one basic workflow for recording and editing

  1. get the sound into the computer
  2. find the sound you want
  3. clean it up

more detailed version

  1. record the sound you want with your phone or the zoom; use the windshield!
  2. move the file to your computer
    1. for Dolby On, share it to Google Drive or similar and then move it to your computer
    2. for the Zoom, connect it via USB and copy or eject the sd card and read the card from your computer
  3. open it in Audacity and locate the general area where your sound is located
  4. copy that area out and paste it to a new file; we don't want to damage your original file, and it can be nice to have a new Audacity project for each sound
  5. use noise reduction to clean up the sound
  6. delete the areas which you do not need, paying attention to the envelope of the sound; don't delete even a small part of the attack
  7. use various tools to adjust the amplitude: normalize, amplify, envelope tool
  8. make sure that you fade in and out at the front and back, respectively, to make sure that you don't have clicks or audible sudden changes in volume
  9. check the track on the left side to make sure that you have the right format and rate
  10. select what you want to export and choose “export selection”