cut - shift left

[Roger Priddle]

I'm sure it exists - but I'm new to Audacity and can't find it, so...

I have a file, made up of about 10 tracks. They start and stop as they should - in fact, Audacity impresses the heck out of me! - but the over-all file runs about 18 minutes. My wife ("she who must be obeyed"), for whom I am doing this, has determined that the entire file can't be longer than 15 minutes. And all the songs (files) need to be there.

So, I'm going through and shortening some of the excerpts, and want to take those seconds/minutes right out of the file.

(Note: like a keener, I carefully did all my transitions between clips before I played it for her. error.)

I know I can delete a chunk then individually drag all the other clips back and re-align them, then do it again for the next edit and so on. However, the rest of Audacity is so smart that I can't believe someone hasn't run into this before and solved it - with something way more elegant than the kludgey process I have!

So here's your opportunity to look with kind condescension on the aging newbie. All help will be greatly appreciated.

[steve]

I'm not sure exactly what your workflow is, but perhaps the solution lies in "Sync-Lock" http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ed ... .html#link

[Roger Priddle]

Steve -thanks for the response but I'm not sure I asked the question well.

I have about 12 clips that I want to make "collage" of - sort of "Name that tune". I want to take a chunk of clip 4 out, and have the rest move back to fill the empty space.

Now, I probably made my life more difficult than I needed to. I put each clip on it's own stereo audio track, so the screen show the 12 tracks down the page. (the actual audio does not overlap.) I've been adjusting each stereo track, pruning bits off and playing with transitions. But when I take some out, the rest of the tracks stay where they are. (IOW, the total time does not change, there's just some silence.)

Purely by accident, I dragged the music from clip 2 up into the track containing clip one. It appeared to append the music in the right spot. That might be a way to solve the whole thing, just keep dragging them up, but it doesn't seem very elegant. I'm looking for some way to (for example) delete 22 seconds of Track 4 and have all the other tracks shift left to fill the empty space.

that way, all my transitions remain and I've shortened the overall piece by 22 seconds.

I looked at "sync lock" but didn't really understand it - and in any case it didn't seem to be what I am looking for but maybe I missed it.

Thanks for the help.
Roger.

[steve]

Now, I probably made my life more difficult than I needed to. I put each clip on it's own stereo audio track, so the screen show the 12 tracks down the page.

In a lot of ways that is preferable. That's the way I would do it

'm looking for some way to (for example) delete 22 seconds of Track 4 and have all the other tracks shift left to fill the empty space.

that way, all my transitions remain and I've shortened the overall piece by 22 seconds.

Sync-Lock will do that.
The Sync-lock feature gets a bit complex when dealing with label tracks and complicated projects, but its basic functionality is exactly what you are asking for.
Click on the Sync-Lock (clock) icon, then delete part of one track. You should find that all other tracks "move up" as you require.

To avoid confusion I'd recommend switching "Sync-Lock" off when you are not specifically using the feature.

Another way to affect all tracks is to make the selection across all tracks.
The "hard" way to make a selection in all tracks is to click on one track and drag down across all of the other tracks (a bit tricky if all tracks don't fit on the screen).
The "easy" way is to make the selection in one track, then press Ctrl+Shift+K (or "Edit > Select > In all tracks").
When you delete a selection, and the selection is across all tracks. all of the tracks will remain "synchronised".