So thankful for the all the help a few weeks back. Have been diving in and using Audacity! Here’s my (perhaps foolish) question now–well two of them: Reminder, I am doing voice recordings of me reading, only music is at the beginning and the end.
First Question: I recorded a long chapter that I want to break into parts one and two. Ultimately, the chapter parts will be exported as an MP3 and distributed. Wondering about the best way to do this? Should I just highlight the section and export that (hopefully able to rename and save it as its own file) as Chapter One Part One, then do the same with Part Two? Or is it better to copy each section one at a time and paste it into a new file? Can that be done and is it as simple as cut and paste?
The answer to the above may be affected by my next question.
Second Question: If I want to add 30 second musical intro and musical ending to each, that probably means I do need a new file for each?
Third Question: I have dragged and dropped the two minute CD track (in flac) format that I have been given permission to use as intro and ending music. Right now, it is in a track by itself and I started the voice recording in a new track, putting my cursor in at the end of those 2 minutes–so I didn’t inadvertently double them up.
What is the best way to work with creating the intro and end. Since they will be used over and over, it occurs to me that maybe I should just edit the FLAC file and create the intro (learning how to use fade in and out). Then maybe I could just cut and paste those beginnings and endings into future recordings??
Can you link me to info about fading in and fading out? And any other info you think would be relevant?
THANKS SO MUCH!!! I wouldn’t be where I am with Audacity were it not for your help, Koz, Steve and Gale.
Could be done with copy & paste , although Audacity has an automated way of splitting a file into parts called “export multiple” … http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Export_Multiple , ( perhaps unnecessarily complicated if you only want to split into two instalments ).
I have dragged and dropped the two minute CD track (in flac) format that I have been given permission to use as intro and ending music. Right now, it is in a track by itself and I started the voice recording in a new track, putting my cursor in at the end of those 2 minutes–so I didn’t inadvertently double them up.
What is the best way to work with creating the intro and end. Since they will be used over and over, it occurs to me that maybe I should just edit the FLAC file and create the intro (learning how to use fade in and out). Then maybe I could just cut and paste those beginnings and endings into future recordings??
Above is part of my initial question. You offered what seem like two different options: envelope tool and fade–neither of which I grasp yet. Which is better for my purposes? I am confused. There really is not an explanation of how to use the Fade in and Fade out option far as I can tell in what you sent me. It also says
A fade in is often applied over a very short audio selection (less than a second). You may get a more “musical” result by applying a linear fade in three times to the same audio selection. This approximates an exponentially shaped fade in.
I want a 30 second fade in.
The envelope tool seems a bit overwhelming, frankly at the moment. I will learn it if I must, but is there an easier way. All I want is to start my reading with 30 seconds that will start at a certain volume and go down (ie. fade out or is that fade in???) I also want that same effect at the end. Help.
Select the 30 second region the apply “fade in” (which is on “Effects” drop-down menu).
If you apply fade-in repeatedly to the same selection, the level rises approximately exponentially during the fade-in rather than linearly, which may be preferable.
If “fade-in” doesn’t do what you thought it would try “fade-out” instead.
If you make a mistake just press “Ctrl”+“Z” keys which will undo whatever effect you just applied in Audacity, (same as a word-processor).
Okay, I have applied fade out to the section of a longer track music I want as the lead in to my voice recording. This will become the lead in (and I will create the ending music, maybe the same) to be used again and again as intro to my readings.
Does it make sense to copy the 45 second region and create a new file with it on its own to then use in future?
Can I just select then copy just a region and paste it into a new file?
PS. Does repeated fade out lower the overall volume? (I suppose I could just do it and see what happens then reverse the effect if I don’t like it.)
If you will be reusing part of a project in other projects, then it is very convenient to export it as a new file. To do so, select the part that you want to use, then from the File menu select “Export Selection…”
In order to preserve the sound quality. export it as a WAV file (not MP3 or other compressed format).
Steve, for reusing a 30 second musical segment at the opening and closing of each of many future recordings to be made in Audacity, would it not make sense to create and save this as an Audacity file, then copy, and paste into the new recording rather than export as a wav file?
Or maybe I am missing something? Or are these just two ways of doing the same thing?
I imported original 2 minute track from which I am selecting the 30 second portion, into Audacity in flac format. I think i have same track in WAV format, but believe I read that using Flac was a better option?
So I have it in flac, edited with the fade-out applied. That’s the file I thought of just saving in its new 30 second format and then copying and pasting at the beginning of the reading of my chapters. Is there a reason exporting as a wav and then importing is a better option?
WAV files are a lot more robust than Audacity projects. With projects you need to take great care that the _data folder remains with the .aup file and neither of them should be renamed. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, read this article: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audacity_projects.html
Also, with a WAV file, you can just drag and drop the file into an open Audacity project window and Audacity will import it as a new track. You can them move it, copy it, edit it or whatever within the project. (The actual WAV file is unaffected by what you do with the imported copy).
If you have multiple audio snippets saved as WAV files, you can use “File > Import > Audio” and select multiple files for use in the project (or drag and drop the files onto the project window. This is both easier and a lot less accident prone than messing around with multiple projects open at the same time.
Exporting as FLAC or WAV or AIFF are fine. They are all “lossless” formats.
Avoid using MP3, Ogg, WMA, AAC or other “lossy” formats whenever possible - these formats can be useful for creating smaller files for the Internet or for portable music players, but while working on the project (and for a backup copy of the finished work) it is best to keep the quality as good as possible.
