A Quick Guide To Mastering Tracks For Free With Audacity

Audacity is completely free, cross-platform and can be used to record, mix and master music. Joe Albano reveals how to master your tracks for no cost.  

Audacity is a fully-featured wave editor that works across Mac, PC and Linux operating systems. And the best part is. it's completely free and open source. That means no in-app purchases or hidden costs. So what better tool to integrate into your recording and production setup? In this short video from the course Audacity 101: Audacity: The Video Manual, expert producer Joe Albano shows you something you may not have believed possible - that you can master your tracks professionally using this free application. But how?

Audacity 101: Audacity: The Video Manual

Starting with a multitrack session that has been recorded, edited and arranged entirely inside Audacity, Joe shows you how to take the mix and bounce it down to a stereo track, ready for mastering. He then imports this into a fresh project and explains how to create a multitrack mastering session for matching the sonics of multiple tracks that need to belong together on the same album, as well as the desirability of using reference material to make sure your sound is as close as possible to that of commercial material.

Using Audacity's built in processors like EQ, compression and limiting as well as some of its audio tools like normalization, Joe demonstrates how to sweeten and boost your track in the optimum way to ensure a great-sounding master. Be sure to check out the full course using the links below for a complete guide to producing audio with this powerful, free application.

Watch the full course Audacity 101: Audacity: The Video Manual in the Ask.Audio Academy | macProVideo | Ask.Video

Hollin Jones was classically trained as a piano player but found the lure of blues and jazz too much to resist. Graduating from bands to composition then production, he relishes the chance to play anything with keys. A sometime lecturer in videographics, music production and photography post production, Hollin has been a freelance w... Read More

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