Only some parts of the recording was saved

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

Hello,

I recently recorded on audacity and the recording sounds something like this:

  1. you hear the things that were said. 2. suddenly the sound stops, there are a couple of minutes of silence 3. the sound resumes.
    Under the parts that are silent there are a bunch of little numbers (see pics).
    What is the error? is there a way to fix it?

Thanks in advance to the helpers.
Screen Shot 2019-12-02 at 13.41.30.png

2

I believe that’s Audacity > Preferences > Recording > [x]Detect Dropouts.

For whatever reason, your Mac stopped following the show. There is no recorded audio right there because of a blizzard of errors.

Are you using iCloud for recording? A ratty or crowded internet connection can cause problems like that.

Do you use Skype, iChat or other communications software? Games? Those can cause conflicts with Audacity. Audacity doesn’t do well with multiple apps trying to address the same audio services.

Koz

3

is there anything i can do about it or was some stuff just not recorded?

4

I don’t use any of those things but i had some other programs open while recording. I also don’t know that i’m recording on icloud, i just record and usually save it to my desktop. regarding your note about “detect…” should i uncheck that box?

5

is there anything i can do about it or was some stuff just not recorded?

If by “it” you mean rescuing the recording, I think that’s no. Parts of the show just weren’t recorded.

If you mean preventing it from happening in the future, jury’s out. Last time I tried making a recording, I got them too, and I have no idea how to prevent it.

If you de-select that box, Audacity will drop sound and just not tell you.

I do have one note about this. If you have a bunch of trouble recording with Audacity, stop using the computer to record. These are two stand-alone sound recorders I use for recording my voice. Zoom H4 and Zoom H1n

The H1n will pass audiobook technical standards when used in my quiet bedroom.

Koz

6

What is the show? What are you recording?

Koz