Practice Mixing Audio

We're going to recreate an ad that you can find on YouTube called "Old School Monster Truck commercial Pontiac Silverdome," but we're going to do it with cheesier music and do it for the radio (so audio only).  This exercise is solely to give you some guided experience mixing tracks with Audacity.  Take you time, make a fool of yourself talking, and ask as many questions as you can.


Steps:
  1. Download Audacity to your computer.
  2. Unzip Audacity to your Desktop or Documents folder.
  3. Plug in your headphones and mics.
  4. Grab the four files needed from the Files section, below.
  5. Read through your script and record in Audacity.
  6. Import your truck and crash SFX and your soundtrack.
  7. Place your SFX in the correct spots with the Time Shift tool.
  8. Mixing using the Envelope tool.
  9. If you'd like to add reverb, you can try out this Audacity plugin.


Files:

1. Radio script here.
(source is Old School Monster Truck commercial Pontiac Silverdome)
2. Truck sounds here.
(source is Grave Digger vs. Bigfoot - St. Paul, MN 1988)
3. Groovy music here.
(source is 8-bit trip)
4. Car crash/crush here.
(source is Royalty Free Music.com)


Time Shift Tool:

To move around a single track of audio in Audacity, you need to use the Time Shift Tool.

1. Make sure the Selection Tool is selected.
Selection Tool

2. Select the section you'd like to move.
Select SFX

3. Select the Time Shift Tool.
Time Shift Tool

4. Move your SFX to the desired location in your project.
Move SFX

5. Save.


Envelope Tool:

To make your tracks louder or softer, you need to use the Envelope Tool.  You can also use this to adjust tracks which might be overbearing.

1. Make sure your tracks aren't playing (ie, hit Stop).

2. Select the Envelope Tool.
Envelope Tool

3. Select any portion of your sound and begin dragging towards the center to decrease the volume.
Squeeze In

4. Save.


How did I get audio from YouTube?

Video2mp3.net converts audio from YouTube to mp3

NOTE: You can't take audio from YouTube for a commercial broadcast!  Always secure copyright clearance first if you're going to use something professionally.  But for mashups and the like, you're probably fine.