The Audacity Channel

Due to circumstances beyond my control (like moving, hanging endless curtains on thousands of windows, endless back-to-back meetings with contractors and repair people, policing the landscapers, being an amazing husband, and finally putting together a vocal booth, I've had to delay the start of Season 3 until next week, May 31st. I hope you'll join me!

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

In this final episode of Season 2, I talk about exporting your project as an MP3 file and some of the things that are easy to overlook in Audacity when exporting. I also mention a couple of things related to ACX audiobook requirements to keep in mind if you're exporting your project as an audiobook chapter or chapters. Don't forget I teach in-depth Audacity training courses at the Audacity Bootcamp. You'll find me there by visiting https://www.audacitybootcamp.com.

I'll see you in Season 3, beginning May 24th.

Here's a look at where we've been in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark with Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: Bonus Episode - Audacity 3.3.0 Released
• Episode 10: Setting The Correct LUFS Level For Your Podcast
• Episode 11: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3 (This Episode)

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

Setting the correct loudness level (LUFS) for your podcast is an important step in post-production that shouldn't be overlooked. Leveling your audio helps ensure consistent loudness from beginning to end and gives the listener a better listening experience because they don't have to constantly adjust the volume of your podcast as it plays. Doing loudness leveling minimizes the loudness fluctuations that can otherwise occur, things like audio trailing off at the end of a sentence or loudness differences between multiple hosts or guests.

The LUFS level for a stereo podcast is -16dB LUFS. For a mono podcast, it's -19dB LUFS. In this episode I suggest a few different tools that are available to help you hit your LUFS target level for the kind of podcast you're doing, either stereo or mono.

Resources for LUFS leveling I mention in this podcast:
In addition to Audacity's built-in loudness leveler, I talk about...

• Waves WLM Plus Loudness Meter - https://www.waves.com/plugins/wlm-loudness-meter 
• The Auphonic website and desktop leveler - https://auphonic.com/ 

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark with Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: Bonus Episode - Audacity 3.3.0 Released
• Episode 10: Setting The Correct LUFS Level For Your Podcast (This Episode)
• Episode 11: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

I'm taking a short detour from our regular Season 2 episodes to let you know Audacity has released version 3.3.0. I made a video outlining what's new and what's changed in Audacity 3.3.0. The link is below, as well as a link to Audacity's GitHub page which outlines the changes. I'll post our regular Season 2 video in a couple of days.

The link to my Audacity 3.3.0 Video:
https://youtu.be/-qzvqn-08D0

Audacity's GitHub Page:
https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases

Enjoy!

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

Let's take a few minutes to talk about using realtime effects in Audacity. The ability to add realtime, non-destructive effects takes Audacity to an entirely new level as a mainstream digital audio workstation. Plus, it's free! My purpose in this video isn't to recommend specific plugins (there are so many out there, making that a near impossible task). My purpose is to talk about how to add realtime effects and then describe my order of realtime effects when editing a podcast. I don't mention compression as one of my effects because I use a hardware compressor (my DBX 286S) so my audio is compressed before it ever gets recorded.

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark with Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity (This Episode)
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Links I talk about in this episode:

• Audacity De-Clicker: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/updated-de-clicker-and-new-de-esser-for-speech/34283
• VIDEO: Audacity De-Clicker vs. The iZotope Mouth De-Clicker: https://youtu.be/EQHaWQRYViw

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

Let's talk about recording and editing in multi-track as opposed to single track where everyone in the show is recording on the same track and possibly even the intro and outro music. I've been doing multi-track recording and editing for years now. But when I began doing podcasts, I recorded everything onto one track. That's a challenge because if you have more than one person on your podcast, what works for EQ and other tonal adjustments for one of them, probably won't work as well for the other. In addition, if the person not speaking makes a sound while the other person's talking it's going to be hard, if not impossible to delete that piece of audio. Multi-track makes post-production so much easier.

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark with Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate (This Episode)
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity (This Episode)
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Links I talk about in this episode (these are affiliate links so I get a couple of dollars if you purchase using these links).

• Zoom H6 Recorder: https://amzn.to/3mv6DyD
• Zoom Podtrak P4: https://amzn.to/3UsOvls
• Zoom H8 Portable Recorder: https://amzn.to/43n7nqa

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

What is sample rate, bit depth, and bit rate? It's important to know what each of these is and what settings to use for each because all three contribute directly to the overall quality of our final audio. So let's take some time to talk about them using easy-to-understand definitions.

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark with Sample Rate, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate (This Episode)
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

One of the things that helps me be a better podcaster and spoken word content creator is seeing what other creators do. Getting a glimpse of the hardware and production processes of other podcasters and audiobook creators challenges me to improve where I can. In this episode, I give you a rundown of the hardware I use in my recording chain. Enjoy!

