Abstract
This article is an overview of the open source audio-editing and -recording program, Audacity. Key features are noted, along with significant features not included in the program. A number of music and music technology concepts are identified that could be taught and/or reinforced through using Audacity.
According to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Although such a maxim would hardly apply to the general state of present-day technological developments—and least of all to complex computer software—such a maxim could be used to describe Audacity. Audacity is a modestly featured, open-source digital audio-editing and -recording software program, and when incorporating music technology into music education classrooms, this is a very good thing. In this issue, I provide an overview of the Audacity software, underscore its ability to be a teaching tool in the music classroom, and, finally, offer an answer to the question, “Is Audacity ready for my classroom?”
Audacity: An Overview
As an open-source digital audio-editing and -recording software program, available without charge, Audacity offers a generous and well-chosen feature set. Audacity records sound up to a 384-KHz sample rate and 32-bit floating-point word length, depending on the hardware interface used. These capabilities represent extremely high sound quality (e.g., the standard for CDs is 44.1-KHz sampling rate at 16-bit word length). Audacity can also import the most commonly used digital audio formats—AIFF, WAV, Ogg Vobis, and mp3 (with an auxiliary program)—and export audio files in AIFF and WAV formats to create CDs. Additionally, Audacity is capable of recording multiple-channel audio (meaning, more than a single stereo track) with compatible hardware; providing audio levels before, during, and after recording using visual level meters; executing “audio dubbing,” a technique by which new audio tracks are recorded “over” existing audio tracks; and making rudimentary analysis of recorded sound.
As an audio editor, Audacity provides a basic tool set for manipulating audio. There are more than two dozen built-in effects, including altering dynamics (changing gain, normalization, and compression), adding fade-ins and -outs to audio files, changing sound timbre (equalization, special effects), accomplishing basic noise reduction and click elimination, and creating delay effects (echo, reverberation, delay). Moreover, Audacity uses, with some exceptions and limitations, plug-ins available in the near-universal VST (Virtual Studio Technology) and AU (Audio Unit) formats, thus making Audacity a program capable of processing audio in a variety of ways.
In addition to effects capabilities, Audacity includes essential audio-editing tools. The most commonly used tool of the six for editing is the selection tool, located on the Tools Toolbar. This tool—which looks like an ordinary cursor in a word processing program—is used to visually make a selection by clicking and dragging on the waveform display. The other five tools on the Toolbar include the following:
Envelope Tool, used to make volume changes within a track
Draw Tool, used to make detailed volume adjustments or eliminate audible clicks in the audio
Zoom Tool, used to zoom in or out on the waveform display
Time-Shift Tool, used to select audio in multiple tracks and shift the audio backward or forward in time
Multi-Tool Tool, a “mode” for quick editing, in which the single cursor simultaneously engages all five previously listed tools
Audacity’s best “feature” is simplicity, and the program’s interface exemplifies “ease of use.” The Project Window has a clean, logical look, with helpful and concrete icons and terminology that is straightforward and intuitive (see Figure 1). Most of Audacity’s features can be accessed through the Project Window’s toolbars panel and the Menu Bar. Relative to other digital editing and recording programs, there are few hidden commands, and even those are readily accessed.
The absence of numerous features standard in similar, commercially available programs, however, does at times require awkward “workarounds.” The program, for example, lacks a dedicated mixer for mixing more than a small number of audio tracks, yet if one is working with a single stereo track, this is not problematic. The included effects offer only the most rudimentary of parameter adjustments—a benefit for those merely learning what “creating echoes with delay” means, but a deficiency for those ready to go “beyond the basics.” Nor is the program able to lock to external time code, work on the time line in beats and measures, or offer automatic solutions to eliminate latency issues. However, these omissions are mostly items that beginners would find overly complex and less likely to use. In this sense, less is more in Audacity.
Audacity and Teaching Fundamental Music and Technological Concepts
I recall the amazement experienced in the mid-1990s at seeing my music displayed as a waveform in one of the first commercially available digital audio-editing programs that I had purchased and installed on my computer. (It was, like Audacity, mostly limited to working with a single stereo track.) I am certain my jaw dropped to the floor—or near to it! That moment of exhilaration served as a catalyst leading to years of learning about music and technology in fantastic new ways. Only 20 years ago, many individuals used four-track cassette “home studios” in learning the basics of recording audio. Far more than those four-track “home studios”—or even my first digital audio-editing program—Audacity is able to illustrate music and technological concepts.
The following list provides some fundamental music concepts that can be taught and/or reinforced and illustrated with Audacity:
Structure—Have students import their favorite song from a CD and “slice it” into main parts (e.g., verse and chorus). Have them experiment with moving those “slices” to change a song dramatically. Transfer that knowledge to recognizing music forms such as ABA, ritornello, theme and variations, and rondo.
Dynamics—Have students import a 3- to 5-minute music segment, and identify and describe how the waveform changes over time. The waveform documents the varying amplitude in a piece of music measured over time. (Note: For the past 20 years, most commercial recordings have been compressed and limited to sound as loud as possible. For best results use classical art music or older pop recordings.) Have students experiment with changing the amplitude. This allows them to hear and see what happens during the manipulation—an activity that provides a whole new appreciation for the Italian dynamic terms forte and piano.
