i know there have been posts like this in the past, but i haven’t been able to find a solid answer or “fix” from any of them. this is extremely important to me and i really need some help on this.
i’ve been working on a song recording/mix for days and it was turning out really well. then, my cursor stopped working and couldn’t be fixed with any of the online solutions so i had no choice but to turn my computer off. however, i made the choice to quickly save (Ctrl+S) my project before shutting it off. yet when i turned the computer back on and rebooted audacity, it was clear the file became corrupted as it wouldn’t open through any method.
when selecting it from “Recent Projects”, it gave me this message: “(etc, etc…) is an Audacity Project file. Use the File > Open command to open Audacity Projects.” obviously i did that and it still wouldn’t work. it then suggested i try “import raw data” which turned the file into this blank audio track with nothing on it. this has happened to me before. i have anger issues so let’s just say it, uh… caused a great deal of distress to me. and my computer at the time.
i don’t know hardly anything about computers. i’m a college freshman and i’m tech stupid. if there’s a solution to this, please give me simple instructions. i don’t know what to do. and if there’s no fix for this at all, pray for my computer’s wellbeing.
i attached the file if that helps. i was using an older version of audacity when i was working on the file (because my plugins wouldn’t work with the newer ones and i like the old interface), but i switched to the new audacity in hopes it would somehow work to recover the file. it did not.
i made the choice to quickly save (Ctrl+S) my project before shutting it off.
On a guess, I’d say your started the save process and then turned the machine off before it got done.
my cursor stopped working and couldn’t be fixed with any of the online solutions
The cursor in Audacity stopped working? Or the computer cursor froze and you investigated with a different computer?
working on a song recording/mix for days
Multiple songs, “Mix Tape?” Did you turn the computer off at the end of each day, or put it to sleep and wake it up in the morning? Or just turn the monitor off and then back on?
Audacity does Edit > UNDO by saving The Whole Show repeatedly as you work. When you UNDO some action, you don’t actually UNDO the action. You abandoned the current show and open an older show—the one before your last action. At that instant, you have two complete shows up in the air.
You may have noticed you can’t UNDO out of order. It’s always the exact order of events.
That can get really big by either having an actual big show, or have a million edits on a smaller show. Eventually, the machine can run out of room, either in hardware memory or on the hard drive. That’s probably why the cursor froze.
That brings us around to how you searched for solutions.
Koz
On a guess, I’d say your started the save process and then turned the machine off before it got done.
that’s probably what happened, yeah.
it’s one song cover; i’m recording vocals and mixing/mastering them. i’m remaking it from scratch at this point because i’ve pretty much given up hope since no one else with this problem had a solution.
When you’re recording these vocals, Export WAV sound files of each take or pass. You shouldn’t be trucking off to the studio to sing again. Just open the backup WAV files.
And use a copy. Don’t directly edit the backup files.
This can have odd advantages. If you’ve been cutting multiple takes together into one complete song and damage something by accident, you will never get a new vocal recording to match old work.
Also, that’s worth thinking about while you’re recording. There is no “go back later” and catch up.
Koz