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain (This Episode)
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark for Excellent Audio
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Reminder: MARCH MADNESS IS HAPPENING NOW AT THE AUDACITY BOOTCAMP! There are only a few days left in The Audacity Bootcamp 50% off March Madness sale. To take advantage of this 50% off sale, simply enter the coupon code MADNESS when signing up for a course. This is 50% off the already low cost of my Audacity courses and I cover your sales tax!! To take advantage of this March Madness sale, point your web browser to The Audacity Bootcamp Online School for Podcasters and Audiobook Narrators at:

• https://www.audacitybootcamp.com/

Once there, select the course(s) you're interested in, enroll and enter the coupon code MADNESS. But hurry! This sale ends in just a few short days! Once you enroll, you own the course. There is no recurring fee and there are no strings attached. My course videos are comprehensive and will give you the skills and confidence you need so you can produce exceptional audio using Audacity. But don't take my word for it. Check out the reviews while you're there and take advantage of the free preview videos I've provided.

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

Arguably, knowing how to speak correctly into the mic you're using for the room you're in is the single biggest factor when it comes to recording good initial audio, as opposed to bad or mediocre audio. Good microphone technique can make audio recorded in a bad recording environment, sound good. On the flip side, bad microphone technique can make audio recorded in a well-treated room sound mediocre, or just downright bad. Good microphone technique is tied to the type of mic you're using and is one more ingredient to making sure our initial audio is as good as it can be. 

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique (This Episode)
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark for Excellent Audio
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Reminder: MARCH MADNESS IS IN FULL SWING AT THE AUDACITY BOOTCAMP! The Audacity Bootcamp 50% off March Madness sale is happening the entire month of March. To take advantage of this 50% off sale, simply enter the coupon code MADNESS when signing up for a course. This is 50% off the already low cost of my Audacity courses and I cover your sales tax!! To take advantage of this March Madness sale, point your web browser to The Audacity Bootcamp Online School for Podcasters and Audiobook Narrators at:

• https://www.audacitybootcamp.com/

Once there, select the course(s) you're interested in, enroll and enter the coupon code MADNESS. Once you enroll, you own the course. There is no recurring fee and there are no strings attached. My course videos are comprehensive and will give you the skills and confidence you need so you can produce exceptional audio using Audacity. But don't take my word for it. Check out the reviews while you're there and take advantage of the free preview videos I've provided.

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me

Let's talk next about good microphone placement. Depending on the conditioning of our recording room and the type of microphone we're using, where we place our microphone can have an impact on the quality of our initial audio. For example, audio reflections tend to converge at or near the center of a room, especially in a poorly treated space or an untreated space. Bass tones like to hang out in the corners of a room and those reflections can get back into our mic and become a problem. So let's take a few minutes and talk about it.

Here's a look at where we've been and where we're going in this season of The Audacity Channel podcast:

• Episode 1: Recording Room Preparation
• Episode 2: Microphone Types
• Episode 3: Microphone Placement (This Episode)
• Episode 4: Microphone Technique
• Episode 5: My Recording Hardware Chain
• Episode 6: Audio Quality: Hitting the Mark for Excellent Audio
• Episode 7: Editing Multi-Track Projects in Audacity
• Episode 8: Adding Realtime Effects in Audacity
• Episode 9: How To Set The Correct LUFS Level
• Episode 10: Exporting Our Audacity Project as an MP3

Reminder: MARCH MADNESS IS IN FULL SWING AT THE AUDACITY BOOTCAMP! The Audacity Bootcamp 50% off March Madness sale is happening the entire month of March. To take advantage of this 50% off sale, simply enter the coupon code MADNESS when signing up for a course. This is 50% off the already low cost of my Audacity courses and I cover your sales tax!! To take advantage of this March Madness sale, point your web browser to The Audacity Bootcamp Online School for Podcasters and Audiobook Narrators at:

• https://www.audacitybootcamp.com/

Once there, select the course(s) you're interested in, enroll and enter the coupon code MADNESS. Once you enroll, you own the course. There is no recurring fee and there are no strings attached. My course videos are comprehensive and will give you the skills and confidence you need so you can produce exceptional audio using Audacity. But don't take my word for it. Check out the reviews while you're there and take advantage of the free preview videos I've provided.

Other Places You'll Find Me:

1. The Audacity Bootcamp online school for podcasters and ACX audiobook narrators. The school consists of the following online courses:
   • Audacity Step-by-Step: Beginner to Advanced
   • ACX Audiobook Production Using Audacity
   • Audacity Version Updates
2. The Learn Audacity YouTube Channel
3. The Learn Audacity Homepage
4. The Audacity Channel on YouTube
5. Facebook

• Contact Me