Manipulate many sounds for free (Audacity)

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	Audacity
Date:	19/07/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, many capabilities, fun results and FREE

Disadvantages: none at all

I tend to like free applications as I don't feel 'ripped' off if they're terrible programs so I do spend some time searching around for that certain 'useful' little diamond, as a result I came across Audacity some months ago and I was quite amazed at what this little gem actually offered in respect of music management.

Firstly, you can get this from www.download.com or even do a quick search around the web and the small file downloads in a matter of minutes, then it is a simple matter of installing it onto your PC, which takes only moments.


** WHAT IS IT THEN..?

Audacity is a simple to use sound/music manipulating program with many beautiful little feature, but the best thing about this is that it is totally free of charge, and for what this little diamond can do it is a must for all budding music editors who want to 'play' around with a few music samples.

Once you open the program you are faced with a simple looking screen, grey mid section and what looks like a 1980's DJ system, which looks as easy to use

** THE OPTIONS FOR THE PROGRAM...

* File... which allows you to open, save or start a new file. And also 'export' projects to your PC in formats such as MP3, WAV and Ogg Vorbs

* Edit...which allows you do redo and undo part of your project, cut, copy, paste parts of your project and more.

* View... Optimize the look of the page, float toolbars.

* Project... Import files to your project.

* Generate... Manipulate background noises.

* Effect... Manipulate music files with such things as changing pitch, tempo and fading in/out.

* Analyze... locates the beats in tracks

* Help... Information and help about the program itself.

(This is a brief description of what is on offer).

The actual 'control' panel for this program are so simple to understand, with the standard 'play, pause, record, pause, stop and rewind/fast forward buttons, plus other buttons such as microphone levels, speaker levels, volume output control, cut, copy, paste and more.

** WHAT DO I DO THEN...?

Once you've imported an audio file, be it a full music track or a spoken piece, then the project will appear in the form of a blue horizontal 'mass' of squiggly lines, a little like a very bad ECG read out from a hyperactive leopard with a dodgy pace maker.
Then, pulling the little 'hand' along your selected section, turning the chosen part grey. Then it is a simple matter of opening the 'effects' menu and 'playing' about with the project, using the many choices to do so.

You can even bring multiple audio tracks into the same project if you desire by simply clicking 'project' and 'Import audio', then you can play several tracks over each other at the same time, (I find you get some really mad sounds this way).

Once you are happy with your finished product you can save it as MP3, WAV or Ogg Vorbis, (look this one up, it does exist).
That's it, you have created your own music track/sound file or even ringtone into just the way you want, saving it onto your PC.


** MY VERDICT...

Fan- blooming- tastic is all I can say about this truly tasty little program.
When I first started using this it wasn't long before I had the hang of it and was playing about with music files, changing them into something totally unique, and somewhat comical, I mean, listening to Eminem rapping 'Stan' sounding like mini Dick and Dom is just priceless, (although I don't think Eminem would be too pleased though, but hey, what can you do?).

I do tend to use it a bit to have a bit of fun, like creating my own personal ring tones for my mobile phone, (and other peoples phones when they hear the ringtone coming from mine).
It is so easy to do, simply take a full track of your own choice and 'snip' the section you want, then it's as easy as saving the selection and transferring it over to your phone, saving you a lot of money on them rip off ringtone download sights.

But what I use it for most is to transfer my recordings from my digital voice recorder onto my PC, which is a matter of opening the program, plugging my voice recorder into the microphone socket on my PC, (via wire), and pressing play on the digital recorder whilst simultaneously clicking the record button on Audacity.
Then, once finished loading onto the PC I can edit the final recording, taking out the bits I don't need and compressing the rest into a lovely little file, be it MP3or WAV. This saves me a lot of hassle and time as Audacity is such an easy program to use in this way.

It is one of them programs which, once opened and played with for a while, you will begin to have so much fun with, especially when you realise that you are capable of manipulating voices/music into whatever you want, the results can be so comically hilarious that even your straight faced cousin Cuthbert will crack up laughing when they hear their voice sounding like Donald duck on helium.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't just a program to use for fun, it can be used as a sound/music converter, changing files into the more popular formats such as MP3 and WAV, ready to transfer onto you MP3 player or even to CD, (although this is not a CD burner of any kind).

In all, it is a cracking little joy to use, sitting on your system, taking up a measly 8MBs, until you open the program, then you will be so surprised and totally overjoyed at what this little beauty is capable of.

Give it a go, as you can't go wrong considering this is a freebie, although once you begin to use it I feel you'll be messing about with its capabilities for ages, crying with laughter at the comical results you'll create, or basking in the glory as your friends/colleagues become envious as your mobile phones blurts out a unique sound.

Summary: Save money on mobilephone ring tones by doing it yourself

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