anyway. If you want to know how your music sounds to others, it's usually a good idea to listen to it as other people would normally hear it. Although setting this to a higher rate enables high sound resolution. In short the sound wave will be more detailed and bigger so you can edit finer details. For most cases 44100 Hz works fine. "Default Sample Rate" 32 bit float has good quality. If you want smaller files, you can export later at 24, or 16 bit. But of course the quality will suffer the lower you go.
"Real Time Sample Rate Convertor" It determines which convertor to use when the original sound you are importing is different then that of the sample rate of the project you are doing in Audacity. The default works fine which is "Fast Sinc Interpolation". I would imagine the the "High-Quality Sinc Interpolation" probably resamples at a higher quality (lol go figure
). The down side is how long it takes to import audio into Audacity. In most cases not too long, so if you feel ambitious and have a decent computer, sure go for High-Quality.
"High Quality Sample Rate Convertor" I would suggest leaving this at the default high quality setting. If your mixes and export time is way to long and I'm talking minutes, then you may want to use the high-speed instead.
"Real-Time Dither" Dithering smoothes out the audio. If you are familiar with paint programs or 3d video cards, think of this as anti-aliasing. Here you can select the sound wave shape to use for the dithering. For example if your track has a lot of pulses like a drum track, you may want to use a triangle shaped wave. If it's a flute which is like a sine wave, then use "shaped". If using a lot of straight out synth sounds, you would probably want to use rectangle. I use the default which is none. I don't use any because I want to know how it sounds to others and I take every opportunity to listen to it as they would hear it. It may be nice if the project has better sound using the dither, but the better the basic sound quality is the better the end mix will be. So dithering at real time may be deceiving, making it sound a bit better then what it actually is.
"High-Quality Dither"
If you are going to use dithering, here is were it counts. This is where you select the dithering sound shape for exporting and mixing. Remember the one above is just for playback during real-time. Here it is for keeps, what will eventually be written in the end mix.
"File Formats" tab:
"When importing uncompressed files into Audacity"
"Make a copy of the file before editing"
"Read directly from the original file"
I would suggest to make a copy before editing. Unless the source is something you can easily replace and prefer the convenience of having quicker audio importing. For me I use read directly since the original is already backed up on my recorder to begin with. In the worse case scenario I can always just re-record the original. If it was a once in the lifetime recording you wish to edit, then I highly suggest the first option as well as making a backup copy of the original wave file just in case.
"Uncompressed Export Format"
Ok a lot of options here, AIFF for apples, FLAC, CAF, AU, There is an "other" option as well, which also supports IFF (any amiga owners) W64, HTK, and RAW a lot of other formats as well. The one where it applies for most people using PCs will be .wav or Wave files. Since they are pretty big in size, I only export a wave file if I want a high quality version of an original. So I usually use "WAV (Microsoft 32 bit float)", since quality is my objective when exporting wave files in the first place. If you go 16 bit, of course the file will be half the size and the sound quality isn't bad. Just remember if it's some masterpiece you have spent hours/days on. I would use 32 bit, you can always delete it and re-export at 16. I don't know if it's my software I am using for ripping CDs but the other day I ran into a problem with writing 32 bit wave files to CD. It could just be my software ot the exported Audacity version isn't supported. In either case the 16 bit works fine and is still better quality then the MP3. The idea of uncompressed sound files is, well it's big, but is supposed to be lossless. That is there is no sound degradation when you save it to file. Every time you import and resave most compressed sound formats, you will lose a little sound quality. For example you open an MP3, which is compressed and resave it, decide it's not quite right. Open the saved file again then save it again. Eventually, I guarantee it will end up sounding like garbage.
"OGG Export" I am entirely unfamiliar with OGG file types. This slider controls the quality of the exported file, beyond that I haven't the foggiest idea.
"MP3 Export Setup"
Selecting the Lame MP3 library for enabling the export of MP3s, from the "Edit", "Preferences" menu:
You will see a tab on this page called "File Formats" click on that tab. There is a button called "Find Library". Click on that button and browse to where you have downloaded and saved and unzipped your "Lame" MP3 library earlier. Typically if you followed my earlier suggestion, then it should be in YourUsernname/MyDocuments/libmp3lame-x.xx The username is your username and the "x"s are the version number. If you are certain you are looking at the right place but don't see it, then make sure you unzipped the file first. Audacity will not recognize zipped files.
"Bit Rate"
This is pretty important when it comes to the final quality of the MP3 you're exporting. 256 bit is the usual quality you will get when you purchase a song online. You can select up to a 320 bit rate. A standard song is usually about 4 minutes long at 128 bits it will make a MP3 files about 4.5 megabytes in size. At 256 a little over 9 megabytes. At 320 probably a little over 10, most likely closer to 11.
