Specifically, what exactly is being saved when you save a project? I am working on some projects where I'm reading in some analog audio consisting of about 60 minutes of spoken dialogue between two people. When I look in the <projectname>_data folder that appears when I save the project, I see hundreds of .au files. This seems odd to me. I'm thinking that Audacity is detecting the natural pauses in speech and separating the audio into separate files at these boundaries? Is this correct? If this is correct, is there some kind of setting that sets the threshold of when this will occur?
Another question - when recording incoming audio, is there a way of setting it to record for a finite amount of time so that I doesn't just keep going when I walk away from it for awhile?
How do Audacity projects work?
Forum rules
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
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kozikowski
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Re: How do Audacity projects work?
Forget the Project. Capture/Record your performance and Export As WAV immediately. TuesdayMorningMaleVocal.wav. Copy that file to an external drive as a safety backup and lock the drive in a closet.
I hate that Windows will not allow you to see file extensions, so I usually turn that "feature" off.
My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Deselect "Hide FIle Externsions..."
That will show you the whole filename as above so you don't have to start deciphering the icon, which on Windows machines is always Windows Media.
After the capture, you can open up one or more WAV files and cut them or do whatever production you need. Save the Project if you think you're going to come back later and want to change things around. Export as WAV the final show. Only then do you consider Exporting As MP3 or other compressed format. MP3 creates sound damage.
If the computer goes up in a ball of flames, you unlock the closet and take your backup drive to another computer and re-create the show from the original capture WAV file copies..
You can have Audacity 1.3 on your machine at the same time as 1.2 as long as you only open one at a time. I think 1.3 has a timed recording feature.
Koz
I hate that Windows will not allow you to see file extensions, so I usually turn that "feature" off.
My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Deselect "Hide FIle Externsions..."
That will show you the whole filename as above so you don't have to start deciphering the icon, which on Windows machines is always Windows Media.
After the capture, you can open up one or more WAV files and cut them or do whatever production you need. Save the Project if you think you're going to come back later and want to change things around. Export as WAV the final show. Only then do you consider Exporting As MP3 or other compressed format. MP3 creates sound damage.
If the computer goes up in a ball of flames, you unlock the closet and take your backup drive to another computer and re-create the show from the original capture WAV file copies..
You can have Audacity 1.3 on your machine at the same time as 1.2 as long as you only open one at a time. I think 1.3 has a timed recording feature.
Koz
Re: How do Audacity projects work?
Thanks koz. Yeah, I always have it set so I can see file extensions. I couldn't live any other way, LOL.