Is your audio too quiet? Too loud? In today’s posting, we will take our readers through the steps of using our favorite free, open-source audio editing software aka Audacity to get the amplitude just right by applying an Amplify effect.
Looking for Setup instructions? We’ve got you covered! Our recent Audacity for Windows 7 Installation Tutorial includes setting up LAME as well!
For today’s walk-through, we’ll be applying the Amplify effect using Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode) for Windows 7 (as run via Parallels on a MacBook Pro).
Step 1: MP3 Download
Before one can edit their AudioAcrobat recording in Audacity, the first step is to make sure that the file resides on the hard drive of the computer on which editing will be performed.
1. Login to your AudioAcrobat account
2. Click Audio (L)
3. Click the Title of the Audio you wish to Download
4. Click Download Audio
Looking for Expanded Steps? Try HERE.
Step 2: Open in Audacity
Now that the file our readers wish to edit is on their computer’s hard drive, they will want to open the file with Audacity. Right-click the file and choose Open With and select Audacity from the list. Don’t see it listed? Open Audacity from the Programs portion of the Start menu on the left side of the task bar. Open the software and click File >> Open, selecting the audio to be edited.
Once the file opens in Audacity, our readers will see something like this:
Step 3: Highlight, Amplify + Export
It really is that simple. Click and drag with the mouse cursor or for those keyboard enthusiasts out there use Shift + Left / Right arrow keys to make a selection.
For an Amplify effect, our readers will want to make sure to select the area which encompasses the intended duration for which the effect is to be applied.
Here our readers will want to select Effect >> Amplify as seen below:
Immediately after selecting the Amplify effect, the following pop-up window will appear:
Use the Amplification (dB) slider to increase (make louder) / decrease (make quieter) the Amplification effect to be applied. Use the Allow clipping check box to allow the adjusted waveform to exceed 0dB post-effect.
After applying the Amplify effect, our readers will see the waveform in the selected area either increase or decrease in size, depending on if they’ve chosen a positive or negative Amplification (dB) effect. For today’s example, we’ve chosen a positive Amplification value, which will cause the audio to become louder (and the waveform to become larger), as seen below:
When satisfied, select File >> Export to save the newly edited version and head over to AudioAcrobat in an internet browser to begin the upload process.
Here we’ve walked through the process of opening our file and applying an Amplification effect using Audacity for Windows 7. Did you get stopped somewhere in the process? Make sure you have LAME correctly setup then shampoo, rinse and repeat the steps listed above. Success will be yours!
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Coming up next … a new Audacity (Mac OS X) tutorial!