Anyway when you upload music you typically have a size limitation on both the size of each individual file (For here and most better music sites it's 10 megabyte), for other sites less concerned about overall quality that limit can be as low as 4 megabytes. There is also the storage limit to consider as well, how much total space you are allowed. If you are tight on space, you may want to consider using a few lower quality MP3s like 128 bit for the stuff that's ok and save the 256 or 320 bit MP3s for the really good stuff. If someone is listening to song number 4, then songs 1-3 probably did a decent job of getting them interested. If short on space I would song 1 maybe 1 and 2 high rate, the rest lower.
"Spectrograms" tab
Select the size and highest frequency to display.
"Directories" tab
Here you select the temporary directory. The place it will use disk space for mixing.
For the "Interface", "Mouse" and "Keyboard" tabs I use the defaults. Although the "Autoscroll while playing" you may want to turn off. If you are zoomed all the way into a sound wave while editing, it's easy to lose your place if the autoscroll is on.
"Minimum display of db range"
I use the default of -36db. Most of my stuff is pre-amped anyway. If you want a larger display range select one here.
Ok well that's enough about the setup. Below I'll cover some basic mixing techniques using Audacity to the best of my knowledge. Which is very limited, but hopefully enough to get a start for anyone just starting mixing.♦
This is not an exhaustive post, nor am I some sound engineer or expert. This is just a post to help with some basic features and functions using Audacity. Any corrections or additions are sincerely welcome, especially from those with more mixing experience. I don't mind learning a thing or two either.

If you wish to export your music as MP3s then you will need to download the "Lame" (no it's not a joke

Install Audacity, if you need help setting up your hardware, the following post may be of help: http://forum.bandmix.com/viewtopic.php?p=24267#24267
Selecting the recording source:
Ok assuming Audacity installed good and you have your hardware setup ok. Start Audacity. At the top in the center you will see a speaker and a microphone. Next to the microphone you will see a pull down arrow. Here is where you select the recording source. Depending on the hardware and O/S you may not see anything to select and yet it may still work. I know that's the case on mine.
Basic setup:
The first thing you will want to do is click on the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences". It's here where you select your save directories, sound quality and MP3 library.
The "Audio I/O" tab:
Determines the "input"/record source and the "playback"/speakers to use. You can also select the number of channels. I use "2 speaker (stereo)", although up to 16 channels are available. For now I highly suggest you use only two channels, unless your sound card supports it and you fully intend somehow to export 16 separate channels at once. In most cases the defaults for recording and playback should work. If you have troubles recording or can't hear any playback. Check your volumes first. Make sure you Windows volume isn't muted and the correct recording and playback devices are set in Windows. If that does nothing then change these values to get the correct device.
The "Play other tracks while recording a new one" means exactly that. If you are using just Audacity to record you can import audio, play it and record a new original track along side the imported audio with this enabled. The "Software Playthrough" Means it will play as you record. I would suggest the first option "Play other tracks while recording a new one", since less then high end machines will have lag using this second option and messing with the original volume level while recording live and trying to match the two is just an extra unnecessary ordeal that can be avoided.
The "Quality" tab:
Default sample rate should be 44100 Hz and perfectly acceptable. If you go higher on this then your file sizes will be bigger and it comes down to who will be listening. If you want to post your music on the net, chances are real good their sound card will be set at 44100 Hz anyway. If you want to know how your music sounds to others, it's usually a good idea to listen to it as other people would normally hear it. Although setting this to a higher rate enables high sound resolution. In short the sound wave will be more detailed and bigger so you can edit finer details. For most cases 44100 Hz works fine. "Default Sample Rate" 32 bit float has good quality. If you want smaller files, you can export later at 24, or 16 bit. But of course the quality will suffer the lower you go.
"Real Time Sample Rate Convertor" It determines which convertor to use when the original sound you are importing is different then that of the sample rate of the project you are doing in Audacity. The default works fine which is "Fast Sinc Interpolation". I would imagine the the "High-Quality Sinc Interpolation" probably resamples at a higher quality (lol go figure

"High Quality Sample Rate Convertor" I would suggest leaving this at the default high quality setting. If your mixes and export time is way to long and I'm talking minutes, then you may want to use the high-speed instead.
"Real-Time Dither" Dithering smoothes out the audio. If you are familiar with paint programs or 3d video cards, think of this as anti-aliasing. Here you can select the sound wave shape to use for the dithering. For example if your track has a lot of pulses like a drum track, you may want to use a triangle shaped wave. If it's a flute which is like a sine wave, then use "shaped". If using a lot of straight out synth sounds, you would probably want to use rectangle. I use the default which is none. I don't use any because I want to know how it sounds to others and I take every opportunity to listen to it as they would hear it. It may be nice if the project has better sound using the dither, but the better the basic sound quality is the better the end mix will be. So dithering at real time may be deceiving, making it sound a bit better then what it actually is.
