Hi,
What’s the trick to recording more than 1 part to the same track?
Each time I try to add a part to an existing track a new one pops up.
thx
If you’re intent on overdubbing/sound-on-sound, that’s how it works. Audacity will not mix down to one track in real time. What you do is play the original tracks into your headphones while you record new tracks one atop the other on separate timelines. That lets you filter and apply effects to one portion of the song without affecting the others. Then, when you’re happy with the whole thing, you can mix down to one stereo track, but save the original multi-track as a Project in case you change your mind later. Projects do not save UNDO.
If all you want to do is continue a song from the end, then Append Record (Shift-R) will do that.
Koz
I guess I asked the wrong question.
I’m not looking to over dub on an additional / new track. Looking to copy & paste on the existing track that’s already there…or delete a portion of that track and add a new section to my “existing track.”
Can this be done?
thx,
Lou
See here: Audacity Manual
I’m not sure if you are asking about what’s known as “punch-in” recording? If so Audacity can do that manually with various degrees of complication depending how smoothly or exactly you want to replace the existing recording with the new.
For punching into the middle of a track (which still needs creating a new track) please see this link https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-punch-in/22676/2 .
You can record at the end of a selected track or tracks by holding SHIFT when you press Record.
Gale
Say I do want to do a part over…punch-in… or add an additional part to an existing track. How do I do that by “not” creating a new track?
Lou
You don’t. You create a new track.
Select the region that you want to re-record and silence or delete it. Then extend the selection to allow you a bit of “pre-roll” and “post roll”. Then record. The resulting recording should be pretty close “in synch” with the previous track if you set up latency correction properly. If not, you can adjust the position using the time shift tool. The new and old recordings can then be edited and/or cross-faded as required to give a seamless transition from one to the other.
My Spidey Sense tells me you’re concerned with creating a simple finished song when your edit has multiple tracks. Audacity will mix your show down to one stereo track when you export. If you Save a Project to work on it later, remember that Audacity does not save UNDO.
Koz
Koz,
Yes…a lot of vocal clips.
Enuf where the laptop is working too hard…and we still need to add a few more.
So, if I mute all the vocal tracks that are not being used, it will ease up on the laptop?
I wonder if it will be able to handle the mixdown when we’re done with the vocals.
I will let everyone know the result and the power of audacity!
thx,
Lou
Muting channels does very little to reduce the load.
The “mixing engine” in Audacity is extremely efficient. The thing that takes a lot of processing power is drawing (and redrawing) the waveform.
The way to reduce the computer load is to reduce the number of tracks, which can be done by “mixing down” some (or all) of the tracks to a lesser number of tracks. The disadvantage in doing this is that once mixed down, tracks cannot be “un-mixed” (other than using “Undo” while the project remains open).
I think that we are all struggling to answer your question because we are not sure what your question is. Perhaps if you could try to describe the job in detail we may be able to provide more pertinent answers.