Hi, I am new here and running 2.1.0 on a Mac laptop using mountain lion. I am working on the soundtrack of a documentary video where I have done about 6 interviews and have used audacity to edit them down to useful content. Now here is my next step/problem. Each of the interviewees answered the same questions and I need to combine each of those peoples answers together in sequence. So, it looks like I need to save each answer in a new file and then import them one at a time, into a new track which will be the actual soundtrack. Each interviewee tells their version of the story so each section needs to dovetail with the other folks’ answers to those same questions - that is why I can’t combine the tracks end to end. These are` all audio files and do not synchronize to any video content. Now I am looking for alternatives to this laborious process. Any ideas?
Thanks!
I’m not quite sure what your question is.
With large projects, I prefer to work in sections of no more than about 30 minutes. I would then load all the “source files” for one “section” (where the final length will be perhaps 20 minutes), then edit the clips on multiple tracks. When that section is complete, I’d save the project and make a rough mix down of that section. When all of the sections are done in this fashion, I might find that some changes need to be made to one or more sections, in which case I would return to the project for that section.
Finally, I would make good mixdowns from each project (export as WAV files), then create a new project and assemble the mixed down files into the finished product.
In some cases it is better to work with smaller sections and assemble the WAV files in the video editor. There are no hard and fast rules about this - the best working method depends on the job.
Thanks Steve. Sorry for being unclear; it isn’t the size of the overall soundtrack or the size or each individual interview that I have a hard time ‘swallowing’. Maybe I can describe it this way: lets say that I asked each interviewee where they were when certain historical events occurred; JFK assassination, John Glen’s trip in the Mercury capsule and maybe twenty other memorable events. Then I want to compile all the answers to the same question into one track (and later all the answers to all the questions ‘in a row’ so to speak). So you’d have 6 JFK stories laid end to end, then 6 john Glen stories and so on. So the only way that I can think to do this is to highlight and copy each answer and write it to a new track. I have at least 6 interviews that are an hour long and a few shorter ones and not everyone answered in the same sequence. So I am looking for the most sane way to collect the useful bits into what will be a 34-40 minute documentary.
Hope this helps?
Welcome to the wonderful world of sound editing 
Typically, a 10 minute sound clip takes 100 minutes to edit, if you’re good at it.
Assuming you have all 6 interviews in one project, you can proceed as follows.
- Tracks > New Audio Track (or Tracks > New Stereo Track if your interviews are in stereo).
- Select the audio for “story 1” from the first interviewee
- Edit > Copy
- Click in the new track where you want the story to be
- Edit > Paste
Go back to step 2, choosing story 1 for the second interviewee, then story 1 for the third interviewee, etc.
No need to export and re-import.
– Bill