Win7, Audacity 2.0.3. When exporting multiple tracks, how do I get Audacity not to put the artist name in the track title?
I’m a little shaky on this, but I think you can run the MetaData panel and delete all the fields you don’t want to appear.
Here it is.
Audacity > Edit > Preferences: Import/Export > Show Metadata.
Select that and the system will give you the opportunity to put whatever in those fields you want.
Koz
Let me be a bit more clear. There are certain fields in the Metadata that can not be removed. Track title is one of them. However, whenever I export multiple tracks, it automatically inserts the artists name, hyphen then the track title. I want that to stop.
“File menu > Edit Metadata”
Click on the “Clear” button, then click on the “OK” button.
Then do the Export Multiple.
If you are still getting metadata in the exported files, please describe precisely how you are doing it.
I just realized what is happening. When I export multiple files, Audacity is taking the file name and putting it in place of the title.
That is what it is designed to do. The Track Title metadata is filled from the label text or the track name, and the Track Number is filled from the order of the labels or tracks.
Turning Metadata Editor display off in Preferences does not change that.
Do you need the Track Title metadata to be different from the file name? You can type over the prefilled Track Title as long as your preference is set to show the Metadata Editor at the export step.
Gale
Sorry, I missed a step out of my description. I assumed that you had the metadata editor set to open on each file export (the default behaviour but can be changed in “Edit > Preferences > Import/Export”). You would then hit “Clear” > “OK” each time that the Metadata Editor pops up. Personally I’d find it useful if there was a way to specify “No Metadata” so that it is not necessary to clear it each time, but sadly we don’t currently have that option.
Hello, I understand that it is designed to do what it does. But, not everyone is the same. Personally, the way my files are labeled, is the way I would prefer to keep them. It would be nice for the properties in the files stayed as they are and if there was something we wanted to change, then so be it. I basically have two choices. The first, import, modify, then export one track at a time so that the properties don’t change. Or second, import several tracks, modify them, export them and one at a time change the titles to what they should be. Either way, I will continue to use Audacity. Thanks for the help.
Very often the Track Title metadata is the same as the file name.
By far the most common use case of Export Multiple is creating files that don’t already exist, such as for exporting album tracks from a recording to CD. That’s why Audacity adds Track Title and Track Number automatically.
Are you importing multiple files then doing Export Multiple based on tracks?
Or if you’re exporting multiple from a single Audacity track using labels, does the Track Title need to be the same for each export?
Gale
I’m sorry to answer something from 4 years ago, but there is no way to avoid renaming the title track with the file name and just keep it like it was? In my case they are never the same (if file name is “01 Song” my title is “Song”), otherwise this would be sadly completely program-breaking to me.
Thanks.
Sorry but I don’t understand what you are asking (or are you posting a very late answer?)
If you have a question regarding using Audacity, it would be better if you start a new topic and describe clearly what you are trying to do and what the problem is.
As with the original poster, you would need to say exactly what you are trying to do. Are you importing multiple files and then using Export Multiple? If so, then you have to leave Metadata Editor enabled for the export step, and when the metadata window comes up for each song to be exported, remove the number from the Track Title.
Gale
Thanks Gale for the answer, I was doing that, but it seemed to me like many extra steps when just want to change the bitrate (and sometimes the format) of a lot of files.
Steve, I was just asking if in these years there has been a change regarding this issue (an option to just keep the title as it was).
Regards.
It is a lot of steps if you only want to convert the format of a lot of files. It’s not the best tool if you only want to convert the format of a lot of files. Better to use a batch format converter.
The issue is that Audacity does not store metadata for other than the last file imported into the project. Until it does that, which needs a lot of thinking about given you could paste one song into another, your request cannot be satisfied.
So when you export multiple now from multiple imported files, all Audacity can do is set the Track Title of the song to be the song’s file name (which will usually be at least partially correct) and set the Track Number to according to where the song is from top to bottom in the project window.
All the other metadata you are offered is always the metadata for the last file you imported, regardless of which file’s metadata you are actually editing.
You are welcome to request per-track metadata and we could add your vote. We take votes into account as one factor when considering new features.
Gale
Thanks for the answers. Maybe I’m just using the wrong program to mostly change bitrate, but this is the best among the ones I’ve tried.
To make that request is enough with this or I have to write somewhere else?
Regards.
Assuming you are re-encoding MP3 files you can use Audacity’s Chains feature to re-encode the files at a different bit rate without changing the existing metadata of the files (it does not change metadata because it is importing the files one at a time and creating a new project for each file).
It is not intuitive and it will still be slower than doing it in a batch conversion application. Import some audio, open the export file dialogue, change the MP3 bit rate setting to what you require, then cancel the export. Then set up the Chain with an ExportMP3 command and choose “Apply to Files” when you apply the Chain.
Note that you will degrade the quality of the MP3 files by re-encoding them, even if you encode at a higher bit rate than the files currently have. The same is true for re-encoding any other lossy format.
I added your vote for per track metadata.
Gale