"High-Quality Dither"
If you are going to use dithering, here is were it counts. This is where you select the dithering sound shape for exporting and mixing. Remember the one above is just for playback during real-time. Here it is for keeps, what will eventually be written in the end mix.
"File Formats" tab:
"When importing uncompressed files into Audacity"
"Make a copy of the file before editing"
"Read directly from the original file"
I would suggest to make a copy before editing. Unless the source is something you can easily replace and prefer the convenience of having quicker audio importing. For me I use read directly since the original is already backed up on my recorder to begin with. In the worse case scenario I can always just re-record the original. If it was a once in the lifetime recording you wish to edit, then I highly suggest the first option as well as making a backup copy of the original wave file just in case.
"Uncompressed Export Format"
Ok a lot of options here, AIFF for apples, FLAC, CAF, AU, There is an "other" option as well, which also supports IFF (any amiga owners) W64, HTK, and RAW a lot of other formats as well. The one where it applies for most people using PCs will be .wav or Wave files. Since they are pretty big in size, I only export a wave file if I want a high quality version of an original. So I usually use "WAV (Microsoft 32 bit float)", since quality is my objective when exporting wave files in the first place. If you go 16 bit, of course the file will be half the size and the sound quality isn't bad. Just remember if it's some masterpiece you have spent hours/days on. I would use 32 bit, you can always delete it and re-export at 16. I don't know if it's my software I am using for ripping CDs but the other day I ran into a problem with writing 32 bit wave files to CD. It could just be my software ot the exported Audacity version isn't supported. In either case the 16 bit works fine and is still better quality then the MP3. The idea of uncompressed sound files is, well it's big, but is supposed to be lossless. That is there is no sound degradation when you save it to file. Every time you import and resave most compressed sound formats, you will lose a little sound quality. For example you open an MP3, which is compressed and resave it, decide it's not quite right. Open the saved file again then save it again. Eventually, I guarantee it will end up sounding like garbage.
"OGG Export" I am entirely unfamiliar with OGG file types. This slider controls the quality of the exported file, beyond that I haven't the foggiest idea.
"MP3 Export Setup"
Selecting the Lame MP3 library for enabling the export of MP3s, from the "Edit", "Preferences" menu:
You will see a tab on this page called "File Formats" click on that tab. There is a button called "Find Library". Click on that button and browse to where you have downloaded and saved and unzipped your "Lame" MP3 library earlier. Typically if you followed my earlier suggestion, then it should be in YourUsernname/MyDocuments/libmp3lame-x.xx The username is your username and the "x"s are the version number. If you are certain you are looking at the right place but don't see it, then make sure you unzipped the file first. Audacity will not recognize zipped files.
"Bit Rate"
This is pretty important when it comes to the final quality of the MP3 you're exporting. 256 bit is the usual quality you will get when you purchase a song online. You can select up to a 320 bit rate. A standard song is usually about 4 minutes long at 128 bits it will make a MP3 files about 4.5 megabytes in size. At 256 a little over 9 megabytes. At 320 probably a little over 10, most likely closer to 11.
Anyway when you upload music you typically have a size limitation on both the size of each individual file (For here and most better music sites it's 10 megabyte), for other sites less concerned about overall quality that limit can be as low as 4 megabytes. There is also the storage limit to consider as well, how much total space you are allowed. If you are tight on space, you may want to consider using a few lower quality MP3s like 128 bit for the stuff that's ok and save the 256 or 320 bit MP3s for the really good stuff. If someone is listening to song number 4, then songs 1-3 probably did a decent job of getting them interested. If short on space I would song 1 maybe 1 and 2 high rate, the rest lower.
"Spectrograms" tab
Select the size and highest frequency to display.
"Directories" tab
Here you select the temporary directory. The place it will use disk space for mixing.
For the "Interface", "Mouse" and "Keyboard" tabs I use the defaults. Although the "Autoscroll while playing" you may want to turn off. If you are zoomed all the way into a sound wave while editing, it's easy to lose your place if the autoscroll is on.
"Minimum display of db range"
I use the default of -36db. Most of my stuff is pre-amped anyway. If you want a larger display range select one here.
Ok well that's enough about the setup. Below I'll cover some basic mixing techniques using Audacity to the best of my knowledge. Which is very limited, but hopefully enough to get a start for anyone just starting mixing.♦
Last edited by lalong on Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.