Choosing best audio track

Hello,

I have recorded a thewith 4 microphones a theater (4 mono tracks), and, now, I would like to choose the best one, as the actors are moving through the stage.

As first intention, the best way is choosing loudest or the 2 loudest (for having some stereo image).

Is any way for doing this automatically, or should I do it by hand? It is not so long (~30 minutes), so it is affordable by hand, but, if just some automation can do the 90% of the work, and I just make some corrections, It would be much better.

If this is not the best thread, pleas tell me and I will move this post.
Thank you very much for your help

Do it by hand / ear, but don’t just pick the loudest.
Import the 4 tracks into Audacity.
If they should be 2 pairs of stereo tracks, then join the pairs so that you have two stereo tracks (see: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/splitting_and_joining_stereo_tracks.html)
Use the track Mute or Solo buttons to listen to one track at a time (see: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/audio_tracks.html#mute)
Use the Track Gain sliders to make both tracks sound about the same loudness, but not so loud that they distort (see: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/audio_tracks.html#gain)
Listen through good headphones or good speakers and choose which sounds the best.
Delete the track that sounds inferior (click the [X] in the top left corner of the track)
With the good track selected, use “Mix and Render” from the “Tracks” menu.
Then use the Normalize effect and normalize to -1 dB (see: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/normalize.html)
Then Export as a WAV file and name it appropriately (example “my-recording-best.wav”). Don’t overwrite your original files, keep them safe just in case you need them again.

Thank you very much, Steve,

Anyway that was precisely the “hand/ear” work I wanted to avoid.