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   Audacity 2.1.1 Manual Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)   -  most common questions are answered in the FAQ Search the Wiki for extra tips and tutorials  Visit the Forum for technical help  Using Help Resources 

Guide to the Audacity Project Window 

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Additional Menus on Mac

 * <span title="The Audacity menu only appears on OS X. It includes some commands which are in other menus on non-Mac systems, plus some menu items which are generated by the operating system.">Audacity
 * <span title="The Window menu appears only on OS X. It contains commands for displaying and zooming project windows.">Window

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Additional Track types
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 * <span title="A Time Track is used in conjunction with one or more audio tracks to progressively increase or decrease playback speed (and pitch) over the length of the audio">Time Tracks
 * <span title="Note Tracks display data from MIDI files. Note Tracks cannot currently be played, but can be cut-and-paste edited, then exported to MIDI.">Note Tracks

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 * <span title="The easiest way to use Audacity is to import an existing audio file and make small changes. If you've never used Audacity before, this is a great place to start.">Editing an Audio File - Import the file, edit and export it
 * <span title="Learn how to connect the appropriate equipment and configure your sound device for microphone, guitar or keyboard recording">Your First Recording - Record microphone, guitar, keyboard
 * <span title="Record a simple narration, add some background music, cut the narration to fit the music, lower the volume of the music during the narration, and finally mix and export the final product">Mixing Voice with Background Music - For podcasts
 * <span title="Known good, working methods of creating a multiple track overdubbing session in Audacity. Record a track then play it while recording a new track underneath it, listening to a live mix of the previous track and the new recording.">Recording Multi-track Overdubs - Record over other tracks
 * <span title="Techniques which, on some stereo tracks, may allow you to remove or isolate vocals (or other parts of a recording) from the rest">Vocal Removal and Isolation
 * <span title="How to make an audio loop with Audacity. Looping is much easier with mono tracks. Export loops to WAV, not to MP3 or MP4.">Looping - make an audio loop with Audacity
 * <span title="Most modern cell phones can be customized with the user's own ring and answer tones. This tutorial will help you to prepare suitable sound files.">Making Ringtones - For your cellphone
 * <span title="How to record audio playing on your computer such as internet radio or audio from YouTube. Ensure you have permission to record. Extract the audio from CDs or DVDs or import audio from existing files into Audacity rather than try to record it.">Recording streaming audio playing on the computer

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 * <span title="How to record audio from physical media such as LPs or cassette tapes then produce a CD or an audio file for your computer or music player">Copying tapes, LPs and other media to CD or computer
 * <span title="There are a number of ways you can use Audacity to remove clicks and pops from your recording">Click and pop removal techniques
 * <span title="A popular method to divide a recording into separate songs, for export as files for a music player or for burning to CD">Splitting a recording into separate tracks
 * <span title="Audacity cannot burn CDs directly but audio files exported from Audacity can be used with a CD burning program to create an audio CD">Burning Audio CDs and <span title="Audacity cannot extract (rip) audio from CDs but other programs can be used to extract the CD data to an audio file that Audacity can import">How to import CDs
 * Exporting to iTunes and <span title="Files in iTunes can be imported into Audacity by dragging them in or using Audacity's Import Audio menu item, unless the files are DRM protected. On Windows you must add the FFmpeg library to import M4A files from iTunes.">Importing from iTunes
 * <span title="Outlines a set of example steps using Audacity to digitize LPs to create files that are ready for CD creation, loading into a digital jukebox or portable music player">Sample workflow for LP digitization
 * <span title="Outlines a set of example steps that can be used to get Audacity Projects (LP and tape transcriptions for example) into iTunes ">Sample workflow for exporting to iTunes
 * Recording 78rpm records

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Quick Help

 * <span title="A quick help guide for Audacity. Learn how to: play, record, edit, save sound files and burn to a CD.">Getting Started - Recording, Importing, Editing, Exporting...

