OK, Thats it! I only really go onto forums for help if im totally at the end of my tether. Normally i read, research and find a solution that way but now?..
Well now its frustrating me off!
Im creating a file which consists of, lets say, 15 tracks (on different tracks in audacity) I blend these tracks together to create a seamless join between each other. Basically a DJ album type thing. 60 minutes, lets say. I want to export this project as multiple files so i have the whole project as one album/folder but with each track labeled 1,2,3, etc so its easy to skip to next, back etc.
First question. Whats the best way to achieve this?
I have exported to MP3 file and there is always a drop out between each file. I have found out that MP3 files can be an issue with this scenario so ive exported with WMA. Same thing. It makes the whole project worthless.
After export i can burn to CD or put on a USB stick, the drop out is always there. If i play the folder using VLC for example, same thing.
I recently exported the project, WMA and the first track existed but 2-15 had no audio! But that’s not what im concerned about in this topic.
How can i create a audio file/folder consisting of 15 mixed together tracks without the drop out between files and without the end result being a large file, like over 1gb?
If i export as a single file i can not get the track numbering there, or can i?
I realize this may be a straightforward operation but im getting pretty frustrated with this. Maybe im over engineering myself.
Im on win10. Audacity 3.2.1 (same issue with previous versions) But, its not an Audacity issue, its a user issue. Me! (I believe)
Any advice, much appreciated.
By the way, Audacity is an excellent program,project. All due respect to those who contribute to its construction
I take it that at this point, you have one stereo track containing the entire mix. Correct me if I misunderstand.
Add a “point label” at the start of each song, then “Export Multiple” based on labels.
See: Splitting a recording into separate tracks - Audacity Manual
Yes, this has been a problem with MP3 forever. The MP3 format does not specify the overall encoder/decoder delay, so all MP3 files have an unspecified amount of padding at the start and end. (More info: MP3 - Wikipedia)
Relatively recent improvements in the LAME encoder provides a workaround, which is to add a bit metadata that records the amount of padding, so that MP3 decoders may automatically compensate for the padding. Unfortunately there are still not many MP3 decoders that support this new feature, so it’s safest to avoid the MP3 format when “gapless” playback is required.
MP3 isn’t the only compressed format that has this issue. I don’t know off the top of my head all of the formats that have this problem, but some formats that do NOT have this problem are:
OGG
FLAC
WAV
AIFF
OPUS
Hello Steve,
Thanks for the response
Your point One. Yes correct. Just like any other Album with separate tracks but mixed together.
Your second point. I have done this but exported with MP3 format so no change there. I last exported
Your last point about different formats, im sort of aware but the problem here is many devices do not play back these formats such as my car stereo. That only plays MP3 and WMA.
I wonder if i exported to FLAC, for example and then converted to entire file to MP3, just a thought
I will try again with WMA and the add point label feature.
Peter.
That won’t help. The issue of “padding” is a limitation of the MP3 format. It doesn’t matter what format you are making the MP3 from, as soon as the audio is encoded to MP3 the padding is there.
Audacity does add the “–nogap” metadata, so players and software that support that tag will be able to compensate for the tagging.
(Audacity 3.1.0 and earlier can compensate for the padding, but unfortunately the current version doesn’t. This is logged as a bug and will hopefully be fixed in Audacity 3.3 LAME "--nogap" metadata is ignored · Issue #3778 · audacity/audacity · GitHub)
Ensure that you retain a WAV (or AIFF, or FLAC) format version. Highly compressed formats such as WMA / MP3 / OGG / AC3 are called “lossy” compressed formats because they discard some of the details in the audio data, so there is always some loss of sound quality that can never be recovered. On the other hand, “lossless” formats (such as WAV, AIFF, FLAC) provide perfect (or nearly perfect) copies.
so, ive done an export with WMA and WAV using LABELS as split files and NAME FILES USING LABEL/TRACK NAME
Playing back using VLC player there is a drop between each track, whatever format its made in. I have put onto a USB stick which i will check tomorrow on another player (Car)
But the car player will not play the WAV file, i shall see the results from the new make of the WMA file. It will play that. And the annoying thing about the different format is that WAV is over Ten times the size of the WMA hence the reason for WAV being easily loopable, non lossless etc
If i try to play the whole file on Win Media Player (which i normally avoid) the track playing goes all over the place. e.g. T1>T10>T12 etc.
Basically a DJ album type thing. 60 minutes, lets say…
…After export i can burn to CD
A CD is probably the best solution. A CD can be up to 70 or 80 minutes. It can be “gapless” and you can have up-to 99 track markers wherever you want. I’ve made several “live” CDs this way as well as a few DJ-crossfaded CDs.
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Make one-big continuous WAV file.
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Create a [u]Cue Sheet[/u] with the file name and the track start times. A cue sheet is simply a text file with a particular format. I usually start with a known good cue sheet or I’ll copy one of the examples, and then edit with Windows Notepad.
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Use a burning application such as [u]ImgBurn[/u] that can burn a disc from a cue sheet.
I have made Three or Four CD burns of my 80 minute mix compilation. Some in MP3 others in WMA. This is the size which will fit onto a 80min CD, Not WAV. The whole file is much too big when exporting to WAV.
OK, i get the issue with MP3 exported files when it comes to a drop between each track when exporting multiple files but its still going on when i export multiple files using ''split files using labels" and “numbering before label/track name” with WMA. This is burnt to CD nothing else.
So the whole 80 min mix consisting of maybe 20 individual tracks has a drop out between each track. Is it the Player of the CD?
Saying that it happens when playing the compilation through VLC player, but that’s just VLC.
How should i export this file, using WMA, to achieve a seamless transition between tracks?
I’m baffled now!
No. you are missing something here:
An 80-minute audio CD will hold 80 minutes of audio regardless of whether it was from .MP3, .WMA, or .WAV format. In fact, regardless of the original source, it all gets rendered to .WAV prior to burning.
That is if you burn it in audio format. If you burn it in data format and use .mp3 files, then you can fit closer to 10 hours of audio.
I have made Three or Four CD burns of my 80 minute mix compilation. Some in MP3 others in WMA. This is the size which will fit onto a 80min CD, Not WAV. The whole file is much too big when exporting to WAV.
The size of the WAV, MP3, or WAV doesn’t matter… It’s the playing time.
You can make ONE WAV file with no gaps 80 minutes or less in length and use a cue sheet to place up-to 99 track markers anywhere you wish. If the WAV doesn’t have gaps the CD won’t have gaps. Like I said, I’ve made crossfaded CDs (obviously no gaps) with the track-changes at the beginning or in the middle of the crossfades.
…You should be able to do the same thing with one-long gapless MP3 or WMA file but it’s better avoid lossless-lossless conversion and if you make a 16-bit, 44.1kHz, stereo WAV file, that’s the same underlying format as audio CD so the CD burning application doesn’t have to decompress or alter the audio data.