How do I use Audacity to create mp3 audio files?

1. Double-click on the Audacity icon to open Audacity. Make sure your microphone or headset is plugged in.

2. Click on ‘File’ and then on ‘New’.

3. To start recording, click on the round ‘record’ button. Once you have finished recording, click on the square ‘stop’ button.

4. After you have finished recording, select the whole thing by clicking on ‘Control’ ‘A’.

5. Click on ‘Effect’ and then on ‘Amplify’. Click ‘OK’ to amplify the sound file. Now click on ‘Equalization’ and ‘Normalize’ and do the same thing.

6. Go to ‘Edit’ and click on ‘Preferences’. Click on the ‘Quality’ tab and make sure the ‘Default Sample Rate’ is 44100Hz.
 

7. Click on the ‘File Formats’ tab and make sure the Bit Rate is 64. Then click on ‘Find Library’. Locate the Lame Encoder (MP3 Encoder) file you saved previously, double click on it and then click ‘OK’. You only have to do this the first time you use Audacity to create Mp3 files. Audacity will remember where the Lame Encoder is located.

8. Go to ‘File’ and click on ‘Export as MP3’. Save your MP3 file.

9. You will see the following after saving your MP3 file. You can enter in a title (Title) and name (Artist) if you’d like. These will be attached to the file. You do not have to do this if you do not want to.

 

Please, also, see these other content related FAQ:

How do I get the correct image size?
What tools should I use to create mp3 audio files?
How do I reduce the image file size?
How do I add myself as a Provider?
Content Sharing Guidelines and Terms of Use
Why does the formatting of my text change when importing?
How do I attach a Collection to an Item?
How much should I charge for my content?

Comments

[Sumiko]

Again, I would like to ask you for fomating the audio file.
Recently I am so glad to find some contents of Interesting Things of the Day by Joe Kissel in the Store since I am big fan of his blog. In fact, I have got plenty of contents I would like to import by myself including audio file. Unfortunately the ITotD`s audio file has Bit Rate of 128. I tried to use the Audacity in order to change the Bit Rate, however I keep failing. Somehow, the box of Bit Rate becomes uneditable.
I just wonder how you are able to take the ITotD files into the Store.

[Jill]

Hi Sumiko,

There is a new post on the LingQ Central blog that explains how to change the Bit Rate. It involves downloading a different version of Audacity. Please click on the following link to read the post: http://thelinguist.blogs.com/lingqcentral/2007/08/changing-the-sa.html

I know this is all a little confusing and we do appreciate your efforts to import content!