How To Make a Song in Audacity - Recording, Editing, & How to Sound Like Gunna/Lil Uzi Vert 2021

This is an updated tutorial on how to make a song in Audacity in 2021. I've learned, improved, and I'm ready to share techniques I've built both through the demonstrations in this video and the free presets you can download below. Make sure to stream "How It Glows" as well, as it's the cloud rap vibe we put together in this video!
Stream "How It Glows" (Track 6) from Cloud Cover!
- All Platforms link: bit.ly/howitglowsa
- KZbin: bit.ly/3qgCVfq
- Spotify: spoti.fi/3wlGkxf
- Apple Music: apple.co/3qlDYdZ
- KZbin Music: bit.ly/3wjx6Sn
0:00 Intro
0:22 Preview of Finished Song
0:46 Things to Know when Getting Started
2:52 Introduction to Example Takes
3:52 Editing the Vocals
8:08 Mixing the Ad-Libs
8:52 The Finished Product
9:28 Outro
Download the free Audacity plugins (and presets) mentioned in this video:
- Free presets: buymeacoffee.com/jasonr/prese...
- Download preFix: bit.ly/3dEUoHl
- Download TDR Nova: bit.ly/3fq3t75
- Download TDR SlickEQ: bit.ly/37mlTn7
- Download Spitfish: bit.ly/2GeF4kP
- Download TDR Kotelnikov: bit.ly/3m4CXUz
- Where to buy Auto-Tune: antarestech.com
- Download TAL Reverb II: bit.ly/35gqNkh
- Instructions for installing Audacity plugins: • How To Edit Audio in A...
Some popular USB mics (supports the channel at no cost to you!):
[$150] MOVO UM800: amzn.to/38i8WLp
[$130] Blue Yeti: amzn.to/2VnOD7W
[$50] Blue Snowball iCE: amzn.to/2VnpPwE
Videos on Audacity basics:
- • Audacity Basics (OLD/O...
- • Audacity Editing for B...
Stalk my social media:
- Instagram: @jasonr.mp4
- Twitter: @jasonr_jpg
My gear:
- [camera] Panasonic Lumix G7: amzn.to/2mBuzh1
- [prime lens] Panasonic 25mm f1.7: amzn.to/372aLJl
- [secondary prime lens] KamLan f1.1 prime: amzn.to/2FDHE1P
- [vlogging microphone] RODE VideoMicro: amzn.to/2FHuvVt
- [voiceover microphone] MOVO UM800: amzn.to/2JQkvjL
- [budget voiceover microphone] Blue Snowball iCE: amzn.to/36VSc9P
- [laptop] Acer Aspire E15: amzn.to/2D5nmMR
- [tripod] Mactrem PT55 aluminum tripod: amzn.to/2EJZHlI
- [video lighting] Amzdeal softbox kit: amzn.to/2TtrMbt
About me & my channel:
Hey! My name is Jason R., and I started this KZbin channel in 2016, with the goal in mind to create high-quality, unique tech videos for KZbin. The response and growth I saw over the first several years of uploading videos absolutely stunned me, and making videos that genuinely helped people made me incredibly happy. Where I am today, I've gathered an incredible, supportive audience that I create regular technology and lifestyle videos for. But one thing I always want to emphasize on my channel is growth: meaning I want to create better, more useful, and more unique videos, grow my audience, and eventually make a career out of this hobby. If you support me and this vision, then please subscribe and we can make this happen!
Music prod. by 【UNLUCKY】ヌ竹演: bit.ly/produnlucky

[@BashMidnight]

Your audacity Tutorials are awesome. Haven't seen anybody who was explaining the plugins in this way. Well done.

[@kittylisha7897]

I first came to your channel for the snowball mic, now I’m here just because your videos are calming with a good aesthetic. 🤍

[@jasonrtech]

I love hearing stuff like that, thank you :)

[@vidateriah]

I LOOOVE how organized this video is!!!🔥💙

[@jasonrtech]

Thank you, that means a lot 🙏🏼

[@michaelsalameh6491]

bro your so good at youtube this tutorial was so helpful and so are the other ones great videos keep it up also your how it glows was fire ngl

[@kelionpro9612]

Epic video! Your tutorials have been so helpful for my music

[@jasonrtech]

Thanks man & I wish you the best of luck!

[@noahalexander_]

Thanks bro I’ve been looking for a video like this ✊

[@simbaofficalyoutube]

I like it so much and it's so helpful Thank you

[@onlysaun]

this just what I was waiting for. THX

[@jasonrtech]

No problem!

[@keko967]

Yo thank you so much for helping out us smaller artists man. Stuck with audacity for now and trying to make the best of it

[@jasonrtech]

No problem, I’m glad I can help!

