Inserting Silence into an Audio File

I am trying to edit a foreign language audio file to allow for greater time to repeat after the teacher. I do not understand how to do this.

I have Audacity 2.3.3 on Windows 7.

I have created a 5 sec silence file. I thought I would try to insert that file after the teacher speaks.

I am listening to the audio and then stopping it after the teacher speaks to try to insert the added silence (5 sec). I can’t figure out how to do that. I don’t see any insert option or how to import at the point where I want it.

So how do I do this? - either the way I am trying to do it or some other more efficient way?

thank you very much

Open your 5-second audio file and double-click within the waveform to Select>All. (Or use the Select button in the lower left of the waveform window.) On the keyboard, press Ctrl-C to copy it into the clipboard. Open your main file and place the cursor where you want to insert the 5 seconds of silence, and press Ctrl-V. Repeat at each location. You could also use the Edit>Copy and Edit>Paste selections in the top menu.

see … Automatically insert silence between takes - #8 by zoumerela

thank you for your responses

I am having problems establishing the precise spot to insert the silence. For example I know I want to insert 5 sec silence at point 56 sec 510 - I am having problems getting the cursor to that point to insert the silence. I see Audio Position at the bottom of the screen and have put in 56.510 but I don’t see how then to get the cursor to that point to insert the silence. So how is the best way to get the cursor positioned to the precise spot where I want to insert the silence?

Thank you.

If you select the general area where you want to do the insert and then click the ‘Fit Selection’ button, it will zoom in on the selected part of the waveform. You can then use the ‘Zoom In’ button (magnifying glass with + sign) to get more granularity if needed. Put the cursor about where you want it, then use the Left-Arrow and Right-Arrow keys on your keyboard to move the insert point a little bit at a time until it’s where you want it. The more zoomed in you go, the smaller the size of the movement that the arrow keys make. That’s the manual way I’d do it, but Trebor may come along with some cool automagical method! :laughing:

insert_closeup_750.jpg



You can type-in where on the time line you want the cursor to be …

can type-in cursor position.gif

There ya go!

I only tried the Audio Position counter, since that seems more intuitive, but whatever works!