No Audio on Exported Files

[joviano23]

Hi all,
I've been using Audacity to record sounds from guitars and bass through an audio interface for a few months now, and until recently everything works great, from the recording to the final WAV or MP3 products.

However, starting recently, I've been having problems with the exported MP3 and WAV files. The exported songs work fine for the first few seconds, however after that it goes silent with a slight pop sound, and the timer still ticks as if the song's still playing.

I've tried using several different players to no avail. I've tried changing the Default Sample Rate between 16, 24, and 32bit but it still doesn't work. I've also attempted re-exporting my older projects (which had been exported before and works well in iTunes), and they also produce the silent files. However, the project can be played just fine in Audacity.

My system is running on Windows 7, Audacity 1.3.13 with LAME Encoder 3.98.4.

Any suggestions?

[kozikowski]

Somebody is going to ask you this, so I might as well get it out of the way. We live on detailed information.

guitars and bass through an audio interface

Make and model numbers?

The exported songs work fine for the first few seconds, however after that it goes silent with a slight pop sound, and the timer still ticks as if the song's still playing.

How long are the songs had they not gone pop? On average. They're not four-hour long "songs" are they?

I've tried using several different players to no avail.

Such as? Makers/models/versions?

I've also attempted re-exporting my older projects

The older successful projects open and play music beginning to end, but also export damaged WAV files, yes?

What happens if you export a damaged WAV file and then immediately re-import the WAV file into a fresh Audacity?

Is there anything magic about where the pop happens? It's always at a music transition? Is the pop always at exactly the same place -- always fifteen seconds into the song?

The symptoms -- at least some of them -- are of a Project missing its backing music files, but when most people do that, the Project blue waves are correct, but the song drops dead. That's not apparently what you have. Is it?

Just to cover this, although you seem to be right on top of it in all other respects, Audacity Default Projects do not save a personal copy of external music files -- unless you change the default in Preferences. This gives you a Project that works perfectly in all respects until you move, rename, or delete the original music files. The Project was still using them.

If I had to reconstruct your shows, you import a music file, produce a fade or special effect for the first ten seconds or so, and then Save a Project. And then delete the original music file. All that would be left of the Project would be the fade at the beginning because Audacity does make a local copy of that fade.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Koz

[joviano23]

Alright, the guitars are Ibanez grg220dex and bass is fender Jazz bass. The interface is Line6 Toneport UX1. But I don't think there's any problem with the equipments, since I used them before and they worked just fine.

Most of the songs just go silent right away. Some of the longer ones (around 6 mins) play for around 8 seconds before they go pop.

The players used include iTunes 10, Windows Media Player, and KMP player.

The older projects open and play well in Audacity, however, when exported into WAV they produce the same damaged files. However, the WAV files from the same projects exported prior to the error work just fine.

I did copy one of my projects (together with the _data folders) to my friends who did a recording on a separate system (using Audacity, but different audio interface) and the error occurred just after I received the project back. I highly suspect that to be the cause of the problem, since as you said, backing files may be removed accidentally.

But if so, wouldn't the older projects (which was not removed/moved) be exported just fine? If it was really due to missing backig music files, shouldn't the error only occur to the affected projects only?

Really appreciate the suggestions/help.

[steve]

Could you try this experiment - it may help to rule out some possibilities:

1) Open Audacity
2) Tracks > Add New > Stereo Track
3) Generate > Tone > Sine / 440 Hz / 0.2 / 300 seconds.
4) Check that the generated tones play for the full 5 minutes.
5) File > Export > Export as WAV Microsoft signed 16-bit PCM.
6) Play the exported file in your preferred media player.

Does it play correctly for a full 5 minutes in your media player?
What was the "Project Rate" in Audacity? (bottom left corner of the main Audacity window).

7) Save the Audacity Project.
8) Close and re-open Audacity.
9) Open the saved project.
Does it still play for a full 5 minutes?

[joviano23]

OK, did the experiment as you told. The tone plays perfectly for the whole of 5 minutes in Audacity. However the exported WAV file is silent from the start. The project rate is 44100 Hz. When Audacity is restarted, the project still plays well in Audacity.

So, my guess is that the problem lies in the exporting part?

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[kozikowski]

shouldn't the error only occur to the affected projects only?

Oh, we're perfectly clear you have an oddball problem. What we're doing is collecting as much information -- hard data -- as possible and see if it forms a pattern.

But I don't think there's any problem with the equipments, since I used them before and they worked just fine.

Sometimes this is the hardest thing to get people to do for us. Unless you know what's causing the problem, you don't know what's not causing the problem.

Here's one. Open up one of the WAV files and inspect closely what happens at the pop point. What does the disturbance look like on the blue waveforms? It should just go silent. Yours doesn't. Can you screen capture and then post a cropped segment of the waves? Even the whole screen capture. Make sure you magnified the pop point so we can get the most out of it.

If this gets serious enough, I may ask you to run the Microsoft Crash Analysis and some of the heavy machine tests -- if you haven't already.

-- Right Click Start > Explore > Right Click Local Drive C: > Properties (Used, Remaining)
-- Tools > Error Checking

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Both of those can be done whether we ask for them or not. I let the Windows Diagnostics run all night.

Koz

[kozikowski]

It's possible (though not likely) Audacity is the only application you have that tries to use High Memory. If you have a bum chip up there, only Audacity will fail.
Koz

[steve]

OK, did the experiment as you told. The tone plays perfectly for the whole of 5 minutes in Audacity. However the exported WAV file is silent from the start. The project rate is 44100 Hz. When Audacity is restarted, the project still plays well in Audacity.

Looks like we may have an oddball problem.

Test part 2:

If open, close Audacity and restart it.
Import the file that you exported in part 1.
Does it look right and play correctly?

Do you have a USB audio interface attached to your computer?
If so, shut down the computer, disconnect (unplug) the interface and reboot the computer.
Does the exported audio file play in your media player now?

[kozikowski]

Looks like we may have an oddball problem.

See?
Koz

[steve]

Looks like we may have an oddball problem.

or missing information that makes the issue appear to be oddball, so as you say Koz we need to gather information.
(As you're aware,) many "oddball" problems become straightforward when all the facts are known. Often the difficult part is knowing which are the important facts, which makes all of the details important. You know my methods, Watson.