Audacity Forum

I have this 3 year old text book which some of the answers will need to be updated. A voice artist recorded the updated answers and emailed them to me (in wav format).

I opened the original text book file (also wav) in Audacity, then "imported" the updated content file, so now I had two tracks on screen. I deleted the part that contains the outdated answers from track one, then I used the timeline to move the updated answer from track 2 to the location where I want it to replace the old answer. Here came the problem, when I played the file, it sounded distored; there was a clipping sound at the beginning of the updated answer (track 2). but when I listened to track 2 seperately it sounded just fine. I tried a few times but got the same result.

Any idea what I did wrong?

<<<Any idea what I did wrong?>>>

You, probably nothing. However, Audacity isn't a particularly good audio format converter, so if their sound files differ too much in technical specifications from your original ones, there could be trouble.

Use Super or Switch to convert everything to one standard before you start editing.

Right-click on one of your original files and Properties > Advanced. If you've lead a good life, Windows should tell you what kind of file it is.

44100, 16-bit, Stereo is Music CD format.
48000, 16-bit, Stereo is Digital Television Sound format.
44100, 32-bit floating, Stereo is the 1.3 Audacity default format.

WAV and AIFF are sisters of each other and both are uncompressed, perfect formats. MP3 and the other compressed formats as a rule all cause damage and should never be used in the middle of a Project.

Some audio purists won't both to get out of bed in the morning if they can't produce in 96000, 24-bit, stereo or one of the other formats. If you can tell me exactly why you need that, then go for it. The odd formats do not automatically "sound better" and some can cause problems later.

koz

Thanks for the reply.

Is Super / Switch a different software? (sorry I'm new to Audacity). I check the properties of the two tracks, both are 16-bit stereo (one of them was mono but I converted it into stereo before editing), but one track is 44100 Hz and the other is 48000 Hz, I'm not sure if that has something to do with the problem I'm experiencing.

kozikowski wrote:<<<Any idea what I did wrong?>>>

You, probably nothing. However, Audacity isn't a particularly good audio format converter, so if their sound files differ too much in technical specifications from your original ones, there could be trouble.

Use Super or Switch to convert everything to one standard before you start editing.

Right-click on one of your original files and Properties > Advanced. If you've lead a good life, Windows should tell you what kind of file it is.

44100, 16-bit, Stereo is Music CD format.
48000, 16-bit, Stereo is Digital Television Sound format.
44100, 32-bit floating, Stereo is the 1.3 Audacity default format.

WAV and AIFF are sisters of each other and both are uncompressed, perfect formats. MP3 and the other compressed formats as a rule all cause damage and should never be used in the middle of a Project.

Some audio purists won't both to get out of bed in the morning if they can't produce in 96000, 24-bit, stereo or one of the other formats. If you can tell me exactly why you need that, then go for it. The odd formats do not automatically "sound better" and some can cause problems later.

koz

<<<(one of them was mono but I converted it into stereo before editing),>>>

While you're converting anyway, convert the sample rate one to the other.

And to address one possible problem, Unless you tell it not to, Audacity will mix down your multi-channel show by simply adding everything up. That automatically gives you a 6dB boost over whatever you were doing. If your peaks run right up next to the maximum volume, the mixdown will distort seriously.

Use the amplification tool to reduce the volume of both tracks 6dB before you listen to the mix.

Koz