Mixing multi track recording in Linux with Audacity
I struggled to get Audacity to record in Ubuntu Hardy Heron. Then I discovered that all I needed to do was install the previous version of ubuntu (Gutsy Gibbon) and Audacity recorded fine. A simple great easy to use multi-track recorder. My struggles to get the recording function to work caused me to overlook the potential of Audacity to be used as a mixdown app.
My usual workflow is to record to a mult-track digital recorder and transfer the files as wav files to the computer to process and mix. I’ve used ACID to mix the various tracks together and other programs to add compression, EQ, or reverb. I generally don’t need other effects, one would hope that a good studio recording did not need noise reduction! Then I discovered the list of effects available in Audacity. How nice to apply effects without exiting an application!
The EQ effect is incredibly flexible and intuitive. Just click on the line and a point or “anchor” is added. Click at another point and adjust. You can quickly draw the EQ shape that you want. Quick, intuitive, and all open source! As I’m preparing to create my next album tentatively titled “The Coffeehouse Chronicles” I now plan on making it a Windows free album, mastered entirely in Linux using Audacity. Though Audacity has a version available for Windows users as well.
In addition to the EQ, other useful functions included are the normalize function, fade in, fade out, invert, compressor. The tremolo, delay, high pass and low pass filters, and pitch change functions may also be handy occasionally.
Audacity is one of the most intuitive and stable multitrack mix software applications I’ve tried, and it is open source!
- the MuseTags: Linux