Audacity

Audacity is a free, open-source audio recorder and editor. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux and is the most popular tool for recording pre-recorded radio shows, interviews, jingles, and station IDs that you upload to your CloudRadio media library.

Software information

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux License: Free, open source (GPL) Use case: Recording and editing pre-recorded shows (not a live streaming encoder) Download page: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/↗

Overview

Audacity is not a broadcasting encoder. It does not connect directly to your Icecast or SHOUTcast server. Use it to record and edit your show on your computer, export an MP3, then upload that MP3 to your station's media library so AutoDJ can play it.

If you want to go live instead of pre-record, see BUTT, Audio Hijack, or the broadcasting live overview.

Install Audacity

1. Download the installer for your operating system from audacityteam.org↗.
2. Run the installer (Windows .exe, macOS .dmg, or Linux AppImage) and follow the prompts.
3. Open Audacity. On first launch, choose your microphone in Audio Setup.

Optional: install the FFmpeg library↗ if you need to import or export AAC, M4A, or WMA files. MP3 export works out of the box.

Project settings

Set these once per project before you start recording:

• Sample rate: 44100 Hz. This is CD quality and the standard for internet radio.
• Channels: mono for talk-only shows, stereo if you are mixing in music.
• Project format: keep the default 32-bit float for editing. You will downsample on export.

Save the project early with File → Save as…. Audacity 4 saves its own .aup4 format for working files (3.7 used .aup3). Audacity 4 opens .aup3 projects and converts them without changing the original, but can't save back to .aup3.

Record your show

1. Plug in your microphone and select it in Audio Setup.
2. Do a 10-second test by clicking the red Record button. Speak at your normal volume.
3. Watch the recording meter. Speaking normally, aim for -18 to -12 dB, as Audacity's guide to recording your voice↗ suggests, and keep peaks below about -6 dB, which Audacity's manual↗ calls a good maximum because it leaves headroom for later edits. If the meter touches 0 dB the audio is clipping. Lower your input gain.
4. Click Stop, then File → Save to keep the take.

Tips:

• Record in a quiet room, away from fans and hard reflective surfaces.
• If you have intro music, jingles, or guest audio, drag each file onto the project to add a separate track. Drag a clip by its top header to slide it along the timeline.
• Save often. Audacity also keeps an automatic crash recovery file.

Edit the recording

A typical radio editing pass:

1. Trim the start and end

Click and drag to select silence or false starts at the beginning and end of the track, then press Delete.

2. Cut mistakes and long pauses

Select the unwanted region and press Ctrl+X (or Cmd+X on Mac) to cut, or press the Delete key to remove without copying to the clipboard. To avoid clicks at the edit points, snap your selection to the nearest waveform zero point first with Select → Move cursor to closest zero crossing (shortcut Z; Find Zero Crossings in 3.7).

3. Noise reduction

Removes constant background hiss or fan hum.

1. Select 1–2 seconds of pure background noise (no voice).
2. Effect → Noise removal and repair → Noise reduction → Get noise profile.
3. Select the entire vocal track (Ctrl+A).
4. Open Noise Reduction again and apply with: noise reduction 8–12 dB, sensitivity 6.0, frequency smoothing 3.

Don't over-apply, it makes voices sound underwater.

4. Compression

Compression evens out the difference between loud and quiet parts so listeners don't reach for the volume knob. Effect → Volume and compression → Compressor:

• Threshold: -18 dB
• Ratio: 3:1 for talk, 4:1 for more aggressive levelling
• Attack: 1 ms (talk) or 20 ms (music)
• Release: 250 ms

5. Normalization

The final level step. Effect → Volume and compression → Normalize:

• Peak amplitude: -1.0 dB
• Apply to all tracks

This maximizes loudness while leaving 1 dB of headroom so the MP3 encoder doesn't introduce clipping.

6. No loudness target needed

You don't need Loudness Normalization for a CloudRadio upload. CloudRadio levels every upload to about -14 LUFS, so your show plays at the same volume as the rest of your library. See Audio Processing.

Export to MP3

CloudRadio's media library accepts MP3, Ogg, Opus, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, M4A and MP4. MP3 is the simplest choice for pre-recorded shows.

1. File → Export Audio…
2. Format: MP3 Files
3. Bitrate Mode: Constant (CBR)
4. Quality:
   • 128 kbps for talk-only shows
   • 192 kbps for music-heavy shows
   • 256 kbps if you want archive-quality masters
5. Channels: Stereo for music, Mono for talk-only shows. (Audacity always exports MP3 stereo as joint stereo, so you don't need to set that separately.)
6. Click Edit metadata, then Export.

Before you click Export, click Edit metadata in the export dialog (3.7 asks for tags after you click Export). Fill in at least:

• Title: episode name
• Artist: your show or DJ name
• Album: station or series name
• Year and Track Number

These tags appear in the AutoDJ "now playing" display, so listeners see your branding instead of a filename.

Tip: also export a WAV master (File → Export Audio → WAV, 16-bit PCM) and keep it in an archive folder. If you ever need a higher-quality re-encode, you won't have to re-record.

Upload to your station

1. Open your station in CloudRadio Studio and go to Media Library.
2. Drag and drop your exported MP3, or click Upload.
3. Studio will analyze the file, normalize loudness, detect cue points, and generate the waveform automatically. See media library for details on processing.
4. Once processing is done, add the track to a playlist or schedule it on your AutoDJ.

Record your own live broadcast

You can also use Audacity to record a stream that's already going out. This is useful for archiving past episodes, podcast repurposing, or quality-checking what listeners actually hear.

Windows: Stereo Mix

1. Right-click the speaker icon in the system tray → Sounds → Recording tab.
2. Right-click an empty area and enable Show Disabled Devices.
3. Right-click Stereo Mix and choose Enable.
4. In Audacity's device toolbar, set the input to Stereo Mix (or MME → Stereo Mix).
5. Press Record, then start playback of your stream in your browser or player.

If your sound card has no Stereo Mix option, install VB-Audio Cable↗ as a virtual loopback device.

macOS: BlackHole

macOS has no built-in loopback. Install the free BlackHole↗ virtual audio driver, then:

1. Open Audio MIDI Setup and create a Multi-Output Device combining BlackHole and your speakers (so you can hear what you're recording).
2. Set system output to that Multi-Output Device.
3. In Audacity, set the input to BlackHole 2ch.
4. Press Record and start your stream.

Tip: record at 192 kbps or higher and re-encode only when needed. Each MP3 re-encode loses quality.

Common issues

• Recording sounds quiet: increase the input gain on your microphone or audio interface, or move the mic closer. Re-record rather than boosting in software.
• Distorted, crunchy audio: levels were clipping. Watch for the red overload indicator and re-record at lower input gain.
• MP3 export option missing: update Audacity. Older versions required a separate LAME installer; modern versions include MP3 encoding by default.
• Echo or room sound: noise reduction can't fully remove room reflections. Treat the room (curtains, soft furniture) or move the mic closer to your mouth.
• Tracks out of sync after editing: Audacity 4 has no Sync-Lock. Delete, cut and paste have variants that either leave a gap or move later material, so choose the one that keeps your other tracks in place. In 3.7, enable Tracks → Sync-Lock Tracks before cutting.

Going further

• Audacity manual↗: official documentation.
• Media library: what happens after you upload.
• Bitrates and codecs: picking the right export settings.
• Audio processing: how CloudRadio processes uploaded files.

Looking for an alternative to Audacity, or a tool that streams live? Our broadcast software guide compares about 20 encoders, DJ apps and automation programs. For other recording programs, see audio recording programs for radio shows.