eLearning For Teachers: Di Goodman (Epoff)

A summary of the steps involved in importing an audio file into Audacity

You must convert the file through iTunes if your files are not any of the following: WAV, AIFF, OGG, or MP3

1. In iTunes Edit menu go to > Preferences > Advanced > Importing > Select Import Using WAV encoder

2. Go back to the iTunes library & click on (select) the file, then go to the Advanced menu> Convert selection to WAV

3. A duplicate file will appear next to the original. If you cant see which one is which, go to the View menu > View Options > ckeck the ‘Kind’ box and then go back to the library to identify the WAV version of your file.

4. Drag this file to the desktop. You can then drag it straight into Audacity and it will load in the Track pane

To edit an audio file

1. Drag in from the far left margin of the track until you see a greyed out area the cursor will convert to a pointer finger - slide to the exact edit point

2. Do the same with the right side of the track

3. Go to Edit > cut

To add voice (recording with a microphone)

1. Attach a peripheral device if desired ( a microphone)

2. Go to the control panels (Audio/Sound) to check that it is the active recording device. Or, use the inbuilt microphone (it will not sound as good)

3. Click the Red record button in the toolbar to commence recording

4. Click again to stop

To export as an MP3 file

1. Go to File menu > export > selcet type eg MP3 and the destination folder

2. You may need to install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity first - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.