I am a very basic Audacity user. I don't do any recording; I use it 99% of the time for its pitch changing function, because I am a musician who plays alone along with CDs, and it allows me to not have to re-tune my guitar for various songs.
I have also been trying to use Audacity to "link" together two or more CD tracks that are really one longer song in order to make one single music file that will play without a gap on my Zune MP3 player. I have had pretty good success, but I still seem to get the slightest "pop", or "thump" where the songs were originally separated on the CD.
Can anyone suggest any procedures that will allow me to link CD tracks together so that they play smoothly, like they do when the actual CD is played in a CD player?
Thank you to all who take the time to reply.
Linking CD tracks together
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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: Linking CD tracks together
You could have very slightly damaged clips in a way that's common, but not obvious. Process each song to get rid of the DC level.
Edit > Select > All
Effect > Normalize > Remove DC (deselect anything else).
Export each corrected song as a new WAV.
Open the first WAV and then the second, and then cut and paste one into the other. It should be possible to zoom way into the join-up point and delete the "hole" such that waves more or less line up. You can see in the end of the first song how the blue waves travel in more or less smooth groups. The object is to delete the area between the two songs so that the pattern of the waves doesn't change.
Any cut you make that you can pick out just by looking at the screen is probably wrong and will cause a click or pop.
The ability to work out the cut points and be musically correct is the hard part.
Koz
Edit > Select > All
Effect > Normalize > Remove DC (deselect anything else).
Export each corrected song as a new WAV.
Open the first WAV and then the second, and then cut and paste one into the other. It should be possible to zoom way into the join-up point and delete the "hole" such that waves more or less line up. You can see in the end of the first song how the blue waves travel in more or less smooth groups. The object is to delete the area between the two songs so that the pattern of the waves doesn't change.
Any cut you make that you can pick out just by looking at the screen is probably wrong and will cause a click or pop.
The ability to work out the cut points and be musically correct is the hard part.
Koz
Re: Linking CD tracks together
Wow... visual aids and everything! Thank you for the advice; I will give it a try.
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kozikowski
- Forum Staff
- Posts: 69374
- Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 pm
- Operating System: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Re: Linking CD tracks together
If you can't be compulsive on the help forum, where else?
Did you find the actual edit point in the "good" edit? It's barely visible. If you go straight up from the gap between the "G" and the "o", there is a tiny vertical line that doesn't match the graceful curve of the blue wave. That's where it's one song on the left and a different song on the right. I could have cheated the graphic here, but I didn't. There is an actual edit in there.
Other items: This process is normally done with nothing moving--in the gutter between two songs rather than trying to hit the note. If you can't get it to work any other way, do a rapid crossfade between the two songs. Club DJs do this live during the Midnight Mix. Nobody at that time of night is going to try and match up the slopes of the blue waveforms. You match the beats and cross.
You will find it impossible to cut stereo this way. You have to hit two slopes, not just one. It's possible to individually tailor the area around the cut point with the point editor in the toolbox in the upper left, but that's seriously compulsive and even beyond me.
Koz
Did you find the actual edit point in the "good" edit? It's barely visible. If you go straight up from the gap between the "G" and the "o", there is a tiny vertical line that doesn't match the graceful curve of the blue wave. That's where it's one song on the left and a different song on the right. I could have cheated the graphic here, but I didn't. There is an actual edit in there.
Other items: This process is normally done with nothing moving--in the gutter between two songs rather than trying to hit the note. If you can't get it to work any other way, do a rapid crossfade between the two songs. Club DJs do this live during the Midnight Mix. Nobody at that time of night is going to try and match up the slopes of the blue waveforms. You match the beats and cross.
You will find it impossible to cut stereo this way. You have to hit two slopes, not just one. It's possible to individually tailor the area around the cut point with the point editor in the toolbox in the upper left, but that's seriously compulsive and even beyond me.
Koz