Audacity Setup and Configuration/it

Not Ready for Proofreading Bill Nov 29/09: Page expanded and restructured. Since this page is linked to from the main page I thought it prudent to do this.
 * Peter 16Nov09: Checked for spelling/typos/consistency.

For many users, Audacity will just work "out of the box", and you can immediately begin playing and recording. However, because there are so many different types of computers and ways to configure computers, some users may need to set up Audacity the first time they use it.

Temporary Files
Most users have only one hard disk. However, if you have multiple hard disks, you will want to make sure that Audacity uses your largest or fastest hard disk to store audio. Open the Preferences (in the Edit menu, or the Audacity menu on Mac OS X) and click on the Directories tab. Make sure that the directory listed is on your preferred hard disk.

If your home directory is mounted from a remote server, you definitely do not want Audacity's temporary directory to be there!

Getting sound into your computer
Locate the three colored analog audio ports on the back of your computer - almost every PC will have these as part of its built-in sound card. The red jack is for microphone input (usually mono, not stereo), the green jack is for line output (to your amplified speakers or headphones) and the blue jack is for stereo line input (like from a cassette player).

If you have a Mac, your audio ports will look something more like the image below. In this picture, the left jack is for stereo line input (like from a cassette player) and the right jack is for line output (to your amplified speakers or headphones).



For better audio quality, many people use an USB audio device. If you have such a device, attach your microphone and speakers to that device, and plug the device into your computer's USB port.

Using your computer's sound control panel, or the custom mixer application for your specific sound card, select the input device you want to use and verify that you are getting sound into the computer from that device. Do not proceed until you can do this. There is no point opening Audacity and trying to record something if you have not yet managed to get the sound you want into your computer.



Getting sound into Audacity
Open the Preferences (in the Edit menu, or the Audacity menu on Mac OS X) and click on Devices in the list on the left of the window. Choose your preferred sound card or audio device from the lists provided. Usually you should choose the same device for recording and playback, but it is possible for them to be different. For example you may want to choose your built-in sound card for playback and a USB microphone for recording.

After you have set your preferred audio device, look at the Mixer Toolbar:


 * [[Image:Toolbar_io.png|The Mixer Toolbar]]

The two sliders control the volume levels on your sound card; the selector on the left controls the output volume and the selector on the right controls the input source for recording (such as "Line In" or "Mic"). Adjust these appropriately.

If you are unable to move the sliders, or if the sliders always "jump back" to the same value no matter where you put them, don't panic: some sound cards do not have level controls, and some of them have controls that are not compatible with Audacity. To adjust your sound card levels, you will need to use other system software or perhaps a special control panel that came with your sound card.

Start your audio source then click on the right-hand meter (the recording level meter) to start monitoring the input. If the meters start indicating an input signal but you can't hear it, click on Transport > Software Playthrough and make sure that option is checked.


 * [[image:MeterInActionGood.png|meter toolbar showing playback and recording levels]]

Adjust the input slider on the mixer toolbar so that the recording meter reaches to approximately the -6 dB mark on the loudest passages.

See the Meter Toolbar page for more details on adjusting and monitoring the recording level.

If you can't get any indication on the recording level meter at this point, you need to go back and check that you have set the correct recording device in the Devices section of Preferences.

If everything appears to be correct but you still can't get sound into Audacity, look at this page on the Audacity wiki.

Setting up for playback
Once you have successfully set up Audacity for recording and can hear the input you are also set up for playback. You can use the output slider on the Mixer Toolbar to control the volume at which you listen to your Audacity project.

Note that the playback meters in the Meter Toolbar do not change as you adjust the output slider: these meters always indicate the volume of the mix of your Audacity project.



Project Sample Rate

 * [[Image:Selbar003.png|The Project Rate Selection Bar]]

The sampling rate, sample rate, or sampling frequency defines the number of samples per second (or per other unit) taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. For time-domain signals, it can be measured in samples per second.

Now you are ready to play and record audio.