workshop 4.0│intro to audio editing

summary | learning objectives Students learn to record sound digitally. Students learn the basic steps of recording, editing and layering

digital sound. Students learn the basic steps of adding effects to raw sound

preparation Review “intro to audio editing” Take some time to learn Audacity and do some basic recording

and editing Visit sites listed in lesson 4.1 to understand how to import files Test the acoustics/noise levels of your program space to find

ideal recording locations and make adjustments as necessary

resources Computer and Projector (for the Coordinator) Software: Audacity Radio commercial samples

workshop plan for the coordinator1. Direct Mentors to check in with their student about their

homework. 2. Review “intro to Audacity” to Mentors and students

a. Practice recording and editing sounds in Audacity b. Complete Radio Commercial project in Audacity

3. Direct Mentors to review evaluation questions with their

evaluation Is your student on top of their techspark! homework?

Are students able to record digital audio?

Are students aware of editing and effects tools available in Audacity?

additional notes and reflections:

workshop 4.0│intro to audio editing

If you’ve ever listened to a song on the Internet or left someone a voicemail, you’ve used a computer to record and play sounds. People who play with sounds for a living are called audio engineers. An audio engineer might be someone who records pop songs, adds sound effects to a movie, or makes a live concert sound good. Most audio engineering is done with computers these days, and it’s a fun and exciting skill to learn.

In this workshop, you will use a program called Audacity to record an imitation radio commercial.

recording sound in audacityOpen Audacity and you will see a blank window with some buttons at the top.

These are your audio controls. Use these to record and listen to sounds.

Press the record button and speak into your laptop’s internal microphone. Notice what happens in Audacity when you talk.

When you are done recording, press the stop button. You will now have a new audio track in Audacity. Save the file to keep the recording for future use.

Press the play button to listen to your new audio track. You can use the stop button to stop the playback at any time.

congratulations! You’ve learned the basics of how to record and listen to sounds on your computer. You’re one step closer to becoming a sound engineer.

making a commercialHere is a sample script for a radio commercial. Use Audacity to record yourself reading it, and edit it to turn it into a radio commercial.

SCRIPTThe other day, I came home from school and saw that my little brother had broken into my room and eaten all of my food. Not only that, but he also stole my favorite shirt, hacked into my phone, and sent mean texts to all of my friends. I ran over to his room to do something about it, but he got that little brother look on his face and said, “I didn’t do it! Don’t look at me!”

Ughh. My little brother can be such a pain sometimes. That’s why I went out and bought a Sibling-Proof Lock for my door. The SPL is voice activated with the finest technology, so there’s no way anyone else is going to get into my stuff now.

Record yourself reading the script out loud. If you mess up a sentence, go back to the beginning and read it again. You will edit out your mistakes later.

Now, save your commercial project. You can do this by going to “File >> Save Project,” clicking “OK,” and finding a place on your computer to store the project. This is a project file that will only open in Audacity. You’ll export an audio file once you’re finished that you can share with your friends. Save your work regularly to ensure you don’t lose your progress.

editing, part 1: deleting mistakes

Now that you’ve recorded your commercial, the first thing you want to do is remove any mistakes. See that big squiggly line that showed up when you were recording? That’s called a sound wave, which turns your voice into a picture. Every sound can be turned into a “sound wave.” The more you work with a program like Audacity, the more comfortable you will get editing sound waves.

Go to the beginning of the audio track and listen to your recording, stopping the track when you get to a place where you made a mistake.

To delete a mistake, click your mouse and it drag over the part of the sound wave that you don’t like. When you have selected that part of the sound wave, click “Delete” on your keyboard and that part will disappear!

You can go through your whole recording and delete anything that you don’t like. When you are done, save the file and you will have a radio commercial that is free of big mistakes.

editing, part 2: adding effectsMost songs, radio shows, and movies use sound effects to make everything sound better. A sound effect is any tool that changes something – tone, volume ? (what are the qualities) about the original sound. Right now, you’re going to practice with two sound effects, reverb and pitch.

