No matter how your audio was created, chances are that it could be enriched through a bit of frequency adjustment, and for the audiophiles out there who take the time to perfect your sound, we salute you.
In today’s post, we will walk through the steps of using our favorite free, open-source audio editing software (Audacity) to fine-tune the bass, mid-range and highs of your audio through the application of an Equalization effect.
Looking for Setup instructions? We’ve got you covered! Our recent Audacity for Windows 7 Installation Tutorial includes setting up LAME as well!
For today’s walk-through, we’ll be applying the Equalization effect using Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode) for Windows 7 (as run via Parallels on a MacBook Pro).
Step 1: MP3 Download
Before one can edit their AudioAcrobat recording in Audacity, the first step is to make sure that the file resides on the hard drive of the computer on which editing will be performed.
1. Login to your AudioAcrobat account
2. Click Audio (L)
3. Click the Title of the Audio you wish to Download
4. Click Download Audio
2. Click Audio (L)
3. Click the Title of the Audio you wish to Download
4. Click Download Audio
Looking for Expanded Steps? Try HERE.
Step 2: Open in Audacity
Now that the file our readers wish to edit is on their computer’s hard drive, they will want to open the file with Audacity. Right-click the file and choose Open With and select Audacity from the list. Don’t see it listed? Open Audacity from the Programs portion of the Start menu on the left side of the task bar. Open the software and click File >> Open, selecting the audio to be edited.
Once the file opens in Audacity, our readers will see something like this:
Step 3: Highlight, Equalization + Export
Audacity Settings
It really is that simple. Click and drag with the mouse cursor or for those keyboard enthusiasts out there use Shift + Left / Right arrow keys to make a selection.
For the Equalization effect, our readers will want to make sure to select the area which encompasses the intended duration of which the effect is to be applied.
Here our readers will want to select Effect >> Equalization as seen below:
Immediately after selecting the Equalization effect, the following pop-up window will appear:
Click to Enlarge
If you’re not already familiar with the range of frequencies seen above (20Hz – 4000Hz), anything left of center affects the ‘low end’ aka ‘bass’ frequencies. Anything to the right of center affects the ‘high end’ aka ‘treble’ frequencies. As you may have guessed, anything found near the center will affect mid range frequencies aka ‘mids’.
By default, the Draw Curves option is selected and we are able to click on the blue line to add handle points, which in turn can be clicked and dragged vertically or horizontally along the axes seen above. A higher vertical positioning would be considered a ‘boost’, while lower vertical positioning will decrease the frequency’s perceived volume by the listener.
If you require a ‘zoomed in’ or ‘zoomed out’ view of the grid, the sliders found along the left side of this pop-up will allow for just that.
There are several preset curves built-in to the default Audacity installation, all of which can be accessed through the Select Curve drop-down menu. Click on various options such as Bass Boost, Bass Cut, Treble Boost and Treble Cut to see how the blue line (Curve) changes based on your selection.
Should you come up with your own custom Curve that you’d like to save as a preset (like the others included in the Select Curve drop-down menu), the Save/Manage Curves button will allow you to do just that. Click Flatten to restore the curve to its default setting and click Invert to flip anything above/below 0dB.
Click the Preview button to preview your equalization in real-time. Select OK to confirm your selection and Audacity will immediately render the effect.
When satisfied, select File >> Export to save the newly edited version and head over to AudioAcrobat in an internet browser to begin the upload process.
Well that was quick … we’ve already walked through the process of downloading and opening our file, applying an Equalization effect using Audacity for Windows 7 and exporting the file for upload to the Web … and yet it seems as though we had just begun. If you agree, go ahead and click the ‘Previous Post’ link beneath this article to continue the joyride!
Did you get stopped somewhere in the process? Make sure you have LAME correctly setup then shampoo, rinse and repeat the steps listed above. Success will be yours!
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When creating MP3 files of your audio projects there are various options for MP3 export that you need to consider. There is no one-size-fits-all settings that is best in all situations. But armed with the following information, you can make the decisions between an appropriate quality and size of file.
