Software Spotlight: Audacity

By Kasey LeBlanc

Included in Software available to UL students, there is the notable audio editor program called Audacity. Not only is this application free for UL students, it’s incredibly user friendly. If you can navigate Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel, you can navigate Audacity. The layout of the toolbar is similar between all of these programs. Audacity is the ideal multi-track audio editor and recorder software available for a variety of activities. In the educational realm, this computer program allows users to import audio, save audio, record speeches, practice a foreign language for playback purposes, and even record audio segments for PowerPoint presentations. Importing audio and saving are simple and straightforward in this program because of the easy to navigate toolbar. For classes that require students to upload speeches online, the recording aspect of Audacity is helpful. Another use of Audacity is converting formats. Users are able to convert records and cassettes to different formats. Audacity can create multi-track recordings, which makes it practical for recording numerous tracks or an entire band at once.  This program also accomplishes changing the pitch of an audio file, adding effects to these files, and creating podcasts. Audacity serves a multifaceted program used for all sorts of audio tasks.  This software program is definitely worth being in your toolbox.