REVERBHave you ever listened to a song that sounded like everything was echoing inside of a cave? That sound effect is called reverb, and it’s a great tool to use in audio projects.

Find the part of your commercial where you say the words “Sibling-Proof Lock.” Click and drag the timeline to select that part of the sound wave.

Go to the “Effects” menu and click on the effect called “Reverb.”

When you click on “Reverb,” a window that shows all of the parameters of the effect will pop up. Change the parameters to match the picture to the right.

These “parameters” are going to make the reverb sound extra big. “Room Size” will make it sound like you are standing in an extra big room. “Reverberance” controls how much it sounds like your voice is bouncing off the walls.

Click “Preview” to hear what the change sounds like. Change any of the parameters and experiment with different sounds. When you are happy with what you hear, click “OK.” Save the file to keep your progress.

PITCHRemember the part of your commercial where you pretended to be a little brother? You might have changed your voice to try and sound younger. You can do the same thing changing the pitch. Pitch means how high or low a sound is. For example, a little child’s voice would have a high pitch; an adult’s voice would have a low pitch.

Go to the part of your commercial where you say, “I didn’t do it! Don’t look at me!”

Click and drag the timeline from the beginning to the end of the clip to select this part of the sound wave.

Go to the “Effects” menu and click on “Change Pitch.” A window will pop up. Change the pitch from “C – 3” to “C –

4.” this makes the sound an octave higher -- like a younger sibling, or maybe a chipmunk.

Click “Preview” to hear what the change will sound like. When you are ready, click “OK.” This will change the pitch and you’ll sound a lot younger.

Audacity has a lot more sound effects to experiment with. You’ll get a chance to try out more of them in the next few weeks. You can learn how to use most of the sound effects by changing the numbers in the parameters and listening to how the sound changes. All of the best audio engineers learn things by trial and error! Save your file when you’re done to keep your progress.

finishing your commercialYou can do many more things to your commercial: add music, try out more effects, and add more voices and sounds. For right now, we are going to finish up this project. If you have any extra time, experiment with the other sound effects.

First, if you haven’t in a while, save your commercial project. You can do this by going to “File >> Save Project,” clicking “OK,” and finding a place on your computer to store the project. Your saved project file can only be reopened in Audacity.

To share your final version, go to the “File” menu and click “Export Audio.” This will save your commercial in a format that can be shared with people who don’t have Audacity. A window will pop up asking you where to save the radio commercial. Give your project a descriptive name like “My Commercial” and find a place for it on your computer like your desktop. Click “Save.” This will save the digital audio file to your computer. You can now listen to this file and share it with your friends!

lesson 4.1│audio editing, part oneradio show: recording

summary | learning objectivesDuring this month’s lessons, your student will be working in a small group (three to five) to make a radio drama! Think Dick Tracy, Superman, Flash Gordon: https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio. It’s up to the group to divide the work, but it’s up to you to make sure everyone is putting in equal effort. The student worksheet has guidelines for the project, but encourage students to get creative! They can record their own sound effects or music. Or, if they are feeling ambitious, they can write their own radio script. The radio show doesn’t even have to be fictional. They can do it documentary style or tell stories about themselves, similar to “This American Life.”

Students learn to work in groups to tell a story for a radio show

Students learn to use sounds to tell visual stories for a radio show

Students learn to work in groups to record raw audio for a radio show

preparation Review “audio editing, part one” Download Audacity to your computer and spend some time

learning its features Get inspired for this month’s radio project by listening to

some podcasts or old radio shows at https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

resources Copyright-Free and Creative Commons Audio:

o http://www.freesound.org/ o http://freemusicarchive.org/ o https://archive.org/details/audio o http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

Commons:Free_media_resources/Sound Paper, pencils, pens, markers Radio show websites

evaluation Is your student on top of their techspark! homework?

Has the group found a script or decided on a direction for their show?

Has the group recorded all of the raw audio for their show?

Is the group dividing the work equally?

