Audacity Forum

Dear Audacity Forum Members,

Please find below an email with my challenges, and a response from Gale:

| From ayesha_nicole [AT] yahoo.com
| Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:53:37 -0800
| Subject: Track Labels; Time between splitting tracks; Time Track Ruler
> How are you? I am struggling with splitting tracks/lessons
> from an Arabic language course into their individually pronounced
> soundclips, that will be imported into a flashcard program with their
> corresponding written words.
>
> I learned how to use labels in order to export multiple tracks;
> and then when importing the tracks into a flashcard program to the
> corresponding written example; I realized that it would be better with
> more consistent time at the beginning and end of each individually
> labeled soundclip.
>
> Also - for the time track ruler; I am zooming into where I see the numbers:
> 0.00 (middle tick mark) 0.10 (middle tick mark) 0.20; etc. I am
> unsure what amount of time is represented by these measurements. And I also
> decided to use using 0.30 amount of silence at the beginning and end of
> each individually labeled soundclip - which seems to work well with the
> flashcard program I am using. I believe that 0.50 is one-half second
> which would be alright as well.
>
> I then began using the original track with labels to delete extra silences; as
> well as create silences in order to have equal amount of time at the
> beginning/end of each individually labeled soundclip. However, it
> began to shift everything and I am confused on how to continue instead of
> starting over. I did read the following:
>
> http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ate_tracks
>
> file:///C:/Program%20Files%20%28x86%29/Audacity%201.3%20Beta%20%28Unicode%29/help/manual/label_tracks.html
>
> and am still confused. Would you please help me?

I would assume you have "linking of label and audio tracks" enabled.
It's mentioned here:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... dio_tracks

If linking is on and you delete a region in an audio track above a label
track, the labels will move. If you have more than one audio track, all
audio tracks and the label track will be affected by deleting in one of
the audio tracks. Turn linking off as described above, if you don't want
that.

Please note: We do not provide support for Audacity questions by e-mail.
You have to use the Forum for that:
http://forum.audacityteam.org/

First of all, try searching the Forum for your question. If you don't
find your answer, register, confirm your registration then log in.
Choose the correct subforum (for example, Audacity 1.3.x for
Windows), click "New Topic" top left, then submit your question.

Gale

* * * * *

So the questions are:

1. Time Track Ruler and the measurement explanation used in it?
2. Best way to split the lessons soundtracks into individual soundclips using labels to export multiple mp3's? Currently, I have 18 lessons that range in time up to 45 minutes each and I need a definite plan/set of procedures to expedite this process. I import the track and begin listening to it to decide where to put the labels.
3. How much time should be before the actual "sound" of the pronunciation and after the pronunciation? I am using 0.3 at the moment - should it be 0.5 second for the flashcard program > http://www.brillkids.com/teach-reading/index.php
4. When splitting the lesson track into individual soundclips, should I delete any extra silence/blank lines (is that white space? and what is white space?) and then delete/add any silence at the end BEFORE making my labels to export as multiple mp3s? Make my adjustments before adding labels? And how do I make adjustments after completing the labeling process as in:
5. I am working with Lesson 4 now - and have all of the labels completed; but now I want to add/delete silence before/after each "sound" for consistency with each individual soundclip - but the labels become unaligned when I do this. What is the best way to work with what i have begun, without starting over? Gale mentioned disabling the linking between labels and audio tracks - which I need more explanation on how it works, even though I read the link she provided. I know how to click the chain link button - but I don't understand how that will help me when adding silences/deleting silences in the audio track and how to align the labels with the changes in the track? And how to make these corrections without beginning over; especially since I am on a deadline to complete this particular project. Is there a way to select both the audio track and label when deleting silences/add silences to avoid the misalignment issues to this particular lesson soundtrack - in order to make changes? And what is the best procedure for when I begin a new lesson/soundtrack to avoid this in the future?

I am a stay-at-home with no background in this at all - just trying to split some tracks for a flashcard program. And I feel stuck and very frustrated because I don't understand how audacity works - like most of the users here .

Thank you.
Sincerely,
ANMB

ANMB wrote:1. Time Track Ruler and the measurements used in it?

The time track shows hours:minutes:seconds
If you are zoomed in so that you can only see a few seconds it will show seconds as a decimal.
For example "1.75" is 1.75 seconds. "1:30" is one minute and 30 seconds. "1:30:15" is one hour, 30 minutes and 15 seconds.

