Audacity Forum

2 Issues:

1) Love Audacity but all of a sudden I cannot hear playback of audio tracks. I have a 20 minute interview that needs to be edited by tomorrow but now I cannot hear it. The MUTE button is not pressed -- and the tracks are right there in front of me but I cannot hear them. Other files work just fine but I am dumbfounded on this one and would appreciate any help. I've tried copying and pasting into a new file, that doesn't work. I tried exporting as an MP3, that doesn't work. I tried splitting the tracks to make it LEFT only -- still nothing.

2) Also, with my MAC, I wanted to record voice only but the internal mic sound is quite hollow. I plugged in a MIC to the 2nd input on the back of the MAC (believe it's 1/4" input) - and clicked on Line In Audio choice (right under internal mic) but it still does not work. Only the internal mic pics up the audio. Am I supposed to mute the internal mic? I thought clicking on the Line In Audio choice would take care of that.

Thank you in advance for your help.

<<<Other files work just fine >>>

Does that mean you can play other sound files in Audacity and you can hear them OK? That's not good news. When you captured the original interview, did you Export As WAV to get a backup sound file? Audacity will not Save sound files.

<<I plugged in a MIC to the 2nd input on the back of the MAC (believe it's 1/4" input) >>>

It's an 1/8" socket to fit a plug like this...

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audioconnecto ... ctors.html

...and it was designed to work with much higher level sound device like a stereo sound mixer or disco/dance mixer or a performance mixing desk. Also, as in that web page, it doesn't supply battery to the microphone, so the microphone is silent.

I have been able to use one of these on my Mac to let me plug a microphone in and replace the built-in microphone.

http://www.startech.com/item/ICUSBAUDIO ... apter.aspx

Koz

Yes, I can actually hear other trax in the same file, which is really confusing. It's almost as if some audio randomly dissapeared or were "silenced" by mistake. I"m sure it's the novice operator making the error..but I can still pull up other files that were saved in Audacity - and hear them. No, I did not export original as a WAV file...I thought it would save in Audacity..that's probably where I made my first error.

I think I'll have to go back to the drawing board and go do the interview again ..it's just strange that I can see the file, see the soundwaves but when I play them, there is nothing there.

Thanks for your guidance in this very frustrating situation.

<<<I can actually hear other trax in the same file>>>

That's not a good assumption. An Audacity Project isn't "a file." When you open up an AUP file, it calls the thousands of other files that actually make up the show. You can open up an AUP file in TextEdit and read it. There are English words in there. It's not a sound file. Here's a simple one.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg

The blue waves on the timeline are created by two or more other files--picture files, so it's completely possible to have the waves without the sound show behind them.

Did you move anything or "clean up" between the interview and the time you tried to cut it? Did you manipulate or change anything inside a _DATA folder? Did you move an AUP file to another location inside your Mac? Deadly.

Here's the official explanation of how things work. You should probably crank through this before you go out again. After you do capture your show, Export As WAV immediately. That will give you a good, stable, self-contained sound file. If it's a critical interview, make a copy of the wav file on your portable drive or USB stick.

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ement_Tips

The next thing that's going to kill you is filling up your hard drive. No drive that a production Mac can see should be over 90% full. Do you have MacJanitor?

Koz