Speed changes when I string together segments

[4jax]

When attaching segments from different recordings, the segment that is moved from one project to the other changes speed (usually much faster than its original speed, but sometimes it's slower than the original). This occurs whether I am cutting and pasting from one project to another or from different files that were imported together into different tracks in the same project.

For example, I start project A that is a Led Zeppelin song, and I want to take a segment from, say, a Mozart sonata, which is in project B. I cut or copy the segment I want from Mozart sonata & paste it to the very end or beginning of the Zeppelin song in A. 85% of the time, the sonata will be way faster than it's supposed to be. 10% of the time, it will be way slower, and the rare occasion occurs when it comes out to be the correct speed.

This also happens from one track to another in the same project. So if the Zep song and the sonata were imported into the same project into 2 different tracks, I cut one and paste it to the beginning or end of the other and speed of moved segment is affected.

This has happened on 3 different computers now, so I suspect it's that I'm doing something wrong. Why does this occur, and what can I do to correct this?

[steve]

Do all the tracks have the same sample rate, or are they different. For example, are they all 44100 Hz?

[4jax]

Sometimes they have the same rate and sometimes they don't. It doesn't seem to matter. In cases that they are different, I have tried to change the rate of the one I'm transferring to match the destination track but to no avail.

Besides, I thought the sample rate would only affect the sound quality, as in how clearly you hear the sound, as opposed to the speed of the song. I can't figure this out for the life of me, but I know I must be overlooking something.

[4jax]

Could it be the sound cards I'm using? They're pretty minimal, integrated affairs on my new desktop and laptop, but the old desktop I used had a Soundblaster.

[steve]

In Audacity 1.2.x if you copy audio from a track that has one sample rate, and paste it into a track with a different sample rate, the audio data is unchanged, but will play back according to the sample rate of the new track - that means it will play back at the wrong speed.

The correct way to mix audio clips that are on different tracks is either to use "Quick Mix" from the Project menu, or just wait 'till you Export the finished audio when they will be mixed together automatically.

[4jax]

OK, that seems to work. I had one glitch, but it's better. Thanks for the help. I'm sure I'll be back for other advice.