Audacity Forum

I had posted this problem on another thread title (WON'T LET ME EXPORT & SAVE AS .WAV IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER) but this problem seemed so bizarre I thought it might need it's own thread topic. Here it is: I recorded one song from side one of a cassette tape. It recorded & played back perfectly. So, I went to side two of the cassette, and recorded three more songs (recorded all three songs seperately-one at a time-started and stopped Audacity & the cassette player). But when I play any of those three songs, the other two songs bleed into the song I'm playing! it sounds like a hodge-podge of all three songs playing at once! The first song I recorded from side one doesn't have any other interference, and when I recorded the three songs from side two, I didn't notice any sound bleeding during recording, only during playback. So, before I pull out what hair I have remaining, what do I do? I have Windows XP Pro with an Edirol sound card attached.

When you got done with the first song, did you Export As WAV and then start a new Audacity? How did you record the succeeding tracks?

Koz

Koz, thank you very much for replying. Here's what I did: Recorded the first song, saved it as a .wav file, and stored it in "My Music " folder. Then, I turned the tape over to side two and recorded the first of the three songs I wanted on that side, stopped Audacity right when the first song was over (pushed the yellow button on Audacity & 'paused' the cassette player, then saved that song as a .wav file in My Music, then started/recorded the second song (pushed red button and "un-paused' the cassette player). When the second song was done, I pushed the yellow button & paused the cassette player again while I saved song number two (.wav - in My Music), then "un-paused" the cassette player and pushed the red record button on Audacity again to record the third song. When the third song was done, I repeated the processes described above (saved as .wav - in My Music). But, as I described, all three songs on the second side of the cassette "bleed into" one another when played back.

<<<saved it as a .wav file, and stored it in "My Music " folder.>>>

We need to be really careful about our English words here because Audacity doesn't work like other programs. Audacity will not Save a sound file. To get a real WAV file, you have to use Export.

File > Export As WAV.

If you actually did use Save, then you got an Audacity Project, not a sound file and that could contribute to the problem. Projects are not one thing. They are a system or collection of files that make complex editing much easier. If you have a simple music capture, you may not need projects at all.

So what did you really do?

Koz

Koz, thanks again for your help. Here's what the problem was: Audacity was multi-tracking without me wanting it to! I asked another techie (much smarter than me) who has some experience with Audacity, and the first thing he asked me was "When you started to record the second (and third) song of three, did you get a second set of 'waveforms' on the bottom of your Audacity screen?" When I answered "yes", he told me that Audacity was multi-tracking and layering one song on top of another. The solution for me was: Once I had exported/saved the first song, I needed to close the first set of waveforms on my Audacity screen. When I started the second song a single set of waveforms automatically appeared on the Audacity screen. I had two sets of waveforms operating at the same time, and Audacity thought I wanted to multi-track the project.
Hope this helps somebody else! Thanks to all of you for your input. PDE

And most people who want that can't get it to work.

You can also Record Pause audacity and when you start it up again, it will give you one long recording. Then you can select each segment and Export Selection.

You can also put a label at the front of each song (Control-B )and Export Multiple. That will give you individual songs to make a Music CD.

Koz