Audacity Forum

I have narrated one track and successfully imported a music track.
My problem is in trying to edit the music track, to cut 40 minutes off the
end of it to fit the length of the narrated track. I have followed the
instructions a couple of times with not success. Any suggestions?

To enable us to help you, please tell us which version of Audacity you are using (the full 3 part version number) and which operating system you are using.

The basic instructions are that you need to select the part that you want to delete (click and drag along the track), then delete the selection (DEL key if you are on Windows). Note that editing is only possible when Audacity is stopped (not playing, recording or paused).

If you need more help then we'll need more information about your set-up and where exactly your problem is - what's going wrong.

Thank you for responding. Im using 1.3.14-beta software. Since my post
I thought I had successfully cut the excess music from my file, and did a
fade out on the last 2 minutes of the music. Then I tried to email it to
someone as a WAV file and that didnt work. I readin the tutorials that I have to send it as an
MP3 file. But, when I went back into my file, the whole narration and music track
disappeared, all gone. Then I went into an older version of the file, with narration
and music and I couldnt hear anything. Then I tried to record it again, and I cant
hear anything or see any wave forms on the track. So its very confusing now.

Topic moved to Audacity 1.3.x < Windows

I presume that you are using Windows?
Which version of Windows?

As a starting place, read this about what an Audacity Project is: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Audacity_Projects
it will probably explain some of the things that are happening.