Cannot edit multiple tracks at the same time

Hi,

I have over 130 different audio tracks on the same horizontal timeline (see picture). I’m trying to do the following:

  1. Noise Reduction
  2. Compression
  3. Limiter
  4. Bass and Treble Boost
  5. Normalize

For each of the 130 tracks but I find that there is no way to do it for all of them at once, and I have already combed the internet.

If I hit “select” on the left and try to do steps 1-5, for some reason the normalize step isn’t as strong.

Is there a way outside of just manually editing each of them one by one (which I have done for the first 25 of them).
Screen Shot 2023-02-02 at 3.39.02 PM.jpg

If the aim is to have all the tracks the same loudness, then you need Loudness normalization, which is different from normalize.

If you want to do bulk processing see … Macro Manager - Audacity Manual

But wouldn’t loudness normalization just decrease their collective loudness I acheived by normalizing them all individually first?

Is there no way to “collectively normalize” them?

But yes, I think creating a macro can speed things up a bit.

It would depend on the value you set in loudness normalization.

If you want to make different tracks to sound as loud as each other, (on average),
apply loudness normalization to each one with the same value. (forget about using normalize).

If that causes parts of the waveform to go off the chart, knock them back with (soft) limiter.

[ i.e. loudness normalization followed by (soft) limiter ]
loudness normalization,then (soft) limiter.gif

Each track is going to require individual treatment, even if they are by the same artist.

Are you talking about the clips in the top track of your picture? See this page in the manual for the terminology used in Audacity.

The first four of your effects will likely be applied they way you want because they are either a) dynamic (respond to the momentary sound - noise reduction, limiter, compression) or b) change the tonal balance (bass and treble boost).

Normalization is different. It assumes you want to adjust the level of the entire track so that the loudest portion of the track is at the highest possible value without clipping (that’s a bit of a simplification). So it looks at the levels throughout the entire track then amplifies the entire track as much as it can based on the maximum level it found.

Note that in this case “track” means the thing you call the “horizontal timeline”.

So you can do the first four effects on the entire track, but will need to do normalization on each clip individually.

It’s a pain, but by the time you write a macro you could do it manually (unless you intend to do this kind of thing a lot). Double-click on the first clip and do Effect > Normalize and choose the settings you want. After that double-click on each clip then do Cmd + R (Repeat Last Effect) to apply the Normalize effect to each subsequent clip with the same settings.

– Bill