Though I use Audacity, the following information is general enough to be used with various sound editing programs. The parts that are specific to Audacity are just the steps you go through to find these settings. If you are not using Audacity, you can probably figure out where these settings are in your own editor.
This is not intended to be the final authority on the subject; especially since so much of this is subjective to your own ears and opinions. This is simply intended to give you a basic understanding of what should be considered in creating MP3 files that are being distributed to your supporting churches or used for podcasting.
Export MP3 in Audacity
Once you have your sound file edited and the project is saved (so you can go back and make changes), you are ready to export an MP3. Go to Export in the File menu. Choose MP3 Files in the Save as type: drop-down menu. Then choose Options.
Bit Rate Mode
The different bit rate options can give you smaller file sizes, but at the cost of potential compatibility and quality issues. I always choose Constant (also called CBR in some editing software) on this option regardless of the project I am working on. This gives the largest file size for compatible settings of the various options, but also gives me more confidence in the compatibility of the final file. The tradeoff is that the sound quality (especially with music) may not be as good as some of the other options.
What do I mean by the most compatible of the bit rate options? Particularly when streaming your audio file online (like an audio prayer letter) you will experience fewer problems with in-browser audio software by using constant bit rate. CBR files will not stutter like the other bit-rate options have a tendency to do. Constant bit rate will also be more accurate in reporting the length of the audio file in a person’s browser or MP3 player. While not as much of a problem any more, variable bit rates (all three of the other options) sometimes would not play in some MP3 players.
But the constant bit rate does have its trade offs. The biggest being that of the various bit-rate encoding methods, constant bit rate is about twice the final file size in MB as the other options of similar quality levels. If our whole point of making MP3s is for generating smaller file sizes, then we could actually do better by using a variable bit-rate setting.
The second downside is that constant bit rate may not have as high of audio quality as a variable bit rate file of similar quality settings. Because I only deal in spoken word (no music) in my audio recordings, this is not much of an issue. However, if you compare the audio quality of two music files that are encoded with constant bit rate and variable bit rate—especially at a quality setting that is towards the lower end—you will probably hear a significant difference in the quality. And, surprisingly, the smaller, variable bit-rate file will be the better quality.
At some point I think the compatibility issue will be a thing of the past. If you are dealing with a relatively small audience for your audio files, you may be able to deal with any requests for a differently encoded file to be sent to someone. At this point though, some organizations dealing with large numbers of listeners are still using constant bit rate to cut down on support requests.
Quality
Regardless of what you choose in the previous section, the actual bit rate that you choose in the Quality drop-down menu is where you can end up with a really small file or a good high-quality MP3—but you can’t have both. There has to be a compromise and balance between these two options to get the sound quality you want.
It depends on the project and the type of sound I’ve recorded that determines what I choose in this section. For a podcast that is is just spoken word with no music, I usually choose 96 kbps. You can probably go a bit lower before you start to hear sound quality issues. Much higher than that and you won’t be able to tell a quality difference in the spoken audio.
If, however, I am doing audio that will go into a video file–which I do for my video podcast–and I know that the MP3 will get re-encoded later with the video, then I will choose a higher sound quality. Usually I do these at 192 kbps. The sound quality doesn’t have to be perfect and I am also working with spoken word only, no music. If I wanted to make sure my sound was the best quality it could be for my video project (or if I were using music) then I would choose 320 kbps or export a WAV file.
For anything with music, then the lowest you probably want to go is 128 kbps if the music is background or ancillary and is not the focus of the sound file. If you are trying to show the quality of the music then you should choose 256 or 320 kbps for the best quality MP3 you can get.
Variable Speed
This setting is only available if you are choosing Preset or Variable in the Bit Rate Mode section. This determines whether your encoding will be done quickly or with the best quality. Since this only affects how quickly the file will be encoded, there is no reason to not choose Standard. It may take a few minutes longer to encode, but will result in the best possible file based on your other settings.
