Using Audacity

General Instructions for Instructors

“Audacity” is a program you can use to record your voice, save the recording as an MP3 formatted file (as well as other formats).

From the “Start” menu (or from the desktop) select the “Audacity” program.

The Audacity project window will open.

To record, click on the button with the red circle.

To play your selection, press on the button with the green triangle.

To stop your selection, press on the button with the yellow block.

In order to listen to student’s recording, select “File” on the menu and click “Open…”

The following window will open.

In the “Select an audio file…” window, select the student file and click “Open.”

Play the recording (green arrow).

Stop the recording (yellow block) at the point you’d like to insert your comment.

Click on that space so the cursor appears.

(Tip: To “space the recording out”, go to View, then Zoom Normal”)

Select File, then New to open up a new window to record your comments.

(Tip: Do not press try to record in the students window or the two tracks will play simultaneously)

Click on the button with the red circle to record your voice.

Click and drag to select your recording.

Go to “Edit” on the top menu bar and click “Cut.”

Go back to your first window.

Make sure the cursor is in the place where you want to insert comments.

(Tip: a flat line in the wave form indicates a silence where you can insert your comment), Then go to “Edit” and click “Paste.”

To save your recording as an mp3 file follow these instructions:

From the “File” menu located in the upper-left side of the window, select “Export as “MP3”

The following window will open.

In the “Save MP3 File As:” window click on the Desktop button to select the desktop as your location to save the file. (Or you can choose to save the file in another location.)

In the “File name:” window, give the file a unique name.

Click on the “Save” button to save the file to the desktop.

Sometimes, you will get this error messages. If you do, select “Yes” to locate the “lame_enc.dll” file.

The “Where is lame_enc.dll?” window will open.

Then you must find where the “lame file” is located on your computer.

In the LLC, it is on the desktop.

Select the “Desktop” button, and double click on the “AUDACITY_DLL” folder.

When the folder opens, double click on “lame_enc.dll.”

Select “ID3v1 (more compatible)”, give the file a title, and then click “OK.”

The application will save your recording to the desktop as an MP3 formatted file.

You can email it to a student, upload it to your Homer account, or to your website (Catalyst).