The Book of Audacity: Record, Edit, Mix, and Master with the Free Audio Editor Paperback – March 15, 2011

Appears to be very thorough and precise…. I have not read it completely, over 350 pages, but I think it is exactly what I need to produce multitrack music with Audacity. My only concern is the publishing date is 2011.

I purchased this book because I am not someone who enjoys reading tutorials or help manuals on my computer screen or phone. Being fairly new to Audacity I wanted a user manual to help get me started. I like being able to instantly flip pages to find answers instead of moving back and forth between screens.Even though there have been a few updates to the software since this book was written, it is still very helpful for the beginner. It has been a great resource for me being new to the Audacity software. The book is well written, and easy to follow and understand. Not too much in the way of jargon or tech speak. I am not sure how helpful this would be to someone who has experience with Audacity, or has experience with a similar type of software (Garage Band, Audition, etc...). Having said that, I can see how it would make the transition from another software package to Audacity a little easier.All in all I would recommend this book to anyone new to Audacity.

This is a great source of information on how to use Audacity. I used to use Adobe Audition for restoring my old audio recordings, but now Audacity takes care of 98% of my DAW needs (only thing Audacity doesn't have is the ability to turn noisy audio at the end into silence like Adobe Audition can). It has a good section on Nyquist and VST plugins and how to use them. It took me a bit of time to find the related Nyquist compressor plugin after attempting to access the original link. I strongly recommend to get that compressor plugin while it still can be found. While the compressor plugin is primarily for classical music, it works outstandingly well for vocals and easy-listening music (aka "elevator" or "beautiful"). Every audio file I've used the compressor on not only significantly improved the audio, but instruments such as bells, string instruments, and other instruments sounds clearer and more distinct - something which makes me say "Wow!" every time I play them. This eBook is well worth the money and an asset to use.

Straight forward explanation in simple, nontechnical terms. This book is full of useful information. It has been a few years since it was published and it would be nice to see an update, but is still a fantastic book. It also sets the reader straight on the value of certain expensive technology. A good item for your library.

The book has many screen shots to help the reader see exactly what the author is referring to. The author uses a vocabulary and writing style that is generally readable for non-techies. The problem is there have been upgrades that change some procedures and options. It would be great if the author wrote an updated version of the book.

Before you buy this only moderately-expensive book, I suggest you do three things: (1) download Audacity (the full version is free); (2) go through the free tutorials that come downloaded with it; and (3) read the extremely extensive "LOOK INSIDE!" material that is supplied here on Amazon by the author, Carla Schroder.She has graciously given us most of her 359-page book to read for free before purchase, so make use of it. I confess that I read so much for free--hours worth--I felt duty bound to buy the book, even though I'm a Mac user and the author states on page 47 that it is written for Windows and Linux. I do not regret the purchase because (1) most of the material is applicable to the Mac version of Audacity also, and (2) the book covers vastly more useful information about audio recording than just Audacity. Check out the detailed version of her Table of Contents in "LOOK INSIDE!" to see for yourself. Schroder also provides a 16-page index that is very useful.There are separate chapters on how to configure Windows and Linux machines for Audacity, but none for Mac, and there is a chapter on Audacity plugins for Windows and Linux machines, but none for Mac. However, this information can be found for free on the Internet. I wish Schroder had included Mac in her book project because I enjoy her writing, so I would like to have gotten specific Mac info from her. Maybe she'll accommodate some day so I can give her that fifth star.I initially downloaded Audacity because I wanted to extend the length of play-along segments on CDs that accompany many music instruction books I purchased. Some of these play-along segments are only 20 or 30 seconds long, but I wanted them to last for three or four minutes, at least. Audacity lengthened those play-alongs seamlessly. That is an elementary project for which I didn't need Schroder's book, but I will eventually need a lot of the information that Schroder provides about home recording, including audio interfaces, microphones, preamps, and other audio hardware, as well as technical information about audio formats, bit rates, etc. A good purchase.

I bought this book so that I could get a clear idea of what Audacity does and how it could help me record and improve audio for instructional ESL videos posted on YouTube. I'm not a complete beginner when it comes to general video and video animation effects but I know next to nothing about sound engineering. This book very simply gets the job done. It's both an engaging read from cover to cover and it works well as a reference work to dip in and get what you need. Now, when I look at how poorly done the audio is on most instructional YouTube channels in my field that still get millions of views, even in cases such as pronunciation work where quality audio is the most important part of the video, I am confident that I can do a far better job simply because I bought this one book here on Amazon.