Audacity Forum

Thanks again Koz .. I was out for a couple of days. Back 'track building' again and things are going much better, so tks for your patience. Couple of things though:
I've noticed that when I go back to revise a AUP file .. to edit somethings, delete small timing - playing errors etc, that the new file shows the latest revision date as 'TODAY' which is correct. However, by some quirk, the associated DATA file seems to retain the same date as when it was originally created, whereas it should surely update also. The corrected track seems to play ok ... so it's perhaps some software thing that needs fixing.

My other needs may be answered somewhere else - but perhaps you can guide me to the right place if so.
1) Can you lower the level of a track already recorded .... before it is burnt to the CD?
I have one track (out of 20) that was recorded really too loud .. and being classical music, I'm reluctant to use some 'auto sound level' thing that could destroy the dynamics of the other 'songs'.
2) I found some old song tracks (from the 1950's) on an old BETA tape, but the tape has a continuous 'growl' on it - being 60 yrs old .... Is it possible to pass this through the equalizer as a AUP file in order to tone down this one frequency and create a better master recording?
If so, where can I find the instructions to learn how to do this ? I did see an Equalizer on Audacity .., but perhaps its only available for playback or when making the original recording. That would be sad for me if so.
cheers
mike

Old Musician wrote:I've noticed that when I go back to revise a AUP file .. to edit somethings, delete small timing - playing errors etc, that the new file shows the latest revision date as 'TODAY' which is correct. However, by some quirk, the associated DATA file seems to retain the same date as when it was originally created, whereas it should surely update also. The corrected track seems to play ok ... so it's perhaps some software thing that needs fixing.

Audacity only updates the data that has changed. There is no need for Audacity to update data that has not been altered.

Thanks Steve.
I could understand that, but the DATA certainly changed, as in error, the file contained two copies of the song, one after the other ... and they were not identical. I removed one today, yet the DATA stays with the date when originally created. That strikes me as 'not normal' ... even though the file now plays with only 1 copy.
I also just noticed that the date of the DATA did not change after doing some noise reduction on the same file.
mike

I think I solved one of my questions .. the continuous noise reduction one.
Here's what I did .., pls correct me if I did something incorrect, but thought 'spelling this out' might help another reader.
1) I played back a AUP file and found a one sec. sample of only the background noise, between the music.
2) I 'selected' that short snippet (making it greyish)
3) then I found 'EFFECTS' on the top command line and then 'NOISE REDUCTION'' (or Noise Removal?)
4) Then clicked on 'GET NOISE PROFILE' .. which I assumed would input the previously selected small sample
(At this point, it would be great to have had say a 2-3 sec sound bite of the noise sample, just to confirm that I'd 'got' the right thing .. as the software presently gives NO indication of 'what' one might have grabbed - if anything! Just a suggestion
5) On the lower part of the NR screen, I first tried the Noise Reduction at the default (midway) location of 25db. That indeed totally removed the noise for that 1 sec. As I did not want to risk removing too much of the original sound, I finally settled on just 10db .. still cutting the apparent noise at least in 1/2.
6) I then totally selected the WHOLE song (grey) and hit the OK button. I left the Sensitivity at 0 db, the Frequency Smoothness at 150Hz and the Attack/Decay at 0.15 secs .. finding no clear reason to change these. A screen comes up and shows the Noise Removal time .. took about 15 secs in my case.
7) Playing back the whole song, the background noise was far less noticeable .. so a good success.
This is clearly a powerful software and I hope to learn more in the future of what it can achieve. Tks !

Now I still need to learn about lowering a pre-recorded level before burning a CD -- IF that is possible.
mike

Old Musician wrote:I could understand that, but the DATA certainly changed, as in error, the file contained two copies of the song, one after the other ... and they were not identical. I removed one today, yet the DATA stays with the date when originally created. That strikes me as 'not normal' ... even though the file now plays with only 1 copy.
I also just noticed that the date of the DATA did not change after doing some noise reduction on the same file.

There is nothing for you to be concerned about. If you are talking about the _data folder of the project, that won't appear to update its date but the "d00" or higher number subfolder inside the _data folder will change date, as will the changed or modified AU files inside the "d" folder.

If you change the data at 20:00 hours, affecting the timestamp of the "d" folder, then save the AUP file at 20:05, the timestamp of the AUP file will change, but not the timestamp of the "d" folder, because its content has not changed.

if you delete a track, that does not affect the AU files at all, because Audacity lets you Edit > Undo and Redo deleting the track.

However when you make most project changes, an AUTOSAVE file (essentially a temporary AUP file storing unsaved changes) is saved. When you File > Save Project, the AUTOSAVE file is deleted. The AUP or the AUTOSAVE file tell Audacity how to string together the AU files to display the tracks as you currently have them.


Gale

Old Musician wrote:I still need to learn about lowering a pre-recorded level before burning a CD -- IF that is possible.

You can use Effect > Normalize... to make all tracks reach the same peak level.

This topic is getting rather long and diverse. If you need help with changing level, could you please start a new topic? http://forum.audacityteam.org/posting.p ... =post&f=47.


Gale

Thanks for the timely explanation ... and yes, excuse my diversions .. I may indeed need to start another thread. Tks!