How to Slow Down Audio in Audacity — 4 Steps Needed
Suppose you have a record in Audacity and you wish to decrease its speed for editing purposes exclusively. Once you’ve selected the desired section, you can navigate to the “Effect” menu and choose “Change Speed” to adjust the speed until the audio plays at the desired slower pace. However, after completing the editing process, you may notice that the tempo and pitch of the song have become distorted. This leads to the question: How can one correctly slow down audio in Audacity?
Audacity is a freely available and open-source software for recording and editing audio. It can be used on Windows, macOS/OS X, and Unix-like operating systems. To address the aforementioned concern, the key lies in understanding the distinction between changing speed and tempo. The following instructions will outline a few steps to help you properly slow down audio using Audacity.
Step-by-step Guide to Slow Down Audio in Audacity
Whether you want to edit a specific section or the entire track, Audacity provides a simple process to achieve this. You can effectively adjust the speed of your audio with the following instructions:
Step 1. Fire up Audacity, click File > Open to choose an audio
Step 2. Click and drag to choose the area you want to slow down. Or choose Edit on the top bar > Select All when you intend to target the entire track.
Step 3. Click Effect > Change Speed. Then drag the slider to the left however much you want to slow the track down and click OK.
Step 4. Click File > Export as MP3, WAV, etc.
Note: Altering the speed will have an impact on both the pitch and tempo of the track. For instance, if you slow down a song sung by a female vocalist, it may end up sounding like a male singer. This technique is commonly employed when creating remixes or incorporating samples into projects where pitch and tempo variation is desired. However, if your goal is to change the tempo without affecting the pitch, an alternative approach must be taken.
How to Slow Down Audio without Changing Pitch
Audacity provides a straightforward method to adjust audio speed while keeping its pitch. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Click File > Open to choose audio.
2. Click and drag to choose the area you want to slow down. Or choose Edit on the top bar > Select All when you intend to target the entire track.
3. Click Effect > Change Tempo. Then drag the slider to the left however much you want to slow the track down. This function can help you slow down the audio track while not changing the pitch. You can also achieve the same effect by typing in a specific number of seconds you’d like the audio to go.
Tips: Hit Preview to check if the processed audio is as you expected. If not, you can adjust it again by repeating the step 3.
4. Click OK > File > Export as MP3, WAV, etc.
How to Slow Down a Video in Audacity
As a digital audio editor, Audacity is a powerful and easy-to-handle audio processing program, but its functions are only targeted at audio productions. Is there any video editing software that can speed up or slow down the video? The answer is of course yes.
Read this post, and get to know 9 more video editing software that can slow down or speed up video files.
Among those 9 video processing programs, VideoProc Converter stands out as the top choice, surpassing its competitors in terms of functionality and performance. With VideoProc Converter, you gain access to a comprehensive array of editing capabilities, including cutting, converting, trimming, merging, de-shaking, and the ability to adjust the speed of videos. It supports videos created by a wide range of devices, such as iPhone, GoPro, DJI, and CCTV, ensuring compatibility and flexibility.
In conclusion, VideoProc Converter is the best choice if you want to slow down or speed up your video, extract audio, trim and edit footage, record screen, download online media resources, and convert videos.