[@dakeemesut5932]

Super tuto

[@KingLou97]

bro just subscribed after this. You are the man. Keep up the grind

[@jasonrtech]

For sure 🙏🏼

[@FwJayPressha]

Yessir just what i needed bro👌👌👌👍🏽👍🏽

[@jasonrtech]

Glad to hear that!

[@noel5725]

Thx man! That song is hard 2☄️

[@BryanBallesterosOfficial]

very helpful tutorial, its help me improve my editing on audacity

[@greatvaluecritical2967]

Man i gotta tell you this song is fire its on my spotify playlist, thx to your vids I started making music ur vids have helped so much😊

[@jasonrtech]

Glad to hear that & I appreciate it 🙏🏼

[@weshawks]

thank you so much man this video is great

[@jasonrtech]

Thank you :)

[@sonicacoustics9176]

Love this video content. Full of information. Keep it up! :)

[@jasonrtech]

Thank you!

[@ashtonjohanness_]

Thanks Bro! Helped a lot!!

[@jasonrtech]

No problem man!

[@houseflymotors7459]

Amazing video man helped me a lot and your fire BTW. Thanks again man. 💪

[@jasonrtech]

I'm glad to hear that & appreciate the kind words 🙏🏼

[@kyannni]

why i subscribed : first, bcs you're cool

[@tadorleestudiotv2037]

Good job

[@aphiecomendador8235]

men thank you for this video..amazing

[@jasonrtech]

Glad you liked it!

[@aphiecomendador8235]

More video about audacity.thankyou

[@abhishekkulkarni5945]

You are extremely talented. I have listened to your song 30 times in an hour.

[@michealmyers5338]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIGsk3mDg7WZmac is this worthy?

[@jasonrtech]

I appreciate that so much 🙏🏼

[@naavigator]

Def gon check that song out

[@jasonrtech]

Preciate it 🙏🏼

[@andrewcho9013]

yessss damn that shot looks nice 0:07

[@jasonrtech]

Yessir, that one was probably my favorite too.

[@realsxcope5064]

8:57

[@realsxcope5064]

Bro ur too good

[@jasonrtech]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@elmondo033057]

Extremely pro video my friend. I'm jealous of your hyper-professionalism. Great tutorial.

[@jasonrtech]

Thank you Mr. Ellis 🙏🏼

[@elmondo033057]

@@jasonrtech I'll keep watching your incredible videos. As a composer and jazz musician, I really like your take on how to make music recordings. Excellent!!!

[@jasonrtech]

@@elmondo033057 Thanks again, I'm glad to have you here!

[@DKINTHELAB]

People are raiding the capital rn lol I’ll be right back to watch this video 🥺

[@jasonrtech]

Haha okay man 😂

[@prod.bastet630]

Random as fuck man but Ight

[@angryratter3971]

Random as fuck man but ight

[@setthetrackonfire8250]

Random as fuck man but ight

[@fotinifotini9513]

I love your videos, you make everything look easy❤ Could you please make a video of how to download audacity and the effects you are using?

[@im_dori]

2:23 For everyone who have this problem try making a stereo track, it worked for me!

[@jasonrtech]

Or set the recording mode to mono per my pinned comment.

[@AtomicTheEl]

The video is tight, but the song is Fire 🔥🔥🔥 I added it to my Spotify playlist!!!

[@jasonrtech]

Much love 🙏🏼👊🏼

[@_jraven]

Idk of your gonna see this but THANKKK YOUUU my newest mix on my song sounds so much more professional then before.

[@jasonrtech]

You're welcome & I'm glad to hear it helped :)

[@ShadesofJason]

tutorial was easy to follow and I didn’t even know audacity couldn’t do all et

[@streammonocowards836]

saw this on your IG stories then RAN over here, i really need to get back into music ://

[@jasonrtech]

Hope it helps & thanks for being here!

[@tonysdarfead]

another great video you deserve 1 mill subs (got my blue yeti btw thanks for the review)

[@jasonrtech]

For sure, hope you make something cool with it 👌🏼

[@DKINTHELAB]

I just got my blue yeti too!!! Still paying around with it but idk if I’ll be singing.. mainly voice overs

[@dakodaboutilier]

🔥

[@jasonrtech]

🙏🏼

[@urlv.]

Nice

[@jasonrtech]

:)

[@killermarcus7881]

Bro u are so underated... keep up

[@jasonrtech]

Of course 🙏🏼

[@killermarcus7881]

@@jasonrtech what are those red Lines in The beat?

[@jasonrtech]

@@killermarcus7881 It's a setting you can enable to show where there's peaking/clipping. On the beat, it just shows the loudest parts though 👍🏼

[@arson_studio]

Please make a video for beginners about the plug ins in audacity..

