Audio editing with Audacity: A little tutorial

With the free editing software "Audacity" you can easily edit audio files. In this tutorial we give you a short introduction to the basics of audio editing with Audacity.

Simple audio editing with Audacity - how it works

First open the audio file you want to edit in Audacity ("File"> "Open").

1. Remove a section: Use the mouse (normal selection tool) to mark an area and delete it with [Del]. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut [Ctrl] + [X].
2. Copy and paste: Mark the selected area in the file again and press [Ctrl] + [C] to copy the section. Elsewhere you can paste again with [Ctrl] + [V].
3. Change view: In order to keep the overview or to take a closer look at individual parts, you can zoom in and out of the recording by holding down the [Ctrl] key and the wheel of your mouse.
4. Insert new track: To do this, press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [N] and get a new mono track below your previous tracks.
5. Export: You can later save the edited file as a WAV or MP3 file via "File"> "Export".

Five tips and tricks for newcomers to Audacity

1. Create silence: You must first mark the area that should be silent. You can then use [Ctrl] + [L] to remove all noises in the section.
2. Double: If you want to experiment a bit, double-click a section with [Ctrl] + [D]. So the original is preserved and you can try out effects without hesitation.
3. Adjust volume automatically: You can set the correct volume - i.e. 0 dB - for a selected section via "Effects"> "Amplify".
4. Fade: You can show and hide music with the "Fade In" or "Fade Out" effect in the "Effects" tab.
5. Remove noise: If you have a continuous noise in the background of your recording, you can remove it. You can find out exactly how this is done here.