Audacity Forum

I used AVI-Mux_GUI-1.17.7 to separate the audio from a video file, and it saved it as Matroska file. When I load it to Audacity and play it, it gives me a kind of scribble sound, static like...like it is playing the file super fast.
All I want to do is separate the background music from the narrator's voice.

How do I fix this problem

KnockAr0und wrote: and it saved it as Matroska file.

You need to use a supported format, such as "wav"
Either select "wav" as the export format from your other program, or use a format conversion tool such as SUPER to convert the file to wav

so i converted the MKV file to WAV using River Past Audio Converter, and now Audacity says "Audacity did not recognize the type of this file. If it is uncompressed, try importing it using "Import Raw""

What do I do now ?

If it is a .wav file (Microsoft 16bit PCM), Audacity will have no problem importing it. Check that this is the format (Right Click on the file, select "Properties" and look on the "Advanced" tab.

stevethefiddle wrote:If it is a .wav file (Microsoft 16bit PCM), Audacity will have no problem importing it. Check that this is the format (Right Click on the file, select "Properties" and look on the "Advanced" tab.

Maybe you can solve my problem without all these complications. I have a documentary, right? There is a short scene that I would like to cut for my clip, but the problem is that I do not want the narrator to be heard. I want to cut off the narrator's voice and leave the background music.
What can u recommend

Well we found the problem with importing to Audacity - the format is DivX audio

Regarding you video task - you will probably have trouble eliminating the voice even if you do manage to import it. The best thing would be to find a suitable piece of music, and just replace the soundtrack.

can u at least recommend a good program to separate the sound from the video that will save the audio file as WAV. I think I can separate the narrator's voice from the background music if there are two different channels (using Audacity).

If you luck out and all the moons and stars line up, the Center Pan Removal tool might work:

http://audacityteam.org/download/nyquistplugins
(Search the page.)

One of the restrictions of this technique is you get a mono music track at the end, not stereo.

Koz

KnockAr0und wrote:can u at least recommend a good program to separate the sound from the video that will save the audio file as WAV. I think I can separate the narrator's voice from the background music if there are two different channels (using Audacity).

You probably need a video editing program. and you will certainly need a video editing program to put the soundtrack back into the video. I don't know if you can do it with Windows Movie Maker, but it's worth a try. Other than that, there's loads of video editors, including products from Pinacle, Nero. and Ulead.