Introduction to Music Technology

Editing Audio
(Audio Exercise 1)

The pupose of this exercise is to give you a first opportunity to edit audio in Audacity.

Download one or more of the Work Files below and edit the audio to match its Final version. To dowload a file, right click on a Work File link, look for Save Target As, Save Link As, Download Linked File (or something similar) then save the file in your personal folder.

For the music you choose, listen closely to the Final version, note where the excerpt begins, its total length, and where the fade out begins.

Choose one of these Work Files:

1. Work File 1 to download. Your final version should sound like this: Final 1
2. Work File 2 to download. Your final version should sound like this: Final 2
3. Work File 3 to download. Your final version should sound like this: Final 3

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Work File you have downloaded from the web in Audacity.
2. Immediately save your project file in your folder (File > Save).
3. Find the starting point of the excerpt then select everything before that point and delete it.
4. Find the endpoint of the excerpt then select everything after that point and delete it.
5. Add a fade-out at the end by highlighting a section at the end and choosing Fade Out from the Effects menu. The length of the fade out should match the one in the final version of the excerpt.
6. Add a very short fade-in at the beginning of the excerpt by selecting a very short section at the beginning (.01 sec.) and choosing Fade In from the Effects menu. (Use the Zoom tool to zoom in at the start. Watch the Time Ruler to see how much you have zoomed.)
7. Save your project. (Always save your project every few minutes!)
8. Create an audio version of your project by choosing Export from the File menu. For this exercise choose mp3 as the type.

When creating media (audio, video, etc.) in most media-creation applications you'll have a project file where you create/edit your work AND a media file which is the result of your work. The project file contains only information about the project, information needed to create the media version of the project.

To create the media file itself you "Render" or "Export" to the media file. The term used will depend on the program you're using. The command is usually found on the File menu. (Think of this rendering/exporting process as a way of saving the file - but in a different format.)

Audacity project file names end in ".aup". The media file names you can export in Audacity can end in ".mp3", ".wav", ".aif" to name a few.

We'll talk about the importance of these two, three or four letters that follow the dot (.) in a file name in an upcoming class. They're called file extensions.