Recorded all day FOR DAYS, error opening file... losing my mind!

Audacity Help Forum
1

Error message is, “Audacity failed to read from a file in C”.

Another error message is due to “files being corrupt”.

I tried restarting and clearing out almost all of my space. The files are there, but when I try to re-open, I receive these notifications. I am at my wit’s end and heartbroken over all the work I put in. I was literally done recording a whole audiobook!

Any immediate help would be beyond appreciated, as the project deadline is 48 HOURS FROM NOW, and it would take me another week to re-record.

2

See: Corrupt or Otherwise Broken Audacity Project Recovery

3

Are you reading for someone else?

Which Audacity is this?

Is this your first book?

Each chapter is a separate file, right? Are they WAV (Microsoft) files? Audacity Project files (aup3).

Do you have any external drives connected to your machine? Are you using the special audio.com cloud storage service?

Describe the conditions of failure. You finished the last chapter and only then went back to try and open the first one?

If you dig yourself out of trouble with the Project Recovery instructions, post back how you did it.

Koz

4

Thanks, @jademan! My husband already tried this and was able to do a partial recovery at least. I will have to re-record the rest. At least now, I have adapted my work processes to hopefully reduce the risk of encountering this again. I appreciate your time, attention, and help.

5

Did you do an update in the middle of the book?

I wrote a top-level How-To.


Read your chapter in a quiet, echo-free room.

Stop.

File > Export the work, errors and all, as a WAV (Microsoft) protection file.

Edit the work to get rid of word-o’s, stumbles, stutters, tongue ticks, lip smacks, and other errors. Correct volume wandering so the chapter sounds even.

Tools > Apply Macro > 36Audiobook-Mastering-Macro.

ACX-Check. If it passes and you like the way it sounds, Export WAV (Microsoft) Edit Master and go on to the next chapter.

You can create the audiobook MP3 for submission files later once you have the perfect, clean WAV files. Audacity Project (aup3) files are brittle and can cause problems.

Good Luck,

Koz