ANMB wrote:2. Best way to split the lessons soundtracks into individual soundclips using labels to export multiple mp3's?

Don't expect to be an expert straight away. Always have a practice before you start a long project.
There are several ways that you can do this. This is how I would approach it:

1) Open just one lesson in Audacity.
2) Play the track and pause at the place that you want to make the split ("P" key).
3) Click on the track where you think the split should go - this will probably be just a little before the current play position. This will place a vertical line on the track.
4) Press "Stop" (or the space bar). This will take you out of "Pause" mode.
5) Check that the "play position cursor" is in the correct place - if not, adjust it as necessary (see below for some "tricks" to help you do this).
6) When you have the "play position cursor" in exactly the right place, press Ctrl+B. This will create a label. Type a name for the label and press ENTER.
7) Continue in the same manner for all the splits that you need.
8) File menu > Export Multiple
9) Select "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16 bit PCM" as the Export format. (I know that you want to end up with MP3 files, but we are not finished yet).
Make sure that you select the following:
"Using Label/Track name"
"Split file based on Labels"
"Include audio before first label" (and enter a name for this first clip.

Save the project and close Audacity.
10) Open the folder that contains all of the sound clips and display them as a list. Create a new folder for the finished MP3s, and then open Audacity. Arrange the windiows so that you can see the list of sound clips at the side of the Audacity window.
11) Drag the first clip into Audacity
12) Trim off any excess, and perhaps even apply a short fade-in to the first fraction of a second.
13) Select the Time Shift tool (f5 key) and drag the clip so that there is a 5 second gap before it starts.
14) "Export" the clip as an MP3 to the new folder for the finished audio clips.
15) Delete the clip from Audacity and drag in the next clip.
16) Repeat steps 12 to 15.

Tip for getting the splits in the right place. (step 5)
When Audacity is in "stop" mode and you have the play position cursor in roughly the right place, move the mouse to a position either before or after the cursor (do not click) and press the "B" key. This will play the region between the cursor and the mouse pointer.

ANMB wrote:3. How much time should be before the actual "sound" of the pronunciation and after the pronunciation?

Don't know. That's up to you.

Dear SteveTheFiddle,

Thank you for your quick response. I will have to re-read this a a few times to wrap my head around it.

It is different than what I was doing. I import the track for each individual lesson, and begin adding labels to where they need to be, and export as mulitple mp3. And then after the first four lessons, I decided that I need to make it more consistent with time at the beginning and end of each individual soundclip. So, I finished adding labels to Lesson 4, and then began inserting/deleting silences and the labels are misaligned - which is what prompted my posting. How do I realign them in order to continue with your instructions? I have been listening to each selection and manually moving the label handles - is this the easiest way? And is there a way to easily delete/insert silences at the same time that I am realigning the labels to the sounclips in the track? Or just realign the labels/soundclips and then continue with your instructions?

Also, I noticed when I am attempting to insert/delete silences at the beginning/end of the soundclips; the labels shift to the right, and then I have to realign them - I suppose because of the linking between the track and labels. What happens when they are unlinked? I like to understand how and why something works the way it does is why I ask.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
ANMB
hopeful

ANMB wrote:It is different than what I was doing.

As I said, there are several ways that you can approach this. I was outlining how I would do it.

I guess that you have done quite a lot of work on Lesson 4 and do not want to start again on it, so let's see if we can help you finish this one. Before you start Lesson 5, try out some of the things that I have described (on a short test track) - you may come up with a method that suits you better.

ANMB wrote:I finished adding labels to Lesson 4, and then began inserting/deleting silences and the labels are misaligned -

I think the first thing you need to do is to go through the labels and get them correctly aligned.

When you have done that, you should probably work with linking on (the button with the chain links pressed down).

Here is a stereo audio track with some labels:
If I insert 1 second of silence at the cursor position, the audio in the track after the cursor is shifted to the right to make room for the inserted silence.
With "link tracks" selected, the labels will also move and so the labels will stay synchronised with the audio.
If this does not work, please look in "Help > About Audacity..." and let me know exactly which version of Audacity you are using (including "build date").
If this works OK, practice it on a test file so that you are familiar with it before you continue with your main project.

Tip:
Rather than selecting "Generate menu > Silence" each time, you can make a copy of the silence (press Ctrl+C while the silence is selected) then paste it into the track with Ctrl+V.

Dear SteveTheFiddle,

Thank you for your help. I am slowly working through realigning the labels to the track and just making the adjustments as I go. However, all of this tediousness will help me when I split lesson 5 into soundclips!

