How to Make a Binaural Beat Track with (or Without) Music
This Tutorial was Made Using the free software ‘Audacity’ version 2.3.1. There are links to download Audacity 2.3.1 at the bottom of the page.
Click on the photos to see them bigger.
(If you want to get straight into making a binaural beat without downloading Audacity use the link at the bottom of this page.)
1: Open Audacity and click ‘Tracks’ at the top of the screen, then click ‘Add New’ and ‘Mono Track’
2: Click ‘Generate’ then ‘Tone’ A box will open up.
3: Make sure that the ‘Waveform option in the box is set to ‘Sine’. The next thing you need to do is generate a base tone. For a binaural beat to work, the two tones have to have frequencies less than 1000 Hz, and the difference between the two tones can’t be more than 30 Hz. One study has indicated that creating your tones at around 500Hz may be best, although I have created sleep tracks as low as 50Hz and they have definitely worked. To create a 12Hz tone we need to use two numbers with a difference of 12. So in this exercise we’ll enter 100 into the Frequency (Hz) box below, and 112 into the frequency (Hz) box of the second tone you will make in step No. 6. Leave the Amplitude field at its default setting and enter the duration/length that you want the track to be in the duration field, then click ‘OK’ Your first track will appear on the screen within a few seconds, maybe more if it’s a long track.
4: Your first track!
5: Click ‘Tracks’ “Add New’ and ‘Mono Track
6: Click ‘Generate’ then ‘Tone’ A box will open up. Leave the first field set to ‘Sine’ and enter 112 into the Frequency (Hz) box. Leave the Amplitude field at its default setting and enter the duration/length the same as you did in step 3 above. click ‘OK’ and your second track will appear on the screen within a few seconds, again, maybe more if it’s a long track.
7: Important! Drag the slider and set one track to ‘Left’ and the other track to ‘Right’. These are highlighted in the picture with red outlines. This will send one track to your left earphone and the other track to your right earphone. You can also adjust the volume of the binaural beat tracks and the soundtrack if need be by sliding the little blue circle towards the – and + signs. You can temporarily mute the other tracks for greater accuracy of adjusting the volume, but don’t forget to un-mute them before you export or save your work!
8: If you want to have a soundtrack playing with your binaural beat, Click ‘File’ ‘Import’ and ‘Audio’ and then locate the music file on your computer and upload it. If your soundtrack is longer than your binaural beats you can highlight the longer bit with your mouse then click ‘Edit’ and ‘Delete’ to make it the same length. If you don’t want to have an audio soundtrack mixed into your binaural beat, skip this step and go to step 9.
9: You can export (save) your work in three ways. If you export as an ‘OGG’ you can use it to edit your work at a future date. If you export as ‘Wav’ or MP3 then of course these are your binaural beat music files. I would recommend exporting your work as a Wav as this is of far greater sound quality than an MP3. It is however a much larger file size.
10. Enjoy!
You can download Windows Audacity version 3.2.1 below at Audacity’s partner Fosshub. There is a Windows installer, and the option of a Zip file download. If you’re not sure about Zip files go for the Windows installer. Please note it’s a long page!
The Version 2.3.1 is just over half way down the page. If you download a version of Audacity other than Version 2.3.1 the pictures above will probably not match what you see on your computer. https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-old.html
You can also download Audacity 2.3.1 below. It is not an official Audacity download site but you will find it straight away. https://filehippo.com/download_audacity/2.3.1/
If you’re impatient to get straight into making your own binaural beats straight away and download Audacity at a later date go to the website linked below and input your required frequencies.
https://onlinetonegenerator.com/binauralbeats.html The default values are 500Hz and 503Hz, The difference between the two is 3, giving you a binaural beat of 3Hz. Don’t forget to wear your headphones or earphones for the binaural beat to work! You will only be able to listen to your work on the webpage, you will not be able to save or download it.
