Can't get LAME (64-bit) to work on Audacity 2.3.1

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

I have a MacBook with OS 10.75 and just updated Audacity to 2.3.1. The processor is 2.4 GHz Intel Core Duo and memory is 3 GB. The HD is 320 GB.

I’ve done everything I can find to install, reinstall, and troubleshoot the 64-bit LAME that is said to be necessary to convert (export) files to .mp3 on Audacity 2.3.1, but whenever I try to export a file as .mp3, Audacity crashes.

It worked fine exporting to .mp3 before the update using Audacity 2.3.0 and the 32-bit LAME.

After several hours of frustration with this, I found a way around it. I went searching for another app that would convert my Audacity edited audio project to .mp3, and I found a free app in the online Apple Store called “To MP3 Converter Free”.

It does a great job! I can export my edited Audacity project in another format that doesn’t crash it (such as .aiff) and then drop that into the “To MP3 Converter Free” and it converts it right away. It also has many options for selecting preferred bitrate, density, etc…

I would still like to get Audacity working properly to convert to .mp3 though, just because it should. Does anyone have any suggestions?

2

Is your Mac one that won’t upgrade to Mountain Lion? and the kernel_task in activity monitor isn’t 64bit?

:confused:

If so I’ve just made a new thread duplicating this same thing. (Still waiting to be authorised)

3

Hi, i have Mojave 10.14.3 on my MacPro and having the same problem - cannot save as “mp3”.
Not a biggie problem for me as iTunes recognises “aiff” anyway and i have other conversion software.
But it would save another conversion step - :sunglasses:

4

Which version of Audacity?
Did you install the correct version of LAME?

5

I have ver 2.1.0.
I could only download the 64 bit version of Lame.

But i could not find the lame file anywhere ? Not after the installation ??

6

The 64-bit version of LAME is only for 64-bit versions of Audacity. Audacity 2.1.0 is 32-bit and so requires the 32-bit version of LAME.

Audacity 2.3.1 for macOS is 64-bit, and is available via the Audacity website: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/mac/

7

I’m getting so much help here its really great :slight_smile:
I have downloaded the 2.3.1 version now and everything is working perfectly.
I can now save my mp3 files directly from within Audacity saving me a lot of time using another app to convert.

I have so many mp3’s that are whole albums and this app (Audacity) is perfect for seperating them into seperate tracks!
Being able to zoom in and realy fine trim the tracks is such a pleasure - lol
I have some old radio programmes from the 50’s and 60’s (The Goon Show, Round The Horn etc) that i wanted to seperate the music
interludes from the sketches - this app is perfect for the job!

Thanks for all the help, i shall probably be back :sunglasses:

8

I have so many mp3’s that are whole albums and this app (Audacity) is perfect for seperating them into seperate tracks!

About that…

As you probably know. MP3 is lossy compression. When you open a compressed file in Audacity (or any normal audio editor/DAW) it gets decompressed. If you re-export to MP3 you are going-through another generation of lossy compression.

You may not hear any quality loss but “damage” does accumulate so it’s something you should be aware of. (MP4/AAC is supposed to be more immune to damage from multiple generations of encoding.)

There are special-purpose MP3 editors that can do (limited) editing without decompressing. I’ve used mp3DirectCut,but it’s Windows-only. I did a quick-search found some [u]possible Mac alternatives[/u]. A side-benefit to this kind of program is that it processes faster because it doesn’t have to decompress/re-compress and it’s working directly on a small-compressed file.