Inserting WAV files into an Audacity project (SOLVED)

[dpcoffey]

Hi,

In creating a podcast, I've gone through and inserted voice recordings that I've made separately as WAV files. I've inserted them into the Audacity project and saved them as I always have. However, the last few times I've done this, after I save the complete Audacity file and open it back up, only the beginning and the end of each WAV file I've imported appears. The rest is dead silence. Does anyone have any idea why this might be happening, and how to fix it? I've done 8 podcasts via Audacity where this has never been a problem. Thanks in advance.

Dan

[steve]

Go into the Audacity Preferences: "Edit menu > Preferences > Import Export"
In the section at the top, "when importing audio files", which option is selected?

Go into the "Help menu > About Audacity"
Which version of Audacity do you have? 1.3.???

What is the exact location that you are saving the project to?

How much free space is there on your hard drive(s)?

Between saving the project and re-opening it, have you deleted, renamed or moved any files?

When you try to reopen the Audacity Project, is there any error or warning message? If so, what does it say?

[dpcoffey]

>Go into the Audacity Preferences: "Edit menu > Preferences > Import Export"
>In the section at the top, "when importing audio files", which option is selected?

"Read uncompressed audio files directly from the original (faster)"

>Go into the "Help menu > About Audacity"
>Which version of Audacity do you have? 1.3.???

1.3.12 Beta

>What is the exact location that you are saving the project to?

Libraries > Music > "Name of Podcast folder > "Name of Audacity file"

>Between saving the project and re-opening it, have you deleted, renamed or moved any files?

Yes! I've renamed each of the files where I've recorded my voice, from some variant of 01123015 to something more meaningful.

>When you try to reopen the Audacity Project, is there any error or warning message? If so, what does it say?

None whatsoever.

--
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!

Dan

[steve]

The current version of Audacity is 1.3.14. This is primarily a bug fig release so it is worth updating (download from here and install over the top of your current version http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_windows )

"Read uncompressed audio files directly from the original (faster)"

With that option is selected, when you "Import" uncompressed audio files (WAV and AIFF files), Audacity will access the files in their original location and will only copy the data into the Audacity Project _data folder when the data is altered in any way. Not needing to copy the data makes importing a lot faster and can save disk space, but because Audacity is linking to the original file the project depends on those files remaining available. See these pages in the manual, this is really important:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Audacity_Projects
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Dependencies_Dialog

Yes! I've renamed each of the files where I've recorded my voice, from some variant of 01123015 to something more meaningful.

As you will see from the discussion about dependencies (links above), moving / deleting / renaming or otherwise altering files or folders that are being used in an Audacity Project is fraught with danger - one false move and there will be bits of the project missing. This is the most likely explanation for the loss of data in your projects.

Before saving a project I would highly recommend checking the project for dependencies and copying those dependencies into the project, then you only need to worry about the .aup file and the _data folder and not a load of external files as well.

[dpcoffey]

Thank you! Will try this afternoon and report back.

[dpcoffey]

Thank you! The problem seems to have been that I changed the names of certain files to make them more intuitive. Everything works like a charm now. You guys rock!

Dan