This video shows you how to go back and take mistakes out of your audio, add a retake and then mix them together into one audio track again. It’s really simple, and the good thing about Audacity is it makes it difficult for you to make any silly mistakes when editing and re-recording.

Hope this helps – let me know if you have any other questions about using Audacity

If you have the option, make sure you click the HQ button on the bottom right of the video in order to see it in higher resolution (otherwise it all looks a bit fuzzy).

Don’t forget to watch my previous Audacity videos for more tips by doing a search on the blog for Audacity Tutorial.

Video marketing can offer so many benefits to your business, whether a blog, niche product or bricks and mortar small business:

• alternative ways for new customers/readers to find you (YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the web now with 3.5 million people visiting EVERY DAY)!
• a way to improve your rankings in the search engines who love video share sites (you can get a good ranking for your videos on the video share sites PLUS the link back to your own website will also improve your site’s ranking and authority)
• a different format for people to consume your information. Some of us like to read, some like to listen and some prefer to watch video – we are all different and if you aren’t offering customers and visitors different ways to consume your content you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

Just as an example, I have mentioned previously how much traffic I enjoy from my series of Audacity tutorials that I posted on YouTube. At the latest count, over 125,000 people have viewed a video within that series and, naturally, it accounts for a good proportion of my website traffic every month (and it’s a marketing method that just keeps giving!)

You don’t need to have thousands of viewers to see the benefits

I recently helped launch a small local business online and immediately created some videos for them. They have been viewed by only a handful of people but are already bringing traffic to the site and helping them improve their search engine rankings. In fact, within days of posting a video, the YouTube page was already ranking on the first page of Google for a highly competitive local keyword phrase, and as a result it has given the main site an almighty boost in rankings.

In fact, I set up a new YouTube account to showcase example videos for We Make Videos for You and I discovered today that 3 of the first page listings on Google for the keyword phrase Video Marketing Example are links to my videos. With 32,100,000 pages competing for that term, I’ll be honest – even I was impressed (go check it out yourself).

Can You Do Your Own Video Production?

Absolutely! You know me..I’m always offering you the Do-It-Yourself approach to audio and video production. But I realised that even with all the tools and software available for creating online videos, many of you are still not making them.

Also, I realised that no matter how many times I tell you that you have a great voice and should use it in your videos and audio, many of you still don’t, and that you’d really like to have videos made for you with professional voice and audio tracks on them instead of your own voice or (much much worse) a computerized voice.

So, that’s how We Make Videos for You was born.

I would love you to go and check it out and see if I can be of service to you in your business. There is a special offer on until the end of November so it’s worth having a look sooner rather than later. Plus, if you let me know that you came via the Audible Marketing site (pop it in the Paypal notes or the video submission form) I’ll do some keyword reasearch for you so you can upload your video with super effective title and keywords!

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It was pretty good for her first try (and I don’t want to sound patronizing when I say that).

A few things I noticed:

• the answering machine audio sounds a bit distorted. That may be because I talk too loud (I like to call it projection) but if it’s possible to lower the recording level slightly that might help.
• the answering machine audio would probably benefit from a little noise reduction to eliminate the hiss in the background
• the levels need to be evened out a little bit

As explained in this video, the best way to get a good, even level is to record at the correct level right from the beginning. If there are still obvious discrepancies  then the volume levels should be evened out using the amplification feature of Audacity before mixing the audio.

This video shows how to do this (on the already mixed audio) and then shows some other features that can help make your audio sound more professional.

I would stress that there is a fine line between enhancing your audio and over-doing all the effects.

Here is the original audio file Allison mixed together:

Download audio file (donkey-podlife.mp3)

And this is it after changes have been made to the amplification, compression and normalization (you should be aware that the 2nd piece of audio has been downsampled to a bit rate of 96 from 128 so the overall quality will also be slightly lower):

Download audio file (donkey-podlife-enhanced.mp3)

This podcast is so small that downsampling to 96kbps may not be necessary.

Note also that Allison has done her ID3 tags homework so you will see the details of the podcast in the mp3 player.

(And my sincerest apologies to everyone in the West Country for my terrible attempt at the accent!)

Once you have your concept and you have decided the way you want it to sound, how often you will produce it, and the format it will take, you’re ready to record it.

