In this section of the tutorial, we are going to create "The End", a mix of the 11 files listed below. We won't use all of the editing power of Audacity, but it will give you a good base on which to build.
1. Gather Your Source Files:
To save these files to your computer, right-click
and choose "Save Target As..."
| yellow.wav | button_cut.wav |
| sdestruct.wav | muhahaha.wav |
| notgood.wav | bummer.wav |
| dontpanic.wav | boss.wav |
| psnqs.wav | blahblah.wav |
| end.wav |
2. Begin and Save a Project:
•
In Audacity, go to Project > Import
Audio and open yellow.wav.
• Save your
project by going to File > Save Project
As. You will get a warning that says
that Audacity's .aup files are only useful in
Audacity and you need to export to get other file
types. Just click OK and Save your project.
• Be sure
to SAVE OFTEN when you are working on a project.
3. Cut a Track:
This song is about 3 minutes long and we only
need about 19 seconds of it.
• Use the Selection
tool 
to highlight the time span from 1:34.5 to just
under 1:53. You may need to zoom
in 
to see this detail.
• After you
have the section you want to keep highlighted,
click the Trim Outside Selection tool
.
You should get a section that looks similar to
this:
• Click Play
to hear what you have cut.
NOTE: If you have any area highlighted when
you click Play, Audacity will only play that section.
4. Edit a Track:
Now we are going to cut the end of the music off
and move it to the beginning.
• Use the Selection
tool to highlight the last few seconds
of the music (start where the waveform gets really
skinny, as shown in the image above).
• Cut
this section 
.
• Click in
the empty gray area before the blue waveform starts.
• Paste
the section 
.
You should get a new waveform that looks like
this:
• Play
the section to hear the new arrangement.
5. Create a Stereo Sound:
This file is mono, but it would sound better in
stereo.
• Go to Project
> Align Tracks > Align with Zero
(so that it is starting at 0 seconds).
• Use the Selection
tool to highlight the entire blue waveform, then
click Copy 
.
• Get a blank
audio track by going to Project > New
Audio Track.
• Paste
the waveform into the new track.
• From the
Track Pop-Down Menu of the top track, choose Make
Stereo Track. This will join the 2 tracks
into one:
6. Add More Tracks:
Add the rest of the tracks to your project.
• Go to Project
> Import Audio. It doesn't matter
in what order the tracks are imported -- you can
rearrange them.
• Arrange the
tracks by choosing Move Track Up/Down
from the Track Pop-Down Menu (or you can just
drag and drop them).
Track order: yellow, button_cut, sdestruct,
muhaha, notgood, bummer, dontpanic, boss, psnqs,
blahblah, end
7. Time the Tracks:
•
Use the Time Shift tool 
to move each track to its place in the timeline.
It is basically a trial & error process to
get the timing tweaked just right. HINT: both
yellow and muhaha should overlap the end of sdestruct
just a little.
8. Adjust the Volume of the Tracks:
There are 2 ways to adjust volume (and using
a little of both on a track often gives the clearest
sound).
• Use the Envelope
tool 
to drag the blue waveform taller (louder) or shorter
(softer). You can even increase one part of a
track while decreasing another:
• Use the Gain
slider 
to increase (+) or decrease (-) the volume.
9. Generate Static:
This step will show you how to add the "static"
at the end of your mix (but you can use this
step to add silence, a single tone or clicking
rhythms).
• Go to Project
> New Audio Track (or New Stereo Track
if you want your static to come in IN STEREO).
• Go to Generate
> White Noise. Set the number of seconds
to 2 or 3.
• Time
Shift the blue waveform to the end of
the mix (you may want to overlap end.wav just
a bit).
10. Add Effects:
You can add effects to this mix to add your own
creative flair.
• Use the Selection
tool to highlight the area of a waveform
that you would like to change.
• Go to Effect
and choose the effect you want.
