Some people have asked what version of Pamela I was using in the previous video. I use the top package which is the professional version (although my interface is a little different looking from recent versions). It’s definitely worth the extra if you are planning on recording a lot via Skype and you can take a 30 day free trial just to be sure it’s what you want/need.

(apologies for the audio quality – I’m testing out different screen capture software and haven’t quite got to grips with all the settings)

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.

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!)

Ron “Micronet” Harwood of Colossal Marketing reminded me about the Time Shift Tool in Audacity, which is a much better and more precise way of moving and lining-up audio where you want it:

I’ll show you some final tips and tricks for getting your podcast into the right format and sounding at its best tomorrow.

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!

In my recent series of guest posts on Alice Seba’s blog, I talked about how easy it is to get started with Online Audio. The free recording software I suggested you use is called Audacity.

Unfortunately, in the space of a blog post it wasn’t possible to explain HOW to use Audacity, so I have created a series of short videos to show you the basics. Audacity is a cross-platform recording and editing software for audio, although I believe MAC users may have better alternatives (I’ll tell you what they are when I eventually get a MacBook Pro).

This video tutorial explains how to download Audacity and the LAME mp3 encoder:

The LAME mp3 encoder is important because mp3s are the format required by most online audio players and podcast directories. They are also smaller than .wav files, which makes them better for offering as downloads.

In the next Audacity tutorial I will show you some of the configuration options for the program and how to do some basic recording and editing.

A lot of people have been asking me recently about how to get started in creating and selling information products. I realised it’s a topic I know a helluva lot about, so I am putting together a full course on the subject.

Of course, some of you will also realise that I have joined forces with two other wonderful marketers – Allison Reynolds and Barb Sabathil – to create the Secret Women’s Business Network. This will be a community designed to help women develop their business skills, learn new skills, and network and mastermind with like-minded women. SWBN will launch in November, and the Information Marketing course will be one of the future learning modules you will receive free for being a member (i.e. I haven’t created it yet but it is in the works, and will follow on from the already essential modules that have been created).

If you are a business woman trying to make a living online, or you have a business in the “real world” and need an online presence but don’t know where to start, then please sign-up for updates from the Secret Women’s Business Network and we will keep you informed of all our progress and when the network will be open for business! Also follow SWBN on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SWBN

And, if you are a guy feeling very left out of things, then my apologies. You’ll be glad to hear that you don’t need to pretend to be a woman to get the Information Marketing course as I plan to release it as a standalone course too. Watch this space!