The session opened with a brief poll on the participants’ prior experience with Audacity, and what we hoped to get out of the session. I had no prior experience, and I selected that I was interested in editing audiobooks, as that was the only of the poll options that appealed to me. I am a published author and might one day wish to turn my poetry or my (as of yet unpublished) novels into audiobooks.
The instructor, Chelsea Lane, was lovely. She introduced herself, drawing attention to the harp behind her, and then she described the Graduate Center Digital Initiatives (GCDI) and their mission to create and foster a thriving digital community of creators and scholars at the GC.
We first delved into an introduction of Audacity, which is free and open-source audio recording and editing software. It is available on a variety of platforms, including Mac OS, PC, and Linux.
One of the downfalls of using Audacity is that one must record in a quiet environment free of disruption. Before recording, the user needs to set up microphones in a particular way so as to capture the best quality of sound, and check their levels to make sure they aren’t speaking too loudly or too softly.
We were taught how to use the ‘Clip Fix’ tool in the case that the sound is too loud, and the waveform approaches the volume limit. It’s possible this can occur when you speak too close to the microphone.
We also learned that sound quality can be compromised by this effect, an interesting dilemma our colleague Felicity noted. Chelsea’s response to this question was enlightening; she told us that this is part of why it’s so important to come to Audacity with a good sound set-up and high-quality audio, as each additional effect further compromises original sound quality.
We were taught to leave several seconds of silence at the beginning and end of each clip, which enables Audacity to get a sound profile of the room in order to aid with sound editing.
The Noise Reduction tool can be used to reduce background noise, through creating a noise profile with the space of silence you should leave at the beginning and the end, and then reducing that specific type of noise throughout the audio clip. This is useful in the case that the user doesn’t have an expensive, top-quality sound system.
We were then given about ten minutes to play with Audacity and reduce background noise. I read a few poems from Leonardas Andriekus’ “Eternal Dream,” one of the two chapbooks of his that were translated into English from the original Lithuanian.
I volunteered to share my reading of a short poem of his, called “Seven Rivers.”
We then spoke about splicing, and Chelsea played us an enchanting harp piece, which was quite captivating. I am a big fan of harp music, and hearing and seeing her play, even though it was not in person, was a wonderful experience. I must confess – I got utterly lost in the music.
We also discussed fade-in’s and fade-out’s, and how to create a more natural ending that is less abrupt on the ears with a fade-out, or to create a gentle introduction with a fade-in.
We then moved on to the benefits of adding reverb, which can make music sound like it was played in a larger space, and lends the audio an almost ethereal tone.
We learned that we should copy files when importing them, rather than reading directly from the file, which is also given as a choice in Audacity, as you might run the risk of altering or ruining the original files if you read directly instead of copying.
Finally, we were given some time to play around with some free music and audio files in order to create our own mock podcasts, using the tools we’d learned.
Reflecting on what I learned, I feel much better equipped to edit audio files, remove background noise, create fade-in and fade-out effects, and more.
