[Tutorial] Audacitiy : How to Trim Your Music File

Almost 3 years ago I already make trimming mp3 file in Indonesian language. Back then I was using Free Trim Mp3 which is free but has a lot of minus on it such as can't save it on mp3 format. Well I'm not gonna blame that weakness of Free Trim Mp3, because every good and free software's are rarely available for free (I mean legal not some kind of crack downloads). Well it doesn't mean there's no free software with a lot of good features, for example like today that I'm gonna share with you how to trim your music file using Audacity.  


For the basic I'm gonna share how to trim the music file, make sure that you already prepared your music file. Audacity supports almost music file formatted such as *.WAV, *.AIFF, OGG Vorbis (*.OGG for short), *.FLAC, *.MP3, etc. Trimming the music file also requires some sense (for me), make sure you also put earphone or headphone in order to minimize any noise from outside that might be bothering your work.

• First open the file that you already prepared (you can drag it from your folder into Audacity), make sure you repeat to play the music a lot in order to make sure which section that you want to delete or cut.

Zoom

Sometimes you may confuse about which exactly part that you want to cut since there's so much crest waves (like rock or some fast pace musics), you can use zoom button to make it more detailed. Just click the zoom button, then determine which area that you want to zoom by clicking the blue wave.

• After finding which part that you want to cut/trim, you can mark it with the selection button and then drag/highlight which part that you want to cut.

Selection

• Click the cut button and also make sure you pause or stop the music before cutting the area that you already highlighted (because you can't cut the area while the music still playing).

 

Cutting tools

• Repeat the process from above for which part from your music file that you want to cut., after that you can save it by click File>Export or by clicking combination buttons CTRL SHIFT E. 

• If you want to save it in *.mp3 format, first you must download Lame mp3 encoder for Audacity. You can grab it at here http://lame.buanzo.org/ .

I also using this method to create custom background music for Kamen Rider Climax Heroes game series, you can also check related article on my old blog.

Reupload Custom BGM Super Climax Heroes (currently hiatus due to too much work IRL)
How to Insert Custom BGM in Super Climax Heroes Game
Custom BGM Super Climax Heroes (Almost Complete, Some Links may not available anymore)

You can also check my Youtube Channel for Custom Background Music implementation
http://www.youtube.com/user/Progamersdiary

OK, I think that's all for the mp3 trim tutorial, any questions are very welcome.