Hi, I’m new to Audacity, so I guess I have the newest version, which is running on Windows Vista. I’m afraid I’m a bit overwhelmed by what Audacity can do in relation to what I want to do, which is just to make a recording of a book for a friend. The book I’m recording is quite difficult, and I sometimes make mistakes while reading. Can someone explain how I can just go back to the mistake and start again from that point, please?
I think I would just like to make one continuous recording (with pauses to catch my breath and thoughts!),and I think I have worked out how to split the recording into tracks and name them, but don’t understand why, when I start recording again, my recording continues in the next “track” down, and indeed whether that matters when I come to export my recording. I’m probably being very dim, but I feel out of my depth even trying to do what I imagine is very easy for most of you. I look forward to hearing from you.
There are several different approaches that you can take. The way that I prefer to work is to go through the recording continuously, then go back and fix the problems later. The parts that need fixing can be marked with “labels” so that they are easier to find when the recording has been completed. Audacity Manual
Use the “Pause” button, or press “P” to pause / un-pause.
To continue recording on the same track (after you have stopped the recording), use “Append Record” Audacity Manual
If there are multiple tracks, they will be “mixed down” to a single track when you export. (You can also mix down using “Mix and Render” Audacity Manual). This is particularly useful if you want to add music or sound effects to your recording as you can have the voice recording on one track and one or more music / sound effect tracks that overlap with the voice track. It is also useful when you need to correct a mistake as you can put the correction in a new track and carefully trim and align the original audio, so cutting out the mistake and replacing it with the new version.
We all found recording and editing difficult at first, but with a bit of practice the basics become much easier. Don’t try to be too ambitious at first - just get something recorded and your first success. If you need further help, please ask - it is much easier for us to help with specific questions than general ones, so try to be specific about what you want to do and what the difficulty is when you post question. Good luck, and enjoy
I’m sorry I haven’t got back to you before, (perhaps I haven’t selected a “receive email notification” box…) but thank you so much for taking the time to reply so clearly and in such depth. I haven’t tried yet, but I think “append record” is what I need. I had used the “pause” button, but realised that I couldn’t edit (to undo my stutters!) unless I “stopped” the recording, and then when I restarted, the recording started on the next track. So, thanks again. I feel much more confident now, and thank you very much, too, for the offer of more help.