Audacity Foundations

 * <span title="All editing in Audacity is done as a project. You can save then close the project at any time then come back to it later. The AUP project file manages a complex set of small internal AU files which are essential to the project.">Managing Audacity Projects - Audacity's internal workspace
 * <span title="How to change Audacity settings in Preferences, toolbars and menus for playback, recording and other customizations">Audacity Setup and Configuration
 * Preferences - changing your settings and <span title="Uninstalling Audacity does not automatically repair or reset your settings in Audacity Preferences. This FAQ tells you how to reset Audacity to its original as-shipped settings.">reset to default
 * <span title="Toolbars provide quick access to many functions in Audacity. In some cases the functions provided by a toolbar are available only through that toolbar.">Toolbars Overview - including how to arrange Toolbars
 * <span title="Each audio track containing digital audio contains from left to right: Track Control Panel, Vertical Scale and a visual representation of the audio">Audio Tracks, <span title="The waveform view uses two shades of blue - dark for the loudest peak in the waveform and light for the average RMS value. The RMS level is a rough guide to how loud the audio sounds.">Waveform view and  Spectrogram view
 * <span title="A Label Track is an additional track that can be created in your project. The labels in the label track can be used to reference points or regions in the project's audio tracks but the label track itself does not contain audio.">Label Tracks
 * <span title="Audacity offers many tools for playing all or part of a sound. There are also many recording options. ">Playing and Recording, <span title="Timeline Quick-Play provides a quick and convenient means to either start playback from any point within the current project or to playback a region of audio ">Quick-Play and <span title="Dragging the cursor across a segment of the waveform to hear it - a convenient way to quickly navigate an audio file and find a particular piece of audio. ">Scrubbing
 * <span title="How to import existing audio files (like WAV or MP3) for editing">Importing audio and <span title="You must use one of the Export commands to make an audio file for your music player, for other computer programs or for burning a CD. Only Audacity can open an Audacity project (AUP) file.">Exporting audio files  - For use in other programs
 * <span title="Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include MP3 encoding software or distribute such software from its own websites. Instead, use the instructions on this page to download and install the free and recommended LAME third-party encoder to export MP3 files from Audacity">LAME MP3 export and <span title="The optional FFmpeg library allows Audacity to import and export a much larger range of audio formats including AC3, AMR(NB), M4A, MP4 and WMA and to import audio from most video files">FFmpeg import/export  libraries for more formats
 * <span title="On-Demand Loading is an optional faster method of importing audio where the Audacity waveform starts to display almost immediately. You can move the play or edit position to draw the waveform from that point before the entire waveform has loaded.">On-Demand Loading of uncompressed files
 * <span title="Metadata Editor is used to enter or confirm information (such as artist, year or genre) that will be embedded in most exported audio files. Embedded metadata displays in software applications like iTunes® or Windows Media Player, or portable players like iPod®. ">Metadata Editor
 * <span title="Learn how to how to navigate the waveform or tracks (including moving the playback position) to identify audio for editing, and how to mark edit points">Navigation Tips, <span title="Learn how to view and adjust playback volume, and achieve smooth playback quality">Playback Tips and <span title="Learn how to align multiple tracks so that their audio starts at the same point on the timeline above the waveform">Audio Alignment Tips
 * <span title="A complete list of keyboard shortcuts that can be used in Audacity, arranged in functional groupings related to the Menu Bar and Toolbars">Keyboard shortcuts

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Editing with Audacity

 * <span title="Most Audacity operations involve selecting a range of audio in one or more tracks, then deleting or moving the selection or applying an effect to it which changes its sound. The selection can be made by mouse or keyboard.">Selecting audio and <span title="Using Spectral Selection you can select a frequency range as well as a time range, then apply an effect to modify the combined selection.">Spectral Selection
 * <span title="Audacity can split a track so as to create multiple clips within that track. Each clip in a track can then be moved around independently.">Clips - individual sections within an audio track
 * <span title="Use the commands in the Track Dropdown Menu to split a stereo track into separate tracks for left and right channel or to separate mono tracks. Also join two mono, left or right tracks into one stereo track.">Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks
 * <span title="Inspect a small portion of your audio in closeup, or see an overview of the entire project">Zooming
 * Effects, Generators  and  Analyzers
 * <span title="The purpose of a crossfade is to produce a smooth transition between two sections of audio. The two sections overlap and as one section fades out the other fades in.">Creating a Crossfade
 * <span title="Mixing combines multiple Audacity tracks which play simultaneously into a single track. Audacity mixes automatically when playing or exporting, but it can also physically mix selected multiple tracks together into one within the project.">Mixing Audio Tracks
 * <span title="Audacity stores a history of changes while the project is open so you can quickly undo or redo your changes">Undo, Redo and History

Help with Advanced Topics

 * <span title="Sync-Locked Track Groups ensure that length and position changes occurring anywhere in a defined group of tracks take place in all audio or label tracks in that group, even if those tracks were not selected">Sync-Locked Track Groups
 * Accessibility - Audacity for the visually impaired
 * <span title="Recording latency is an unavoidable delay where the recorded signal must be processed by the computer before it can be written to the Audacity waveform. This is only important in multi-track overdubbing where a newly recorded track must align with the tracks you are recording against. This tutorial shows how to make Audacity correct for recording latency.">Latency when recording overdubs
 * <span title="How to create a Chain (a sequence of preconfigured commands in a set order, mainly effects). The Chain can then be applied to the current project or can be used to batch-process audio files automatically.">Chains - for batch processing and effects automation
 * <span title="In the event of a crash while Audacity has unsaved data (such as a recording that has not yet been saved as a project, or an existing project with unsaved changes), Audacity will attempt to recover that data on next launch from an autosave recovery file">Crash Recovery
 * Customizing Audacity, <span title="The scripting module is an experimental GUI plug-in that allows Audacity to be driven by an external Perl or other script that supports named pipes. Currently you must compile Audacity to use this feature.">Scripting and  Simplifying Menus

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 * <span title="A work-in-progress list of pages in this Manual, arranged by subject">Subject Index
 * <span title="Brief explanations of technical terms related to digital audio, with some links to Wikipedia for more comprehensive explanations">Glossary of Terms
 * <span title="A list of the major contributors (past and present) to the development, maintenance and translation of the Audacity Manual">Credits

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 * <span title="Audacity is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2. This page has the full text of this license">Audacity License
 * <span title="If you are interested in joining our developer community please subscribe to our audacity-devel mailing list!">Information for Developers - join our developer community
 * <span title="Why Audacity, why free and why Open-Source?">Information for the Media - Audacity and free, open software

<hr style="margin-bottom:10px"> Links: Most links are to other pages in this Manual. Bold italicized links are to a description in our Glossary. Other <font color="#36b">italicised links are to pages external to this Manual, mostly to our main website or Wiki. We are not responsible for the content of any other external sites.

Screenshots: Unless otherwise stated, screenshots in this Manual are of Audacity running under its default settings on the Microsoft Windows 7&reg; operating system. Representative images of Audacity running on Mac OS X and Linux are also included.

Copyright: Unless otherwise noted, all pages in this Manual are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. In essence, you are free to (1) copy, distribute and transmit the work (2) to adapt the work, under condition you must attribute the work to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from us.