Audacity recording computer audio: convenient, fast and easy

Be that as it may, a program that can record computer audio is a real treasure. After all, now you don’t need to sit near the monitor with a voice recorder in your hands, trying to record the sound as cleanly and loudly as possible (but in fact, the recording sounds like your grandfather’s snoring and kittens running madly around the apartment. If you don’t have a grandfather and kittens, but you can hear such sounds, I advise you to call exorcists or contact the Winchester brothers).

Please love and not offend – the computer audio recording program Audacity. This masterpiece was developed by Muse Group in May 2000. Many years later, Audacity has not lost its popularity. A huge plus of this program is that it is optimized for both Windows and macOS. The main goal of Audacity is to record sounds from your computer, convert them into a separate audio track. Additional goodies include editing the recorded sound (for example, noise reduction, changing the speed of sound and tonality, and so on). So, we have defined the goal, now we need to understand how to download Audacity on a PC, namely on Windows.

First, check your internet connection, otherwise, we won’t succeed:) Okay, jokes aside.

1. Open your browser (in my case, it’s Google) and enter “audacity download” in the search.

2. Click on the first link. You will see the Audacity home page, which, by the way, you can take a closer look at if you want. The page describes the program in detail, its purpose, and its advantages. As usual, the developer praises his brainchild. But we are currently interested in installing Audacity. Therefore, we find the word “Downloads” and click on it.

3. Well done! Now you need to choose which OS you will download the program to. As you can see, Audacity can be downloaded to Windows, Mac, and Linux. In our case, we are downloading to Windows.

4. Another step behind! You have download options for the 64-bit and 32-bit versions. If your version is 64-bit, click on the button opposite it called “Download.exe”. This option is recommended to us on the site itself. However, if you have a 32-bit version – no problem, the algorithm is exactly the same as with the 64-bit.

5. As you can see, the file has started downloading. The file size is relatively small – 15 MB.

6. When the download process is complete, click on the folder icon.

7. Downloads open on your PC. Our downloaded exe file is at the very top of the download list. Double-click on it.

8. Select the installation language. If your native language is English, then choose it. Click OK.

9. The program greets us and notifies us that Audacity will be downloaded to our PC. We are also recommended closing all applications for a successful and quick download. Click “Next”.

10. Now we are offered to read the information about the license, and also that this software is completely free. I think you, like everyone else, do not read this. Click “Next”.

11. And again the dialog box. A little more patience, please. Here we are offered to choose the path to save Audacity. Choose the folder in which you would like to store the program and click “Next”.

12. Here we are offered to install a shortcut on the desktop. I recommend not to skip this step because it is very convenient. Check the box next to the inscription “Create a desktop shortcut”. And, as you already understood, click “Next” again.

13. And finally, the final step. The program is ready for installation. Click Install and enjoy.

14. Hurray, Audacity has been successfully installed on your PC. Now click on the “finish” icon. You will see the program icon on your desktop. Double-click on it.

15. You enter the Audacity program. The system immediately offers you help and you gratefully click OK.

16. Now you can use the program: record audio tracks and edit them.

Pros of Audacity:

1. It weighs little. One of the few sound recording editors that weighs no more than a couple of tens of megabytes, but has good functionality.
2. Functionality. Here you can do not only basic sound processing but also apply many additional effects, improve the sound of the voice, and more. The utility for removing extraneous noise, equalizing the voice, and removing loud sounds copes well with its tasks.
3. Most of the necessary functions have hotkeys. Advice: learn them by heart, as they become much easier and simpler to work with. For example, you can record a long text using a couple of buttons (record, pause, resume recording, end recording), without resorting to the mouse. Cutting out unnecessary fragments is also a matter of a couple of seconds.
4. The program is free. I think there is no need for comments here.
5. Due to its popularity, Audacity has a very large community. This means that for any question or problem, you can quickly find a solution or a video tutorial, where you will be shown how to add and apply the necessary lesson. Despite the simple interface, not everyone will be able to immediately understand the abundance of editor functions
6. It is possible to add external plugins for processing the audio track.
7. An important plus – it supports simultaneous work with several files, switching between which occurs through tabs.

Cons of Audacity:

1. Some people may find it important that Audacity can only record two-channel audio. If you need more, you will have to look for an alternative program.
2. Due to the large number of functions, it may be a little difficult for new users to navigate the program. To apply effects, you will need help from various manuals at first: text or video, to understand the principle of the effects.
3. Inconvenient format for saving files that cannot be further processed.
4. To save a file, you need to download another program.
5. Users cannot listen to the sound live, which may be a limitation for some.
6. There have been no significant updates for a long time, so some users may find it outdated.
7. As for recording computer audio for Mac, Audacity is a little disappointing here – the interface is not very user-friendly.

As you can see, recording audio for a computer using Audacity has both significant strengths and weaknesses. To sum it up, we can say with confidence that this software copes with its duties with flying colors. At the initial stage, you may find it difficult to understand all the functions. You may get confused among the mass of unfamiliar icons. However, at the moment, there are so many training videos on the Internet on how to record audio for a computer with Audacity that not learning how to do this is simply a crime.