Audacity Forum

I'm creating preshow and intermission music for theatre. The individual tracks are blended into one another for effect. Now I want to insert a new piece early on. How can I time shift several of the tracks together to maintain their relationship?

You can import the new track at zero time with all the others, then select the others (Shift-Click in the left tool panel until you have them all). Then select the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows) click one of the tracks and push sideways. They should all move the same amount in relation to each other and later than the new track.

You should probably finish your current job and upgrade to Audacity 1.3.12. Audacity Projects are the only way to save a multi-channel production, but even at that, it doesn't save UNDO.

Get Audacity 1.3.12 and all the additional software from here...

http://audacityteam.org/download/

You can install both versions, just use one at a time. Audacity 1.3 Projects will not open in 1.2.

And you know that Audacity will not save a sound file, right? Those AUP things are Project Managers, not sound files.

Koz

It appears this can't easily be done in 1.2.x.

Click at the spot where you want to insert the new piece. Shift-click on the track control panels of all the tracks that you want to remain in sync with the first track. Do Generate > Silence - the chosen length of silence will be inserted in all the tracks at the cursor position. Now you can insert or paste your new piece on it's own track, and adjust the length of silence to suit.

This is much easier in 1.3.12. The move tool will operate across multiple tracks, and 1.3.12 supports "clips" - multiple regions of audio on one track that can be moved independently.

You should probably download and try 1.3.12. http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_mac

-- Bill

PS: Koz was posting as I was writing this. Unfortunately in 1.2.x, the time shift (move) tool does not operate on multiple tracks.

Koz was posting as I was writing this. Unfortunately in 1.2.x, the time shift (move) tool does not operate on multiple tracks.

Shucks.

Actually this brings up a more serious problem. Audacity 1.2 is only partially supported on modern Macs. Of the three systems I have, one will not run Audacity 1.2 at all. Sooner or later, if we weren't emphatic enough, your Audacity 1.2 is going to Do Something Messy and you'll be back here wondering how to rescue your show from the smoldering devastation.

Koz