I am using Audacity 1.3.9 (unicode).

Also what is the advantage of using your > "Tip: Rather than selecting "Generate menu > Silence" each time, you can make a copy of the silence (press Ctrl+C while the silence is selected) then paste it into the track with Ctrl+V." How is "generating silence" different?

I will definetely test your method when I split several small tracks of 1:30 minutes each, for pronouncing Arabic numbers 0 - 110; which should give me enough practice!

Thank you again. I will be in touch soon.
- ANMB

ANMB wrote:what is the advantage of using your > "Tip: Rather than selecting "Generate menu > Silence" each time, you can make a copy of the silence (press Ctrl+C while the silence is selected) then paste it into the track with Ctrl+V."

Lets say that we want to insert a 2 second silence in 4 places:

Using the Generate menu:
1) Click on the track where you want the silence inserted.
2) Click "Generate" menu and select "Silence".
3) Set the duration to 2 seconds and Click "OK"

4) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
5) Click "Generate" menu and select "Silence".
6) Set the duration to 2 seconds and Click "OK"

7) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
8) Click "Generate" menu and select "Silence".
9) Set the duration to 2 seconds and Click "OK"

10) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
11) Click "Generate" menu and select "Silence".
12) Set the duration to 2 seconds and Click "OK"

Using Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V
1) Click on the track where you want the silence inserted.
2) Click "Generate" menu and select "Silence".
3) Set the duration to 2 seconds and Click "OK"
4) Press Ctrl+C (copies the silence to the clipboard)

5) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
6) Press Ctrl+V (pastes the silence into the track)

7) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
8) Ctrl+V

8) Move to the next place that you want silence inserted and click on the track.
9) Ctrl+V

Using the copy paste method, each time you want to insert the silence from the clipboard, all you need to do is to click where you want it and press Ctrl+V

Now imagine doing that 110 times.

Dear SteveTheFiddle,

Ahhh. Thank you for the explanation; it now makes more sense - less key strokes equals more efficiency. I just finished aligning the labels to the Lesson 4 track and exported them as mp3; and it was an astounding 310 files! And the track length was cut from 12:15 minutes down to a total of 6:24.10 minutes - so now you understand why I wanted to finish it. And now I get to do it all over again with Lesson 5, which is same number of examples and the original track length is 12:43 minutes.

First I will practice with the 1:30 minutes tracks of Arabic numbers to become comfortable with the method you suggested.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks.
ANMB

Dear SteveTheFiddle,

Okay - I am working on Arabic Numbers 0 - 10 and exported them as .wav files. I dragged and dropped it into Audacity and am confused about the time shift tool part. What is this exactly, please? It appears that it shifts the track and is more efficent than creating silences, yes?

And why did you suggest 5 seconds? I am adding about 200 or 250 milliseconds to the beginning and ending of each clip. But I may increase it to 1/2 second instead. The flashcard program shows the jpeg/word and soundclip in about one second per flashcard; so I need just enough at the beginning; not too much and not too little. What do you think?

Thank you.
ANMB

ANMB wrote:What is this exactly, please? It appears that it shifts the track and is more efficent than creating silences, yes?

Yes, it's a quick and easy way to precisely position the words along the time line. Any "white space" before the audio clip will be exported as silence, so yes, it's another way of doing the same thing as inserting silence (and only requires one quick click/drag with the mouse).

ANMB wrote:And why did you suggest 5 seconds?

I think that was a typing error and should have been .5 seconds - It was just an example based on you saying that you wanted 0.3 to 0.5 seconds silence. I've no idea what the correct, or best amount of silence should be for the flashcard program - you will have to look that up yourself. (but somewhere between 200 and 500 milliseconds sounds reasonable).

The "instructions" that I gave are only as a guide - when you've played around with it for a while you will no doubt find a routine/procedure that works best for you.

Hi Mr. Steve.

I am now working with Beta 1.3 and split another long track. I was double checking the labels to the tracks, and realized that I forgot to insert a few silences in the beginning of the work. When I add a silence in the track, it misaligns the labels underneath. And I cannot find the linking feature?!? And I think it was disabled for this version.

So, what is the easiest solution to avoid realigning everything again as I had to do with the previous track from several months ago? Is there a way to select both the track and the label section to add the silences simultaneously while keeping everything aligned?

Thank you.
Sincerely,
ANMB :S