Did the group email the Audacity file to the group’s Mentors?

lesson plan for mentors1. Check in with your student about their techspark! homework.2. Review first page of “audio editing: part one” with your student.3. Get a group of 3–5 students together:

a. Review the rest of “audio editing: part one” with group.b. Direct students to find a script, write their own, or pick a

project that doesn’t need a script, like an interview/storytelling-type show. Work with other Mentors to divide work as necessary and help your student complete their part.

c. Select one computer to have the group record all of the raw audio for their project on by the end of the session.

d. Save and email the Audacity file to the group Mentors for the next session, ensuring the group will have access to the file if the student who recorded audio on their computer is absent.

4. Review evaluation questions with your student.

additional notes and reflections:

lesson 4.1│audio editing, part oneradio show: recordingIn your last workshop, you learned the basics of sound engineering – recording and editing - using Audacity. You recorded your own voice and used Audacity to add sound effects. In this project, you will use these new engineering skills to create an original radio show with your fellow students. You already have the basic skills; now you’ll take them to the next level by experimenting and creating!

scriptIn the first week, you won’t actually use your computer too much. Your computer and programs like Audacity are excellent tools, but not a substitute for talking and generating ideas with other people. Creativity still happens in the “real world.”

People have been telling stories for a very long time, and every form of storytelling – video, audio or the written word -- has different rules and tricks. When a writer wants to talk about a tree, for example, he needs to describe the trunk, the texture of the bark, the color of the leaves and the way they sway in the wind. In a movie, the tree is can be seen, the filmmaker decides how much of it to show and how long.

A radio show falls somewhere between a book and a movie. You can use music and sound effects to place the listener at the circus, in a classroom, or outside on a windy night. But it’s up to the narrator and the actors to paint a picture with their words. That’s your job this week, learning how to tell a story using spoken word, sound effects, and music.

Get into a group of 3 to 5 people. This will be your group for the next few weeks.

listen to radio showsBefore you start writing your own script, listen to a few examples of successful radio shows. They might be corny, not the kind of script that you would write, but they’ll give you a good idea of how people tell stories over the radio.

As a group, listen to the following examples of professional radio shows. As you listen, think about these questions: what kind of story is this show telling? Are you interested in it? If so,

what are the actors or hosts doing to keep you interested? How are they using sound to tell their story?

o https://archive.org/details/childhood-matters-pos- youthandvoting

o https://archive.org/details/childhood-matters-pos- youthradiojennifer

o http://www.radiolovers.com/shows2/P/PlanetMan/ PlanetMan_012.mp3

o https://archive.org/details/FiveMinuteMysteries

practice storytelling Once you’ve listened to some examples of radio shows, it’s time to start getting creative with your group. Here’s an exercise to start thinking about the different ways to tell a story.

Have every person in your group grab a sheet of paper and something to write with.

On your sheet of paper, write down a set of prompts - one of each of the following:

o A character (like a basketball player, a clown, Shakespeare, etc.)

o A prop (like a baseball bat, a cat, a piano, etc.)o A conflict (waiting for a late bus, escaping a burning

building, etc.) Fold your paper in half and pass it to the person to your right.

Everyone in the group should now have a set of prompts written by someone else.

Read your neighbor’s sheet of paper, but don’t share it with anyone else. Using those prompts, come up with a short, one-minute scene. Here’s the catch… you have to follow one of these rules:

o You can speak and make sounds, but you can’t use your body.

o You can use your body, but you can’t speak or make sounds.

o You can make sounds and use your hands, but you can’t use words or any other part of your body.

Take turns presenting your scenes to the group. After every scene, discuss as a group the following questions:

o How did the actor use words, sounds, hands, or body to tell a story?

o Did they use their words, sounds, hands, or body in a way that made you interested? If so, what did you find interesting about their language? If not, what made you lose interest?

o What other ways could they tell this same story following a different rule from the list? How would it look or sound different? What would they have to do differently to get the same effect?

