Reloading saved files for later work

[Mr-Hex]

This might possibly have been asked before, but I am new and have not found my way around here! I am currently using Audacity 1.2.6 to transfer minidisc music tracks to the laptop. Because this has to be done in real time, I set the system going and then leave it for up to 2 1/2 hours. This produces a single, large Audacity file with I save as a project. However, when I come to reopen the file for editing I cannot. All I have is many hundreds of 1.1MB files of 'AU TYPE'. What am I doing wrong (what do I need to change) and how do I recover the 7 or 8 files already done please? In one session alone, I have 2994 files, all with the 'AU TYPE' label, amounting to 2.95GB in size. Should I save as something other than a project?

[waxcylinder]

When you save an Audacity project as <project_name> it creates a number of things

1. a top level master project file called <project_name>.aup
2. a folder at the same filing level called <project_name>_data
3. and within the folder a sub-folder structure with lots of little .au files - segments of the recording (mainly audio clips - but a couple of them are graphics files)

When you re-open a project with Audacity you should always open the <project_name>.aup top level file. This tells Audacity how to thread together all the little .au files. It is deliberately designed this way so that Audacity doesn't have to open and work with a single humungously large file, which would hamper performance. You should not be attempting to open or manipulate any individual .au files.

When you have finished editing your Audacity project you can Export it from Audacity as a WAV file or MP3 file depending what sound quality you wish to achieve. WAV files are around ten times larger than the equivalent MP3 files but are uncompressed and thus the audio quality is higher.

WC

[Mr-Hex]

Sorry, but - are you saying there is no way back from where I am, other than to start again?

[waxcylinder]

No - I'm saying that if you hae the <project-name>.aip data file and it's associated folder with all the little .au files (and you have not moved/renamed/deleted any of it) then you should be able to open the *.aup files with Audacity.

=============================================

I use Audacity for similar tasks to you - transcribing LPs and tapes. I seldom save any Audacity projects unless I want to leave one mid-edit overnight. What I do is:
1) make the capture recording
2) export a single WAV file of the project as a raw-capture backup
3) I then process this through an external piece of s/w to remove clicks and re-import into Audacity
4) do my edits and tack lavelling
5) Export multiple to create a set of WAV files, one per "song", for production use (You can of course export compressed MP3 or whatever at this stage)
6) Backuo the set of WAV files
7) Delete the project.

WC

[Mr-Hex]

OK - understand, thanks.
However - NOW what's happened (more likely, what have I done and how do I correct it)? Input volume is so high that music sound is not just distorted, it's being torn apart!! I have also lost the icons for volume. User guide says to click on the word 'Audacity' at top left of screen - nothing there. I assume that these two happenings are related? i.e. 'cos I removed the icons there is no control over input sound? Help please!!

[billw58]

Click on File > Preferences, then the Interface tab, and make sure "Enable Mixer Toolbar" is checked.

User guide says to click on the word 'Audacity' at top left of screen - nothing there

That would be for Macintosh. Which user guide are you referring to?

-- Bill

[Mr-Hex]

Thanks Bill - the sliders hjave come back - I found 'preferences' under 'Edit' as it happens. Now - any ideas why the volume on 'record' is so distorted?

[kozikowski]

<<<transfer minidisc music tracks to the laptop. >>>

If you plugged the MiniDisk headphone connection to the Mic-In of the Windows Laptop (you never responded as to the type of computer you have) then that doesn't work. Mic-In on a Windows laptop is mono, not stereo, and super sensitive -- easily overloaded.

So is this a Windows machine?

Koz

[billw58]

How are you connecting the minidisc to the laptop? If you are running a cable from the headphone output of the minidisc to the microphone input of the laptop then you are overloading the microphone input. Microphone inputs expect tiny signals, and the headphone output signal is huge. You could try turning down the headphone volume on the minindisc, but that will not result is the best possible transfer - it is likely that noise (hiss) will be introduced by the microphone amplifier in the laptop.

-- Bill

[Mr-Hex]

OK - so I am using an Advent 6552 laptop with Vista O/S. The minidisc player is connected by Line out (twin jacks) to USB. I am actually using ClimaxDigital Audio Grabber. All was fine (even last night) when I converted one Minidisc of 40 music tracks to MP3 on the laptop. Could it be the AudioGrabber? Do I even need it to do this type of transfer?