Or: “The Tutorial the RIAA Doesn’t Want You to Have”
by Gin Coffin
Introduction
If you have a computer, chances are that you listen to audio on it. Probably you listen to even more than you realize: audio is an ever-present part of the internet, computer games and programs, and even many operating systems.
But most of these sounds are delivered to your ear in an ephemeral way. You don’t “have” the audio as a nicely-packaged little sound file that you can save, play, or catalog as you see fit.
Some of this is by design, but some of it is due to oversight. Some audio is not available because no one was supposed to want it. But as a digital humanist, you might be interested in that overlooked or obscure snippet of audio. (Heck, there are whole “data conservation” projects which deal in audio.)
In any case, if audio is your game, then Audacity has you covered: it’s a free, open-source, audio recording software program which is quite flexible once you get the hang of it!
Internal vs. External Audio
- External sound is what your computer can “hear” from the physical world using a microphone. Examples include: the sound of you coughing, clicking a computer mouse, talking, typing on the keyboard, and so on. Audacity is set up to record external sound right out of the box.
- Internal sound is what your computer plays through its speakers (or sends to your headphones, if you’re using them). Through a bit of redirection, Audacity can be told to record this internal sound, regardless of the source. In other words: if you can hear it through your earbuds, Audacity can record it.
Disclaimers
- This tutorial assumes that you already have Audacity downloaded and installed. (Many, if not most, campus computers already have Audacity.)
- Audacity can be downloaded here.
- This tutorial also assumes you will gather & use data responsibly. (In other words, I trust that you can determine what recording is “fair use” and what isn’t.)
Getting Ready On Mac
The Mac OS does not make it easy to record internal audio. You will need to get some accessories (a loopback cable) or download some additional software.
On my Mac I use Soundflower, which is an open-source extension to the Mac OS system currently maintained by Matt Ingalls on Github.
The public Macs on campus don’t let student users install Soundflower. But if you would like to use Soundflower on your personal Mac, here is a video tutorial that will walk you through installation:
Once you have Soundflower on your Mac you will have to adjust the sound settings in your system preferences. See this page on the Audacity Wiki for a list of steps to take.
After you have Soundflower installed and your sound preferences adjusted, the steps you take with Audacity are virtually the same as for Windows users. (When there is a conflict, follow the advice of the wiki page linked in the previous paragraph.)
And now, without further ado…
Audacity Recording Tutorial
- Open Audacity. It will look like this:
2. In the bottom left corner of the toolbar, there is a dropdown menu with the letters “MME” selected. Click on the dropdown menu and choose “Windows WASAPI”.
(If you are on a Mac and using Soundflower, you will be choosing “Soundflower” options at this stage.)
3. In the next dropdown menu, choose the “Speakers (loopback)” option. (Again, if you are on Mac with Soundflower, choose the appropriate Soundflower option.)
4. In the upper right corner of the toolbar, click on the pane which says “Click to Start Monitoring.”
In the screenshot below, the pane is outlined in red.
5. As soon as audio starts playing, the pane which you just clicked will show activity. This pane will show you the volume level of what Audacity is “hearing”:
Now is a good time to adjust the audio. You don’t want a recording which is too loud or too quiet. The “sweet spot” is from -9 to -6 decibels. (Notice that Audacity color-codes the bar for you. If you see your bars hitting orange or red levels, your sound is too loud.)
Too-quiet audio can be boosted after recording, but audio that is too loud will be distorted (“clipped”) because it could not be recorded correctly.
To adjust the audio, you can move the sliders in the Audacity window as well as any “native” volume sliders for the audio you want to record:
8. Navigate to Transport -> Transport Options in the menu.
If you are on Windows, make sure that you have “software playthrough” turned OFF.
(If you are on Mac and using Soundflower, make sure it is turned ON.)
9. If possible, make a test recording.
To do this, hit the red “record” button in Audacity and then play the sound(s) you want to record.
When you are finished recording, hit the “stop” button:
To review your recording and check its quality, click the “play” button:
Finally, you can get rid of your test audio by pressing “Ctrl + Z” on the keyboard, or by clicking Edit -> Undo Record:
10. Now you are ready to record for real!
Press the “Record” button in the Audacity toolbar, and then play the audio you want to record (from the internet, a program, etc.).
If it’s hard to “play” your desired audio on command, it’s okay to start recording early to make sure that you catch the audio whenever it comes. (You can edit out the extra silence or any “junk” sounds later.)
11. When your audio is finished playing, click “stop” in the Audacity toolbar to end the recording.
12. At this point, it is recommended to save your raw recording data. You can hit “Ctrl + S” on your keyboard or navigate to File -> Save Project -> Save Project As.
Note: This is saving your data as an “Audacity Project”, not as a normal sound file. That is why the file extension is *.aup.
You can name it whatever you like; I usually name my recordings “filename_rough”.
13. If you want to edit your audio, this is a good time to do that. You can use Audacity to adjust the volume, add sound effects, remove silence, delete sections of the recording, and more.
(This is not an “audio editing tutorial”, so I will leave editing up to you.)
14. If you are happy with your audio, now you can “export” it as a sound file. Go to File -> Export in the menu, and then choose your desired file format.
You will then be prompted to name your file. You can also choose where to save it, and toggle any options that are available for the file format you chose.
15. Hooray, you’re done! Now you have a sound file you can use or listen to in a media player of your choice.
2 replies on “Recording Audio with Audacity”
Great tutorial. Audacity seems like a powerful audio program and it appears to be a user-friendly tool. Thank you for the easy-to-follow tutorial!
I’ve worked with Audacity in the past, but the fact that you can record Internal audio was completely new to me. I can see why the Mac OS makes it so difficult, since it seems like something that might come in a bit too handy. Since I’m on the lab machines now I was unable to check out Soundflower, but once I’m on my personal computer I will definitely check it out, it seems like something I should have on my computer.