Audacity Forum

Okay, so I'm recording on my webcam, and when I'm done, it exports the webcam recording as a WMV file.

I then open the WMV file into Audacity and when I go to play it, it just goes 'bizzzzzzzzz', without playing any sound.

The reason I want to open it in Audacity is so that I can amplify the sound's level, because my normal sound recording is too low.

Thanks!

Edit, vista 32 bit.

Edit 2, the sound actually isn't really a 'bizzzz', its more like the sound of when you are fastforwarding an old VCR tape, but even if the recording is 5 minutes long, or 30 seconds long, it only plays for less than a second with that *bizzwt* noise.

Edit 3 lol, I just read the help file and noticed that it said that changing the output level won't matter when you end up saving the end product. Does that mean that Audacity won't allow me to increase the sound output as a saved end project?

Audacity has no idea at all what a Windows Media File is. WMV is highly compressed H.264, so Audacity tries to open it and fails, but it tries anyway. Audacity plays the file as if it were not compressed.

If the file is a 4:1 compressed WMV, Audacity will play it four times faster than normal.

You need to convert the file into Windows WAV, MP3, or OGG-Vorbis for Audacity to understand it.

Koz

Awesome, thanks!

So will Audacity still be able to apply an audio amplification for an end product though? Or does the audio amplification only remain as far as the temporary recording editing.

Nobody understands Audacity Projects.

Put your sound work into a form that Audacity can understand. Open it, select the portions you want to amplify and apply the amplify tool--or any other tool you wish. Fine tune as needed and then Export As WAV... or Export As MP3....

If you do all those steps, Audacity will produce a brand new sound file with all your corrections. WAV files do not degrade, but they're very large. MP3 files are small and convenient, but the quality goes down.

After you Export to get your new sound file, you can then Save A Project....

That's the magic one. That saves the original sound file and a list of changes. You can open that Project up in two weeks and carefully remove or change all the effects and Export a new sound file. And then do it again later with other changes. And then again. All you're doing is updating the change list. Nothing happens to the original sound file.

Each time you Export, you will get a fresh, new sound file with the current changes applied--and you can never take the changes out of this new file.

Projects are clouds of files and they are very brittle. You can't move them, clean them up, or email them to your sister in Schenectady. You can't delete any parts of them including all the original sound files. Most of the postings on this board have to do with people who damaged their Project by accident and lost their show.

Export early. Export often.

Koz