How to adjust recording channels

Okay, I’m a beginner and don’t know all the terminology, so I’ll say that right up front. What I’m trying to do is enhance the right channel, actually boost it as the Ion unit I’m using isn’t working properly and I’m getting some MP3s with a left channel that is about three times as loud as the right channel. Anyway when I load it into Audacity, I get a screen that shows the graph of the music as it’s playing of course, and in the lower left side of the screen there are a couple of adjustment tabs-- one labeled + or - and the one below that is labeled L and R. So I’ve adjusted those and gotten good sound coming out of both sides, but after exporting it and trying to play it, it no longer has those attributes. In other words, the MP3 is still the same as if I had never adjusted the +/- and the L/R sliders. So how can I keep the adjustments I’ve made and make them permanent? Trying to click Save gives me a message that the file will be saved as an .au file which isn’t going to be read by most other programs, although I’ve also tried saving one of these just to see if that keeps my .mp3 working the way I want it to, which it of course doesn’t. So if you can help me I’d appreciate it very much.

Use the Black Down Arrow on the left of the track to Split Stereo Track. Select the low volume track. Apply Effect > Amplify. From the top track, black down arrow > Make Stereo Track.

Export as usual.

Koz

Thanks again. I had figured that one out too, except for the doing the black arrow back to stereo. I appreciate your help.

jim,

You should take a look at the stylus on your ION. Panning problems like that are usually the result of a misaligned stylus.