Time—Working with this type of software program reinforces the “centrality of time” in music as the cursor moves over the waveform display and sound evolves in some manner. Imaginative, 20th-century composers (e.g., John Cage) called attention to the place the passage of time plays in creating music with compositions such as 4’33”, written in 1952. His composition amounted to the sounds heard by an audience during the 4 minutes and 33 seconds while a musician sits quietly with or at their instrument bench. Contemporary composers are keenly aware of the use time as a fundamental factor in creating music.
Sound envelopes—Audacity also raises awareness of the nature of sound envelopes—how a given sound changes over time. Electronic musicians coined the term ADSR Envelope to describe these aspects of any given sonic event. (A: the “attack,” the onset of a sound; D: the “decay,” how quickly a sound decays after its attack; S: represents “sustain,” referring to how a sonic event [may] be sustained after the initial decay; and R: the “release,” describing what happens to a sound after it ceases to sound.) Formally trained musicians have different terms to describe these same sound characteristics: articulation, sustain, and release.
Audacity can also be a tool for teaching the following fundamental music technology concepts—concepts useful for students of all ability levels:
Comprehending, at a basic level, how the conversion of sonic information into a digital representation and back again functions—that is, how “digital audio” works: This is crucial knowledge, as the notion of “converting” all manner of information from the “material world”—things we see, hear, touch, smell, and taste—capable of being stored, manipulated, and reproduced apart from the original phenomenon is at the heart of the late-20th and early-21st centuries’ digital revolution.
Gaining insight into the concepts behind digital audio terminology and, consequently, how computers operate: At some point during their encounters with music technology, musicians realize that music technology “lingo” directly parallels terms musicians have used for centuries to describe and perform music. Amateur musicians also benefit from understanding these terms, as it assists in expanding their ability to perceive and describe music and the world around them in new ways. Learning a new language or even new “vocabulary sets” provides pathways to understand and be creative with new ideas!
Experiencing fundamentals of editing sound: Many individuals have limited knowledge of how sound, like every other piece of information converted into the digital domain, can be digitally edited. We live in an age of unsurpassed “perfection” in nearly every human endeavor. Yet much of this is an illusion in the music recording industry. Despite being performed by professional musicians, an average commercially-released classical recording has had more than 3,000 edits made in creating the final product! Discovering the powerful possibilities of editing sound is to realize that (a) “perfection” is not the norm in any human endeavor and (b) achieving something great—whether in music or another endeavor—is the result of hard work, persistence, and most often computers, in this age of advanced technology.
Grasping the concept of stereo imaging: As a result of current high-quality mixing and mastering audio, “monophonic” sound has essentially disappeared from our music and overall aural experiences. Few individuals understand or appreciate that our experience of hearing in stereo—in this context, loosely defined as the capability to locate sound in the 360-degree field around us—results from psychoacoustic processes in our mind. Although this may sound esoteric to some music educators, such a realization may inspire some students to pursue research into the human brain, the field of psychoacoustics, or music education! Working with Audacity offers students the opportunity to understand music at a deeper level, and the phenomenon of what it means to hear and to listen.
As music educators, one of our essential tasks is providing students with the fundamental knowledge and skills that lead to a lifetime of appreciating and making music. Thanks to the tremendous advances in music technology, there exists an entire host of tools available to fulfill this charge in exciting and engaging ways.
Ready for the Classroom
Audacity is a software tool worthy of consideration by music educators in every teaching context. The fact that it is “open software” and can be obtained without monetary cost is merely another “plus” in considering it, downloading it, and incorporating it in your classrooms. The value of Audacity in music education contexts ultimately rests on its relative simplicity: its inclusion of certain features and tools, but not others; its interface’s clarity and ease of use; and above all, the power it provides. These include the fundamentals of audio and recording audio, a deeper understanding of sound and the possibilities for its manipulation, and a keener understanding of music and its fundamental components. Is Audacity ready for your classroom(s)? I believe so. The answer to that question is yours to make.
This is my last offering as Technology Columnist for General Music Today. It has been an honor to address you in this written medium and, I hope, offer encouragement and resources for your incredibly vital work of teaching. I thank my fantastically gifted and helpful teacher and editor, Dr. Shelly Cooper, for the opportunity to serve you. I am confident that my successor will continue to seek to support and assist you with technology ideas and suggestions. I conclude by saying, simply, “Carry on! The work we do with music and the humanities is more crucial than ever!” You and I have the privilege of shaping the lives of others with the most beautiful and noble of all the arts: music. Thus, colleagues, I say again: “Carry on!”
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Author Biography
The author holds degrees from the University of Minnesota (B.Mus.Ed.), the University of Missouri-Columbia (M.M.), and the University of Arizona (DMA) in choral conducting and music education. He currently serves as Director of Music at a large urban church, where he engages in a wide variety of musical tasks and music education. His doctoral lecture recital and document, Evolution Meets Revolution: The Contributions of Computers to Word- and Tone-Painting in Choral-Electroacoustic Works, combined his interests in music technology and how composers utilize sound to illustrate and communicate words, concepts, and emotions.