Using Audacity to transpose tracks (change pitch without changing tempo)

Earlier, I shared what I’d learned about transposing tracks in GarageBand (i.e. changing the ‘key’ or pitch, without changing the tempo).

Here’s another way, using Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), which is a free open-source audio recording, editing and — to some extent — a mixing software. It’s written for Macs and PCs.

The basic steps in transposing a track in Audacity goes like this:

1) Fire up Audacity. Import the track into Audacity (file menu > Project > Audio Import)

2) Once the track is imported, select the entire track (file menu > Edit > Select > All)

3) After making your selection, go to file menu > Effect > Change Pitch.

4) With the Change Pitch option box, tweak the settings as needed. You can shift it up or down… the menu options are quite self-explanatory. If not, just select the option and click on Preview. Or you can always choose ‘Undo’ (file menu > Edit > Undo…) if you don’t like the changes you’ve made.

Give Audacity a try. It’s been a very stable and reliable product. And free too. I tend to use Audacity to complement what I do in GarageBand (for instance, using Audacity to convert file formats — or compress, remove clicks etc. — before importing to GarageBand).

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