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Audio Digitization Station Instructions

Guide to using the Audio Digitization Station in the Music Library

Working in Audacity

Open the file in Audacity 

Open Audacity on the computer and select “Open” in the File menu. Open your audio file from where you saved it.

 

Remove Silence

You may have a few seconds of “silence” with only record or tape noise at the beginning that you want to remove, so listen to it and move your cursor to where you want the first track to begin. Once your cursor is where you want it, left click so that the vertical line is now at the beginning of Track 1. Everything before this label will be deleted.

 

Labeling the Tracks

Ctrl+B opens a label track for the whole project and creates a label at the place where your vertical line is. Type in a name for this new track. The example has Track 1 here, but you can label it whatever you want 

Tips: If you have a case or liner notes refer to those for the titles, but if not, try naming it something that will help you remember what it is. Also, make sure you listen to a bit before labeling it so you don't put the wrong title on a track.

 

 

Look for more “silence” or places where the sound wave shapes change abruptly to help locate the other tracks, some may be harder to find than others, so you may have to listen to find the change in tracks. Repeat the process (Ctrl+B) for the rest of the recording.

 

Saving tracks

 

Export Tracks

When you’ve found and labeled all of the tracks, you’re ready to split the giant audio file you started with into the different tracks you just labeled. Go to the File menu, and down to Export multiple (or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+L).

 

This will open a new window for you to choose where you want the files to be saved, what format you want them saved as, and how you want them to be named. Make sure the option “Split files based on: Labels” is chosen. When you have made these choices, click the “Export” button. Audacity will then create the individual tracks that you've labeled and you can transfer them to a CD, device, or cloud.

 

 

You now have a digitized version of something that used to only exist in a more inconvenient format! It will now be much easier for you to access. Congratulations!