windows 10 2.1.?
I need to delete a series of notes in my song. How do I precisely delineate the section to be deleted, moving forward one note at a time so that I can cut at the right place? Also, where is the delete command located? Thanks.
where is the delete command
The easiest is the DEL key on your keyboard. Also, Edit > Delete with your mouse, or I think in Windows it’s shortcut Control-K.
However, I can feel the storm clouds gathering.
What’s the goal? I mean the real goal. Every time you delete a note, it’s going to make the song shorter and throw the musical rhythm off. So you’re not making a song. We should be clear what you’re really doing before we go down a long and winding road.
You also need to know that Audacity can’t split a song apart into voices, instruments and sounds. That’s another popular request. So there is no editing only the bass guitar , for example, and leaving everything else alone.
Koz
Hi Koz. Thanks for your reply. Actually, what I want to remove is a group of three orchestra hits at the end of the song, which are followed by four single notes and then a chord that ends the song. It won’t throw the rhythm off because of the way the ending is constructed, and I don’t care if it shortens the song by that little bit. That will make no difference at all. I just need to know howto position the cursor to tell the editor where I want to begin and stop cutting out the section that holds the orchestra hits so I can weld the remaining “before” portion of the song and “after” section that holds the four single notes and final chord so that they flow correctly.
I see.
We may get to wait for another helper elf. Heavy, detailed editing isn’t my thing and it’s harder than you think because of the way Audacity manages edit points.
You will need zoom in and out of the blue waves to see what you’re doing.
– Control-ScrollWheel or Control-ScrubVertical will zoom in and out from the pointer position.
Audacity doesn’t have Edit Markers like other editors, but it does have Labels.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/label_tracks.html
You can place labels and they’re sticky/magnetic, so you can use them to accurately drag-select some work. The problem is they stick to time and not the show, so the first cut you execute, they fall apart.
You should also know that Audacity logs UNDO in sequence. So there is no going back and changing an action from ten minutes ago. You have to back out of each and every edit between now and the one you want.
I guess there is a way to cheat. Duplicate the track (Control-D) and that will give you two copies of the show. Use the Envelope Tool (two white arrows and bent blue line) to quiet everything to the left of the edit on the bottom track and to the right of the edit on the top track. Then you can little at a time move the envelope positions and use the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows) to push the bottom track so it makes sense musically. Audacity will mix the two tracks together when you Export.
Koz
That’s cool that Audacity will mix the tracks during export.
I worked out a way to get the cut done, but it required a heavy dose of dumb luck. I placed the vertical line at the left side of the area to cut out. That took many micro-adjustments and starting-over’s, but I finally was able to land on the perfect spot. Then I pulled the gray box to the right to the very edge of the part I wanted to cut out. This, too, took a lot of luck, but again, the perfect spot was finally located. Then, as you suggested, I hit the delete key, and the section was removed.
But now there’s a click at the location of the cut and it insists on clicking regardless of what I do. Any suggestions?
Thanks again.
This is a greatly simplified illustration of a click or pop.
The bad edit is on top. In general, you slide the edit very slightly sooner or later until the majority of the blue waves line up. Yes, is it a pain in the neck because you have to line up four different waves; Left and Right going in and Left and Right coming out… Audacity has a way to help with that, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to have to do the edits over.
Searching.
I bet you’re wondering to yourself, “How come video people don’t have this problem?” Video people cut on the video frames and fade the sound. There is no video sound cut. You can do that in Audacity, too. Instead of cutting between two stereo tracks, you fade between them. And yes, that’s stunningly more complicated than what you did.
I gotta dig for the edit tool that helps with the pops.
Koz
Here it is.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_editing.html#clicks
Scroll down. You don’t have that DC Offset thing because you’re coming from and going to the same track.
Koz
Thanks, friend. I appreciate your help.
Hello Koz. Thanks for your guidance. Now I’m onto my second song, with a new problem. I can’t find instructions about how to transpose. Can you please tell me how to find it, or maybe send me a link to it? Folks like me, who don’t speak fluent computerese, would find it most helpful to have a SEARCH window available.