As you’ve learned from this exercise, similar stories can look and sound very different depending on the tools you have to tell them. Keep this in mind as you come up with your radio show script.

create your own script As a group, create a new set of prompts for a short scene:

o A character for each person in the groupo A place where the scene occurs. Be specific! The more

details the better. For example, “a cold room in the basement of an abandoned factory” is more interesting than “a room somewhere.”

o A conflict that the group needs to work through. Create a short scene, no longer than three minutes. It is up to

your group to decide how you will write the script. You can stand up and improvise with each other, using your bodies as well as your voices to act out the scene. Or you can draw a storyboard on a sheet of paper. Pick a method that works for everyone, and make sure you get everybody’s input.

recordingNow that you have a script, it’s time to record it.

Open Audacity on one person’s computer,. Gather around the computer’s microphone. Do a test

recording to make sure that everybody’s voice is coming through.

Press “Record” and read through your script. This will be very similar to the commercial that you made, except that now you are trying to record several voices. If you make a mistake, go back to the beginning of the line and read it again. You can delete mistakes later.

When you are done recording your commercial and feel good how it sounds, go to “File >> Save Project” and click “OK” Find a file location on your computer to save the project file and click “Save.” Remember: this isn’t an audio file, but a project file that will only open in Audacity.

Email the file to your group’s Mentors for safe-keeping.

Your group now has the raw audio for a short radio show. Starting next week, you will edit the audio to turn it into a professional show.

lesson 4.2│audio editing, part tworadio show: editing

summary | learning objectivesNow that the students have recorded raw audio for their show, the group will start piecing together (or sequencing) the show. Be prepared to take more time on this than last week’s lesson. It may be smart to divide the work between the group members. For example, if the radio show is about five minutes long, each group member can be responsible for sequencing one minute of the show and adding one sound effect. They can work on their own individual computers by emailing the Audacity file as an attachment to every group member .

Students learn to work in groups to tell a story for a radio show

Students learn to edit out mistakes from raw audio Students learn to add songs and sound effects to raw audio

preparation Review “audio editing, part two” Continue experimenting with Audacity on yourself,

troubleshooting issues that came up at last week’s lesson

resources Copyright-Free and Creative Commons Audio:

o http://www.freesound.org/ o http://freemusicarchive.org/ o https://archive.org/details/audio o http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

Commons:Free_media_resources/Sound

evaluation Is your student on top of their techspark! homework?

Did the group edit out mistakes from their raw audio?

Does the radio show now have at least one song and four sound effects?

Is the group dividing the work equally?

Did the group email the Audacity file to the group’s Mentors?

additional notes and reflections:

lesson plan for mentors1. Check in with your student about their homework.2. Get the radio group together:

a. Review “audio editing: part two.”b. Identify mistakes, noises, or awkward silences in the raw

audio and decide how to get rid of them.c. Identify sections of bad audio that should be replaced with

a another take. Record those sections as needed.d. Later, have the group select and add at least one song

and four sound effects to their show. Make sure these are copyright-free or use a Creative Commons license.

e. Save and email the Audacity file to the group Mentors for the next session, ensuring the group will have access to the file if the student who recorded audio on their computer is absent.

3. Review evaluation questions with your student.

lesson 4.2│audio editing, part tworadio show: editingNow that you’ve recorded the audio for your script, it’s time for a little audio editing. This can be the most exciting and creative part of sound engineering. It can also be the most tedious. Hopefully you’ll get a little taste of both sides! With good software, you can turn sounds into “play-dough,” easily sculpted into new shapes and sizes. Your main goal this week is to explore your own creativity.

step one: clean up your audioBefore you can get to the “play-dough” parts of the editing, it’s important that you clean up your raw audio.

Open up your file from last week. As a group, go through and delete any mistakes. If you have forgotten how to delete parts of the audio, go back and look at Workshop 4.0.

step two: add sound effectsStart adding sound effects. You’re going to get some more experience with Audacity’s sound effects, as well as learning how to add sounds and music to your Audacity file.

