Hey Mac users — Does your drum sample require a deeper bass tone? Is your vocal track mostly treble? 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 bass level just right by applying a BassBoost effect.
Looking for Setup instructions? We’ve got you covered! Our recent Audacity for Mac OS X Installation Tutorial includes setting up LAME as well!
For today’s walk-through, we’ll be applying the BassBoost effect using Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode) for Mac OS X.
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 Applications menu on the dock. 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, Boost + 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 a BassBoost 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 >> BassBoost as seen below:
Immediately after selecting the BassBoost effect, the following pop-up window will appear:
Use the Frequency (Hz) slider to decrease (deeper bass) / increase (higher bass) the frequency to be boosted. Use the Boost (dB) slider to adjust the amplitude (amount) of the boost.
Use the Preview button to sample the effect before making a commitment and press OK to confirm the settings and apply the effect.
After applying the BassBoost effect, our readers will see the waveform in the selected area increase in size, depending on the amount of the Boost (dB) effect and selected Frequency (Hz). For today’s example, we’ve chosen the default values of 200 (Hz) and 12 (dB), and the effect can be seen applied below:
Hint: Compare this to the original waveform seen earlier in this post and see if you can pinpoint the area we boosted.
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 a BassBoost effect using Audacity for Mac OS X.
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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