4 track

I have 2 stereo tracks (recorded on different mic pairs, but close together-ish) and at the same time.

I’d ideally like to edit both stereo tracks together - like quad, so that any trimming and filters are applied to all 2 stereo tracks. I’m a little ham handed with the user interface tools, or just using the wrong user interface mode to be able to apply effects to both tracks at the same point. I’m not even entirely sure that’ is what I want in the end, but keen to know if I’m missing something in the workflow for 2 or more stereo tracks here because I assumed I could create a quad track using mix and render, but I’m still learning how to just make cut/split points/marks for example.

For example how do I split 2 tracks but at the same point? I mean without splitting on, then mousing over to the next one and letting it snap to, or is that what I really should perhaps be doing? Using the snap points from the one track on the other to get my cuts and selections to line up?

Are the microphones connected to the same device, or are the recordings independent, eg. two H2n’s ? If the recordings are made by two different devices you will 1) have to align the starting points and 2) compensate for clock drift. The first part you can do by zooming in and aligning the two stereo tracks so they start at the same point. The second part is typically done by Effect > Change Speed > Selection Length.

I am not sure what you are trying to do here. Mix and render will always create either a mono or a stereo track, depending on the source tracks. That is all the left and right (or mono) channels will be added together.

Again, not sure what you are trying to do. I have always found it helpful to use Ctrl+B to create a label at a point I might be interested in. With two such points I can consistently make selections or splits.

There’s two approaches to doing this:

1. The manual way:

If you select audio (for an edit or to apply an effect) by clicking and dragging with the mouse, drag across both tracks so that both tracks are selected. Whatever you apply to the selection (an edit or an effect) will be applied to all selected audio (both tracks).

If you have made a selection in one track, you can extend it to cover all tracks with “Select menu > Tracks > In all tracks (Shift + Ctrl + K)”.

You can also toggle tracks to be selected / not selected by using the Up/Down cursor keys to focus on the track of interest (when a track has “focus” it appears with a yellow border), then press “Enter” to toggle selection on/off for that track.


2. Automatic way:

Audacity has a feature called “Sync-Lock”. This is a bit complex to explain, but probably easier than the manual method once you get used to it.
Full details are here: Sync-Locked Track Groups - Audacity Manual
I’d definitely recommend that you try this method - play with it on something unimportant. If you can get the hang of it, it will probably save you a lot of time. If you can’t get on with it (not everyone does) then you can turn off Sync-Lock and use the “manual method” instead.


Audacity can have any number of tracks in a project.
Each track may be mono (one audio channel) or stereo (two stereo channels).
Audacity does not allow a track to have more than 2 channels.

It is possible to export an Audacity project as a “multi-channel” audio file - such as a 4 channel (quadraphonic) file, or 5.1 surround sound, … but normally you would only do this if you have a playback system that supports surround sound. Usually you would want to mix down the project to a stereo file so that it can be played on normal audio equipment.

By default, exporting an audio file from Audacity creates a mono or stereo file. It will be mono if all tracks in the project are mono and centre panned. It will be stereo if at least one track is stereo, or if any tracks are panned left or right.

Thanks Both.
The single Zoom recorder is in 4 channel mode. I am using a pair of condenser mics about 20 meters of cable and I’m standing outside a church tower. Tripod with the zoom recorder is to the left of the tower, and tripod with condenser mics is in front almost 20 meters away, all pointing upwards. And with dead cat over them. I’m trying to get benefit of using the building as a wind shield for at least one pair of mics for 2 hours while I go elsewhere and don’t have to move things if the wind moves. Hence want to be able to just mix down to stereo, but choose which pair of mics I fade towards as/if the wind moves. To complicate things, the recording has lots of dead or quiet periods. And those I want to remove first before I try fixup the wind issues.

I have learned a lot this month. I usually only used Audacity for simple podcast type mixes and fixup work, so 2 tracks at once was a huge leap. I have kinda had to get used to using hotkeys more, as well as the special clicking and dragging across both tracks mode. Which is way cool and helped loads once I worked it out. Because I’m recording and wanting to trim out sections entirely, that was the tip I needed. So thank you Steve and Jademan, for pointing me straight here.