new user - advice please? Basic info on splicing

[kool g murder]

Hi there, I'm a new user of audacity, and technical programs like this aren't my forte, I'd appreciate it if someone could give me a few pointers. I'm trying to produce an hour long radio show - starts off with a song, then me talking over a backing track, fairly standard stuff. Presumably I just record the vocal, then splice it to the existing mp3 - anyone tell me how to do the splicing? Telling me to RTFM is understandable I guess, I'm even willing to do so, but the simpler the terms, the more likelihood I'll understand what I need to do.

I'd also like to have background music while I'm talking - is it better to record both together, or add the music afterwards? If the latter choice, how do I add the music onto the vocal track?

Finally, is there a way to strip the vocal from a track, either on audacity or through some other means?

Big thanks for any help. By the way, as shit as I am at technical stuff, the links I've written are pretty funny, and I could be interested in collaborating if anyone's up for it? I like the gervais / Brand podcasts, Jon Ross radio shows, though hopefully I'm not ripping any of those guys off.

[steve]

A great way to get to grips with Audacity is to work through some of the tutorials. They are pretty easy to follow and will show you how to use many of the features.

http://audacityteam.org/manual-1.2/tutorials.html
and
http://audacityteam.org/help/tutorials

I think you will find v.1.3.4 better for what you are wanting to do - it is beta software so it's not guaranteed to be bug free, but most people find it works fine (how stable it is depends largely on your set up, but usually it's solid).

[kool g murder]

Okay, cheers for that.

Sorry to be a schmuck, i did look at the guide and it does seem relatively straight forward, looking forward to starting. But...

There's a soundclip on youtube that I want to grab as a sample - the obvious way to do it is to play the clip on my PC while recording it on audacity, but is it really as easy as just clicking play and record? If not, could anyone tell me what else I need to do, or even just point me to the appropriate bit in the tutorial? Thanks!

[steve]

it really as easy as just clicking play and record?

Pretty close - there should be a "mixer" application that you can launch from an icon in the sys tray (near the clock). It will either be the standard Windows Mixer, or one that is specific to your sound card driver. In the mixer you need to set the record source to "stereo mix" (may be called "Mix", or "What You Hear" or something similar).

You can also set the record level in the mixer (the record level in the Audacity interface only works if supported by your sound card driver).

Note. Some laptops do not have this option as some manufacturers decided to disable it - if this is the case you may be able to enable it by updating the sound card drivers.

[kool g murder]

Great, started recording samples, thanks for the info.