[@LifeinGlow]

nice tutorial and song Jason! (I like the melody and voice, only did not understand what it is about at a glance (I am not a native speaker though fluent in English). *** Could you create a tutorial about installing those plugins? there are a few files there, for someone like me it is hard to figure out what the difference is. btw the 1st link PreFix did not work (no downloads there). Also what is the difference between inbuilt reverb? (I used that one only, but new to all that stuff). Am I right to understand that say when I am layering the song with vocal tracks I have to apply filters / effects on each separately rather than on the final one, right? (I don't have a daw yet, recorded earlier in the winter some experimental covers)

[@davidceddleman]

Hey what settings did you use for the TDR Kotelnikov? I didn't get a preset from you for the plugin. 🤔

[@aimedinero]

could you do another one

[@realsxcope5064]

9:05 damn u need to be a rapper🔥🔥

[@phantorv1210]

hey man! i used the presets for prefix, nova and slickeq but it makes my voice sound terrible and robotic and it makes my voice cut off a lot for some reason? idk why, any tips?

[@SingerOmayChannel]

I need all this effects on my music cover 😭😭 but I dont know how 😭😭 I only know audacity just few but the other effects(prefix and etc) i dont know how to download it..U are so genius

[@nostalgia417]

Heey, thanks for the help, I got problems with Tal Reverb, I added the plug-in to my folder but then when I am in audacity I can’t use it. How can I fix it?

[@ggonmywaistline]

How do you apply the presets for the different plugins?

[@romeothomas5455]

how do u use the presets where do we put them?

[@MovoOfficial]

We hope you're enjoying the UM800!

[@jasonrtech]

So far, for sure!

[@TSallyy]

hey i bought the Antares auto tune and installed it - how do i put it on audacity though?

[@Someone-wi6bv]

need a tutorial for the coffee u made at the start of the video

[@akonoka3356]

Somehow i can't download PreFIX, is there an alternative?

[@weirdname8786]

Early cookie gang

[@jasonrtech]

Yessir 💪🏼🍪

[@ConflictBTW]

Do you have any good options for a free auto tune?

[@EmmxnSxvxgeonyt]

Do I need plugin to mix and master in this software

[@phantomverified1543]

How to we install the presets

[@Gilo134177]

Awesome video! How do i use your presets, they are all ".xml" files?

[@Kelvin-vd4zv]

No link to Kotelnikov?

[@rjb0987]

even when I press were i want it to record it still records at the end of the instrumental ???

[@Pageonthingsbeingmade]

Mine has a slight delay when I’m recording idk how to fix it

[@SFire1]

Yo I’m late but this helped

[@jasonrtech]

Glad to hear that man!

[@lindaperez3761]

where to get audio file? is it also possible to like record other songs like karaoke and then ill record myself in audacity? thanks...so love your videos so much to learn

[@jasonrtech]

I'm not sure what you mean by the audio file; I'm guessing the instrumental. That depends on how you go about making your song. You could buy an instrumental from a producer online, or have someone record physical instruments in-person. But you can definitely record covers by finding the instrumental versions of finished songs on KZbin 👍🏼

[@yungnheartless3464]

can you help me get these plugins on audacity i downloaded them and put them in plugins files for audcity and there not there and ive closed and opened audacity and there not mind to help?

[@SimonOxid]

You sould check out the t.bone sc 440 condenser usb mic.

[@jasonrtech]

I'll look into that 👍🏼

[@n.a.p.1965]

Hello. When I try to add Spitfish to my Audacity (version 3.0.3) it doesn't recognize them. What can I do to fix it?

[@youngmeng438]

Hey Jason.R i can not download Prefix.

[@brylanjoyce]

Hey man, I just released my first song on every platform and this along with the first tutorial video helped me out so much in mixing my shit on Audacity, even with my mic budget... but I'd appreciate any extra feedback, thanks!

[@NinjaSavagesNS]

Does snowball mic works on console?

[@Userx45778]

🎸🎤🔥🔥🔥

[@jasonrtech]

🙏🏼👊🏼

[@Fullergull]

where do you get the auto-tune evo. its not on the website you link in the description

[@jasonrtech]

It's an older version that's been discontinued by Antares as far as I can tell. It's unfortunate bc the newer versions are 64-bit only, meaning you can't use them with Audacity. I'd recommend you take a look at my recent Cakewalk tutorial that works with any new Auto-Tune 👍🏼

[@Fullergull]

@@jasonrtech sounds good thanks!

[@seonl6339]

what's the preset for "TDR Kotelnikov"

[@EmmxnSxvxgeonyt]

Does delay matter

[@naginavasi]

Sr plese edd subtaitale

[@scotty6181]

how do u install plug ins

[@kenyparmar8844]

can i record without mic and just with my bluetooth earphones ??

[@jovassimusic6114]

the downloads for prefix are gone :(

[@michaesturges6579]

How do you add sounds like if I wanted to add smokin noises or a lighter?