I’m not going to go into detail on how to record your podcast as I’ve discussed the basics here recently (What Podcasting Equipment do I Need?) and have covered a lot of the recording and editing process in my Audacity tutorial videos.

One thing I will cover again is theme music.

You can set your podcast apart from others and give it a strong identity by the simple use of a piece of music to play in and out of the podcast (and maybe even distinguish between segments). It’s something I suggest you take some time over in order to find just the right piece.

Where can I find good podcast theme music?

One company I highly recommend and have used myself a lot over the years is ProductionTrax. I suggest you revisit my posts What is Royalty Free Music? and Finding Royalty Free Music. You can visit the ProductionTrax site and listen to endless tracks of music to find the one you think will suit you. Take the time to listen to a variety but narrow it down by using the right keywords or the relevant category. If you don’t like the idea of doing much editing then consider buying a piece from their 30 second spots or 60 second spots section.

Another great site, which I found through Twitter, is Shockwave Sound. They have a large number of good ready-made collections. If you are anticipating needing production music for more than one project then, economically, it can be worthwhile buying a collection of music with a variety of tracks rather than just one track. The collections on Shockwave Sound have different versions for each track as well so, for example, you may receive a full length version, 60 seconds, 30 seconds, and various loops.

Want the Really Easy Version?

I discovered Front and Back Music a while back from Mike Stewart (it was still available last time I looked although it has been around for a few years) who is famous for audio and video products in the Internet Marketing world. His product offers 50+ cuts of music that are ready-made to add to the front and back of your podcast. More importantly, he offers some software, with easy to follow tutorials that will show you exactly how to mix your audio.

Two things that I really like about this product and made me recommend it to you:

1. Mike has found a way to make it as simple as possible to create your podcast (and other production) intros and outros regardless of your technical expertise (or lack of)
2. All the cuts of music are yours to use whenever and wherever you choose. Once you have paid your $97 (or $179) for Mike’s product you have unlimited use of all the music and don’t have to pay for a new licence. That is incredibly cost effective if you want to start using music for other productions.
3. (I know I said 2 but I just thought of another one) Mike’s music is good quality and professional sounding. Sometimes you can find a package of music tracks that require just one payment for unlimited use, but when you buy them they all sound like they have been created on a 1980s Casio keyboard.

What does all the jargon mean?

Some of the words you may come across when it comes to production music are:

Loop – this is a short piece of music that is edited in a certain way so that it can be played over and over again (looped) without any obvious edits.

Ident (or audio logo) – a short piece of music usually combined with a voiceover and/or sound effects to identify a product, service or show. Radio stations use them all the time, but so do many companies to identify their products. I was trying to think of an example that anyone in the world could relate to so I picked the Columbia Pictures audio and visual logo that appears on all their films:

Sting (or Stinger or bumper) – a short clip of music (usually no more than 10 – 15 seconds) that can be used to introduce or link sections of your production. In podcasting this might be used to punctuate different elements of the podcast, such as when you move from an introduction to an interview, or to distinguish when you are moving onto a different topic.

Cuts – exactly what it sounds like, a cut is simply a short piece of music that has been cut out of a longer piece.

Royalty Free can be Misleading

As I’ve mentioned previously, Royalty Free does not mean free. Each piece of royalty free music will have different licence restrictions and prices. Make sure you read the terms and conditions of that licence carefully and buy the licence that is relevant to you.

OK, you have your concept, your theme and your podcast all mixed and ready to publish. In the next post I’ll cover something you may not even have thought or heard of before that you must tackle before finding hosting and publishing your podcast.

Thanks to Gord Young for introducing me to this fantastic service that combines article marketing with video marketing and enables you to turn your articles into videos quickly and simply.

Watch these 2 videos on Article Video Robot as I walk you through creating a video out of one of my own articles.

This is so powerful for reaching new people, building relationships, increasing accessibility to your content, and leveraging the things you already do.

The service offers stock photos and music (as well as video if you are a business member) to add to your videos. Plus you can choose a computerized voiceover or you can record it yourself (either pre-record or record it live).

I’m not a big fan of computerized voiceovers (big surprise!) but I know many of you have already discovered Odiogo, which will automatically turn your articles into audio – again, great for added accessibility on your blog. I would prefer to hear you read your articles because what you have written in your own “voice” is bound to sound better in your own voice, but I know many are not as comfortable with recording their voice as I am (go on….bust through that comfort zone!).