Channel Mode
The two options are Joint Stereo and Stereo. They are both stereo options, but where the two channels (left and right) have the same sound, the encoder joins them together using the Joint Stereo option. 100 best skyrim mods xbox one. This results in a slightly smaller file size.
I have no reason to record stereo for most of what I do (spoken word). Therefore, I make all my sound files within Audacity into mono files. I do this even if I have multiple tracks or channels. Then when I encode my MP3s I choose Joint Stereo in the channel mode which results in a smaller file.
Even when I do interviews and have two or more people talking, I do not separate them into left and right stereo. There is no practical advantage to this separation and it allows someone who only has hearing in one ear to be able to fully enjoy the interview. Since I work with the Deaf, this is something that I tend to think about more than most people. If you choose to separate your interview participants, you should still only slightly separate the left and right channels so that someone listening with one ear bud can understand both sides of the conversation.
ID3 Tags
After you get your settings the way you want, then save your file by giving it a filename. When you click the Save button another screen will pop up. It says Edit Metadata at the top of the screen. This is where you can fill in the information that is shown in MP3 players, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. This is called the ID3 tags of an MP3 file. However, I have never been pleased with the results of the ID3 tagging in Audacity.
There are great ID3 tagging software available for the various platforms you can use. Many people just use iTunes on Windows and Mac to create the ID3 tags. I have always used a program in Linux called EasyTAG. There is also a Windows version of it, but you have to install the GTK+ engine. Typical of Linux programs, EasyTAG couldn’t be much more ugly than it is, but also it couldn’t be more powerful. There are so many features and time saving features built into the program that you would have to be a rocket scientist to take advantage of all it has to offer. Fortunately, if you want to create proper ID3 tags you can also use the fairly intuitive interface to work on one file at a time.
I have heard podcasters talk about some other programs, but I have no personal experience with them. For Windows there is MP3 Tag and ID3 Editor. The recommended programs for Mac are ID3 Editor and iTunes.
Go Make Some Noise!
That should get you well on your way to properly exporting MP3 files that are useable for distribution. You can use these files for podcasts or for emailing field updates to your supporting churches. If you record your services you can put several week’s worth of sermons on one CD or DVD.
With all of this I recommend you save your Audacity project and export a WAV file that you can archive. Fortunately there are no settings for WAV files like there are for MP3 files. The WAV file is a lossless file format. That means that all of the information possible is in the file; whereas, MP3 files have to throw out information in order to make the file size smaller. If you ever need to edit your file to mix in music or to cut the file into a soundbite, using the WAV version of the file will result in a better quality final product. If you re-edit an MP3 then you are taking a file that, by nature, is lacking sound information and throwing out even more when you compress it into MP3 again.
[The Audacity website has a page that explains each of these settings.]
Audacity is an audio software program available for free download. You can make vocals clear in Audacity by using the graphic equalizer. This tool is a default processor available in Audacity that will let you adjust the volume level of different frequencies in the vocal. By adjusting these frequencies, you can drastically improve the clarity of a muddy-sounding vocal. The graphic equalizer in Audacity is simple to use.
Open Audacity and import the vocals you want to make clear by clicking “File,” selecting “Import” and selecting “Audio.”
Select the audio file on your computer that represents the vocal you want to make clear and click “Open.”
Click “Effect,” select “Equalization” and choose the “Graphic Equalizer.”
Decrease the frequencies in the graphic equalizer below 60 Hz to take away any low-frequency rumble that may be detracting from the vocals. This can be done by clicking the sliders marked 60 Hz and below and dragging them downward.
Continue to decrease the low-frequency bands on the graphic equalizer, moving as far up to the 200 Hz band if the vocal sounds too thick and needs to be thinned out.
Increase the frequency bands around 150 Hz to add body to a vocal that sounds too thin.
Increase the frequency bands about 3 Khz to add extra articulation and clarity to the vocal.
Increase the frequency bands about 5 Khz to add extra presence to the vocal, giving it the ability to cut through a mix.
Increase the frequency bands from 10 Khz and above to emphasize the airy or breathy sound of the vocals.
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