Audacity Forum

Hi all -

I have a big Audacity project file, with many layers of overdubbing. I "punched in" all over the place, so most layers don't start at 0:00.

I want to export all layers as .wav files, while having dead air from 0:00 to where each layer begins in the mix. Anyone have the answer? The mixing artist I am working with uses another software package and it would be a huge problem if he has to line every track up manually in his software.

TV

If you generate silence from the start of the track to the start of the audio, it will be exported with the audio in the correct position on the timeline. If you have two or more clips on the one track, with gaps between them, Audacity will automatically generate silence in the gaps when you export, but it won't generate it at the beginning.

Correction: The above is true in 1.3, and I assume you are using 1.2

In 1.2 you can have only one clip per track and when you generate silence at the beginning, it moves the clip by the amount of the silence, and you have to use the time-shift tool to bring it back again.

It is probably worth downloading 1.3.11 and opening your project in it to see how much easier the manipulation is. Don't save your project in 1.3 if you want to open it again in 1.2. Alternatively, save it in 1.3 with a different name.

PO'L

The workaround in Audacity 1.2.x is to do a "Quick Mix" of each individual track (also works in Audacity 1.3, except that it's called "Mix and Render").
However, I'd agree with Irish and recommend upgrading to Audacity 1.3.11 and generate a bit of silence at the beginning of all tracks that have "white space" at the beginning. To select multiple tracks, make the selection on one track, then Shift + Click on the track panel of other tracks to toggle select/deselect. (can also use the Enter key).