To record audio in the A/V editing rooms, follow the 'Equipment in the A/V rooms' guide to ensure that you are logged in to the iMac computer, and that the audio mixer, microphone(s) and output device(s) you plan to use are powered on and connected.

Open the Audacity software. 

Once the main Audacity window is open, ensure that the Recording and Playback Device are set to USB AUDIO CODEC - this is the audio mixer, and will allow the microphone to pick up sound and the headphones to play it back.

To begin recording, click the red Record button or press the R key on the keyboard. To stop recording, click the stop button or press the R key again.

Record a few test clips to test audio levels. Levels should peak at around -6 dB and not go above -3 dB. Adjust the slider on the right side to lower or raise levels as needed. Levels can also be tested without creating a recording:: use the monitor feature by clicking on the microphone icon next to the levels indicator.

Once the levels are acceptable, you can begin recording. Recording can either be paused or stopped, then restarted as needed. Pausing recording will keep the resumed recording in the same clip, while stopping recording will create a new clip when recording is resumed. New clips are added sequentially.

As you record audio clips, their waveforms appear in the main window of Audacity in the order of their recording. By default, tracks are recorded in stereo, but you can change to mono as needed.

The numbers at the top of the waveform window indicate the length of the recording in seconds. Each recording can be cut, split, and adjusted as needed.

Select the portion of the audio you want to edit by clicking and dragging on the waveform. You can zoom in or out to capture a broader or narrow section using the zoom slider at the bottom of the window.

To create a new track, use Add New from the Tracks menu on the top toolbar.

To add a previously recorded file or another Audacity file, use Import from the File menu.

In the Edit menu, use the Cut and Delete buttons to remove unwanted sections of the audio. If a whole audio segment needs to be deleted, double click it to select it and press the delete key. In the same Edit menu, the Copy and Paste buttons can be used to duplicate or move sections of the audio.

The Effects menu has several useful features for editing your recording. Fade In and Fade Out allow you to gradually increase or decrease the volume at the beginning or end of a clip; Amplify and Normalize allow you to increase or decrease the volume of the audio without creating distortion; and Noise Reduction allows you to remove background noise. You can experiment with the different effects in this menu to find the best sound for your recording.

To save your progress, use Save Project. As with other VIU computers, saving to the desktop is not recommended - instead, save to your U: drive or preferred cloud storage.

When you are finished and satisfied with your recording, you can export your audio by selecting Export from the File menu. Choose the file format and quality you want and save the file to your preferred destination.

Audacity has more in-depth manuals and tutorials available on its website.