How do I mark precise points in my waveform? I was editing a live recording of some fiddlers, and there was a place in the music where one of the fiddlers flubbed. I decided to remove the flub, but I had trouble pasting the ending of the song in the right place, to make it sound natural. I could identify the exact spot when I zoomed in on the waveform, but when I went to get the end of the song to move it into place, of course the exact spot had disappeared when I got back there. How would I have marked that spot? I actually have this problem all the time. There must be a way to set markers! Thanks.
Command+B
Audacity does not have Edit Markers, but it does have labels. Tracks > Add Label at Selection, or the shortcut key.
Rather than beat up the main track, you might try adding a blank track, Tracks > Add New, and pasting the replacement music on that. Then use the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows) to push the clip into position, and the envelope tool (two white arrows and bent blue line) to rapidly fade between the two tracks during the flub.
Koz
As PGA suggests Command+B - that will place a label/marker at the current cursor position or selection
or you can use Command+M to place a label/marker at the current playback or recording position.
And note that you can subsequently adjust the label positions by moving them if required, or by using the Labels Editor.
See: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tracks_menu.html#add_label
WC
Ah, so I make my mark point with labels. Thanks. I appreciate the information on envelopes, too. I actually have no idea what an envelope is or what it is for (other than sending letters). Is there a good place to learn about this? I am teaching myself Audacity and I cannot figure out what quite a few of the features mean, as the terminology is not self-explanatory, and the Help section is a little too lean. If there were a class in digital music editing at the local community college, I would take it, but alas, there is not.
In the case of this particular tool, you know that when the sound gets louder, the size of the blue waves goes up. The Envelope Tool is a overlay that you can grab with your mouse and force the blue waves to go up and down wherever and however many times you want.
This is a cross-fade, where the top track fades out and the bottom track fades in. They started out as just two simple tracks stuck on two different timelines.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/CrossFade.jpg
Koz
I get the idea. Thanks. I have been using the Fade In and Fade Out effects for cross fades, but Envelope seems more precise.
You might want try a neat new crossfade plugin that Steve developed recently - see this thread: Cross Fade Classic
I have been testing it for him and I find it works a treat.
And in terms of fade-outs Steve’s new ProFade give a much better sounding fade out than Audacity’s standar liner fade - see: Professional sounding fade out.
I use this one all the time now.
WC