When converting files, how do you keep the ‘contributing artist’?
I’m running Audacity 2.0.6 on a Win 7, 64bit PC, from the .exe.
I import my flac files, then go to ‘export multiple’, choose WAV format, location, the 'Using Label/Track Name radio button is selected, then ‘Export’.
It converts all the flac to WAV’s, but the ‘contributing artist’ for each track is the same(when they all should be different).
I don’t see any way to keep each track’s 'contributing artist. I should mention that in the ‘Export Multiple’ box, the
‘Split files based on;’ (radio button) Labels is greyed-out(un-clickable), and beneath that the ‘Tracks’ radio button is selected, but not de-selectable.
I’ve read the FAQ, but didn’t seem to see anything that relates. Anyone know how to do this?
Audacity does not embed artwork in the metadata. This is a limitation to Audacity’s metadata support.
For file types that support embedding artwork, (such as MP3), you would need to save the artwork as a file, and then use a third party application to (re-)attach the artwork to the file that has been exported by Audacity.
I don’t know of any programs that support artwork embedded in WAV files, though some media players that use a media library database (such as iTunes or WMP) ‘may’ be able to associate image files with audio files (I don’t know if they can or not as I don’t use either of those players).
It’s a limitation in Audacity - it cannot store metadata for multiple tracks in the same project so it stores only the metadata for the last imported file, so the bottom track in the project.
However if you open the Import / Export Preferences then put a tick (checkmark) in the box “Show Metadata Editor prior to export step:” (which is enabled by default), Audacity will pop up an “Edit Metadata” window for each export multiple file where you can modify the “Artist Name”. “Artist Name” is what Windows calls “Contributing artists”.
There are two ways round this using Audacity. You can use File > Open… which imports each file into its own project window. You will have to export each file separately, but the separate metadata for each file will be retained without you needing to change it.
Or depending what processing you are applying to these files you can create a Chain at File > Edit Chains… that includes an ExportWAV command, then File > Apply Chain… and choose Apply to Files… . This will then be an automated process that will preserve each file’s metadata.
As an alternative to that, WAV does actually support ID3 tags so can embed images directly in the file as the ID3 APIC tag. Personally I would use dBpoweramp to embed images in WAV files (just right-click over the file > Edit ID3 tag). If you have the same image for each file then you can right-click over all the files and add the image to each file in one step.
Ah, yes, I noticed the “Edit Metadata” window popping up, I didn’t realize that you could edit those fields. I decided to put all the same artists files into the same folder, and then convert them, and then do another artist in a different folder and convert those, and so on. It’s a little more work than bulk converting 100’s of files at a time, but it will retain the info I need, without having to individually modify each entry. Thanks for all the help!