This is the final version of the video I made:

Obviously, you will want to play around with the tools to perfect your videos and Article Video Robot offers a free 14 day trial in order to do this. Unfortunately, they only allow you to do certain things with the free videos you have created so you cannot upload them to Youtube or download them – you are reliant on the embed code, which I have used here (and find a bit stuttery and unreliable).

Also, the live recording doesn’t conform to my audio perfectionism streak (some might call me anal) but I can overcome that by pre-recording and uploading the mp3 (see the Audacity tutorials if you are unsure how to do this).

But, overall this service is exceptional and means you can harness the power of article marketing AND video marketing: more online real estate, more quality backlinks and greater accessibility.

Go and try out Article Video Robot for yourself, and if you decide to buy, add tryme30 on the payment page for a 30% discount (join the Summer of Sound mailing list near the top right of this blog before 10th September 2009 to receive a full 50% discount)

Someone mentioned to me once or twice that Internet video marketing not only worked but that it worked REALLY well

At the beginning of October I started making some screen capture videos about using Audacity. They were simply basic tutorials on how to use Audacity to record your voice and add music. Using just a few of the tips I learned from Jason Moffatt’s Easy Video Sales, I added these videos to YouTube and to this blog.

I have to say I am amazed at the results:

• The Audacity tutorials are by far my most viewed pages on the blog (although that isn’t a complete surprise since they are my only posts – except two – since 1st October)
• More importantly, 25% of unique page views are to one of those video pages
• 20% of my traffic is coming from YouTube
• People are spending longer and viewing more pages on my site
• Additionally, 12,223 people have watched my Audacity YouTube videos (according to their stats).

It isn’t enough to just put your videos out there and hope people see them. Like anything online you need to pick the best keywords, do some promotion, and if you want viewers to do something in particular after watching your videos (instead of moving onto someone else’s video) there has to be a strong call to action and/or motivation for them to click away from YouTube.

Easy Video Sales has certainly helped me to build a nice chunk of traffic to my videos, and I plan on taking more of Jason’s advice to boost that traffic (including getting the videos out there on more than just YouTube). Oh, and maybe I should consider how I’m going to monetize these babies! One thing’s for sure, I should have listened to Ed Dale a long time ago when he raved about video – he does know a thing or two about Internet Marketing

And, you’ll be glad to know, there are more Audacity videos on the way.

It shows you how to add a new track to appear alongside your voice track, simply fade the music in and out, and mix the tracks together.

Unfortunately the video is 17 minutes long (and Youtube only allow a maximum of 10mins for videos) so this is the first half:

And this is the second half:

There are many other ways you can edit music and mix it, but this was the simplest one to demonstrate how quickly and easily it can be done (especially as you are unable to hear the audio I am mixing – must look into other ways of recording it so you can hear what I hear).

Firstly, how to make the audio louder or softer. Especially in interviews, you will often find one person is louder than the other. There is a very simple way to boost or quieten audio using Audacity.

Secondly, recordings of just voices sometimes have obvious background noise and various clicks and pops that you never noticed while recording. There are two features in Audacity that can help you screen out some of these noises.

My only suggestion with these tools is that you don’t over-use them, or have the settings too high. They can make the audio sound tinny, and I would personally prefer to hear a recording that has some depth (even if there is a bit of background noise) than a recording that sounds soulless. But it is very much a matter of personal preference and it is worth playing around with the settings until you like what you hear.

In the next Audacity tutorial I will show you how to bring in another track, which is useful if you want to mix some music with your voice track.

Thanks to Doug for pointing out another reason you might be having problems recording your voice. It may have nothing to do with your Audacity preferences, and be related to your computer’s audio properties. For more information on how to change your settings, this AGNR page has a good description.

I’ll be getting more advanced with editing and mixing in the next videos, so if you have a particular problem and wonder how it can be achieved in Audacity, please post your questions below in the comments section.

As always, you follow along in real time as I re-discover Audacity so apologies for any dithering

Today, I was being trained to gather and present travel news for a variety of radio stations around the UK. For the pre-recorded segments they use Audacity. The guy training me said “Do you know how to use Audacity?” Made me laugh!