Audacity                                                                                             

Section Table of Contents

I. History

II. Application and Other Application

III. Real World

IV. Educational Value

V. International Use

VI.  Resources

I. History 

A) Purpose:

Audacity is a “free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.” The creators, Mazzoni and Dannenber say, "Outside of work, we are lead [1]

developers of this program, a free, open-source, cross-platform audio editor. You can use it to record sounds, create mixes, add special effects, create MP3s, analyze spectrograms, and much more .” Initially, they created this project as a “multilingual audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, [2]

GNU/Linux and other operating systems.” [1]

B) Background:

It was designed by grad students Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenber in the fall of 1999 at Carnegie Mellon University. Mazzoni and Dannenber are now current employers of Google, but still remain involved in with the project. Mazzoni says, "I founded Audacity in 1999 and was the primary developer for many years. Now I'm lucky enough to have a team of volunteers all around the world who work on it. I'm no longer the primary developer, but I still make significant contributions and play a large role in guiding and organizing the project.[3]

Back to Top

II. Application and Other Applications

  A) How Does It Work?

From Audacity's main website, we found that "Audacity is a free, easy-to-use and audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNUmultilingual/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

Record live audio.Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.Change the speed or pitch of a recording.And more! See the complete ."   list of features [4]

 [4]

 [5]

[6]

  

B) Similar Applications 

[7][8][9][10]

    C) Unique Features

Audacity is one of the best sound editing programs available and it’s free! It allows users to mix multiple recordings and audio clips in a simple, user friendly way. The program offers one to undo an unlimited number of times. This means that if the user makes a mistake, they can easily go back to where they were without losing all of the work they had just done. Also, this program contains non-destructive editing which means that the user will not lose the original audio clip if it is edited. The recording or audio clip can also be cut and mixed to rearrange the sounds. It has very basic cut and paste features like most other processing programs. One of the most unique features is that one can edit out a sound from the recording or audio clip.  For example, if someone were trying to record an audio clip and their dog started barking, the user could easily remove the dogs voice from the recording and it would sound like it had never happened. This would prevent the recorder from having to restart the audio. Also, the cut and paste feature would allow the recorder to remove a section of the recording if they had a mistake in their recording. Audacity also has its own screenshot program so the user could take a picture of the recording in order to remember what times they were working on if they need to save the recording. This would be very beneficial for someone who would need to work on the project for more than just one sitting. Audacity is also very user friendly and offers many help tools as well as an easy to use tool bar to aid the recorder. In the screenshot below, the easy to use tool bar is shown as well as how a recording looks like when all of the silences are removed from the original recording.[11]

Back to Top

III. Real World

  A) Lesson Plans

 Lesson Plans have been taken down to edit. They are complete, but have been removed to avoid confusion after the edits are done.

Primary 

Title The Water Cycles  (STEM)

Targeted Audience

Grades 4-5

Overview Using a computer and headphones to help them, students will use the program Audacity to learn about the Earth’s water cycles.

Objective Given a diagram, students will be able to identify the water cycles and their functions by filling in the blank diagram with 90% accuracy

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan- The Water Cycles.docx   Lesson Plan- The Water Cycles.pdf

Title Music from Across America

Targeted Audience

Grades 2-3

Overview Students will use the program Audacity to listen to a variety of music from a variety of different ethnic groups.

ObjectiveStudents must identify the “families” of musical instruments by listening to their sounds recorded in Audacity, and click on the correct instrument that goes with the sound with 90% accuracy.Students must be able to identify different diverse American music and how music reflects community and culture by selecting the correct choice from a multiple choice question with 90% accuracy.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan- Music.docx Lesson Plan- Music.pdf

Title Vowel Lesson Plan

Targeted Audience

Kindergarten

Overview Using Audacity to create verbal sounds to show the differences between the vowel sounds.

Objective Given a set of flash cards of the alphabet students will be able to create knowledge of the sounds of the vowels and their different sounds.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan- English.docx Lesson Plan- English.pdf

Secondary

Title Kennedy Nixon Debate

Targeted Audience

Grade 11

Overview The students will be split into two groups. One will watch the Kennedy Nixon debate. The others will listen to it using the program Audacity.

Objective Given a reflection essay, students must be able to

discuss who won the debate with evidence shown in the video and got from class discussion  elaborate on big issues being faced in the 1960 election; state certain key points about the debate such as who won, and what their views were.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan-U.S. History.docx Lesson Plan-U.S. History.pdf

Title Frequency

Targeted Audience

Grades 11-12

Overview Students can use the audacity software to learn the Physic knowledge of  frequency

ObjectiveGiven a multiple choice quiz ,students will recognize the definition of frequency by identifying/choosing the most proper description. Students will identify the sounds of different hertz by listening to samples of sounds in different hertz.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan-Physics.doc Lesson Plan-Physics.pdf

Title The Human Body  (STEM)

Targeted Audience

Grades 11-12

Overview Students will use a computer and headphones to listen to a lesson and learn the parts of the human body.