Add three sound effects from the “Effect” menu. These should be new sound effects that you have not tried yet. You can definitely add reverb and pitch shifting, like you did in your commercial, but it’s important that you get some experience playing with new sound effects.

o Sound effect #1: _____________________________________o Sound effect #2: _____________________________________o Sound effect #3: _____________________________________

You can make a lot of great sounds just using Audacity and your microphone, but a big part of audio engineering is finding and using lots of different sounds in new and creative ways. You’ve probably listened to a lot of pop songs that “sample” other songs, making new art with pieces of old music. As long as you understand and respect copyright laws, taking and using other people’s work is an important part of the artistic process.

a note about copyright law Like images, music, sound effects, and radio shows are “copyrighted,” meaning someone owns the legal rights of their own work. You cannot reproduce their work or make an imitation of their work (called plagiarism) without getting their permission.

In this project, we are going to use music and sound effects from the “public domain” and “creative commons.” This is material that you can use in a non-commercial setting (not making money) without having to request permission from the original creator or person who holds the copyright.

Go to the website http://www.freesound.org. This is a giant collection of sound effects that lots of people have made and shared online. Many of these sound effects were made using programs like Audacity!

o Create an account on Free Sound. You don’t need an account to listen to the sound effects, but you’ll need an account to download anything you want to use.

o Search through the database for a sound effect that you might want to use. For example, maybe you have a scene in your radio show where someone walks down a hallway. You can search for “footsteps” and find the sound of someone’s footsteps on the floor.

o With the help of your Mentor or the program Coordinator, download this sound file to your computer.

Add the sound effect you downloaded to your radio show:o In Audacity, go to “File >> Import >> Audio.” Locate

the sound file on your computer and click “Open.” A window might pop up asking how you want to import the file. Choose the option that says “(safer)” and click “OK.”

o Choose the “Time Shift” tool from the toolbar at the top of the screen. Hold down your mouse on the new sound file, and drag it to the part of your radio show where you want it to live. When you are done, make sure you go back to using the “Selection” tool on your toolbar.

TIME SHIFT: SELECTION:

Now you’ve learned how to add a new sound file to your Audacity project. Add two more sound effects from Free Sound.

Go to the website http://www.freemusicarchive.org. This website is filled with free music by musicians who want their songs to be used in projects like yours! For this project, you can use any of the songs without having to request permission from the artist. If you wanted to publish your radio show or make money from it, you might still be able to use the songs for free. It is respectful to give credit to the original artist or musician.

o Search the database for a song to use in your radio show. Download the song to your computer and add it to your project, just like you did with the sound effects from Free Sound.

Once you’ve learned how to add music and sound effects to your Audacity project, the sky is the limit. With any remaining time this week, continue fine-tuning your project. Try out new sound effects in Audacity, and search the Internet for copyright-free sounds that you can add.

Here are some extra resources for music and sounds on the Internet:

archive.orgThis website is filled with all sorts of media from the Public Domain which means none of the media is copyrighted, so anyone can use it without asking permission. This link will take you to the sound archive, but you can also find videos and pictures here. https://archive.org/details/audio

wikimediaWikimedia is filled with user-created content. Some of it is Public Domain, some is licensed under Creative Commons, all of it is free to

use as long as you acknowledge the source. Wikimedia does not have a lot of sound, but it’s worth looking through.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Free_media_resources/Sound

Most importantly, have fun experimenting!

lesson 4.3│audio editing, part threeradio show: mastering

summary | learning objectives: This week the radio show group is going to finish their project! After last week, they should be almost done. Now they just need to add a bit of flavor, put on the finishing touches, and export the file as an MP3. They may have worked individually last week but it may be a good idea to have them work together at one computer this week. If they have individual work in different Audacity files, they can send all of the files to one computer and copy/paste the audio tracks into one file. When they are done with the radio show, make sure they export it as an MP3 file and email it to you.

