How to use Audacity for music editing, recording, mixing, and exporting. Here’s the complete guide.

Audacity helps you record, edit, and mix music without spending money on expensive DAWs. The free software lets you capture clean audio, add effects, fix noise issues, and export high-quality tracks for YouTube, Spotify, or personal projects. This guide shows you exactly how to use Audacity for music—step by step—in clear, active voice.

What Is Audacity?

Audacity is a free, open-source audio editor that lets you record vocals, instruments, and podcasts. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Why Musicians Use Audacity

It’s free and easy to use.
It supports multi-track recording.
It works with microphones and audio interfaces.
It includes essential effects like noise reduction, EQ, and compression.

How to Set Up Audacity for Music

1. Install Audacity

Go to the official Audacity website and download the app for your operating system. Install it like any normal program.

2. Connecting Your Microphone or Interface

Plug in your USB mic or audio interface. Open Audacity and select your input and output devices from the top toolbar.

3. Set Your Recording Quality

Set your project sample rate to 44.1 kHz and bit-depth to 24-bit for clean, professional audio.

How to Record Music in Audacity

1. Create a New Track

Click Tracks → Add New → Mono Track.
Use mono for vocals and most instruments.

2. Check Your Levels

Speak or play into the mic. Adjust your gain so your loudest parts hit around 6 dB.

3. Start Recording

Click the red Record button and perform your part.
Record each part on a separate track so mixing becomes easier.

How to Edit Your Music in Audacity

Cut and Trim Your Audio

Use the Selection Tool to remove unwanted silences, mistakes, and breaths.

Move and Arrange Clips

Drag clips around to tighten timing or reposition sections.

Split Your Audio

Use Edit → Clip Boundaries → Split to cut specific parts and rearrange them.

How to Clean Your Audio

Use Noise Reduction

Highlight a section with only noise.
Go to Effect → Noise Reduction → Get Noise Profile.
Select the whole track.
Apply noise reduction.

This step removes fan noise, hums, or room tone.

Apply EQ

Use Effect → Filter Curve EQ to shape your sound:

High-pass at 80–100 Hz for vocals
Reduce muddiness at 200–400 Hz
Boost clarity around 4–6 kHz

Add Compression

Go to Effect → Compressor to balance loud and soft parts.

Add Reverb

Use Effect → Reverb to give your vocals depth and space.

How to Mix Music in Audacity

1. Balance Your Volumes

Lower loud tracks and raise quiet ones until everything sits well together.

2. Pan Instruments

Pan guitars left/right
Keep vocals in the center
Slightly pan harmonies

3. Add Effects

Keep effects subtle to avoid muddy mixes.

How to Export Your Final Song

When you’re satisfied with your mix:

Go to File → Export → Export as WAV for high-quality masters.
Export as MP3 for YouTube or sharing.

Conclusion

Audacity gives you a zero-cost, well-documented toolbox to record, edit and finalize music. With over 100 million downloads and a mature manual, it’s the practical choice for beginners, educators, and many independent musicians. Start with the simple workflow above: configure inputs, record separate tracks, clean and compress thoughtfully, and export high-quality files. As you grow, use macros and plugins, and when you need advanced instrument hosting or real-time plugin chains, consider pairing Audacity with a lightweight DAW for instrument tracking.

Want a custom cheat-sheet for your specific setup (USB mic, Focusrite Scarlett, or phone-recorded stems)? Reply with your mic/interface and the genre you’re working on and I’ll create a tailored, printable workflow and exact starting effect settings you can paste into Audacity. 🎧

FAQ — How to Use Audacity for Music

Q: How to play music through Audacity?

Go to File → Import → Audio and choose any MP3 or WAV file. Audacity will place the music on a track, and you can press Play to listen. If you want to record system audio, use WASAPI Loopback as your input device.

Q: How to make music sound better with Audacity?

Clean the audio with Noise Reduction , shape it with EQ , balance dynamics using Compression , and add subtle Reverb . You can also Normalize the track to keep volume consistent and avoid clipping.

Can Audacity be used for music?

Yes. Audacity lets you record vocals, guitars, and instruments, edit tracks, mix multiple layers, and apply effects like EQ, compression, and reverb. It works well for beginners who want to create music without paid software.

How to play music through Audacity?

Go to File → Import → Audio and choose any MP3 or WAV file. Audacity will place the music on a track, and you can press Play to listen. If you want to record system audio, use WASAPI Loopback as your input device.

How to make music sound better with Audacity?

Clean the audio with Noise Reduction, shape it with EQ, balance dynamics using Compression, and add subtle Reverb. You can also Normalize the track to keep volume consistent and avoid clipping.

How do I record a song on Audacity?

Select your microphone or audio interface from the device toolbar, create a new mono track, set your levels to around –6 dB, and press Record. Record vocals and instruments on separate tracks so mixing becomes easier.