Quickest work flow for sound editing

[rmcellig]

I think I am finally coming around to the Audacity way of editing files.

Here is how I am editing so far in Audacity.

1. Open aiff file

2. This is what I want to do: insert marker 1, insert marker 2, select audio between markers and cut to a new file for further editing.

3. In new file select voice part and cut to new track 2.

4. Move the voice towards the end of the sound in track one.

5. Export as .m4a file

Please advise in detail how I can make my workflow more efficient and quicker. Maybe there is a much better and practical way to do what I am trying to do?

[kozikowski]

I can't follow that, you'll have to describe the job. "I have a theatrical radio show where the announcer is in the wrong place."
Koz

[rmcellig]

Basically what I am doing is extracting snippets of audio from radio shows I have done and still continue to do. These snippets are up on my web set http://www.mcran.com.
let's say that I am extracting a snippet of chick corea, i would put a marker at the beginning of the snippet and at the end. Then, I would select the audio between the markers and cut to a new audio track for further editing. I would then highlight my voice at the end of the snippet and cut to a new track so that I could mix it over the end of the snippet. Once done, I export to m4a format.

I am hoping there is a better way to go through this process.

[steve]

I still don't really follow what you're wanting to do. Are making the radio shows or are you wanting to make short "demos" from some of your old shows?
You've got shows going back for decades. What's different about what you now want to do and what you've been doing for the past 40 years?

If you want to re-mix parts of an existing recording, what I would do would be:
1) Select one of the sections that I want to use and then press Ctrl+D to duplicate it to a new track.
2) Repeat step 1 for all other parts that I want to use.
At this stage, each "snippet" would be a bit longer than I actually need - it can be edited precisely later.

3) When I have all of the snippets on separate track, I would delete the original track (click on the [X} in the top left corner of the track).
4) Using the Time Shift tool, drag all of my snippets into the right order. It may be convenient to drag them onto two tracks with overlaps where the cross-fades will be.
5) Trim the sections to the exact length that I want and apply fades (and any other effects) as necessary to each of the snippets.
6) Export the final mix as a WAV file (WAV for a high quality back-up) and export again in any other format that I might want.

Some links that may be useful:

http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Audacity_Selection
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Tool ... #timeshift
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Creat ... h_Audacity
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixin ... ur_Project

[rmcellig]

Thanks so much for your comments!!

To further explain, when you go to my web site http://www.mcran.com, select Radio Shows then click on In Transition Archives. These are the snippets I have extracted from many of my radio shows. This way if I want to do a special on a specific artist and feature some archives from my show, they are available on this page. All of my full radio shows are on my Radio Shows page. Hope this clarifies things for you and thanks again for helping me out!! Much appreciated

[steve]

I see. The method that I described in my previous post should give a rough idea.

If you are extracting sections from multiple shows, I'd suggest that you import one show, extract the bit(s) that you want (roughly), then delete the full show track. Then import the next show and extract the parts that you want from that show.

Each track can be labelled by clicking on the track name (by default it says "audio track") and renaming the track.

[rmcellig]

Thanks Steve!

What I have been doing is for example opening one of my full shows (AIFF format) in Audacity and then cutting out the bits I want to a new Audacity file for editing. Then I save the snippet as an m4a file and then go back to my full show and repeat the process until there is no sound left in the AIFF file.

One question I have is that as I am working on the AIFF file ctting out the bits I need, is there a way to save the AIFF file periodically or do I always have to save it as a .au file?

[kozikowski]

M4A is a compressed format similar to MP3. Both create damage, more or less damage depending on the quality settings you choose. Use these two only as final export for consumption. They're delivery formats.

Many of us Save a Project as a new name as the edit progresses. shot2.aup, shot3.aup. shot4.aup. Forget the little AU files. You are saving an Audacity Project each with a unique AUP file and DATA_ folder.

Alternately, it takes longer, but you can Export as AIFF each time. This will give you multiple unique intact complete AIFF files. music2.aiff, music3.aiff, music4.aiff.

Koz

[steve]

Alternately, it takes longer, but you can Export as AIFF each time. This will give you multiple unique intact complete AIFF files. music2.aiff, music3.aiff, music4.aiff.

If you ave each "snippet" on a separate track you can use Export Multiple to export each track as a separate file.
During production use WAV or AIFF. As Koz said, each time you encode to m4a you will lose a bit of sound quality.