Audacity Forum

Hi All,

I assume this has GOT to be a common problem with an easy solution that I just can’t find.

I’m a basic user, I record vocals and guitar to a click track to keep rhythm, as a means to practice my song to that track once it’s recorded and exported to mp3.

What happens is when I make a mistake I just let the track keep recording as I take the second take, to avoid having to punch in the new part. Since the click track is running, I come in on beat.

When I’m done recording, my song may be in 2 or 3 parts, with pauses between them, so I copy each part to a new track and try to move it so it falls on beat with the click track. Funny enough, I can’t find a way to make it synch with the click track. Obviously the click track is only counting basic beats and measures, there MUST be an easy way to paste my recording so that it keeps its orientation to the click track or to the rhythm structure of the song.

Ideally, I’d do what I’ve done on other recording software, which is cut the track ON a beat and paste it back exactly ON that same beat in a different measure. I can see how to cut ON a second, millisecond, etc., but what about on a beat? How do you see where you are, beatwise, as OPPOSED to timewise?

What do you guys do when you’re pasting a part of your song into a new space? How do you ensure it stays on beat or is pasted on beat? Thanks guys, any help would be appreciated.....

That's a cousin to the Great Beat Per Minute problem. It's devilishly difficult to figure out which are beats and which aren't. I think it's still true that Audacity will not tell you the BPM of a cut. Similarly, it won't line the beats up because it usually can't find them.

You can usually stack each track one over the other and use the solo and mute buttons to select the tracks and the Time Shift Tool (two black sideways arrows) to push things back into sync

Koz

Koz, thanks, I appreciate it:

You can usually stack each track one over the other and use the solo and mute buttons to select the tracks and the Time Shift Tool (two black sideways arrows) to push things back into sync

If I get you right, you're saying that if I record track #1, say from 0:00 to 2:30 and then start a new track #2 @ 2:40 (let's just imagine, no I wouldn't do that normally) and record till 5:00, then I can just take track #2 that starts at 2:40 and using the Time Shift Tool, I should be able to move it from starting at 2:40 to, say, starting at 2:25 (overlapping track #1) AND also be able to keep it in sync (or more accurately push [it] back into sync)?

I've been cutting and pasting, I haven't tried the Time Shift Tool, but that will usually allow you to get it back in synch? If I'm getting you right, I'm going to try that. Just let me know if I'm catching what you're drifting and such. Thanks,

Mud

mudrubble wrote:Hi All,
...
I’m a basic user, I record vocals and guitar to a click track to keep rhythm, as a means to practice my song to that track once it’s recorded and exported to mp3.

What happens is when I make a mistake I just let the track keep recording as I take the second take, to avoid having to punch in the new part. Since the click track is running, I come in on beat.

When I’m done recording, my song may be in 2 or 3 parts, with pauses between them, so I copy each part to a new track and try to move it so it falls on beat with the click track. Funny enough, I can’t find a way to make it synch with the click track. Obviously the click track is only counting basic beats and measures, there MUST be an easy way to paste my recording so that it keeps its orientation to the click track or to the rhythm structure of the song.
....

i am missing something
if you cut it on the start of a measure per the click track
and then paste it at the start of a measure
they should line up perfectly unless your playing is off

or do you mean taht you are listening and re-recording at the same time in which case you may have latency issues you should be able to look at the track and slide the click track to fix that

mudrubble wrote:I haven't tried the Time Shift Tool, but that will usually allow you to get it back in synch?

Yes. What the Time Shift tool will do is allow you to select a portion of audio and pull it backwards or forwards in time, by any amount, so that it ends up exactly where you want it.

PO'L

Thanks guys, I tried the time shift tool and it did exactly what I needed. Much better than cut and paste! I think I was underestimating Audacity when I started cutting and pasting.

And whomper, that was kind of the problem. I'd cut it by ear and paste it by guesswork based on where I thought the cursor should go, so yes, it would be off beat. Then I'd undo and guess again. It was near impossible to get it right by guesswork. It wasn't a latency issue.

But you just said something about cutting at the beginning of a measure and pasting at the beginning of a measure per the click track.

Could you please tell me how to do that? I can't find any display that shows measures, only minutes and seconds (and milliseconds) so I was doing it by ear. If there is a better way to do this, please tell me.

Thanks again guys,

Actually, PS - is there any way to cut the beginning of a track without the rest of it shifting back in time? As in if I wanted to cut the first 10 seconds of a track, but I still want the rest to start at the 10 second mark, do I have to cut and then timeshift, or is there a way to trim off the beginning of a track without the rest of the track filling its space?

Thanks even more

Mud

mudrubble wrote:I can't find any display that shows measures

There isn't one.

If you have recorded with a click track, then you will have a good idea of where the beats are, and if the music has a strong beat, you can usually see it in the waveform, but the only way to find the exact beginning of a measure is to zoom in to it, after you have identified its approximate position.

mudrubble wrote:is there any way to cut the beginning of a track without the rest of it shifting back in time?

Yes, select the part you want to cut and click on Generate > Silence.

PO'L

mudrubble wrote: And whomper, that was kind of the problem. I'd cut it by ear and paste it by guesswork based on where I thought the cursor should go, so yes, it would be off beat. Then I'd undo and guess again. It was near impossible to get it right by guesswork. It wasn't a latency issue.
Mud

if you are playing to the click track set to your bpm
then do it visually
line up the clicks when you cut and paste
if you are in sync the recording should be too

I don't see anybody mentioned this yet, but in Audacity 1.3, you can Track > Add New Stereo Track and it will provide a blank track under your existing one. You cut and paste your second segment into the second track and then you can time shift the second track anywhere including overlapping track one.

Koz

Thanks all, I'm putting it to use.... and PO'L thanks for the generate silence tip..... much appreciated, will come in mucho handy....

I still think they should have a beat/measures display, it seems to have a music recording software without it, but then again, at $free.99, I really can't argue with that price.

Thanks guys, I'm going to record something right now......

Mud