Until about 2023, I was an absolute ride or die for Audacity. I still love Audacity. I started using it in the early 2000s at my college radio station, WSUM. What do I love about Audacity? It’s free, it’s accessible to just about anyone with a computer, and it’s relatively easy to use. Back in the day, my radio friends and I would use it to record and edit station IDs (the thing a radio station plays a couple times an hour with the license information), PSAs, and show promos. I would occasionally interview a local or touring band that couldn’t come into the studio for a live interview using a minidisc recorder — it was the early 2000s! — and then edit the recording into something playable with Audacity. I’ve continued to use Audacity to record and edit podcasts, all of which have been more or less disappeared from the Internet over the past 10 years. One was moderately successful and made it into several A.V. Club podmasses!
Cut to 2023. I have been working at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga Library as a Studio Librarian for a little over four years when the faculty advisor of the student radio station, the Perch, asks for help training new station hosts. I’m thrilled with this, because I have been trying to set up workshops to teach Perch hosts how to use Adobe Audition for years at that point. Hosts at the Perch are expected, even required, to use Audition to edit their shows, but most of them join the Perch without having ever opened Audition before. This ended up being my favorite summer work project so far; not only did I learn so much more about Audition then I thought I would, I came to love it!
I spent the summer of 2023 teaching myself the best ways to use Audition to create a podcast or radio show, and this library guide is one of the results of that project. I’m so proud of it. In my job I learn to use so many pieces of technology well enough to teach someone the basics, but I rarely have the opportunity to really dig in to equipment or editing software the way I might want. Audition is one of the exceptions, and setting aside the time to really dive into it made me learn to appreciate the software in a way I don’t think I ever would have otherwise. It also gave me the chance to help the students I work with (and others around the world) experience the fun and freedom of college radio.
I still love Audacity, especially for its availability and its relative easiness. Audacity is an incredible product. Audition is also an incredible product. Take a look at the guide (below), and you might learn something about radio and podcast production too! If you have any tips or tricks for using Audacity, let me know!