Help needed exporting multiple files to MP3 at once

[Thunderbolt1000T]

I have a large MP3 file made on a portable digital recorder. I want to divide this file into 40 or so smaller MP3 files. What I've done in the past is that I imported the large file, opened a new Audacity window, selected the portions of audio I wanted in separate files, copied the audio to the new window, and saved each file as MP3 separately. This literally takes all day with a large file of this size. I've been putting this off, but it needs to be done by Tuesday. Before anyone even thinks about using labels, that's not an option for me, since I'm totally blind, I use a screen reader, and it does not support labels. I've thought about initially exporting the smaller files to WAV instead of MP3 to save time, but they still need to be MP3's in the end, because they need to fit on a 700 MB CDR. I don't know how to export multiple WAV files to MP3 at once, and I don't know how to divide my larger file into smaller MP3 files without it being very time consuming. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kozikowski]

<<<I want to divide this file into 40 or so smaller MP3 files.>>>

Is there anything critical about the start and stop points of the MP3s? Vocal cues? Can you use a way to evenly divide up the show and export?

Koz

[Thunderbolt1000T]

Yes, there are critical start and stop points. I'm sorry that I didn't mension that.

[kozikowski]

Then I think you're stuck. We had a fighting chance with the Auto Chop feature (which I still can't find, but I think it exists). The only other possibility is clever use of the Silent Sense tool, but those are notoriously inaccurate and fail completely if the speaker or performer doesn't pause long enough.

I'm out of ideas. The other senior elves are nine time zones away, so it may take them a bit to comment.

You know it's possible to place labels in real time during the capture, right? Would that help at all?

Koz

[steve]

e had a fighting chance with the Auto Chop feature (which I still can't find, but I think it exists).

That's called "Regular Interval Labels", and it is in the "Analyze" menu.

The only other possibility is clever use of the Silent Sense tool,

That is called "Silence Finder" and it is also in the "Analyze" menu.

You know it's possible to place labels in real time during the capture, right? Would that help at all?

You can also place labels in real time during playback.
To place labels during playback, press Ctrl + M
In Audacity 1.3.12 text can be added to the label just by typing.
The Return key should be pressed after typing any text label, or immediately after Ctrl+M if no text labels are required.

Even if your screen reader does not support labels this may be a usable option though I understand that it may be difficult or even impossible to get the marker labels accurately enough.

There are probably alternative / better methods.
Could you describe your current work flow? In particular, could you describe how you select the required section in order to copy it to a new window?

[Thunderbolt1000T]

Thanks Steve. Right now, I use the left and right bracket keys to select the audio, then I use Control+C and Control+V to copy and paste the audio into another window. Saving each file to MP3 is very slow, since I only have a 1.7 CPU, and only 1 GB of RAM.

If I go on ahead and save each file to WAV first, which is probably what I'll do, so I can name the files properly, is there any way to export all of those WAV files to MP3 at once? Otherwise, I'll be sitting here working on this all day.

Just so you guies know, I'm using version 1.3.5, but I also have 1.3.7.

[steve]

Right now, I use the left and right bracket keys to select the audio,

When you have selected the audio, press Ctrl+B then press the "ENTER" key.
This will mark the selected region with a label.

Then press the right cursor key.
This will move the playback cursor to the end of the section that you have just marked.

Now mark the next section in similar manner.

When you have got to the end of the track and marked the final section you can export all of the marked sections in the following way:

1) From the File menu (Alt + F) select Export Multiple (M key)
2) Select "MP3 files" as the Export format
3) If you need to select the compression amount, tab along to the "Options" button and set the required compression settings
4) Select the Export location
5) Then tab along to the Export button and press the "Enter" key.

Tip: To make fine adjustments to a selected area of the track (before marking the selection), you can use SHIFT + left/right cursor keys to expand the selection to the left/right, and you can use Ctrl+SHIFT+left right cursor keys to move the left/right edges of the selection inwards.

[Thunderbolt1000T]

Hi Steve. It turned out that I only needed to export 9 or 10 files after all. However, I'm working on another project now, and I have a serious problem. When I tried the Export Multiple method you posted, using ctrl+b and everything, I got an error message telling me that Audacity couldn't export multiple because no label track had been created. This was wrong though, because pressing ctrl+b created the label track. I'm using version 1.3.5. Also, I had to hit enter twice after pressing ctrl+b, because if I didn't, the cursor wouldn't move when I tried to move it, and the transport buttons wouldn't work.

In this new project, I have a bunch of edited and/or modified files in WAV format, which will eventually need to be converted to MP3. If I would have gotten Export Multiple to work, I would have murged all the files into one single file, which I know how to do, and I would have marked the regions, but right now, I can't get Export Multiple to work. What do I do now?

[steve]

Audacity 1.3.5 is an obsolete version. Update to Audacity 1.3.12 and see if you still have a problem.
You can get Audacity 1.3.12 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_windows