Audacity Forum

When I click on "File" the export options are all in grey.

When I try "Save As" only Audacity projects is in the pulldown.

This happened in both 1.2 and now in 1.3.8

Please help!

You can get that if you never pressed STOP after you finished your capture.

Koz

I have had a series of problems trying to burn a cd of an opera recording using a USB turntable.

First I used Audacity 1.2.5 ( I have an intel Mac running 10.6.1) using my USB turntable. No luck with exports. Then I asked this forum about the problem exporting and was told that 1..2.5 does not work on intel Macs. So I got rid of all the preferences and downloaded Audacity 1.3.7,. (at 16 bit)

Now I can record in Audacity from the lps I am trying to record. The recording is saved on my desktop as an .aup file.

I then have replayed the aup file on my Mac and have inserted breaks during breaks in the arias by pausing the track and inserting a break using command B. Breaks are inserted as far as I can tell. I then have tried to export to my desktop as .aiff files and they appear there as iTunes icons.

I have tried to import them into iTunes. There are four tracks, the first three indicate they are 4KB and the fourth is 206KB. If I try to play the first three, there is nothing there, but the fourth track is the entire recording without breaks and plays in iTunes.

I am unable to burn the recording of track 4 because the burn icon at the bottom of the iTunes window is greyed out.

I must be doing something wrong while trying to insert breaks.

Any advice would be most welcome.

jimp wrote:I then have replayed the aup file on my Mac and have inserted breaks during breaks in the arias by pausing the track and inserting a break using command B. Breaks are inserted as far as I can tell. I then have tried to export to my desktop as .aiff files and they appear there as iTunes icons.
I must be doing something wrong while trying to insert breaks.
Any advice would be most welcome.

Yes, that would seem to be the case. See if this helps:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD
Scroll to the bottom for a mini-tutorial on breaking a recording into separate songs and then using Export Multiple.

Keeping everything on your desktop will lead to confusion. Audacity creates a .aup file that hold a roadmap of your project, and a _data folder that contains all the audio. You need to keep them together. For example, you could have "MyProject.aup" (a file) and "MyProject_data" (a folder). I'd recommend creating a folder inside your Documents folder to keep your Audacity projects in. I go one step further and create a new folder to keep the AUP file and _data folder in. Then everything I export from that project goes into that folder as well. Otherwise you'll quickly end up with hundreds of files on your desktop. Accidentally moving a .aup file without moving the _data folder with it will break your project and lead to tears and lost hair.

-- Bill

Not to mention multiple files on your desktop need to be managed by the screen manager which slows the computer down slightly for each icon. Slow computers and live picture or sound are incompatible.

I personally would capture one whole side of a record and export the whole thing as one WAV file. Then go back and capture the second side. Export As WAV.

Then you can edit the WAV files totally without having to deal with _data folders or brittle and confusing Audacity Projects.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:I personally would capture one whole side of a record and export the whole thing as one WAV file. Then go back and capture the second side. Export As WAV.
Then you can edit the WAV files totally without having to deal with _data folders or brittle and confusing Audacity Projects.

Not quite. As soon as you make any edits to those WAV files you've got bits of audio in the _data folder. Amplify an entire album side and you might as well have not exported the WAV at all - the entire side is now in your _data folder. Audacity has to do this because it promises never to touch the WAV file.
The advantage of your approach is that you have the WAV files as backup in case the project blows up. You've saved the capture, but you'll still lose all your edits if the project dies.
There are three rules for keeping your Audacity projects happy:
1) Never rename the project file or the _data folder
2) Always keep the project file and _data folder together
3) If you have chosen to "read from external file (faster)" never move that external file.

Break one of these rules and for sure we'll be hearing from you on the forum!

-- Bill

<<<Amplify an entire album side and you might as well have not exported the WAV at all >>>

Until you or the computer does something silly and the Project goes face-first into the mud. What I will be doing is cleaning up the machine and launching the captured WAV file (ElvisInHawaii-Side_A.wav) and starting my edit over again. Possibly with stronger coffee. One of the fancy-pants editors made me a cappuccino once. It's hard to edit when you're bouncing off the ceiling. Really.

What I will not be doing is trying to recapture the vinyl (which gets slightly fuzzier at each playing) or posting here wanting to know how to patch together 5,348 .au files into "Blue Suede Shoes."

Koz

kozikowski wrote:What I will not be doing is trying to recapture the vinyl (which gets slightly fuzzier at each playing) or posting here wanting to know how to patch together 5,348 .au files into "Blue Suede Shoes."

Agree totally. I just wanted to make it clear to anyone reading this thread that importing a WAV with "read from uncompressed files (faster)" does not mean there is no _data folder or bunches of .au files involved while you're editing that WAV file.

-- Bill

Yes, completely.

If I'm involved in a critical capture, I not only Export As WAV, but I make a protection copy of the WAV on media that I've been known to lock up. Most people don't need that level of obsessiveness and compulsion, but I've never lost a performance because the Project failed, either.

I need to go align all my paper clips now.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:I need to go align all my paper clips now.