ObjectiveGiven a diagram, students must identify various parts of the human body they must correctly label a blank with 100% accuracy.Given a multiple choice quiz, students must identify what different body parts by selecting the correct definition with 100% accuracy.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan- Human Anatomy.docx Lesson Plan- Human Anatomy.pdf

Post-Secondary

Title Parts of a Plant (STEM)

Targeted Audience

College Students

Overview Students will use a computer and headphones to listen to a verbal lesson about different parts of a plant.

ObjectiveGiven a diagram, students will identify various parts of a plant using a diagram to correctly label with parts with 100% accuracy.Given a multiple choice quiz define functions of various plant parts by selecting the correct answer from a multiple choice question with 100% accuracy.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan-Biology.docx Lesson Plan-Biology.pdf

Title Beginning Spanish Pronunciation

Targeted Audience

College Students

Overview Using a computer with earphones students will use a PowerPoint presentation using the program Audacity to practice pronouncing the Spanish alphabet.

ObjectiveGiven an oral quiz, students must correctly pronounce the entire Spanish alphabet by orders in front of the class, with 100% accuracy. Given a notecard with a phrase on it, students must correctly speak in complex phrases in front of the class; and pronounce each word fluently with 100% accuracy.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan-Spanish.docx Lesson Plan-Spanish.pdf

Title Preparation for 13nm Au Particle

Targeted Audience

College Students

Overview Students will use a computer and headphones to record their own experiment diary.

Objective Given a task of using AFM or TEM to observe the synthesized AuNPs, students will

synthesis 13nm Au particleCreate a diagram on excel.Practice the recording function of -Audacity to keep their verbal experiment diary.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan- Chemistry.docx Lesson Plan- Chemistry.pdf

  B) Business Use

With Audacity, one can record a speech or business meeting that can be used for employees who could not attend the meeting or a recording could be used for reference to the meeting at a later date to accompany the minutes. It could also be used on a company website alongside a product or set of information with an audio file giving explanation of the affiliated product or information placed in the website. It could also be used to create an audio

version of an article used in the business. [12]

Audacity could also be used in slideshows to provide auditory explanation of given information or a podcast of the presentation to attach to the slideshow, so that it is not necessary to be present at the time of the presentation.  Such instances could be a budget meeting or training program. The audio files could simply be sent along with the files from the meeting or program or integrated into the slideshow. 

  C) Personal Use

Audacity can be used to create simple voice or music Podcasts. It can be used to make ringtones, mix tracks into remixes, and separating or combining tracks or audio together. With Audacity, it is possible to record music that was on a cassette tape or a vinyl record and turns it into digital music file. Tutorials of how these tasks can be accomplished can be found on the Audacity website under tutorials. [13]

Back to Top

IV. Educational Value

Audacity can be used in various types of classes. As our lesson plans have shown, both standard and elective courses can benefit from this editing and recording software. Math, sciences, music, English, and arts can all  incorporate Audacity into demonstrations and group activities. Especially for auditory learners, this program is a crucial tool.  

Examples

  A) Birmingham City University (UK) Technology Innovation Centre

 

Audacity is installed in one of the large computer laboratories in Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) of Birmingham City University as requirements for Digital Music Processing module teaching. Students are encouraged to investigate the Audacity source code and compare their MATLAB assignment to be able to understand the algorithm of HowAudacityWorks.

  B) East London University (UK) Multimedia Production Centre

Audacity is currently installed on over 60 Apple Macintosh workstations and is used primarily in conjunction with GarageBand by students of radio journalism who do not require, nor want to deal with, more technically challenging applications (such as Logic Pro) for performing simple audio editing. It's mainly used for the following:

Sample rate conversions of audio files to be imported into GarageBand (GarageBand won't convert files that are of a different sample rate to that which it is operating, but simply plays them back faster/slower).Click removal via the Draw tool.Quick and straightforward transfer of recordings from other media (MiniDisc etc) where complex multi-track editing is not required.

  C) Red Hat High Summer Science Camp (USA)

Red Hat High is a summer Science Camp that introduces older children to web programming and various aspects of digital technology, using mainly open source software. Audacity is used on an audio course teaching basic music and audio production tools and techniques.

  D) Universidad Veritas - Escuela de Cine & TV / San José (Costa Rica)

At Universidad Veritas they use Audacity (ver. 1.3.5) in their "Sound Techniques I & II" courses to introduce students to digital editing programs. The advantage is that students can use the program both at school and at home due to the free license and simplicity of installation. Using Audacity only, students have to create a "sonorama" where they tell an acoustic story.

  E) Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) (Egypt)

The Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes (TILO) school reform project in Egypt includes Audacity as a recommended digital resource. TILO is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The aim is to support the introduction of technology into teaching and learning at about 190 primary schools and 85 technology-oriented public experimental schools (dubbed as "Smart Schools").

