Sound cutting out?

[skip]

Sorry if this has been asked before - I did do a search but didn't see relevant information.

I did four sessions today, saved the Audacity files, then exported to .wav files. The .wavs are fine, but if I try to re-open the Audacity files and play them, I'll get only a second or two of sound and then the sound cuts out. The same will happen with every track, in all four projects. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[steve]

but if I try to re-open the Audacity files and play them, I'll get only a second or two of sound and then the sound cuts out.

You mean re-opening the Audacity Project File? (filename.aup)

There are 2 parts to an Audacity project - there is the .AUP file that tells Audacity where to find the data that makes up the project, then there is the data files themselves. The data files are often found in the data folder that is created when you save the Audacity project (filename_data)). Data files may also be on other parts of your computer, for example if you imported audio, but do not have Audacity set to copy imported audio, then the original audio files that you import may still be needed for the project.

If any of your data files are missing, then the project will not play properly.

[kozikowski]

<<<If any of your data files are missing, then the project will not play properly.>>>

Or sometimes at all. You inadvertently did what I very strongly recommend all recordists do; export as WAV early and often. Projects are a mixed blessing and cause a lot of problems because they can be very large and complicated...and brittle.

In practical terms, nobody ever recovers from a damaged project, so your exported WAV files are the show.

I went through a multi-day voice recording session and delivered many WAV files to the production team. Overall, I had no failures or unrecoverable damage--and I saved zero projects.

Koz