I'm a first time Audacity user. I fully admit my issues are so simple anyone with half a clue would know the answer, but I only have a quarter's worth at present...
ver. 1.2.6
I'm trying to concatenate a bunch of speech-only files; do some minor trimming & make a mono podcast. I thought I'd figured out most of what I needed to do. But now, I have large silent sections. The audio out & VU meters are zero, but the waveforms are still there. I assume I have inadvertently invoked Silence on those parts, but I see no indicator of that.
I've read about applying Silence, but can't find any discussion of how to know it's there or unapplying it. How can I tell if my problem *is* inadvertent silence? And if it is, how do I unapply it? [No, "undo" is no help...]
Sounds of Silence
Forum rules
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
Mac 0S X 10.3 and earlier are no longer supported but you can download legacy versions of Audacity for those systems HERE.
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
Mac 0S X 10.3 and earlier are no longer supported but you can download legacy versions of Audacity for those systems HERE.
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kozikowski
- Forum Staff
- Posts: 68938
- Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 pm
- Operating System: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Re: Sounds of Silence
We need to find out a couple of things about your machine.
Apple > About This Mac > Processor and Version. Both numbers, please.
Audacity doesn't save sound files and Audacity Projects are large, complicated, and brittle.
Your particular problem comes about because the default Audacity doesn't suck music into itself for editing. It uses the music from what ever and where ever the music file happens to be. If you move that file or do anything to mess up that relationship, the Audacity Project will fail, but leave behind the blue waves to taunt you.
So, did you delete some sound files that you "didn't need any more?" Pull the USB Thumb Drive out? Eject the Music CD? It can be subtle. "All I did was make a music folder and put all my music in it!" That changes the music address and there's your show in the mud.
You still need them.
You can change Audacity so that it does suck sound files inside itself for editing and that part of the puzzle will vanish.
Audacity > Preferences > Import/Export > Always Copy Music (Safer).
You can silence a portion of a show by drag-selecting the portion and press Apple-L. That portion will turn into a straight line and be silent when played.
Pay attention you don't get a pop or click at your effect transitions. That could indicate another problem.
Oh, and you can get a nice sound file of your show with File > Export As WAV.
Koz
Apple > About This Mac > Processor and Version. Both numbers, please.
Audacity doesn't save sound files and Audacity Projects are large, complicated, and brittle.
Your particular problem comes about because the default Audacity doesn't suck music into itself for editing. It uses the music from what ever and where ever the music file happens to be. If you move that file or do anything to mess up that relationship, the Audacity Project will fail, but leave behind the blue waves to taunt you.
So, did you delete some sound files that you "didn't need any more?" Pull the USB Thumb Drive out? Eject the Music CD? It can be subtle. "All I did was make a music folder and put all my music in it!" That changes the music address and there's your show in the mud.
You still need them.
You can change Audacity so that it does suck sound files inside itself for editing and that part of the puzzle will vanish.
Audacity > Preferences > Import/Export > Always Copy Music (Safer).
You can silence a portion of a show by drag-selecting the portion and press Apple-L. That portion will turn into a straight line and be silent when played.
Pay attention you don't get a pop or click at your effect transitions. That could indicate another problem.
Oh, and you can get a nice sound file of your show with File > Export As WAV.
Koz
Re: Sounds of Silence
1 GHz PPC; 10.5.8
My source was the CD (still mounted) and copies of it on a local drive.
I've gone back and changed the Always Copy Music (Safer).
> If you move that file or do anything to mess up that relationship, the Audacity Project will fail, but leave behind the blue waves to taunt you.
How kind of it!
Thank you for explaining that failure mode; it's fair to say I'd never have grokked that on my own. Is there a way to recover the gaps, by reacquainting the program with the source files? Or do I start over again?
My source was the CD (still mounted) and copies of it on a local drive.
I've gone back and changed the Always Copy Music (Safer).
> If you move that file or do anything to mess up that relationship, the Audacity Project will fail, but leave behind the blue waves to taunt you.
How kind of it!
Thank you for explaining that failure mode; it's fair to say I'd never have grokked that on my own. Is there a way to recover the gaps, by reacquainting the program with the source files? Or do I start over again?
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kozikowski
- Forum Staff
- Posts: 68938
- Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 pm
- Operating System: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Re: Sounds of Silence
<<<by reacquainting the program with the source files?>>>
Yes, but that's a programming task. Much easier to move the music back to where it was.
Get a strong cup of coffee and open up your AUP file in TextEdit. That works because the AUP file is XML semi-English programming. It is not, as many people assume, a music file.
Tell TextEdit to search for "aliasfile=". The words after that word are the locations of all your sound files -- or the locations the AUP file is expecting them.
Here is a very simple AUP file (yours isn't going to look this neat and orderly). If you count down to about line 7, you will find the location of my piano solo.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg
aliasfile= '/Users/koz/Desktop/piano2.wav'
I could move the piano2.wav file somewhere else on my Mac and change the words in this file to reflect that change, but note that the location is posted twice in that picture. The top one is Left sound and the bottom is Right. You have to change them both.
So yes, technically speaking, you could do that, but it's vastly easier to find the music and put it back where it was, and reading the AUP file will tell you where that was.
Koz
Yes, but that's a programming task. Much easier to move the music back to where it was.
Get a strong cup of coffee and open up your AUP file in TextEdit. That works because the AUP file is XML semi-English programming. It is not, as many people assume, a music file.
Tell TextEdit to search for "aliasfile=". The words after that word are the locations of all your sound files -- or the locations the AUP file is expecting them.
Here is a very simple AUP file (yours isn't going to look this neat and orderly). If you count down to about line 7, you will find the location of my piano solo.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg
aliasfile= '/Users/koz/Desktop/piano2.wav'
I could move the piano2.wav file somewhere else on my Mac and change the words in this file to reflect that change, but note that the location is posted twice in that picture. The top one is Left sound and the bottom is Right. You have to change them both.
So yes, technically speaking, you could do that, but it's vastly easier to find the music and put it back where it was, and reading the AUP file will tell you where that was.
Koz