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When the audio in the vocal track (the track directly below your background music) is above the threshold, Audacity will duck the background audio (the audio you selected when you ran Auto-Duck). Threshold (default -30 dB) sets when Auto-Duck engages.
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When you're ready, select the portion of the music that you want to edit (or the whole track, after you're sure you have the right settings), then go to the Effects menu > Auto Duck. Before you try Auto Duck, make sure that your background audio is immediate above your vocal track. This is called “ducking” (because the background audio ducks whenever the there's audio in another track). Adjusting volume with Auto DuckĪudacity contains a handy tool, Auto Duck, for automatically reducing your background audio when you have speaking in another track. But this will adjust the volume of everything in the entire track, which may not be your desire. If you want to adjust the audio’s volume without changing the audio itself (which would be a “destructive edit”), drag or double-click the Gain slider in the Track Control Panel. Position your audio where you want it by dragging with the Time Shift Tool (F5) and clip it as necessary. Insert your music or sound effects into AudacityĪudacity presents three options for inserting audio into an open project: drag the audio file into your project window, or Audio menu > Import > Audio …, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Shift-I (OS X) or Ctrl-Shift-I (Windows). (free, but use with caution as you may find copyrighted content).Unless you have explicit permission from the copyright-holder to use copyrighted music or sound effects, don’t do it. However, you are allowed certain rights under fair use exceptions: 30-second previews if accompanied by a comment, or parodies of the song. The safest thing to do is never use copyrighted music. I am neither a lawyer nor play one on TV. Make your message look great by hiring me to personally design your website, presentation, podcast cover art, and more! Visit D.Joseph Design to view my portfolio and request an estimate. I focus completely on Audacity in this episode! This time, I share a brief explanation of copyright laws for podcasters, where to get music and sound effects, and three ways to work with background music or sound effects in your podcast.