Audacity Cross Platform (Windows to Mac)

Hi all,

This is my first here on the Audacity forums. I searched for info on this subject, but nothing came up. I’m considering picking up podcasting again and possibly using Audacity this time around, but I had a question:

I’m wondering if it’s possible to record using Audacity on a Windows PC at my office, and then edit using Audacity on a Mac at home. Is this possible? Any help or info would be much appreciated! Thanks!

possibly using Audacity this time around

As opposed to what?

Is this possible?

Totally possible. I used to regularly shoot voice tracks on my Mac…

… and ship them up to the video editors on Windows machines. But I didn’t use Audacity Projects. I Exported WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit Stereo and shipped that around. Perfect quality WAV (Microsoft) was chosen as the Audacity default Export because it’s accepted on all three major computer types. It also happens to be the Audio CD technical standard.

You will be in mono, if possible, but even though I was shooting one voice, I always delivered in stereo (two identical blue waves) because I new the video editors were using the voice in stereo shows. It saves them a step.

This Stereo/Mono thing is more of a pain in the neck than you think. If you opt for a very good quality interface such as a Scarlett 2i2, please know you will not be able to easily make a mono track in Audacity. The 2i2 will deliver a stereo track with your single microphone on one side (the side you plugged it into) and you’ll have to do post production to convert it. The 2i2 is not a sound mixer.

I have a Behringer UM2 which is a native mono interface (as an example). It takes a single microphone and delivers a high quality mono (one blue wave) track. I also have much larger microphone/mixer/interface systems, but that’s a good starter pack.

Scarlett has the Solo which is natively mono.

And just from painful experience, the thing that falls apart more than anything else is the room. You can’t make a “clean” podcast voice in a modern bare wood floor and bare white wall room. The grownups call those rooms “acoustically hostile.” Your show will always sound like a bathroom.

Do Not Ever do production in MP3. Save the MP3 conversion for the end when you post the final show to personal music players or on-line. Do that after you export your archive show to WAV on a backup drive.

Koz