# How to take a sound clip from an audio file ?



## fatheroflies (Apr 18, 2007)

Hello there,

I need to take a sound clip from an audio file but have no idea how to go about doing this.

For instance, a 10 second sound clip from a song on a CD... or a 3 minute sound clip from a MP3 file that I have.

I need to do this for a project that I have been asked to participate in.

I am totally stumped. I do have bits of software on my PC, but do not know if any of them will do the job.... and even if they will..... how to get them to do it for me !!!

I would really appreciate it if someone could demystify this for me & to advise me with regards to what software !! and how to use it.

I look forward to hearing back from you

Regards Richard Milner.ray:


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

you could use audacity to record the audio clip. just set your record mode to 'stereo mix' in the control panel, using the sounds & multimedia icon. select the audio tab and select the volume button in the record panel to select 'stereo mix'. then when you play the audio clip and select record using audacity it should capture any audio device playing.


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## fatheroflies (Apr 18, 2007)

freddyhard said:


> you could use audacity to record the audio clip. just set your record mode to 'stereo mix' in the control panel, using the sounds & multimedia icon. select the audio tab and select the volume button in the record panel to select 'stereo mix'. then when you play the audio clip and select record using audacity it should capture any audio device playing.


Hello there freddyhard,

Thanks for getting back to me,

I have done what you said, I've installed the program.

I'm sorry but after playing around with it it seems quite complicated !

Thing is, all I want to do is to take a chunk of approximately 10 seconds or so from an audio file.

Please could you direct me on how to do this

I would really appreciate your help

Regards Richard. ray:


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Go to File > Open to load the file into Audacity.

Use the mouse to click the start of the 10 second clip, then drag to the end of the clip. You can zoom in to make your selection more accurate.

Edit > Trim to remove the unwanted, surrounding part of the file, leaving just the clip.

File > Export As MP3 to save the clip to a new file.


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## fatheroflies (Apr 18, 2007)

koala said:


> Go to File > Open to load the file into Audacity.
> 
> Use the mouse to click the start of the 10 second clip, then drag to the end of the clip. You can zoom in to make your selection more accurate.
> 
> ...


Hi there koala, ray:

Thanks for messaging me,

I decided to save my audio file, (using the Audacity software) in MP3 because WAV seems to reduce the quality substantially.

The thing is I can't download the plug-in which is required, for some reason !

(Please see the 3 screenshots which I have sent as attachments !)

After clicking on the download button of the 1st screenshot... the 2nd screenshot pops up & finally screenshot 3

Is there any other way of getting hold of this plug-in ? I haven't found it !

I look forward to hearing back from you

Richard.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

If there's a problem downloading from the official site, you can get the LAME MP3 Encoder from *here*, then extract lame_enc.dll into the Audacity folder.


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## fatheroflies (Apr 18, 2007)

koala said:


> If there's a problem downloading from the official site, you can get the LAME MP3 Encoder from *here*, then extract lame_enc.dll into the Audacity folder.



Hi there Koala,

Thank you for getting back to me,

I have downloaded the plug it and it worked well.

Thanks for that.

I just have one small thing that I can't sort out.

You see, when I export my finished file back out of Audacity, afterwards when I playback the file there seems to be a significant loss in quality of the sound.

This does not matter so much if the audio is music, however these are spoken.

I have tried to up the quality so that after exporting it will sound okay but have not figured out what I should be doing and what to twiddle to make this happen, & in fact have caused myself more problems & have lost data because I did not know what I'm doing.

Please could you give me a few tips on how to save an OK quality audio file.

I mean about the same ish sound quality (maybe slightly less but not much) as the file I first imported into the program ! 

Thank you for all your help

Regards Richard Milner. :wave:


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Audacity saves the trimmed clip using the same settings as the original audio file. What are the details for the original? (mono/stereo, bitrate, sample rate) You can find these details by right-clicking the MP3 in Windows Explorer, select Properties and click the Summary tab.

As an example, a file that is mono, 128kb/s, 11KHz will sound flat and muffled compared to a stereo, 320kb/s, 44KHz file.

What program are you using to playback the new MP3?

To prevent data loss, copy the original file to a new folder and work on the copy, leaving the original untouched.


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## fatheroflies (Apr 18, 2007)

koala said:


> Audacity saves the trimmed clip using the same settings as the original audio file. What are the details for the original? (mono/stereo, bitrate, sample rate) You can find these details by right-clicking the MP3 in Windows Explorer, select Properties and click the Summary tab.
> 
> As an example, a file that is mono, 128kb/s, 11KHz will sound flat and muffled compared to a stereo, 320kb/s, 44KHz file.
> 
> ...



Hey there Koala,

I found some details that you talked about

The file before...

Bit rate – 128 kbps
Channels – 2 (stereo)
Audio sample rate – 44 KHz


The file after...

Bit rate – 32 kbps
Channels – 2 (stereo)
Audio sample rate – 8 KHz

Would I be right to say that this is the reason why I have a reduction in quality ?

I guess I will have to do it again...

Please could you tell me how to make sure the settings are OK

Regards Richard.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Sorry, I should have mentioned this earlier. Open Audacity and go to Edit > Preferences > File Formats tab. In the MP3 Export Setup at the bottom, change the bitrate to the same as the original file (128 in this case). Then go to the Quality tab and change the 'Default Sample Rate' to 44100 Hz.

As a guideline, a sample rate of 44KHz (44100Hz) is CD quality, 22KHz is tape quality, and 11KHz and lower is for low quality files to reduce the filesize. A bitrate of 320kb/s is CD quality, 128kb/s is tape quality and anything lower will reduce the quality considerably.


EDIT: If you have any more problems with sound files, post back into this thread. We have a few members, including myself, who use Audacity and other sound editors.

Tutorial: *http://www.guidesandtutorials.com/audacity-tutorial.html*


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