Divide Tracks in Audacity

This article teaches you how to split a stereo music track into two distinct left and right tracks using Audacity. You can also split a mono track into a stereo track by making a copy of the mono track and editing each copy's settings.

Steps

Importing the Audio File

  1. Open Audacity. This program's icon resembles a blue pair of headphones with a red and orange sound wave in the middle of them.
    • If you haven't yet installed Audacity, you can download it for Mac or PC from the official site: http://www.audacityteam.org/
    • You may encounter bugs while running Audacity on MacOS Sierra.
  2. Click File. This option is in either the top-left corner of the screen (Mac) or the top-left corner of the Audacity window (Windows).
  3. Hover over Import. It's about halfway down the File drop-down menu.
  4. Click Audio. Doing so invokes a window wherein you can select an audio file.
  5. Select an audio file. If your audio file in question isn't readily available on your computer's desktop, you may have to search through the folders listed on the left side of the window here. Once you find the audio file you wish to edit, click it to select it.
  6. Click Open. Audacity will begin assimilating the file. Once the track finishes uploading, you'll be able to proceed with dividing the track.
    • Depending on the file's size, importing it into Audacity may take a few minutes.

Dividing a Stereo Track

  1. Click ▼. It's in the top-left corner of the track, to the right of the song's name. Clicking it will prompt a drop-down menu.
  2. Click Split Stereo Track. You'll see this option near the bottom of the drop-down menu. Doing so will convert your synchronized two-channel track into two separate channels: one for the left speaker, and one for the right.
    • You can also click Split Stereo to Mono to create two identical mono tracks.

Dividing a Mono Track

  1. Click the grey track window. It's on the left side of the track; clicking it will select the track.
    • Your track is a mono track if there is only one blue sound wave (as opposed to a stereo track's two blue sound waves).
  2. Copy the track. To do so, you can click Edit in the toolbar at the top-left side of the screen and then click Copy, or you can press either ⌘ Command+C (Mac) or Ctrl+C (Windows).
  3. Click the grey space below your track. This is where you'll paste your copied track.
  4. Paste the mono track copy. You can either click Paste in the Edit menu, or you can press either ⌘ Command+V (Mac) or Ctrl+V (Windows).
  5. Click ▼ on the first track. It's in the top-left corner of the track, to the right of the song's name. Clicking it will prompt a drop-down menu.
  6. Click Left Channel. It's near the bottom of the drop-down menu. This will cause your selected track to play from the left channel (and your left speaker).
  7. Click ▼ on the second track, then click Right Channel. Doing so will set the track to play from the right channel. Your previously mono track is now a stereo track with two distinct channels.

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