Free-Eds

Free-Eds.co.uk collects together free teaching resources in all subjects, including lesson plans and worksheets produced by UK charities and museums, and relevant software. All material has been reviewed and is ready for teachers to use. The Music section contains free music teaching resources for national curriculum teachers of key stage ks1/ks2 (primary) and ks3/ks4 (secondary). These give ideas both for classroom teaching and GCSE revision. Audacity is listed in the pages for all four music key stages.

Bowland Maths

Bowland Maths is a set of downloadable materials offered to all schools in the United Kingdom free of charge, courtesy of the Bowland Charitable Trust and Department for Children, Schools and Families. It contains over twenty extended "case studies", each showing a practical application of math. DVDs of the material are available but must be purchased for use outside England.

One of the case studies called My Music by Carla Finesilver uses Audacity for some of the activities. This is a cross-curricular project for math and music departments. Students learn some of the math behind music by analyzing the similarities and differences between different genres of popular music. Particular attention is paid to measuring tempi in different tracks, then interpreting and presenting the results. [14]

  

Back to Top

V. How is "Audacity" used Internationally

  A) Honors

Audacity has been used generally and internationally since 2007, and has earned a great deal of honors from many countries.

At beginning, it was chosen as in 2007. It also has been accepted as a mentoring organization for the "Audio Authoring Application of the Year" "Google . Recently, Audacity was voted " " in the .Summer of Code 2008" Best Project for Multimedia "SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards 2009"

In magazines, Audacity has been chosen as "Favorite Audio Tool" in Linux Journal's . "2009 Readers' Choice Awards"

Audacity was also chosen as Bestcovery's " r".Best Free Sound Edito

  [15]

                                                                                                                                                  

  B) Language

Languages supported by Audacity are spreading to almost the whole world. That means wherever you live, you can use the software directly.

 

  

(Picture from  )http://flag.eyes-art.com/imgfg/wr001.png

In addition to the English language help function, the ZIP file of the downloadable Audacity software program also includes help files in following language:

Afrikaans, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Arabic Basque Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (simplified) Chinese (traditional) Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French Galician German Greek, , , , , , ), , , , , , , , Hungarian Irish Italian Japanese Lithuanian Macedonian Norwegian (Bokmål Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Slovak Slovenian Spanish S

, , and . A partial help file is also included. wedish Turkish Ukrainian Welsh Bengali [16]

                                                                                                                                                            

  C) International use

In Taiwan, Audacity is usually used in education which based on multimedia teaching. Teachers always integrate it with other software such as Movie , (dealing with photos),  , (transforming the formats between two different sound files) and . It makes the Maker Picasa MP3 Format Factory Power Point

students' potentials unlimited.

Also, with the practical figures of audio recording system, it is possible to enable various people to communicate ideas, exchange information, combine research, as well as create and complete a project together. Moreover, by using Audacity, students can ask questions and complete projects with international partners.[17]

                                                                                                            

In Japan, the students use Audacity to help them learn. By recording voice (which may be the teacher's or theirs) then editing it, emphasizing the parts of the key points, repeating listening and understanding or memorizing it, Audacity can enhance the efficiency of learning.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

On the other hand, conveying ideas is a more and more general method in Audacity. Among the varied Countries, or in different languages, people can exchange their thoughts. Even the recorded voices are in special tones or multiplied accents. With the “Edit” feature in Audacity, recordings can be made better.

In some countries, Audacity is combined with multimedia in jubilations to celebrate unconventionally. Even in funerals, people employ Audacity functions to stimulate participants' feelings, and it prevails. So, what do you believe? Internationally, there are more and more activities using Audacity to create various atmospheres!

Back to Top

VI. Resources

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/  Audacity: About Audacityhttp://dominic-mazzoni.com/ Domininc Mazzoni Websitehttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/credits Audacity: Creditshttp://georgeh123.blogspot.com/2004/12/audio-editing-tool-audacity-version.html George's Freeware Review Pagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Audacity_Ubuntu.png Wikipedia: File: Audacity, Ubuntu.pnghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rQr5YVNqI0 Youtube: Audacity Tutorialwww.freeverse.com/soundstudio Freeverse: Sound Studiowww.jokosher.org Jokosherhttp://www.kreatives.org/kristal Kreatives: Kristalhttp://www.rosegardenmusic.com Rosegarden Music: Rosegardenhttp://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Wiki_Home_Page Audacity Wiki: Home Pagehttp://ezinearticles.com/?Audacity-Audio-Editor-For-Recording-Streaming-Audio-on-Website&id=4128231  Ezine Articles: Audacity Audio Editor for Recording       Streaming Audio on Websitehttp://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Category:Tutorial Audacity Wiki: Tutorialshttp://eng.tceb.edu.tw/06epaper/detail.asp?NewsID=1352 Tiachung Elementary School English Teaching Resource Websitehttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/news Audacity: Newshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity  Wikipedia: Audacityhttp://sssh161.sssh.tp.edu.tw/~chen/Class/MultiMedia/ClassMM.html Taipei Muncibe Songstan Senior High School: Computer Science

Back to Top

Audacity Research Page 

Audacity Group Member Introduction