I have a 3 min sound file with music showing. When I attempt to play the file, it is completely quiet! the two channels must be out of phase, but I don’t know how to correct this. Can anyone help?
Split stereo to mono, and delete one of the channels.
You’re not losing anything by deleting one: if they cancelled-out they were identical, but antiphase.
They will only cancel to silence if you play in mono (like on a phone speaker) where the waves are combined digitally or electrically. If you play in stereo the bass soundwaves mostly cancel-out but the other frequencies are only partially canceled and you get a “phasey” sometimes “wider” sound.
For now, assuming that’s not the situation…
Check the playback volume slider which is “hidden” under the playback meters.
To the left of the waveform there is another volume slider which affects playback and the exported volume.
Make sure you’ve selected the correct Playback Device (usually your regular soundcard).
…If they are out-of-phase we should probably figure out how it happened,
Thank you. I haven’t used this app for five years. Can you go over the steps involved in splitting stereo to mono?
Click the 3 little dots to the left of the waveform and a menu will drop-down.
Then click the “X” a little further to the left to kill one of the tracks.
Thanks! I got it to work by splitting the tacks, deleting one, and then exporting it back to its original .MP3 format. I can now listen to it via the VLC player. As I mentioned, I have not used Audacity for at least five years(!) so I am completely unfamiliar with it. Obviously, I need to spend time reading the manual. You and the others who have helped me with this problem have my undying gratitude!
To be clear, I am not a complete novice with digital audio. I started with a program called COOL EDIT in the 1980s, bought Adobe Audition when they purchased CE, then eventually abandoned it when they began charging (AKA extorting) yearly, outrageous funds for its continued use.
Anyways, thanks to all of you who helped!