Installing Audacity

Audacity is the sofware that we will use for our audio module projects. It’s free and can be installed on both Windows and macOS computers.

Download Page

Here is the link for the download page: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

Download and Install Audacity Instructions: remember to choose which operating system you are using at the top (Windows/macOS/Linux)
Install FFmpeg: this is needed to work with files like M4A and WMA

Click on your OS (Windows, maOS or Linnux)
Do NOT download the first option (with Muse). This adds extra options that makes things more complicated than they need to be right now.
Choose one of the following
- Windows: 64 bit installer
- macOS: Universal dmg (older macs may try x86_64 (Intel))
Open the downloaded file and follow the instructions

This is needed to work with files like M4A and WMA. It does not come pre-installed, you have to do a separate install, after you install Audacity.

Go to the FFmpeg Download page: https://lame.buanzo.org/ffmpeg.php
Scroll down to the install links and choose one for your OS
- Windows: Download for 64-bit Windows (do not download the 32-bit version).
- macOS: Download for macOS
Open the file you downloaded and follow the instructions. Note where it installed in case there are issues.
Check that it has installed FFmpeg.
- Windows: Go to Edit > Preferences > Libraries
- macOS: Go to Audacity > Preferences > Libraries
Click the Locate button
- If it says that it has already automatically found it, you’re done, click no and exit the preferences
- Otherwise browse to the location where FFmpeg was installed in step 3.

Instructions page: https://support.audacityteam.org/basics/installing-ffmpeg

At BMCC the software is not installed in teh classroom and we don’t have admin rights so we have to change the process a bit.

Download the audacity macOS .dmg file from https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
Open a Finder window. Click on the finder icon in the menu at the bottom of your screen
On the left of the finder window, click the Downloads location
Find the audacity macOS .dmg file and Double Click to open it.
In the dialog that opens up DO NOT drag the Audacity icon to Applications. Instead drag it to the desktop or the Documents folder (their names should be on the left of the Finder Window.