Students learn to add songs and sound effects to raw audio Students learn to master audio files and balance volume

levels Students learn to finalize project files and export audio files

preparation Review “audio editing, part three” Continue experimenting with Audacity on yourself,

troubleshooting issues that came up at last week’s lesson

resources Copyright-Free and Creative Commons Audio:

o http://www.freesound.org/ o http://freemusicarchive.org/ o https://archive.org/details/audio o http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

Commons:Free_media_resources/Sound

evaluation Is your student on top of their techspark! homework?

Does the group have a final version of their radio show?

Are all of the parts of the radio show clearly heard?

Does their radio show now have at least one song and four sound effects?

Has the radio group dividing the work equally?

Did the group email the MP3 file to all the group’s Mentors and students?

lesson plan for mentors1. Check in with your student about their homework.2. Get the radio group together:

a. Review “audio editing: part three”b. Fine tune the audio through a process called mastering,

identifying areas that need volume adjustments.c. Finish the radio show project. d. Export the audio into an MP3 file when it’s completed.e. Have a listening party with the whole group. f. Email the MP3 file to everyone in your radio group.

3. Review evaluation questions with your student.

additional notes and reflections:

lesson 4.3│audio editing, part threeradio show: masteringWhen a sound engineer is finished creating their work, they need to “master” the project. In audio work, “mastering” is what you do to a song before it is ready to go on an album, or what you do to a radio show before it can be played on the radio. It’s taking all of your hard work and making sure that it sounds the best it possibly can.

step one: adjusting your gain settingsThe first and most basic part of mastering is checking the gain of each track. That’s a sound engineer’s word for volume, how loud each track is. To the left of every track, you’ll find “Mute,” “Solo,” and two sliding buttons. The first sliding button controls the track level.

Change the gain of the first audio track (the one where you’re reading the script) by clicking and dragging the button between “–“ and “+.” What happens when you drag it to the left? To the right? When you are done, drag it back to the middle, halfway between “–“ and “+.”

Adjust the gain for the rest of your audio tracks. Be deliberate about this. Let’s say you added footsteps to a scene. Are the footsteps too loud? Too quiet? Adjust them to the point where you can hear them, but they aren’t distracting.

You can also change the volume of a track as an effect from the “Effect” menu. This is really useful if you only want to make one part of a track louder or quieter.

Find a place in your first audio track where someone spoke louder or quieter than before. Maybe they were too close to the microphone, or too far away from it. Click and drag to select this part of the track.

Go to “Effect >> Amplify.” A window will pop up with a sliding button. You can slide this button back and forth to make this audio louder or quieter. Amplification greater than 0 will make the audio louder. Less than 0 will make it quieter. Click “OK” when ready.

Changing the volume this way is a little bit more difficult than the slider. It’s also permanent; whereas the slider is something you can always change. The benefit of this method is that you can make more subtle and better sounding changes.

step two: adjusting your pan settingsThe next thing you are going to work on is the pan of each track. Most audio tracks use stereo sound. That means that the track is really two tracks: one for your left ear and one for your right. If you are listening to a track in Audacity through headphones, the top track plays in your left ear, the bottom track in your right.

As a side note, some audio tracks use mono sound. This means that the track is only one track. Your left ear hears the same thing as your right ear. Some of the sound effects that you got from the Internet might be mono.

Find a sound effect in your radio show that you want to play only in your left ear. This track has a slider underneath the “gain” that controls panning. Click and drag this button to the letter “L.” Listen to this part of your radio show. Did it work?

Go through the rest of your radio show and change the pan of other tracks.

radio show completeNow that you’ve learned some of the basics of mastering, your radio show is ready to go. But, you’ve only scratched the surface of what you can make in Audacity, and you can experiment with more tools when

you have some extra time. For now, you’re going to export what you created.

Go to “File >> Export Audio.” Give you show a good name and save it as an MP3 file. This way you can share your show with friends and family. Be sure to email a copy of the file to everyone in your group.

That’s it! Those are the basics of audio editing. As you can probably tell, there’s a lot more to learn about audio. If you have any extra time, look up some Audacity tutorials online and try out some new tricks. Or start a new project and make a song. You have many new things to try!