Newbie Questions!

[Paint Guy]

Hi, I am new to this Forum and a newbie at editing audio. I hope you don't mind if I have a few questions.

Q1 - Can I edit my audio track using a spline and points? I used the point tool and zoomed in on the waveform and then moved some points about. When I zoomed out and played it all it did was make a "Pop" sound because the area I edited was tiny in relation to the whole audio track, so how can I edit or create my own audio track by drawing waveforms? I want to change the audio so it is uniquely my own sound but I don't have a keyboard. Is this possible? Is there software out there to do this or can Audacity do this?

Q2 - How do I lengthen or shorten a sound.

Q3 - My animation is 7.28 seconds long and my audio track is 12 seconds long. What is the best way to shorten the audio track to 7.28 seconds. Is it best to compress it? Can this be done? or can I chop some out of the middle so it still sounds OK? Please explain both methods and what method you would use.

Thanks for helping this Newbie!



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[steve]

Q1 - I don't know what you mean - can you give more detail.

Q2 - You can use "Effect > Change Speed", but note that this will change both the speed and the pitch as ot simply slows down or speeds up the audio (like playing a record or tape at the wrong speed).

Q3 - You can shorten it either by changing the speed (as in Q2), or you can chop bits out. You could also shorten it by cutting the track up into pieces, positioning them so that they overlap, then cross fading (using the Envelope Tool) between your audio clips.

[Paint Guy]

Thanks,

Can I edit my audio track using a spline and points? I used the point tool and zoomed in on the waveform and then moved some points about. When I zoomed out and played it all it did was make a "Pop" sound because the area I edited was tiny in relation to the whole audio track, so how can I edit or create my own audio track by drawing waveforms? I want to change the audio so it is uniquely my own sound but I don't have a keyboard. Is this possible? Is there software out there to do this or can Audacity do this?

[kozikowski]

<<<how can I edit or create my own audio track by drawing waveforms?>>>

That is how. This is why people buy synths and keyboards. This is the same shock people get when they find out that to animate a movie, you have to draw every single frame, 24 of them per second of movie, for a 90 minute show.

<<<My animation is 7.28 seconds long and my audio track is 12 seconds long.>>>

There are tools to do this, but they have a limited range--usually about 10% change or so before the sound starts to fall apart. You'd be much further ahead by editing the music bed shorter by cutting on the beats. The downbeat of music is where phrases are changed and you can cut and change things at those points without being noticeable. When people do an announcer reel to get a new job, they announce a song and cut right from the music intro to the outro. It's fun to listen to because it sound perfectly natural, but the whole song is eight seconds long.

Koz

[Paint Guy]

You can shorten it either by changing the speed (as in Q2), or you can chop bits out. You could also shorten it by cutting the track up into pieces, positioning them so that they overlap, then cross fading (using the Envelope Tool) between your audio clips.

Thanks Koz I really appreciate this. I am learning a lot. I followed one of our tutorials here on the site.
Q - You talked about cutting the track into pieces and positioning them so they overlap, then cross fading (using the envelope tool). Can you explain how to position the cut tracks so they overlap or point me to a tutorial?

Q - When you play an audio track in Audacity the green time slider moves as it is being played. Do I select that slider to go to a particular point in my audio track or is there some other method? Also when I use the magnifying tool to zoom in on a track I then have no idea where I am in relation to the whole track. Is there a trick to this? How can I be zoomed in and still see the overall big picture of where I am in the track?


Thanks

[steve]

when I use the magnifying tool to zoom in on a track I then have no idea where I am in relation to the whole track.

There is a kind of "ruler" across the top (just above the track window). This shows your position in seconds.

Q - You talked about cutting the track into pieces and positioning them so they overlap, then cross fading (using the envelope tool). Can you explain how to position the cut tracks so they overlap or point me to a tutorial?

This can be done in v.1.2, but is easier in 1.3, so I recommend that you get v. 1.3

Instructions using v.1.3.x
Click on a track and drag across to select a section of a track
From the menu select "Edit > Split New"
Use the "Time Shift" tool to position the new clip.
Repeat the above for each section of the track.

You will now have a number of tracks, each containing one audio clip.

Use the "Envelope Tool" to create fade-in and fade-out for each clip so that they blend nicely from one to the other.
To use the envelope tool, click on a part of the audio with the envelope tool and an envelope point will be created at the position where you click. These envelope points can also be dragged with the mouse. You will need at least 2 envelope points to create a fade.

You can of course also cut bits out by selecting a part of a track and deleting it.