Okay, I’ll give it a spin. It’s a definite improvement on what I’ve been doing. I have not actually tried importing labels yet as I ended up using a Nyquist prompt instead (which Robert J. H. kindly walked me through - https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/turn-multiple-clips-to-multiple-tracks/37288/1). I think I should be able to use that same method for this, which sounds like it might be faster than doing the actual import.
So, you’re right, this can be accomplished already. I’m guessing I can probably do 3-4 edits manually faster than I could do this, possibly even up to 8. But getting above 8, I think this would be a time saver. I’ll have to see how quick the process is.
A more general question – is it POSSIBLE to achieve this with Nyquist script? If so, how difficult would it be to write? Keep in mind, I know next to nothing about writing script. But I’m willing to learn as long as the learning curve isn’t impossibly high. The code that I’ve seen so far seems fairly easy to grasp, but I’m sure it gets a lot more complicated for more involved operations (like what I describe above and below for being able to modulate the dB levels, panning etc.). So I would just need to learn the step-by-step logic. I’ve never learned any computer languages, but this seems like a good time to try, because I think the effort could prove to be worth it.
I swear I’m not trying to bore you with details, but let me just lay out a typical process for me, and if you could comment on how much of this could be automated by using Nyquist, that would be awesome. Keep in mind, I’m not necessarily looking to try to put this entire process all in one single Nyquist prompt/plugin. Some if the steps simply HAVE to be done by me, because they involve “artistic” decisions that you just can’t teach a computer to make (like, which vertical track order). But to the extent that they CAN be programmed, I would love to learn how. That would make my workflows sooooo much faster, which means more music created per session. And I like that.
I indicated with a question mark those steps that I think it might be possible to automate through code writing code, either all integrated into one step, or handful of different steps/codes.
?***if needed, use ReNamer software to give sound files names that are easier to work with
***load sounds
?***delete any silence from front, if necessary
?***normalize each sound (default to Normalize stereo channels independently), setting each track to desired dB level
?***adjust length(s) of clips
***perform any needed fades
***Auto-Zero (if needed)
***duplicate sounds, if needed, and arrange them vertically in the needed order (?possibly by changing track names and sort function?), and perform any further dB adjustments, add panning effects
***calculate timings with Excel
***generate silence on each track OR import labels / do Nyquist prompt labels / Time Shift Tool – snap each track to label borders
***Mix and Render
I know this probably sounds like a hugely cumbersome workflow, but I’ve actually gotten pretty fast at it, especially since I now use keyboard commands for 90% of it. There are just certain sticking points where I can’t seem to get any faster, where automating it through code seems to be about the only viable way to appreciably speed things up. And I can set pretty much all of these values in Excel very quickly (in a lot of cases I have them autocalculate, or use drag down features). Ideally, I would LOVE to be able to set the following values in Excel for each track, with each channel being set/changed independently: start time, end time, panning, adjustable fade, dB level (either as a dBFS value, or being a +/- value relative to the starting dB level of the given track).
So, how realistic is any of this? Am I dreaming? Or could I use Nyquist to do a lot of these things automatically? I’m totally open to adjusting my workflow (specifically the order of operations) to accommodate new strategies facilitated by automation.
Thanks.