Audacity

Audacity is the kind of software called an 'audio editor'. That means that it can record and edit audio. Typically you might use Audacity for recording sounds, like interviews or instruments. You can then use Audacity to combine these sounds and edit them to make documentaries, music, podcasts etc.

In the old days audio editing was done with huge machines that recorded sound to tape (similar to the tape in tape cassettes).

 

These tapes would then be edited using razor blades and sticky tape. Much of the jargon used in audio editing today comes from this process. Making a "cut" mean literally cutting the audio tape at a certain point. 'Multitrack' referred to recording many separate sounds onto the same tape using extra wide to tape to fit more 'tracks'. These terms, and more, are still used today and many of the fundamental techniques which form good audio recording and editing practice still form the basis of this craft.

While many of the terms and techniques remain the same today, tape machines are now replaced by computers, and tapes by digital files. Hence you record audio and edit with a computer (using software like Audacity), and you store these sounds in files on your computer. This is a faster process and requires a lot less physical storage space!

Audacity is one of the tools you will need to record and edit audio on your computer. Its is a very sophisticated program and can do everything you would expect with a modern audio editor. Audacity perhaps falls short of meeting the needs of professional recording studios, but not by much.

You can install and run Audacity on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.