CREATE YOUR VOICE TRACK IN AUDACITY

Create Your Voice Track in Audacity (borrowed from the online wiki audacity tutorial)

Then you need to create your voice track which you do by recording it with your microphone onto a new track in your Audacity Project. As the voice recording will be on a different track from the music, it can after recording be edited entirely independently of the music (see "Editing and Effects" below).

To record with your microphone, you set the recording source to microphone in Audacity's mixer toolbar input selector http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm (or, if you are on OS X, you set the microphone as the default recording source in Apple Audio-Midi Setup). Then press the red Record button.

If you want to be really professional, why not do a level test of your voice before you record for real? Click on the downward pointing arrow in the right hand (red) recording level meters http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_meter.htm and click "monitor input". While speaking into your microphone as loud as you would for the loudest part of what you want to record, adjust the recording level slider (by the microphone symbol) on the Mixer Toolbar http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm so the recording meters are almost reaching the far right-hand side (but not far enough to bring the red hold lights on). If the recording level meters are not visible, go to the Preferences and check "Enable Meter Toolbar" on the Interface tab.

Audacity has the handy ability to allow you to record your voice track while listening to your music track, so you can dream up what to say as the mood of the music takes you and have your voice laid down in the same place as the music. To do this, check "Play other tracks while recording new one" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, and press the red Record button. The Preferences are usually under the Edit Menu, but on OS X are under the Audacity menu. Note: obviously you must use tight fitting headphones to record while listening to a music track, to avoid your microphone picking up the music playback in your voice recording.

After you have finished recording, just press "play" in Audacity to hear the result – the music track and your voice track will be mixed together just as they will when you come to "export" the recording as a computer audio file.