Audacity isn’t just useful for podcasts and music production. Here are some creative ways to use Audacity and how to get started.
Audacity is a free application you can use for recording, editing, and mixing audio. It also happens to be incredibly versatile.
People use Audacity for a wide range of different projects, including creating music, recording ringtones, and capturing conversations.
If you aren’t sure what you can do with Audacity, this is the article for you. We list some creative ways to use Audacity, along with a few pointers on how to get started.
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Download Audacity If You Haven’t Already
First things first, you need to download and install Audacity. It’s totally free to use on Windows, macOS, or Linux machines. All you need to do is download the latest version from the Audacity website.
If you ever need help finding out how to use Audacity, take a look at the comprehensive Audacity wiki. This wiki covers all of the basics, including beginner tutorials, FAQs, and troubleshooting suggestions.
Download: Audacity for Windows | macOS | Linux (Free)
1. Record Multitrack Music
Whether you’re part of a band or a singer in need of backing tracks, one of the most obvious uses of Audacity is to record some multitrack music. It’s easy to make music with Audacity, and all you need to get started is a microphone and an audio interface.
You can even get some pretty professional results from recording in Audacity. Don’t believe us? Check out this list of musicians who used Audacity to record their songs. Some of the examples speak wonders to Audacity’s musical potential.
2. Create a Podcast or Radio Show
Audacity is the perfect tool for mixing several tracks together, making it excellent for creating podcast episodes or radio shows. Thanks to its multitrack capabilities, it’s easy to fade in different tracks or add sound effects and music in between the dialog of your show.
All you need to do is drag-and-drop an audio file into Audacity to import it to your project. You could even use our previous audio project idea to record some music for a theme song.
3. Practice a Speech or Presentation
Another great use of Audacity is to record yourself delivering a speech or monolog. Listening back to how you sound will help you perfect your delivery before the big day. You might decide to cut out a section, add more jokes, or practice your pronunciation.
This is a great tip for getting ready to deliver presentations, wedding toasts, or even to prepare for an acting audition.
4. Produce a Radio Advert or Voiceover
If you have a good voice, you could use Audacity to create a radio advert for a small business. All you need to do is read your script and add a few sound effects. It’s far cheaper to record it yourself than pay for a professional.
If the advert turns out well, you could use it to form a portfolio and seek more voiceover work in the future.
5. Make a Recording of Your Interviews
It’s a good idea to use Audacity to make a recording of any interviews you conduct. You might use these for research projects, hiring purposes, or to publish them online. Either way, it’s incredibly useful to have an audio recording to refer back to.
Take a look at our simple tips to improve your interview recordings for the best quality.
6. Record the Audio From Other Apps
There are plenty of reasons you might want to record the audio from other applications on your computer. You can use Audacity to record the audio from a Skype call, a YouTube clip, or even an online radio station.
To dissuade copyright infringements, you can’t usually do this without commercial software or a loopback cable. But you’ll find a comprehensive guide detailing how to record your computer’s audio on the Audacity Wiki.
7. Practice Foreign Languages
Anyone who’s successfully learned a foreign language will agree that you need to speak it frequently to get it right. It’s difficult to improve if you have no-one to talk to, but that’s what you can use Audacity for.
Record yourself speaking a foreign language, then listen back to make sure your accent is right. Bonus points if you can compare your own voice with recordings of your language teacher or a native speaker.
8. Create Audiobooks for LibriVox
Put your reading voice to good use by using Audacity to record free audiobooks for people. This is a particularly simple audio project idea because all you need to do is record a single voice.
If you have small kids in the family, you could create children’s audiobooks for them to enjoy as bedtime stories. If those books are in the public domain, you could even share them with other people when you have finished.
LibriVox is a great place to volunteer public domain audiobooks for other people to listen to.
9. Create Karaoke Backing Tracks
Karaoke is a lot of fun, but sometimes you can’t find the backing tracks for the songs you want to sing. Once again, Audacity can help.
Follow our step-by-step guide to remove the vocals from your favorite songs and create karaoke backing tracks using Audacity. You could even record your own vocal performance over the top to show off your singing skills to friends.
10. Capture Your Every Thought
Whatever’s on your mind, you can use Audacity to capture it in a recording. If you’re a musician, record the new melody that just popped into your head. If you’re a writer, keep an audio account of your best story ideas. Or just use Audacity to capture random thoughts that you don’t want to forget.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep all these audio recordings well organized and clearly labeled. Otherwise you’ll never find the ones you’re looking for again.
11. Export Custom Ringtones
You can use Audacity to export MP3 files, which in turn, you can use as new ringtones. So it follows that you can use Audacity to make custom ringtones.
12. Create Samples and DJ Mixes
Audacity is what a lot of DJs use to cut up samples or create mixes from multiple songs. It’s easy to import MP3 files by dropping them into the Audacity window, then grab the samples you want to keep using Cut and Paste.
If you add multiple songs to different tracks, experiment with fading them in over the top of one another to create your own mixes. You might want to make sure they both play at the same tempo first for the best chance of success.
How to Remove Background Noise
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of what you can do with Audacity and all of the different audio projects you can use it for. It’s an incredibly flexible and powerful piece of software, especially considering that it’s totally free.