While recording a song on audacity, an error kept popping up saying there was an audio issue. I kept saving the project (worried something would happen) but that didn’t stop it from everything being silenced. Where my audio takes where is now just blank spaces. I’ve tried looking on multiple forums and youtube videos on ways to get it back but I’m yet to see a solution. I’m currently running audacity 2.1.3 on Windows 10.
The log from the audacity file shows -
20:32:18: Audacity 2.1.3
20:32:18: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries…
20:32:18: mLibAVFormatPath (‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’) is not empty. Loading from it.
20:32:18: Looking up PATH environment variable…
20:32:18: PATH = ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer Chroma SDK\bin;C:\Program Files\Razer Chroma SDK\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\ChromaBroadcast\bin;C:\Program Files\Razer\ChromaBroadcast\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\theen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\dotnet;C:\Users\theen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;’
20:32:18: Checking that ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity’ is in PATH…
20:32:18: Warning: FFmpeg directory ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity’ is not in PATH.
20:32:18: Temporarily prepending ‘;C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity’ to PATH…
20:32:18: Checking for monolithic avformat from ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’ (error 193: unknown error c1)
20:32:18: Loading avutil from ‘’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
20:32:18: Loading avcodec from ‘’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
20:32:18: Loading avformat from ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’ (error 193: unknown error c1)
20:32:18: Returning PATH to previous setting…
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
20:32:18: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is ‘avformat-55.dll’.
20:32:18: Looking up PATH environment variable…
20:32:18: PATH = ‘C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer Chroma SDK\bin;C:\Program Files\Razer Chroma SDK\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\ChromaBroadcast\bin;C:\Program Files\Razer\ChromaBroadcast\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\theen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\dotnet;C:\Users\theen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps’
20:32:18: Checking that ‘’ is in PATH…
20:32:18: FFmpeg directory is in PATH.
20:32:18: Checking for monolithic avformat from ‘avformat-55.dll’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 193: unknown error c1)
20:32:18: Loading avutil from ‘’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
20:32:18: Loading avcodec from ‘’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
20:32:18: Loading avformat from ‘avformat-55.dll’.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 193: unknown error c1)
20:32:18: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
20:32:18: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.
I’ll be more than happy to send the file over to anyone to see if they can get the sound back. I spent hours on this song and didn’t have lyrics written down because I would punch-in whenever something came to my head. Please help
For future reference: rather than just keep saving the same project all the time (though that is good to do to) - I would recommend saving a backup copy of the project at known defined stages as the project progresses.
Use File > Save Project > Backup Project with a different (or extended name) to define the stage the project is at so you can revert to it if necessary.
Well obviously yes, I’ve backed up a file before. It doesn’t change the fact this one is gone though. Is there anything I could do to fix it and get it back?
I use an older version of audacity because I’m more comfortable with it. If I updated would there be a chance the audio comes back? if it doesn’t, would you be able to take a look on the newer version?
I updated to the newest version of audacity. The issue still remains the same.
Log shows -
15:58:28: Audacity 3.4.2
15:58:28: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:28: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-59.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:28: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-58.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:28: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-57.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:28: FFmpeg libraries loaded successfully from: C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll
15:58:30: sqlite3 message: (1) no such table: project in “SELECT 1 FROM project LIMIT 1;”
15:58:30: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:30: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-59.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:30: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-58.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:30: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-57.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:58:30: FFmpeg libraries loaded successfully from: C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll
15:58:30: File name is C:\Users\theen\OneDrive\Desktop\Do You Promise\y2mate.is - FREE Kanye West x Graduation Type Beat LOST -gz-HsNCptKI-192k-1700701014.aup
15:58:30: Mime type is *
15:58:30: Opening with legacyaup
15:58:30: Open(C:\Users\theen\OneDrive\Desktop\Do You Promise\y2mate.is - FREE Kanye West x Graduation Type Beat LOST -gz-HsNCptKI-192k-1700701014.aup) succeeded
15:58:34: Operation ‘Importing AUP project files (*.aup)’ took 3.493000 seconds. Poll was called 420 times and took 0.479061 seconds. Yield was called 49 times and took 0.434212 seconds.
For various reasons, many people choose to stay with prior versions. I have no argument with that.
Prior to 3.0.0, Audacity projects were distributed over hundreds of tiny “.au” files. For various reasons, these files could become scrambled, and projects became damaged, lost, and/or unrecoverable.
3.x introduced the unitary file database structure. Now everything in a project is contained within a single .aup3 file. These .aup3 projects can still get damaged, but there are some database tools that can provide assistance in this area. The tools have a good, but not perfect recovery record.
Assuming you were able to load your damaged project into a 3.x project .aup3 unitary, the database recovery tools would not see any “database” errors, and would not be useful in recovering any preexisting damage.
BTW, I’ve learned from experience; so I don’t “do” projects prior to 3.x. Sorry.
You can Store them in the cloud or back them up to the cloud.
But it’s pretty unwise to have a live project open in the cloud - remote far away storage like that can’t keep up with the real-time demands of audio recording and editing,
So if you do have a project archived or backed up in the cloud you really need to copy it back to on-board storage for working on it in Audacity.
Again, if anyone can figure out how to get the song back (I will send you file if you’re willing to try) I will send you $75 paypal, cashapp, venmo, however you want. I just need this file.
This project is pre-3.0.0. I am sorry, but there is nothing that I can do for these .AUP projects.
