Any Way To Get Ctrl+m To Add Handles To Both Sides Of Labels

[OffKey]

I am getting ready to digitize my old reel-to-reel tapes while I still have two working transports, and will be exporting the files as .WAV files and using MediaMonkey for adding defined .WAV tags for those that Audacity doesn't support. I am new to Audacity and I am using the V1.3.9 beta which I have been experimenting with for the last couple of days by recording from FM radio as a test source.

This is my question/problem. During recording I use ctrl+m to set a label at "break points" for the contiguous items of the recording. The labels are being created, but there is only the center "circle" and right handle being created by ctrl+m. Because I sometimes am a little late at setting a label, I need to adjust the label range almost always to the left. Ajusting to the right by moving the circle is no problem, but trying to go to the left without the left handle Audacity starts drawing a new "range" when I move the circle. Since these labeled audio sections are contiguous, is there a setting that will make Audacity put handles on both sides of a ctrl+m labels as they are being created so I can drag the cirrcle left or right to adjust the boundary, or is there someway to quickly create the left handles without having to "redraw" the labels I want to adjust to the left? I will be exporting each labeled area as a separate .WAV file.

I am using Windows XP Professional, SP3 and a SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum ex soundcard.

Thanks,
Carl

[steve]

Good to read a question with all the relevant information

The "handle" is really just a "pointer". As it is pointing to the right, it indicates that it is the start of a marked region. When you have a pair of markers you will notice that these pointer both point inward to the marked region.

There are 3 (at least) ways that you move the marker to the left;
1) Grab the marker with the mouse and push the marker a short way to the right then back again - you can now see the right hand marker . Click on the right hand marker and drag to the left. When the right hand marker reaches the left hand marker, just keep pushing to the left.

2) Set a new marker in the correct place while playback is stopped (Ctrl+B). Enter a label name if you wish. Press the Tab key to move to the next marker. Use the backspace key to delete the name (if any) and the (old) marker.

3) Tracks menu > Edit Labels. Hint - All labels must have a name, even if it just a single character. Hint - if you are adjusting the marker to the left, adjust the end time and the start time will be adjusted automatically.

[OffKey]

Thanks for the reply stevethefiddle.

Your suggestions worked, but being a lazy person when it comes to tedious tasks like adjusting labels and pulling weeds, I did some more experimenting and found an easier method to accomplish my goal of getting right and left label handles on contiguous "ranges". I don't know if this is a supported method but it seems to work and I verified it with the Edit Labels function. First let me say that my procedure will be to make the recording, set and adjust label positions, and then lastly use the Edit Labels function to add the label text.

This is harder to explain than it is to perform so I hope I can describe the process in an understandable manner. For the sake of simplicity, lets say I'm only going to record 4 "items" from the recording source. The procedure I use follows:

1. Start recording and at the end of each item use ctrl+m to set a label. At this point there are 4 items and 4 labels. Item 1 has no label associated with it, items 2 and 3 have labels, and item 4 has label at the end of the last desired item prior to stopping the recording.

2. Starting with the first (leftmost) label grab the circle handle and drag it left to the match the ending position of the previous item or the start of recording in the case of the first item. Whats interesting here is that the text box for item n+1 now becomes the text box for item n. By just grabbing the circle handle avoids having to Esc out of the label text box when doing this.

3. Continue doing this, moving left to right, results in each item having a label, and all except the first and last have left and right handles.

4. After this has been done for all items now just draging the circle handle can simultaneously fine tune the position of the item break (end of previous/start of next). To verify the desired split points, click on each label text box to select its region then Esc to get out of the text box. Then use Play One Second or Play To Cut to verify the split point. If not in the desired position, use the circle handle simultaneously adjust the contiguous regions split point and re-verify the position until the desired point is reached.

5. After all of the item split points and their associated regions have been "marked", use the Edit Labels function to add the text to the labels.

I hope my explanation is understandable and any comments or criticizm of my method is welcome.

Carl

[steve]

Yes that's very clear Carl.
This is one of the things that I like about Audacity, there are often several ways to accomplish a task so you can choose the method that best suits the situation.

In step 4, when you want to check the label positions you can also do this:
a) click in the label box (type in the label text if you want to).
b) press Esc to get out of the label box. (the label region is still selected.
c) hover the mouse pointer near one or other end of the selected region - do not click.
d) press "B"

The track will now play the region between the pointer and the closest end point of the selection.
This will work for playing inside or outside of the selection and works for either the start or the end of the selection.
This works from the selection area, not from the label markers, so you can use this "trick" any time that you want to verify the start and end positions of a selected region.