Set up the Audacity sound interface and get ready to record

Lovers of music and audio recordings surely require a program with which to edit, mix and record our voice. For this, some expensive programs may come to mind with the idea of always achieving highly professional results. However, there are times when great results can be achieved with a free application, such as Audacity .

And is that Audacity has become on its own merits one of the best free editors and recorders on the market. With it we can record audio through a microphone or a mixer, as well as use a mixer or record the playback that sounds through the PC speakers. In order to get the most out of the application we are going to show you some settings to configure the sound interface. To do this, we only have to access its “Preferences” menu that we find within the “Edit” tab or by directly pressing the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + P”.

Set up the Audacity sound interface

Configure channel output in Audacity

From the Preference menu we can configure the channel outputs , as well as the server that we are going to use, all in its “Devices” section. Here we can select the audio output channels, which can be either Mono or Stereo . As we will surely know, with the Mono channel we will have a sound signal, while in Stereo we will have two signals themselves, so that it can transmit different information. It should be noted that it does not influence the quality of the sound only in its transmission, so we must choose the one we are most interested in working with, either with one output or two.

Audacity interfaz de servidor y grabación

Choose the server to work

Also from the “Devices” section, it is convenient to choose the server that we are going to use, for which we will have three options. One of them is MME, which is the most compatible recording interface, but it is also the oldest. Another option is Windows DirectSound, which is the most recommended as it offers good results and is compatible with a large number of devices. Finally, the Windows WASAPI mode is specially designed to record PC audio with lower latency and better results, although on the contrary it has fewer compatible devices.

Select the sampling frequency

From the “Quality” section, we will be able to select the sampling frequency and the bit depth for the recordings. By default, a default sampling frequency of 44100 Hz is selected, although we can select different values, so we can choose the sampling frequency that our sound card allows us, which normally ranges from 8000 to 334000 Hz. We will choose the one that best suits our work. For example, if we were making audio for Blu-Ray we would select 96000 Hz sample rate.

Audacity frecuencia de muestreo predeterminada

Set the bit depth when recording with Audacity

We can also select the default sample format, that is, the bit depth. Here, the more bit depth counts, the greater the number of vertical divisions that can be obtained from the sample, which affects the quality of the audio. In general, the greater the amount of audio, the less noise we will have in the signal and we will have a greater dynamic range to record. This can be left in 24 bits , since the 32-bit option is made by software, which can cause alterations in the recordings. In addition, we can configure the program in the event that we make recordings with a different sampling format . Although it is always recommended to record with the quality to which we are going to export the final result, in this way we avoid quality losses.