A Tour of the Audacity Window:

Shown below is the window you will see when you open Audacity:

The Audacity window consists of these elements, roughly from top to bottom:

• Title bar, with title and four buttons: Window menu (left), and Minimize, Maximize, and Close (right).

• Menu bar, with four menus: File, Edit, View, Project, Generate, Effect, Analyze, Help.

• Toolbar, with buttons: Skip to Start, Play, Record, Pause, Stop, Skip to End.

• Editing Toolbar with buttons to Cut, Copy, Paste, Trim Selection, Silence Selection, etc.

• Digital display (LED readout): Shows your current position in the recording, the total duration of the recording, the volume level during record and playback,etc.

To use Audacity for a simple voice recording, just click on the red recording dot and speak into your microphone.


To save a file, go to the File menu, and Save Project. Be sure to include your user name and the assignment name in the file name. This will save the file as an Audacity file which can only be played using the Audacity program. This will be fine for submitting your course assignments as your instructor will also have this software.

To save the recording as an .mp3 file that can be opened with any media player (Real Player, Windows Media Player, etc) you will first have to download additional software from the Audacity website. Click on the link shown for the LAME download page for whichever operating system you use and follow the instructions found on the website.

If you would like to gain a more intensive knowledge of the additional features of this software for your personal use, CLICK HERE to view several online tutorials.