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4. Transferring Media
Once returned, the DDS Staff will erase the card and you will not be able to retrieve any forgotten audio files. |
Media management encompasses the organization of media assets from research and writing through sharing and archiving. Below are some best practices for keeping track of files as you work on your project.
We recommend creating a shared Box folder to store all your digital assets. You can share this folder with the members of your group and your professor and TA. iMovie files do not save on box without creating a zip file. See the instructions below for how to backup your iMovie library.
You can also purchase an external hard drive drive to save files and move your project file around between computers. For editing purposes, make sure you purchase a drive with 72000 RPM.
Staying organized is essential as you collect and create various assets for your project. Organizing and naming all your files will help make collaborating smoother. Above is an example of how you can stay organized during this process.
Always backup your media and project files in at least two locations! It’s important to always back-up your media and project files in case your computer crashes or hard drive malfunction. All machines in the DDS are wiped weekly.
Understanding the difference between the various files needed to create a podcast will help ensure your project runs smoothly during editing.
When you add your media files into Audacity, your media files are linked to the project file. The project files knows where your media files are saved and references them every time you open the project. If you move your media files midway through the editing process you will likely open your project to find that all your media is offline.
To successfully share your editing project with a teammate, they must have access to all the media files on their computer as well as the project file. It will also require they manually show the application where these files are located on their machine.
Applications like Garageband will your duplicate media and wrap it inside the project file. This takes up more space on your computer but when sharing your edit with a team member, you can simply share the project file and it will contain all the media files as well.
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Open Audacity |
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Navigate to Audio Setup > Audio Settings and set your Project Sample rate to 48000Hz |
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Save your project by navigating to File > Save Project As. Make sure to save your project file in a location you can easily locate. |
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Drag your media files into Audacity. |
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Selection tool - allows you to select and move the audio file |
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Envelope tool - allows you to adjust the volume of the audio in a specific location |
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Zoom in and zoom out help you see waveforms or the project more clearly |
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Zoom in to selection and zoom to fit project help more quickly move you to specific views |
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Loop allows you to enable playing a selected section of audio on repeat |
Shortcuts
Shortcut | Command |
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p | Pause/play |
Space bar | Start from beginning |
[ ] | Make a selection |
Cmd + Z | Undo |
Mono track - Mono tracks have only one signal sent to all speakers and are usually recorded with one microphone.
Stereo track - Stereo tracks have two signals with one signal sent to the left speaker and the other signal sent to the right speaker. Usually stereo tracks are used with environmental recordings and music where having different sounds coming from the speakers enhances the experience of listening.
Label track - A label track allows you to add notes on specific sections of your audio file within Audacity, e.g. you could mark when someone starts talking about a particular theme or when there is audio that was recorded poorly.
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Navigate to Tracks > Add new. Select the track you want to add. |
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Using the Selection Tool, highlight the region of the track you wish to label. |
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Navigate to Edit>Labels>Add Label at Selection |
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Using the Selection Tool mark the place you want to make an edit or split | |
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Navigate to Edit > Audio Clips > Split. This will separate the file into two distinct clips. If you want to extend or shorten the clip, hover your mouse over the beginning or end of the clip and wait for the cursor to turn into two arrows. Then click and drag to extend or shorten. |
Navigation tools: Pause, play, stop, skip to start, skip to end
Tools
Zoom tools
Meters for measuring audio
Track header: Mute, Solo, track volume, delete track
There are a number of strategies for organizing and structuring your podcast in the editing stage. A few strategies you might consider are: