Saved different tracks as separate projects but need to combine as one project for podcast

I recorded a number of interview in Zoom, saved them on my laptop and edited each individually in Audacity before saving each interview separately using the ‘save as project’ function. All of these edited interviews form part of the same podcast episode and I was planning to combine the on multiple tracks in Audacity and then merge them together via the ‘export’ function into an mp3 format. I now realise that they all only open in separate windows but not as multiple tracks in the same window. Is there any way in which I can remedy this and combine them again ‘under the same roof’ as it were and then transform them collectively into an mp3?

Many thanks for your help.

Jens

Yes. :smiley:

Step 1: Create a new, empty audacity project.

Step 2: Open one of your existing projects in a second Audacity window. Click on white space or on the “Select” button in the Track Control Panel: Track Control Panel and Vertical Scale - Audacity Manual
Now, press Ctrl-C to copy the audio to the clipboard. You can now optionally close this second window.

Step 3: Return to your “new” project. Click anywhere in the grayed-out empty track area, and press Ctrl-V. This will copy the clipboard into the current project. (If you are pasting a long track, it may take a few moments for the copied track to appear.)

Step 4: Return to Step 2.

Also, see: Edit Menu: Copy, Paste and Duplicate - Audacity Manual

I hope this helps. :smiley:

I recorded a number of interview in Zoom

How?

Zoom doesn’t lend itself to locally recording both sides of a Zoom call. It is the forum’s opinion you get Zoom to record calls. If you got one to work on one computer, you’re only the second producer we know of. It would be super good to know how you did it.

If your interviews work out to be a single timeline after editing and cleaning, you can Export them as perfect quality WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound files. In final production, you can import them all to one Audacity session, one over the other. Unless you stop it, Audacity will melt them all together when you export the MP3.

You can Save as Projects as well, but as you found, it takes extra steps to then produce the final show from them. Also, a note that Audacity Projects are more brittle and prone to failure than WAV files. Scan the forum for “My Project Won’t Open” posts.

To wear my obsessive hat for a second, I export any original performance as WAV before I do anything to it. I have never lost a paid gig.

Koz

:nerd: :smiley:

I have never lost a paid gig.

That’s not to say I haven’t screwed things up. Just not for hire. I have a recording that captured twice, at the same time, a fraction of a second apart, and it drifted. I have zero idea how that happened and it only happened once.

Koz