[@jasonrtech]

Really it's the same process, apply all the same plugins (except Auto-Tune), just to a different track. You'll probably want to drop the gain on that track too.

[@juniorhassan.6405]

I can't add the Jason preset to audacity

[@sufferplenty]

Can't find prefix, its not on their website for download anymore :/

[@jasonrtech]

Not sure why the original download was removed but you can still grab it from here: softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-Plugins/Variety-Of-Sound-preFIX.shtml

[@MohammedHarisSulaiman]

Hey Jason.. 1 Q. Is using noise reduction ideal? Or will it ruin the audio quality?

[@jasonrtech]

You really want to physically set up your space to where you don't need it. It's the best you can do if there's noise you _have_ to get rid of, but I personally never used it in any of my songs 👍🏼

[@Prolevelsev]

might be a dumb question but how do i apply your presets ? do I just put them into my plug in folder?

[@lucakrupar3912]

I want to know too

[@ABFliptoe46]

Ayo, How do I add the music as a track???? Like how do I drag it over. Also is there any free auto tune download?

[@michaelsalameh6491]

you have to dowlowoad it and then add it through open files

[@galacticcuber2058]

anyone else unable to install tal reverb, or cant find the tdr koltelnikov presets

[@shadowmatrix3140]

what would you change about your editing process for rap vocals rather than singing? Also what's your advice for projecting your voice well enough into your mic

[@jasonrtech]

I'd say ditch the Auto-Tune and go lighter on the reverb. And when it comes to projecting your voice, it takes a bit of practice and effort to be able to enunciate correctly and loudly enough while avoiding breathing into the mic. You can also get a pop filter to help alleviate this 👍🏼

[@shadowmatrix3140]

Jason R. - AeriumTV thanks bro

[@watermelooneboi8465]

@@jasonrtech what about the adlibs?

[@rcp3534]

how do i make it not record at the end and record antwhere i want to \\

[@jasonrtech]

Click on the new track where you want to record to 👍🏼

[@whereyamomat1329]

do a videos on how to use effects to sound like SNOT

[@jasonrtech]

Will take into consideration!

[@buuson_]

cookie gang

[@jasonrtech]

Here ya go: 🍪

[@Lon727]

So I've been using autotune evo for sometime but today when I tuned the settings in the autotune, I premarked the soundfile I wanted to add the autotune to. I prelisten to the autotune to make sure it sounds good. But as soon as I close the autotune the autotune disappeares from the soundtrack. Like I have already hit apply but it doesent. I even tried exporting the full song while the autotune plug in is open but it wont help. Anyone here that can help me?

[@jasonrtech]

Did you select the audio before hitting apply?

[@Lon727]

@@jasonrtech yes I did.

[@Its_kj077]

Do I need a microphone?

[@natecote2538]

having trouble downloading and putting these plug ins into audacity help please

[@nostalgia417]

I got problems with Tal Reverb, I added the plug-in to my folder but then when I am in audacity I can’t use it.

[@chillrock5978]

How do I make a song with more than vocals? I'm trying to put my guitar in there

[@polery3235]

record the guitar breuh

[@galacticcuber2058]

you didn't link tdr koltelnikov or the presets, but otherwise great video

[@afrog3859]

Preset link not working .... :(

[@minecraftWithDanielD]

I’d like to ask why you advocate for Audacity to mix a song as opposed to something like reaper. Like I’ve never used or worked with reaper, but I know people who have and I understand it’s non-destructive. Wouldn’t it be better to use a free non-destructive daw than one that is free but destructive?

[@jasonrtech]

Good question man, and honestly that's a similar comparison to Cakewalk vs. Audacity: Cakewalk of course being non-destructive and free, and Audacity not so much. It really just has to do with skill level, and even though I use more advanced software now, using Audacity for my first song was part of the learning process. But hey, I'm looking into more advanced tutorials in the future 👍🏼

[@nunuarib4540]

Hey man, Don't you use interface?

[@jasonrtech]

Nope, there's no need with a USB mic.

[@eddelcuyugan3230]

hey man may I know ur settings? IF ITS OKAY HOPE U NOTICE

[@jasonrtech]

Yeah no problem, all my presets are linked in the description 👍🏼

[@galacticcuber2058]

prefix is cutting out all my audio, which is at exactly 0 decibles

[@michaelandtania]

How do I get your presets I click it and it’s just codes

[@jasonrtech]

You have to download and import them. There's instructions on how to do that on this page: manual.audacityteam.org/man/effect_menu_vst.html

[@jurv7626]

Also graillon 2 is a free autotune alternative

[@jasonrtech]

Haven't looked into that, probably should tho...

[@jurv7626]

@@jasonrtech you should, dont want you to get in trouble 😂

[@sepi.2462]

Anyone else getting problems for downloading preFIX