Learning to use Audacity has been a stressful experience. I know nothing about recording and therefore don’t understand half I read. I think I know the difference between " Save and Save As". I would like you to explain so I can be sure.
In general, you Save As the first time so that Audacity will ask you for a name to call the show.
MyFirstProject
Until you get more into this, only use “safe” characters in your names. Upper and lower case letters, numbers, underscrore and dash.
After that, every time you press “Save” audacity will put your revised show with all your new edits and effects into the first project. If you press Save As again, you can create a whole new project with a different name.
You might want to periodically Save As in a new project name so you have something to go back to if you make a horrible mistake. Audacity will UNDO a project and step back as long as you don’t close Audacity. The instant you close Audacity, all the UNDO goes away and the only protection you have is the last show you made.
Save works with Audacity Projects, not sound files. They only open in Audacity. To get a real sound file you have to Export one.
File > Export > MyFirstProject
The temptation is to always work in MP3 – like the music on your iPod. That’s dangerous because you can’t easily change MP3 files later. Audacity defaults to Microsoft WAV and you can open them up and change them again and again.
When you get to the end where you’re happy with your show, Export a final protection WAV and then export an MP3. You need extra software to make an MP3.
Koz
Thank You very much. I printed it off so I can read it again as I need to.