Missing audio during playback

[melissadasilva]

Hi. I'm using Audacity 1.2.6 on Windows vista and I've reopened some projects that I worked on six months ago and some of the audio is missing during playback. I can see the entire soundwaves on my tracks but when I play it back the output level drops completely in parts and the meters don't show anything. What's gone wrong and how can I access my edited audio?

Thanks

Melissa

[waxcylinder]

My guess is that you imported some audio for these projects, WAV files probably. And you had your import settings set to "Faster" (which is the Audacity default). And in the meantime you have moved or deleted these original files.

If this si the case then Audacity is relying on finding the files exactly where they were before - if not you will have gaps where those "imported" files were.

So if you can put those original files back in exactly the same place you should get the full project again - if not, it's gone ...

WC

[kozikowski]

Is the missing audio sound clips or music from other files on your computer? Audacity, unless you changed it, uses sound from files all over the computer. It doesn't pull sound into itself for editing. If you moved, deleted, or renamed the sound files -- or move the project itself, then Audacity will not be able to find the sound to play it. The blue waves come from two or more Audacity picture files and can easily become out of step with reality.

It's not unusual for people to delete sound files from, say, their desktop to clean things up only to find that portions of their project are silent. You can put the sound files back where they were or un-rename them and the show will come back.

A crazy-normal thing people do is make a typo somewhere in their project do some editing and then go back and fix it. Bang, there's the show in the mud. Audacity keeps track of sound in the original, badly spelled filenames.

There's a setting in Audacity Preferences called something like, "copy sound into Audacity (Safer)" or Make a copy of the file before editing (Safer). Something like that. Checking that setting will prevent this problem.

Koz

[melissadasilva]

Thanks for that. That was exactly what happened. I moved my folder with all my audio from one drive to another, which had more space on it and had imported all the wav files using the "faster"option. So if I move them back then I should be able to recover it all. In future if I import the wav files using the other option, will I be able to access all the audio in my projects even if I move them round the computer?

All the best

Melissa

[kozikowski]

<<<In future if I import the wav files using the other option, will I be able to access all the audio in my projects even if I move them round the computer?>>>

.....Ummmmm. Yes....... We warm people they can't move Projects.

You can force one to move, but there are rules and you can dig yourself a hole several different ways. The AUP file and the _DATA folder are required to be in the same directory or folder. If you have a capture crash and then move the project, you're dead. The crash recovery tools won't work.

Export a WAV whenever you get the urge to move something and leave the Project alone. Better, start the project in a location not subject to movement. Projects are designed to be a mid-production step. They make terrible archival backups, so if you have a drive full of projects, it's a better than even chance that many of them will be damaged.

Koz